Marilyn Monroe's Acting Coach + Lee Meriwether on "What's My Line?"

[gregge63]

An interesting bit of trivia -- the finals of the Miss America pageant were held Saturday evening Sept. 11, 1954 hosted by John Daly and won my Lee Merriweather -- that was the same day that Hurricane Edna roared up the coast and the fringe of which hit a section of Atlantic City as well as New York City similar to "Irene" of 2011 -- news articles of the day said that there was possiblity that if "Edna" had gotten closer she may have damaged the area were the pageant was going on.

[neonknights]

I wonder how the panelists managed not to instantly die when Losira touched them...

[AngelicLove21]

Isn't that Natasha Lytess? If so, why did she write Tala Forman?

[Porkularpie]

She looks naked

[Juliaflo]

Of course, you know who took the helm of the pageant when Lee Meriwther crowned Sharon Kay Ritchie.

[tomitstube]

everything BUT marilyn. she would have easily been one, if not the most watched wml of all time.

just gotta say, after watching a bunch of these old clips, arlene is easily my favorite panelist.

[myles2go]

@weightfeather1

Erica Kane Martin Brent Cudahy Chandler Roy Montgomery Marick Montgomery

[myles2go]

@weightfeather1 Her name is Mary Fickett and she is retired from show business. She is still alive and well. Hope this helps. I have watched All My Children since its inception. Hope you are well and as always Take Care!

Myles

[MrCallipygous]

 September 12, 1954

[Juliaflo]

@MrCallipygous The day after the very first Miss America telecast.

[bitcheznhos]

Tala was such a bitch, hopefully she is rotting in hell now

[calihartley2010]

@bitcheznhos why did you say such a thing about Tala? She did not behave badly on the show

[myles2go]

Lee Meriwether was married to Frank Aletter and also she plays Ruth Martin on All My Children from time to time.  A little trivia. Thank you again for the memories. Myles

[therleyt]

As much space as Dorothy used to give Marilyn Monroe in her daily newspaper column I find it surprising that she didn't recognize her equally well known dramatic coach and personal mentor at that time.

The Seven Year Itch!

1954

[rm2ken]

Lee Meriwether graduated from George Washington High School in San Francisco and a classmate of Johnny Mathis!

[PatrickLHawkins]

wow I've only seen still shots of Natasha Lytess. She had some pretty f-up teeth

[defundthewar]

Natasha Lytess is always mentioned in Monroe biographies, and it is more likely that that is her real name, not the more American-friendly Tala Forman. What the bios all agree on is that Marilyn became overly dependent on Lytess- as she would later with the hoity-toity Actor's Studio teachers- but cut off Lytess from her life because of Lytess's possessiveness and jealousy. Unless a lot of people are lying, Marilyn customarily played her scenes not to the other actors, but to her coach.

[speedskiff2]

Lee Meriwether, "I am for Sulu"....

[auntbecky]

Lee and Vanessa the two best Miss Americas. Why can't the others ever have this much class and talent.

[ipmoic]

@auntbecky Bess Myerson was another stunningly beautiful Miss America. I'm not Googling, but I think she was Miss 1945 or around there.

[Nobeester]

She doesn't look like her, sound like her, or have a claim to fame like her, so why does this guest (Tala Forman) remind me so much of the great Edith Piaf?

[henrygrove100]

nineteen hundred and fifty five......he says that

[shoredude2]

@henrygrove100 Miss America was crowned in September of the preceding year. So Miss America 1955 would have been crowned in late 1954.

[SFGiantsBB]

Why does Dorothy ask if they can ask questions or just guess?/ They always ask yes or no questions. They have to guess before 10 no answers are received.

[MPL029]

Did Marilyn Monoe herself ever appear on this show?

[roots66]

@MPL029 Nope, but she was certainly frequently referenced on it. I've got another clip featuring the justice of the peace who married her and Arthur Miller...if it's not already up I'll see about putting it up soon.

[ShawDAMAN]

Darn smart panel! lol

[zachw225]

Sunday: September 12, 1954!

[MegaObserver1]

John Daly was the TV "commentator" of the Miss America pageant in the 1950's, but not the on-stage MC. He was in a booth "commentating" on the proceedings, like in a political convention.

[blancface]

that was natasha lytess, why did she sign in as tala forman?

[MPL029]

@blancface Probably because the panel would know who Natasha Lytess was.

[blancface]

@MPL029 after watching this I read somewhere that Tala Forman was her real name and when she first came to Hollywood she was hoping to be in movies and changed her name to Natasha Lytess.

[MPL029]

@blancface at the end Cerf asked if she goes by Natasha Lytess...and she said yes..so thats probably why she used her real name.

[torchkit]

Strange that Lee thought she needed to disguise her voice. It's not like anyone would have recognized it.

[bigred997]

regarding the acting coach, marilyn was notorious for taking direction from her coach rather than the director and would create battle scenes on the set with other impatient actors.

[wmlfan9]

Hey, did Hitch make one of his signature cameos in this one?

[soulierinvestments]

Alfred Hitchcock did appear on WML in 1954, if that is your question. Available in YOuTubia.

[wmlfan9]

Actually, I was refering to the first two seconds of this clip.

[63utuber]

Bennett finally got one!

[ShawDAMAN]

@63utuber he got them on a regular basis ;P but this is the first time I've seen a wild guess at the start be dead on lol