What's My Line? Arthur Godfrey (1952)

This appearance was made on March 30, 1952, at the height of Arthur Godfrey's massive popularity and more than a year before he fired talented baritone Julius LaRosa during a live broadcast, which precipitated a sharp decline in his public esteem. Godfrey was a radio and TV host as well as a singer and player of the ukulele. Panelist Hal Block appears to think for a moment that Godfrey may be entertainer Eddie Cantor (famous for having five daughters), while Arlene Francis hesitantly suggests he is a famous TV host of the era, Dave Garroway, noted for his horn-rimmed glasses. In asking if the mystery guest was associated with a famous comedian, Dorothy Killgallen might have had in mind singer Dennis Day, who was a sidekick on Jack Benny's radio show for many years and did very talented imitations of voices (such as that of Ronald Coleman) as well as funny voices of his own, not dissimilar to the one used here by Godfrey.

Godfrey might well have succeeded in stumping the panel, but he gave himself away when he laughed loudly at Block, who "disqualified himself," removed his mask, and was shocked to see who the guest was (Godfrey's laugh was well-known to the public). At 7.16, right before Francis's Garroway identification, Bennett Cerf clearly says "Godfrey!," paving the way for Kilgallen's informed questions and correct identification of the mystery guest.

When Kilgallen asked about Godfrey being known for his handling of commercial products, she hit upon something with which he was indeed strongly identified. "To industry insiders, Godfrey was television's first great master of advertising. His deep, microphone-loving voice delivery earned Arthur Godfrey a million dollars a year, making him one of the highest paid persons in the United States at the time." http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/G/htmlG/godfreyarth/godfreyarth.htm

John Daly and Godfrey were already known to each other before this broadcast. During a mystery guest appearance by Pat Boone, Daly said: "When I first started in this game, in Washington, Arthur Godfrey, whom I knew, not at all did I think as much for me as he did for you -- in my side, it was news -- every time I did a news show he'd come in and criticize it and sometimes it was RUTHLESS criticism, but it taught me a great deal." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwTXdC5RS6Q

For more information on this episode, see http://www.tv.com/whats-my-line/episode-96/episode/92931/trivia.html .

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Arthur
• Godfrey
• John
• Daly
• Dorothy
• Kilgallen
• Bennett
• Cerf
• Arlene
• Francis
• Hal
• Block
• Eddie
• Cantor
• Dave
• Garroway
• Dennis
• Day
• Jack
• Benny
• What's
• My
• Line

[Onlymusical]

The most entertaining "What's My Line" clip ever. The audience's hysteria over Godfrey illustrates what a towering figure he was at the time, and Hal Block's doffing of his mask immeasurably adds to the excitement. Block was the most human panelist on the show and it was never the same after he was fired. Compare this to a later Godfrey "What's My Line" appearance, by the way, after his career had sunk from the Julius LaRosa incident. Then check out Dick Cavett's two online Godfrey columns.

[romeman01]

@Onlymusical John Daly is unusually energized by this guest. The only other segment that I have seen in which Daly is so "juiced" is the Jeanette MacDonald appearance, which happened to be guessed, as in this case, by Dorothy Kilgallen. Among my favorite mystery guest appearances are Lucy & Desi (with Robert Q. Lewis on the panel), Danny Kaye (the unedited clip), Woody Allen, two Jack Benny appearances, Herman Wouk, Rosalind Russell, Bob Hope, Steve Allen's appearances, and Ed Sullivan (masked).

[romeman01]

@Onlymusical I will add, to your comment about it being the most entertaining clip ever, that Godfrey's stage presence was phenomenal and I very much enjoyed this segment myself when I saw it on here probably a couple of years ago or more. I saved it and later discovered that the account was closed on which it had originally been posted. It seemed to me to be a great loss to the What's My Line collection, so I reposted it. WML clips come and go. I should probably save more of them than I do.

[63utuber]

necklines?

[romeman01]

@63utuber This followed the question about being well-known for handling commercial products; Godfrey indeed was. I can only imagine that one of his sponsors was a bra-maker. I find online that Maidenform had a much-parodied ad campaign "and radio personalities Arthur Godfrey and Dorothy Kilgallen regularly poked fun at the ads on national programs." This common ground may be another reason (besides her oblique reference to the ukulele) why he says she knows who he is without saying so.

[1borito]

The men on the panel don't stand up ... well, Block did already, but ...

[romeman01]

@1borito I was just watching the time when Cesar Romero was mystery guest watch?v=ve3xrr-Y7oQ . The situation was pretty much identical to Godfrey's appearance here. Daly had given urgent warning that they were running out of time. The males remained seated as he went out. Although it is tempting, in our day, to think that the men did not stand up for Godfrey out of disrespect, I suspect there was an off-camera cue to the panelists, in both cases, to remain seated owing to time constraints.

[bigred997]

the guy was an a-one jerk,.

[AndrewGilmore1986]

@63utuber Because there was such hysteria going on that he had to overcome his curiosity and SEE what the hell was going on.

[snowden67]

@romeman01 The only other time I remember John Daly being so energized about a mystery guest was with Groucho Marx. Daly plays along with Groucho's long winded responses and later starts answering before Groucho with his own jokes (e.g., Arlene: Do you do stand-up? Daly: Not if he can do it sitting down!: (Groucho seems a bit befuddled by Daly's sudden burst of energy.

[onlyhuman41]

@bigred997 One of my mother's friends worked for Arthur Godfrey. She said he was very likeable in public, a first class butt hole in private. But this really is a great clip. He saved his best for the audience.

[wdashwor]

Thanks, romeman01 for the great introductory write-up on this upload - very informative!

[dogshy61]

Hal Block Rules! He should have got his own show instead of being with these pompous jerks!

[librarybob1958]

This at the height of Godfrey's popularity, before America realized, via Julius LaRosa, what a world-class, 14k bastard he was.

[MikeBlitzMag]

If there was any question among those who may have missed his run as to why Arthur Godfrey enjoyed such immense popularity, this clip is as good of a starting point in answering that clip as any. Pure genius!

[Onlymusical]

@jimaroo100 Block was a writer for Bob Hope and entertainers like that, and comes from that vaudeville/Marx Bros. style of comedy. I find him infinitely more likable than the snobbish Cerf, whom Fred Allen referred to as a "tweed wastebasket." And Block's removal of the mask and that facial expression during Godfrey's appearance is the best thing I've ever seen on the show. He would sometimes inject a bit of physical comedy into the proceedings and you could see his warmth and vulnerability.

[jimaroo100]

@Onlymusical - I always find Block a poor fit for this show. He is uncultured and sometimes crass.

[dweaver52]

The date on this is actually 30 March 1952 - during the uproar from the crowd as Godfrey signs in, you here Block say, "Did anyone know Eisenhower would get here so fast?" - referring to the fact that Ike was leaving his NATO post to return to the US to campaign for President after his astonishing victory over Senator Bob Taft in the just-held 1952 Republican primary in New Hampshire.