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''What's My Line?'' is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States, between 1950 and 1967, on CBS, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent American revivals. The game uses
celebrity Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group due to the attention given to them by mass media. The word is also used to refer to famous individuals. A person may attain celebrity status by having great w ...
panelists to question contestants in order to determine their occupation. The majority of the contestants were from the general public, but there was one weekly celebrity "mystery guest" for whom the panelists were blindfolded. It is on the list of longest-running American primetime network television game-shows. Originally moderated by
John Charles Daly John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly (February 20, 1914 – February 24, 1991) was an American journalist, host, CBS radio and television personality, ABC News (United States), ABC News executive, TV anchor, and game show host, best known for his wor ...
and most frequently with regular panelists Dorothy Kilgallen,
Arlene Francis Arlene Francis (born Arline Francis Kazanjian; October 20, 1907 – May 31, 2001) was an American game show panelist, actress, radio and television talk show host. She is best known for her long-running role as a panelist on the television game ...
, and
Bennett Cerf Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearanc ...
, ''What's My Line?'' won three
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
s for "Best Quiz or Audience Participation Show" in 1952, 1953, and 1958 and the
Golden Globe Awards The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual Awards ceremony, award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally ...
for Best TV Show in 1962. More than 700 episodes exist as
kinescope Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940s ...
recordings, filmed in 16mm, which was the only way moving pictures and sound from spontaneous, unscripted television shows could be preserved on a long-term basis prior to the emergence and subsequent widespread use of
videotape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually Sound recording and reproduction, sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog signal, analog or Digital signal (signal processing), digital signal. V ...
. Many early episodes were lost because of economic decisions made by CBS executives between 1950 and 1952. Every episode from July 1952 to September 1967 existed for a long time in the archive of producers
Mark Goodson Mark Leo Goodson (January 14, 1915 – December 18, 1992) was an American television producer who specialized in game shows, most frequently with his business partner Bill Todman, with whom he created Goodson-Todman Productions. Early life and e ...
and Bill Todman, but some of the episodes were lost in 1975. After the Sunday night series's cancellation by CBS in 1967, it returned in a syndication package for local television stations that committed to airing it five days a week. This version originally was hosted by Wally Bruner and later by Larry Blyden. It was seen by viewers from 1968 to 1975. There have been a dozen international versions, radio versions, and a live stage version. Revivals in the U.S. were proposed several times, but all of them failed to go past the planning stages. New episodes have not been created for American television since December 12, 1974. In 2013, ''
TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...
'' ranked ''What's My Line?'' ninth on its list of the 60 greatest game shows everFretts, Bruce (June 17, 2013)
"Eyes on the Prize"
''
TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...
''. pp. 14-15.
and ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' ranked it as one of the 100 "All-Time" TV shows ever.


Original CBS series (1950–1967)

Produced by
Mark Goodson Mark Leo Goodson (January 14, 1915 – December 18, 1992) was an American television producer who specialized in game shows, most frequently with his business partner Bill Todman, with whom he created Goodson-Todman Productions. Early life and e ...
and Bill Todman for CBS, the show was initially called ''Occupation Unknown'' before deciding on the name ''What's My Line?'' The original series, which was usually broadcast live, debuted on Thursday, February 2, 1950, at 8:00 p.m. ET. After airing alternate Wednesdays, then alternate Thursdays, finally on October 1, 1950, it had settled into its weekly Sunday 10:30 p.m. ET slot where it would remain until the end of its network run on September 3, 1967. Starting in July 1959, and continuing until July 1967, the show would occasionally record episodes onto
quadruplex videotape 2-inch quadruplex videotape (also called 2" quad video tape or quadraplex) was the first practical and commercially successful analog recording video tape format. The format uses magnetic tape and was developed and released for the broadcast t ...
for playback at a future date. In July 1959, this was state-of-the-art technology. At that time, the immediate concern of Mark Goodson and Bill Todman was that John Daly, anchor of the ABC network's nightly newscasts, would be allowed to visit
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
to cover, in that capacity, a breaking news story. While Daly moderated the first live episode after his return from Moscow, he praised his employers' use of videotape. In such instances, cast and crew worked on two episodes consecutively during the same Sunday night: the "taped" one, followed immediately by the "live" one. The cast and crew began taking "summer breaks" from the show in July 1961, through July 1967. The closing credits of each prerecorded episode included an acknowledgment of the prerecorded status by the offscreen announcer.


Hosts and panelists

The host, then called the moderator, was veteran radio and television newsman
John Charles Daly John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly (February 20, 1914 – February 24, 1991) was an American journalist, host, CBS radio and television personality, ABC News (United States), ABC News executive, TV anchor, and game show host, best known for his wor ...
.
Clifton Fadiman Clifton Paul "Kip" Fadiman (May 15, 1904 – June 20, 1999) was an American intellectual, author, editor, and radio and television personality. He began his work in radio, and switched to television later in his career. Background Born in Brook ...
, Eamonn Andrews, and
Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
co-founding publisher and panelist
Bennett Cerf Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearanc ...
substituted on the four occasions when Daly was unavailable. The show featured a panel of four celebrities who questioned the contestants. On the initial program of February 2, 1950, the panel comprised former
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
governor Harold Hoffman, columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, poet Louis Untermeyer, and psychiatrist Richard Hoffmann. The panel varied somewhat in the following weeks, but after the first few broadcasts, during the show's earliest period the panel generally consisted of Kilgallen, actress
Arlene Francis Arlene Francis (born Arline Francis Kazanjian; October 20, 1907 – May 31, 2001) was an American game show panelist, actress, radio and television talk show host. She is best known for her long-running role as a panelist on the television game ...
, Untermeyer and comedy writer Hal Block. Publisher
Bennett Cerf Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearanc ...
replaced Untermeyer as a regular panelist in 1951, and comedian
Steve Allen Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was an American television and radio personality, comedian, musician, composer, writer, and actor. In 1954, he achieved national fame as the co-creator and ...
replaced Block in 1953. Allen left in 1954 to launch ''
The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...
,'' and he was replaced by comedian
Fred Allen John Florence Sullivan (May 31, 1894 – March 17, 1956), known professionally as Fred Allen, was an American comedian. His absurdist topically-pointed radio program '' The Fred Allen Show'' (1932–1949) made him one of the most popular and forw ...
(no relation), who remained on the panel until his death in 1956. Fred Allen was not replaced on a permanent basis, and for the majority of the show's network run, between 1956 and 1965, the panel consisted of Kilgallen, Cerf, Francis and a fourth guest panelist. After Kilgallen's death in 1965, she was similarly not replaced with a permanent panelist, and for the show's final two years, the panel consisted of Cerf, Francis and two guests. At various times, a regular panelist might take a vacation or be absent from an episode due to outside commitments. On these occasions, a guest panelist would take their spot. The most frequent guest panelist was Arlene Francis's husband
Martin Gabel Martin Gabel (June 19, 1911 – May 22, 1986) was an American actor, film director and film producer. Life and career Gabel was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Rebecca and Isaac Gabel, a jeweler, both Jewish immigrants. He married Arlen ...
, who appeared 112 times over the years. Other frequent guest panelists include Tony Randall,
Robert Q. Lewis Robert Q. Lewis (born Robert Goldberg; April 25, 1921 – December 11, 1991) was an American radio and television entertainer, comedian, game show host and actor. Although born with the Goldberg name, he grew up as Lewis, his father's profe ...
and
Phyllis Newman Phyllis Newman (March 19, 1933 – September 15, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She won the 1962 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as Martha Vail in the musical '' Subways Are for Sleeping'' on Broadway ...
.
Dick Cavett Richard Alva Cavett (; born November 19, 1936) is an American television personality and former talk show host. He appeared regularly on nationally broadcast television in the United States from the 1960s through the 2000s. In later years, Cave ...
, in an early television appearance in
Fred Allen John Florence Sullivan (May 31, 1894 – March 17, 1956), known professionally as Fred Allen, was an American comedian. His absurdist topically-pointed radio program '' The Fred Allen Show'' (1932–1949) made him one of the most popular and forw ...
's vacated chair in 1966, noted that the mystery guest was probably wondering who Cavett was. Regular announcers included Lee Vines, who served from 1950 to 1955; Hal Simms, from 1955 to 1961; Ralph Paul, whose tenure was confined to 1961; and
Johnny Olson John Leonard Olson (May 22, 1910 – October 12, 1985) was an American radio personality and television announcer. Olson is perhaps best known for his work as an announcer for game shows, particularly the work he did for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman P ...
, perhaps the best known of Goodson-Todman's television announcers, whose tenure began in 1961 and ran until the show's cancellation in 1967.


Timeline of regular panelists

ImageSize = width:700 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = width:595 top:30 left:95 bottom:20 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1950 till:1967 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:Member value:darkblue legend:Member ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1950 gridcolor:black BarData = bar:3 text:"Fred Allen" bar:7 text:"Steve Allen" bar:8 text:"Hal Block" bar:6 text:"Bennett Cerf" bar:5 text:"Arlene Francis " bar:4 text:"Dorothy Kilgallen" bar:2 text:"Louis Untermeyer" PlotData = color:member width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from bar:2 from:start till:1951 bar:3 from:1954 till:1956 bar:4 from:start till:1965 bar:5 from:start till:1967 bar:6 from: 1951 till:1967 bar:7 from:1953 till:1954 bar:8 from:start till:1953


Gameplay

''What's My Line?'' was a guessing game in which the four panelists attempted to determine the occupation (i.e., "line f work) of a guest. In the case of the famous mystery guest each week, the panel sought to determine the identity of the celebrity. Panelists were required to probe by asking only yes–no questions. A typical episode featured two standard rounds (sometimes a third, and very rarely a rushed fourth) plus one mystery guest round. On the occasions on which there were two mystery guests, the first would usually appear as the first contestant.


Standard rounds

For the first few seasons, contestants would "sign in" by writing their name on a chalkboard, and meet the panel up close for a casual inspection, and the panel was allowed one initial "wild" guess. The first contestant on ''What's My Line?'' was Pat Finch, a hat check girl at the Stork Club. Finch appeared again on the fifth anniversary show (with the "line" of "chorus girl" appearing in the musical '' Fanny'') and on the final broadcast in 1967 as a guest. Beginning in 1955 Daly simply greeted and seated the contestant, who later met the panel at the end of the game. Additionally, starting April 17, 1955, the panel stopped taking initial guesses. The contestant's line was then revealed to the studio and home audiences, and Daly would tell the panel whether the contestant was salaried or
self-employed Self-employment is the state of working for oneself rather than an employer. Tax authorities will generally view a person as self-employed if the person chooses to be recognised as such or if the person is generating income for which a tax return ...
, and from 1960 on, whether they dealt in a product or a
service Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a ...
. A panelist chosen by Daly would begin the game. If their question elicited a yes answer, they continued questioning. When a question was answered no, questioning passed to the next panelist and $5 was added to the prize. The amount of the prize was tallied by Daly who flipped up to ten cards on his desk. A contestant won the top prize of $50 by giving ten no answers, or if time ran out, with Daly flipping all the cards. As Daly occasionally noted, "Ten flips and they (the panel) are a flop!" Daly later explained, after the show had finished its run on CBS, the maximum payout of $50 was to ensure the game was played only for enjoyment, and that there could never be even the appearance of impropriety. Later in the series, Daly would throw all the cards over with increasing frequency and arbitrariness (frequently to give a particularly interesting or worthy contestant the maximum available prize money), evidence the prize was secondary to game play. Panelists had the option of passing to the next panelist—or even disqualifying themselves entirely if they somehow knew the contestant's occupation or identity (especially in the case of a mystery challenger) before the round. They could also request a conference, in which they had a short time for open discussion of ideas about occupations or lines of questioning. Panelists adopted some basic
binary search In computer science, binary search, also known as half-interval search, logarithmic search, or binary chop, is a search algorithm that finds the position of a target value within a sorted array. Binary search compares the target value to the m ...
strategies, beginning with broad questions, such as whether the contestant worked for a
for-profit corporation A for-profit corporation is an organization which aims to earn profit through its operations and is concerned with its own interests, rather than the interests of the public (nonprofit corporation). Structure A for-profit corporation is usually an ...
or
non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
organization or whether a product was alive, worn, or ingested. To increase the probability of affirmative answers, panelists would often phrase questions in the negative starting with "Is it something other than..." or "Can I rule out..." The show popularized the phrase, "Is it bigger than a breadbox?" Steve Allen first posed this on January 18, 1953, and it was then refined over subsequent episodes. Soon, other panelists were asking this question as well. On one occasion the guest was a man who made breadboxes. Allen correctly guessed the guest's occupation when Daly could not restrain his laughter in response to Kilgallen asking, "Is it bigger than a breadbox?"


The mystery guest round

The ultimate or penultimate round of an episode involved
blindfold A blindfold (from Middle English ') is a garment, usually of cloth, tied to one's head to cover the eyes to disable the wearer's sight. While a properly fitted blindfold prevents sight even if the eyes are open, a poorly tied or trick blindfo ...
ing the panel for a
celebrity Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group due to the attention given to them by mass media. The word is also used to refer to famous individuals. A person may attain celebrity status by having great w ...
guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...
(originally called "mystery challengers" by Daly) whom the panel had to identify by name, rather than occupation. (In the first episode, the mystery guest was
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...
shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...
Phil Rizzuto Philip Francis Rizzuto ( ; September 25, 1917 – August 13, 2007), nicknamed "the Scooter", was an American Major League Baseball shortstop. He spent his entire 13-year baseball career with the New York Yankees (1941–1956), and was elected to ...
.) In the early years of the show, the questioning was the same as it was for regular contestants, but starting with the April 17, 1955 edition, panelists were only allowed one question at a time. Mystery guests usually came from the entertainment world, either stage, screen, television or sports. When mystery guests came from other walks of life or were non-famous individuals whom the panel but not the studio audience might know, they were usually played as standard rounds. However, the panel might be blindfolded, or the contestant might sign in simply as "X," depending on whether they would be known by name or sight. Mystery guests would usually attempt to conceal their identities with disguised voices, much to the amusement of the studio audience. According to Cerf, the panel could often determine the identities of the mystery guests early, as they knew which celebrities were in town, or which major movies or plays were about to open. On those occasions, to provide the audience an opportunity to see the guest play the game, the panelists and host would typically allow questioning to pass around at least once before coming up with the correct guess. at p. 744, 54:37. As Cerf admitted in the episode broadcast on November 27, 1966, his wife, Phyllis, was frequently told the name of the mystery guest beforehand. Sometimes, two mystery guest rounds were played in an episode, with the additional round usually as the first round of the episode. Most notably, the mystery guests ran the gamut of show business's most legendary icons, including
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,
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Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was an English and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 19 ...
,
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,
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, Edward G. Robinson,
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and
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, and many more.


Style

''What's My Line?'' is known for its attention to manners and class. In its early years, business suits and street dresses were worn by the host and panelists, but by 1953, the men normally wore black suits with
bow tie The bow tie or dicky bow is a type of neckwear, distinguishable from a necktie because it does not drape down the shirt placket, but is tied just underneath a winged collar. A modern bow tie is tied using a common shoelace knot, which is also ...
(a few guests in fact wore
black tie Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and North American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal ...
) while female panelists donned formal
gown A gown, from the Latin word, ''gunna'', is a usually loose outer garment from knee-to-full-length worn by people of both sexes in Europe from the Early Middle Ages to the 17th century, and continuing today in certain professions; later, the t ...
and often
glove A glove is a garment covering the hand, with separate sheaths or openings for each finger including the thumb. Gloves protect and comfort hands against cold or heat, damage by friction, abrasion or chemicals, and disease; or in turn to provide a ...
s. Exceptions to this dress code were on the broadcasts immediately following the deaths of Fred Allen and Dorothy Kilgallen, in which the male cast members wore straight neckties and the women wore simpler dresses. The game followed a line of formality and adherence to rules. Although using first names at other points, Daly usually addressed using surnames when passing the questioning to a particular panelist. He would also amiably chide the panel if they began a conference without first asking him. However, even with such formality, Daly was not above trading ''bon mots'' with the panelists during the game, and Cerf would often attempt to make a pun of his name. Occasionally Daly would amiably one-up Cerf if he felt the pun was of lesser quality. Cerf also played a myriad of games with Daly's full name, John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly, reciting it correctly only a handful of times over the course of the series. Often Daly would need to clarify a potentially confusing question, but he had a penchant for amusingly wordy, long-winded replies that often left panelists more confused than before, which
Danny Kaye Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; ; January 18, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, singer, and dancer. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and rapid-fire novelty songs. Kaye starred ...
once parodied as a panelist. On more than one occasion, Daly "led the panel down the garden path" – a favorite phrase used when an answer had proven misleading to the panelists.


Broadcast format

From 1950 to 1966, the game show was broadcast in
black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...
, as was typical of most game shows at the time. In September 1966, all three networks began broadcasting their prime-time schedules entirely in
color television Color television (American English) or colour television (British English) is a television transmission technology that also includes color information for the picture, so the video image can be displayed in color on the television set. It improv ...
, including ''What's My Line?'' The new color episodes were preserved only with black-and-white kinescopes, however, and even several of those from 1967 were lost. The color composition of the ''What's My Line?'' soundstage has been lost to posterity. The show began as a live broadcast but during the last eight years many episodes were videotaped weeks or months in advance of their telecasts. The show's announcer acknowledged this fact during the closing credits of every "prerecorded" episode.


Radio

In addition to the television version, ''What's My Line?'' was also broadcast on network radio for a short time. From May 20 to August 27, 1952, an
NBC Radio Network The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (also known as the NBC Red Network from 1927 to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in continuous operation from 1926 through 1999. Along with the NBC Blue Network, it wa ...
version was produced on Tuesday nights with the same cast as the TV version. After August 27, the program was then broadcast live on CBS Radio on Wednesday nights at 8:00 PM for 10 months, concluding July 1, 1953. The radio version is notable for the only appearances of
Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however, Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...
,
Constance Bennett Constance Campbell Bennett (October 22, 1904 – July 24, 1965) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress and producer. She was a major Cinema of the United States, Hollywood star during the 1920s and 1930s; during the early 193 ...
, and
Marlon Brando Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cinema actors of the 20th century,''Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia''
.


1953 Community Chest Special

A Community Chest Special, completely separate from the regular production of episodes, was broadcast live on all the major networks (CBS, ABC, NBC, and DuMont) on the afternoon of Sunday, September 27, 1953.


Production practices


On-camera

The program began with Daly and panel entering from off-stage as they were introduced. Prior to 1954, both panelists and host began the program in their seats, but this was changed, responding to letters asking what panelists looked like away from their seats. The first panelist would be introduced by the announcer following the show's introduction, and each panelist would introduce the next in turn, with the last introducing Daly. During his tenure, Hal Block sat in the final seat and began the practice of introducing Daly with a pun. Upon his departure, Bennett Cerf took over this position. Cerf's introductions of Daly were generally straightforward in his earliest years on the show, but as time went by Cerf expanded these introductions, often telling long jokes which he tied to Daly in some way. To begin a round, Daly would invite the contestant to "come in and sign in, please," which, by 1960, had evolved to the more familiar "enter and sign in, please." The contestant entered by writing his or her name on a small sign-in board. (For the first few telecasts, the contestants signed their names on an artist's sketch pad; but when the brightness of the studio lights made it difficult for the signatures to be seen clearly by the viewers, the white sketchpad was replaced by a black chalkboard.) Daly would then usually ask where the guest lived and, with a woman, if she should be addressed as "Miss" or "Mrs." Early in the show's run, the panel was allowed to inspect contestants, studying their hands, or label on their suit or asking them to make a muscle. While ostensibly a game show, if there was time, it also was an opportunity to conduct interviews. ''Line's'' sister show, '' I've Got a Secret,'' and later, the syndicated version of ''WML'' engaged in the practice of contestants demonstrating their talents. However, despite frequent requests by the panel, particularly Arlene Francis, such demonstrations rarely occurred as according to executive producer Gil Fates, Daly was not fond of this practice.


Sponsors

After the first four episodes, the show gained its initial sponsor when
Jules Montenier Jules Bernard Montenier (March 23, 1895 – August 20, 1962), of Chicago, Illinois, was an American inventor and a cosmetic chemist. He founded Jules Montenier, Inc., a cosmetics company, and invented Stopette, an antiperspirant that was a longtim ...
paid to have his product, Stopette spray deodorant, featured in advertising on the program. This involved featuring the product in the show's opening, on the front of the panel's desk, above the sign-in board, and on Daly's scorecards. In his last years, Cerf explained to interviewer Robbin Hawkins that Montenier was ultimately ruined by his refusal to abandon or share sponsorship as the show entered new markets and became too expensive. After Montenier sold Stopette to Helene Curtis, the series was sponsored by a variety of companies which were either regular or rotating. Sponsors were accorded the same exposure on the set as Stopette. One of the first rotating sponsors, which actually came before Montenier's sale of Stopette to Helene Curtis (who continued to sponsor the program after the purchase and still promoted Stopette in their advertising), was the
Remington Rand Remington Rand, Inc. was an early American business machine manufacturer, originally a typewriter manufacturer and in a later incarnation the manufacturer of the UNIVAC line of mainframe computers. Formed in 1927 following a merger, Remington ...
Corporation, who used their time to promote their line of
electric shaver An electric shaver (also known as the dry razor, electric razor, or simply shaver) is a razor with an electrically powered rotating or oscillating blade. The electric shaver usually does not require the use of shaving cream, soap, or water, kno ...
and
computers A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ('' computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as ''programs'', ...
such as the
UNIVAC UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) was a line of electronic digital stored-program computers starting with the products of the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation. Later the name was applied to a division of the Remington Rand company and ...
. Near the end of its run, sponsors would be introduced in the opening title and given commercials during the show, but would not be displayed on the set. Frequent sponsors in the 1960s were
Kellogg's Kellanova, formerly known as the Kellogg Company and commonly known as Kellogg's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, US. Kellanova produces and markets con ...
cereals, Allstate Insurance, and Geritol.


Behind the scenes

Unknown to the public, mystery guests were paid $500 (equal to $ in ) as an appearance fee, whether they won or lost the game. This was in addition to the maximum $50 (equal to $ in ) game winnings, which guests sometimes donated to charity. Guest panelists were paid $750 (equal to $ in ) as an appearance fee. The regular panelists were under contract and were paid "much more," according to Fates.
Bennett Cerf Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearanc ...
explained that when he became a permanent member of the program, he was paid $300 (equal to $ in ) per week, and he told Robbin Hawkins in their interview that by the end of the series, the panelists were being paid "scandalous amounts of money."


Studio locations

The first four episodes (#001 – #004; February – March 16, 1950) were broadcast live from a converted loft at the former CBS Studio 41 Grand Central Studios at
Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal station, terminal located at 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York Ci ...
(15 Vanderbilt Ave., NY). Beginning with the first Wednesday episode (#005; April 12, 1950, and continuing until around 1951), the show was broadcast from the now demolished CBS Studio 51 ( Maxine Elliott's Theatre, aka Maxine Elliott Theatre, 109 W. 39th St., NY). At least by episode #034 (January 21, 1951), the show moved to CBS Studio 59 (Mansfield Theatre, later renamed the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in 1960, 256 W. 47th St., NY), and stayed until Episode #516, June 5, 1960. Meanwhile, the concurrent 1952–1953 Radio edition, at least during the CBS run, was heard live from CBS Studio Building 22 (49 E. 52nd St., NY). Episode #225 (September 19, 1954) was a color edition of the show, broadcast live from CBS Studio 72 (on Manhattan's
Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper We ...
, Broadway at 81st St., NY). This predated the show's eventual move to color by 12 years. Episode #323 (August 12, 1956), in conjunction with the
1956 Democratic National Convention The 1956 Democratic National Convention nominated former Governor Adlai Stevenson II, Adlai Stevenson of Illinois for president and United States Senate, Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee for vice president. It was held in the Internation ...
, was a special
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
episode broadcast from the studios of CBS owned-and-operated
WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's CBS network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington St ...
(630 N. McClurg Ct., Chicago, IL). Episode #397 (January 12, 1958) was a special Hollywood episode broadcast from
CBS Television City Television City, alternatively CBS Television City, is a television studio complex located in the Fairfax District, Los Angeles, Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California, United States. The facilities are located at 7800 Beverly Boulevard, at ...
(7800 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA). The moderator and panel's desks were not brought over, as they had been for the Chicago special. Beginning with episode #517 through episode #829 (June 12, 1960 – September 4, 1966), the show used CBS Studio 52 (254 W. 54th St., NY; the future
Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater and former nightclub at 254 West 54th Street (Manhattan), 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Opened as the Gallo Opera House in 1927, it served ...
). The last episode aired in black & white was taped on July 17, 1966, and the last episode to be produced there in black & white aired live on July 24. For the final season, from episode #830 to episode #876 (September 11, 1966 – September 3, 1967), in conjunction with the program's permanent move to color, the show used CBS Studio 50 (later renamed the
Ed Sullivan Theater The Ed Sullivan Theater (originally Hammerstein's Theatre; later the Manhattan Theatre, Billy Rose's Music Hall, CBS Radio Playhouse No. 3, and CBS Studio 50) is a theater at 1697–1699 Broadway, between 53rd and 54th streets, in the Theat ...
, 1697 Broadway at 53rd St., NY).


The final CBS network show

CBS announced in early 1967 that a number of game shows, including ''What's My Line?'', were to be canceled at the end of the season. Bennett Cerf wrote that the network had decided that game shows were no longer suitable for prime time, and that the news was broken by ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' on February 14 before anyone involved with the show was notified. The primary reason for the cancellation, along with the other panel shows CBS aired in prime time, was that the programs' low overall viewership—the key metric of success during Michael Dann's time with the network—could no longer justify their presence even as the shows continued to turn a profit with their low production costs. The 876th and final CBS telecast of ''What's My Line?'' aired on September 3, 1967; it was highlighted by clips from past telecasts, a visit by the show's first contestants, a challenger from the New York unemployment office, and the final mystery guest, who was John Daly himself. Daly had always been the emergency mystery guest in case the scheduled guest was unable to appear on the live broadcast, but this had never occurred. Mark Goodson, Bill Todman and (briefly) Johnny Olson appeared on-camera as well.


Broadcast history and Nielsen ratings


Syndicated revival (1968–1975)


Premiere

Once the original ''What's My Line?'' had ended, Goodson-Todman struck a deal with CBS's syndication arm, which in time became the present-day Viacom (now
CBS Media Ventures CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Paramount Domestic Television and CBS Television Distribution) is the television broadcast syndication arm of CBS Studios, a division of the CBS Entertainment Group, in turn a division of Paramount Global, ...
), to syndicate a new weekday videotaped edition, beginning one year after the network version's cancellation. This version became a staple of local stations' afternoon and early evening schedules, especially from the 1971–72 season onward, when the FCC forced networks to cede one half-hour to their affiliates. The
Prime Time Access Rule The Prime Time Access Rule (PTAR) was an American television broadcasting regulation enforced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from September 13, 1971, to August 30, 1996. It was instituted under concerns that television networks c ...
was intended to permit local stations to produce news and public affairs programming, but instead many of them turned to programs like ''WML,'' as practically all stations outside the largest markets found it unprofitable to produce their own shows locally. The first three seasons (1968–1971) originated from Studio 50, the home of the final year of the original series, but with a new, modern-design set. In 1971, production of ''What's My Line?'' moved from the Broadway studio to Studio 6-A at
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
in
Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The 14 original Art De ...
, and the series remained there for the rest of its run, with a set redesign in 1974 for the final season. As they had with the original series, Goodson-Todman went to
ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...
to seek a host, whose title had ceased to be that of "moderator," and hired Wally Bruner to take over for John Charles Daly. Bruner left the series at the conclusion of its fourth season in 1972, and Broadway actor Larry Blyden, who had already helmed several other gameshows and served as both a ''Line'' panelist and mystery guest in the past, stepped in at the beginning of the 1972–1973 season to host the remaining three seasons.


Panelists

The syndicated edition had two regular panelists for its entire run, with comedian Soupy Sales joining the returning
Arlene Francis Arlene Francis (born Arline Francis Kazanjian; October 20, 1907 – May 31, 2001) was an American game show panelist, actress, radio and television talk show host. She is best known for her long-running role as a panelist on the television game ...
.
Bennett Cerf Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearanc ...
appeared as a guest on an irregular basis until he died during production of the fourth season in 1971. Other panelists included
Alan Alda Alan Alda (; born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an American actor. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner and a three-time Tony Award nominee, he is best known for playing Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pier ...
, his father Robert Alda, Joanna Barnes, Joyce Brothers, Jack Cassidy, Bert Convy,
Joel Grey Joel Grey (born Joel David Katz; April 11, 1932) is an American actor, singer, dancer, photographer, and theatre director. He is best known for portraying the Master of Ceremonies in the musical ''Cabaret (musical), Cabaret'' on Broadway theatre, ...
,
Elaine Joyce Elaine Joyce (born Elaine Joyce Pinchot) is an American actress. Early life and education Elaine Joyce Pinchot was born in Kansas City, Missouri, of Hungarian ancestry, the daughter of Iliclina (née Nagy) and Frank Pinchot. Career She made ...
, Ruta Lee, Sam Levene, Meredith MacRae,
Henry Morgan Sir Henry Morgan (; – 25 August 1688) was a Welsh privateer, plantation owner, and, later, the lieutenant governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he and those under his command raided settlements and shipping ports o ...
,
Jerry Orbach Jerome Bernard Orbach (October 20, 1935 – December 28, 2004) was an American actor and singer, described at the time of his death as "one of the last'' bona fide'' leading men of the Broadway theatre, Broadway musical and global celebrity on te ...
,
Gene Rayburn Gene Rayburn (born Eugene Peter Jeljenic; December 22, 1917 – November 29, 1999) was an American radio and television personality. He is best known as the host of various editions of the American television game show ''Match Game'' for over tw ...
, Nipsey Russell, Gene Shalit, Dana Valery and Anita Gillette.


Look and style

Unlike its predecessor, the syndicated ''What's My Line?'' did not emphasize formality as the panelists did not dress in
formal wear Formal wear or full dress is the Western dress code category applicable for the most formal occasions, such as weddings, Baptism, christenings, confirmations, funerals, Easter traditions, Easter and Christmas traditions, in addition to certain ...
. In addition, the panelists were simply referred to by name and only their first names were displayed in front of them. The show did manage to keep some elements of the original series intact, as the cartoon introduction used during the final two seasons on CBS was reused with new music added. The panelists also entered in the same manner as they had before with Soupy Sales (or the panelist occupying the seat farthest left when he was absent) coming out first and introducing the person sitting next to them, and continuing down the line to Arlene Francis (or whoever occupied her seat while she was absent), who would then introduce the host. That practice continued until the beginning of the final season in 1974, when announcer Chet Gould began introducing the panelists and host Blyden at once, in a conventional fashion.


Who's Who? segment

In the 1960s and 1970s syndicated run, whenever there was extra time, a special game was instituted called "Who's Who." Four members of the studio audience were lined up on stage, and their occupations were printed on cards. Each panelist had 20 seconds to take those occupation cards to the appropriate contestant (the ones who they thought had that occupation). Each time one panelist failed, the audience team won $25 and another panelist took a turn. If all four panelists failed, each member of the team won an additional bonus prize. The game ended when the panel was stumped or if a panelist placed the occupations with the right contestants. If the panelists got it correct on the first try, the audience members received $5 and a year's supply of Turtle Wax. The producers considered the revival a merger of ''What's My Line?'' and its 1950s spinoff, ''I've Got a Secret,'' which resulted in noticeable changes from the original. As with ''Secret,'' contestants frequently demonstrated their skill or product after the game. Bruner, and later Blyden, would preface the demonstrations by asking Lloyd Gross, who directed most of the editions, "Lloyd, would you open the curtains, please?" Dollar signs for "no" answers were replaced by sequential numbers. Mystery guest rounds were no longer scored and simply ended with a correct guess or when time ran out. The set, designed by veteran Goodson-Todman art director
Theodore Cooper Theodore Cooper (January 13, 1839 – August 24, 1919) was an American civil engineer. He may be best known as consulting engineer on the Quebec Bridge that collapsed in 1907. Biography Upon receiving a degree in civil engineering from Resselaer I ...
, was predominantly blue and featured walls behind the panel and host areas tiled with illustrations representing various occupations. This set debuted when the show premiered, made the move from Broadway to Rockefeller Center in 1971, and was used until the end of the 1973–74 season.


Fates' Law

From 1973 to 1975 the name of producer Gil Fates was invoked by host Larry Blyden on every episode of ''What's My Line?'' As Blyden explained before introducing mystery guest
Paul Lynde Paul Edward Lynde (; June 13, 1926January 10, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, and game-show panelist. A character actor with a distinctively campy and snarky persona that often poked fun at his closeted homosexuality, Lynde was well know ...
: "It's time to tell the audience and the members of the panel, especially those watching the program over the last 22 years, about a new development known as Fates' Law. Fates' Law is that any member who guesses who the mystery guest is and is wrong is then out. That's Fates' Law." Fates himself explained that the rule was named by Blyden but actually inspired by panelist Soupy Sales: "Soupy knows everybody in show business. He could identify even the most obscure comic or nightclub singer despite the most bizarre vocal disguise... he new rulecut down a bit on the number of instant solutions, not only from Soupy but also from other panelists who had a tendency to guess."


Later introductions

For the 1974–75 season, the show's set was changed. The tiles were done away with in favor of having blue walls with question marks painted on them, and the rest of the set adopted a red and yellow color palette. Also, the animated intro was done away with in favor of the show's announcer (usually Gould) offering a brief preview of one of the contestants' games. A bright, contemporary music package was composed by Charles Fox. According to Fox's book, ''Killing Me Softly: My Life in Music,'' Bob Israel of
Score Productions Score Productions is an American musical production company specializing in background music and themes for television shows. Started in 1963 in a brownstone townhouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan by music producer Bob Israel, Score has c ...
paid him a buyout fee of $1,000 (equal to $ today) for the work. The music was performed and recorded at CTS Studios in Wembley, England, with Fox, Israel and producer Mark Goodson in attendance.


Announcers

Johnny Olson continued as announcer until a short time into the 1972–73 season, when he departed for California to begin his tenures as announcer of the revivals of ''
The Price Is Right ''The Price Is Right'' is an American television game show where contestants compete by guessing the prices of merchandise to win cash and prizes. A 1972 revival by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman of their The Price Is Right (1956 American game ...
'' (which he continued to do until his passing in 1985) and '' I've Got a Secret'' (1972–73). Following Olson's departure, a succession of guest announcers were used, including Wayne Howell, Dennis Wholey, Bob Williams, Jack Haskell and Chet Gould, with Gould eventually taking over full-time in early 1973.
Gene Wood Eugene Edward Wood (October 20, 1925 – May 21, 2004) was an American television personality, known primarily for his work as an announcer on various game shows. From the 1950s to the 1990s, he announced many game shows, primarily Mark Goodson ...
also sub-announced an episode in 1970.


After the death of Bennett Cerf

After Bennett Cerf's death in 1971, stations continued to air shows where he was a panelist resulting in confusion among some fans, who were seeing "new" episodes with Cerf long after hearing about his death. At the time, syndication involved videotape-sharing among stations that aired a series, a practice referred to as "bicycling." As such, while ''What's My Line?'' aired daily on weekdays, each station airing the show did not air the same episode on a particular day. This prompted producer Gil Fates, who recalled the situation in his book, ''What's My Line?: TV's Most Famous Panel Show,'' to send a form letter response to fans who had written complaining about the late Bennett Cerf's failure to disappear, some saying the television stations were using poor taste. Fates explained that Cerf indeed had died, but television was practicing a time-honored tradition of celebrating one's work long after his death. As he wrote in his book, Fates knew, but did not tell viewers, about the production costs that would have gone to waste had his company acceded to the demands, some coming from station managers, to scrap the Cerf videotapes.


Revival's end and Blyden's death

The syndicated series ran for 1,320 episodes over seven seasons. An attempt at an eighth season did not get off the ground as not enough stations were willing to pick up the series for an additional year. With this in mind, Goodson-Todman offered host Blyden the hosting position on '' Showoffs,'' a charades-based game show that the company was developing for ABC's daytime lineup. He accepted and shot a pilot shortly after ''What's My Line?'' ended production. However, Blyden never got to host the series as he was killed in an automobile accident while traveling in
Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
just before taping was to begin. At the time of Blyden's death, a handful of new episodes of ''What's My Line?'' had yet to air in certain markets; by the fall of 1975, the last of these episodes had aired across the United States. Comedian Bobby Van ended up hosting ''Showoffs.''


Later revival attempts

New versions of ''WML'' were planned as early as 1981, then in 1996, the show was going to be revived by a joint venture between All-American Television and Miramax Films (which also would have been Miramax's first foray into television game shows) as it was being described as "a new model" that would have blended the original features such as having a celebrity panel question contestants in an effort to guess their occupation and also having the panel blindfolded to guess the identity of a famous person, with contemporary "special effects" and "interactive twists." CBS reportedly committed to air six episodes for its fall 1999 schedule. However, according to Miramax TV president Billy Campbell, the deal crumbled because the network decided the show was too costly and ambitious. In 2000, a pilot was shot with host Harry Anderson for CBS, but was later turned down in favor of the reality show ''
Survivor Survivor(s) may refer to: * one who survives Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Survivors, characters in the 1997 KKnD series#Armies, ''KKnD'' video-game series * ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Foundation'', a fictional ...
.'' This pilot started with three panelists playing the Mystery Guest round; the guest would then be the fourth panelist for the remainder of the episode. In 2008, another revival of the show with David Hasselhoff was planned in cooperation with
FremantleMedia Fremantle Limited (), formerly FremantleMedia, is a British multinational television production and distribution company based in London. The company was founded as Pearson Television in 1993 when publishing and education company Pearson ...
, which had taken over ownership of all Goodson-Todman and Mark Goodson Productions programming, that never got off the ground. In 2014, another pilot for a revival was shot to offer to stations in 2015, but it also failed to sell.


After ''What's My Line?''


25th anniversary special

In early 1975, with production on break, it became clear to staff that the seventh season of the syndicated ''What's My Line?'' would be the last. This was the time of year when production companies and syndicators tried to sell new and continuing series to local stations. Viacom and Goodson-Todman found themselves unable to secure contracts with enough stations to justify continuing to produce the program beyond the episodes that had been videotaped on or prior to December 12, 1974. Just days after disbanding their technical crew, Mark Goodson and Bill Todman pitched the idea of a retrospective network special to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the program's CBS debut, called ''What's My Line at 25''. The programming department at CBS turned down the idea,Fates p. 204 but ABC bought it. The special eventually was broadcast by ABC on May 28, 1975, on the late-night series ''
ABC's Wide World of Entertainment ''ABC's Wide World of Entertainment'' is a late night television block of programs created by the ABC television network. It premiered on January 8, 1973, and ended three years later. The title was based on the long-running broadcast ''ABC's Wid ...
'', and is currently available for viewing at The Paley Center for Media. It made a return twice on basic-cable television as a one-time rerun on GSN (Game Show Network) on December 25, 2014, at 1:00 A.M. EST and as part of
Buzzr Buzzr (stylized as BUZZR) is an American digital broadcast television network owned by Fremantle North America, a unit of the Fremantle subsidiary of RTL Group. The network serves as an outlet for the extensive library of classic game shows ow ...
"Lost & Found" week on September 29, 2018, at 6:30 P.M. EST. In producing the special, the only existing master 16 millimeter prints of the original series kinescope films were removed from storage and brought to a Manhattan editing facility that Goodson-Todman Productions rented. There, company employees Gil Fates, Bob Bach, Pamela Usdan and Bill Egan worked round-the-clock for three days to compile the 90-minute special under deadline pressure from ABC network official Bob Shanks. In the process of viewing and editing the films for the special, they accidentally damaged or destroyed several kinescope films that spanned the entire run of the original series, including a few that did not make the final cut of the retrospective. In addition, some unspooled film remained on the floor after the group's rented time at the facility ran out. An April 1967 episode featuring
Candice Bergen Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an American actress. She won five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards as the title character on '' Murphy Brown'' (1988–1998, 2018). She is also known for her role as Shirley Schmi ...
as the mystery guest was lost in its entirety, as was a June 1967 episode featuring both
Betty Grable Elizabeth Ruth Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer. Her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million, and for 10 consecutive years (1942–1951) she p ...
and F. Lee Bailey. Other episodes sustained only partial damage, such as a 1965 episode that is mainly damaged during the mystery guest appearance of
Marian Anderson Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897April 8, 1993) was an American contralto. She performed a wide range of music, from opera to spirituals. Anderson performed with renowned orchestras in major concert and recital venues throughout the United S ...
. Mark Goodson, Arlene Francis and John Charles Daly appeared on-camera in 1975 having a conversation that introduced the old kinescope clips. Hosts of the syndicated version, Wally Bruner and Larry Blyden, were alive at the time but did not participate. With the exception of Bruner's 1969 appearance with mystery guest Gerald Ford (presented in black and white), the 25th anniversary special consisted entirely of highlights from the CBS Sunday night version of the series, that viewers likely remembered more fondly than the syndicated version.


''That's My Line''

In 1980, Mark Goodson began production of '' That's My Line'' which also highlighted the unusual occupations of ordinary people. However, the show was developed as a reality show and had no panel or game elements. ''What's My Line?'' announcer Johnny Olson was the announcer, and Bob Barker was the host for the show which ran for two seasons on CBS.


Live stage version (2004–present)

From November 2004 to July 2006, Jim Newman and J. Keith van Straaten produced one-hour live stage versions of the show at the ACME Comedy Theatre in
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, titled ''What's My Line? — Live On Stage''. The Los Angeles version of the live show went on hiatus when van Straaten relocated to New York, then resumed in June 2007. The production debuted in New York at the
Barrow Street Theatre Barrow Street Theatre is the name of both a 199-seat Off-Broadway theatre located in New York City's historic Greenwich house, Greenwich House at 27 Barrow Street and a production company of the same name. From 2003 to 2018, the venue was leased ...
on March 24, 2008, for an announced run of six shows. The show is now an authorized production as it is licensed by FremantleMedia, the owners of ''What's My Line?''. As of April 12, 2008 the New York mystery guests have been
George Wendt George Robert Wendt Jr. (October 17, 1948 – May 20, 2025) was an American actor. Wendt was best known for playing Norm Peterson on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'' from 1982 to 1993, which earned him six consecutive nominations for the Primetime Em ...
,
Moby Richard Melville Hall (September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, disc jockey, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "amo ...
, Natalia Paruz and Tony Roberts. Panelists have included Jonathan Ames, Joy Browne, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Frank DeCaro, Michael Riedel, and original TV version veterans Betsy Palmer and Julia Meade. The first guest on the New York show (#75 in the production overall) was Pat Finch, who was the first guest on the first CBS episode. In Los Angeles, panelists have included Carlos Alazraqui, Alison Arngrim, E. G. Daily, Andy Dick, Paul Goebel,
Danny Goldman Daniel Goldman (October 30, 1939 – April 12, 2020) was an American actor and casting director. He was the voice of Brainy Smurf in Hanna-Barbera's '' The Smurfs'' (1981–1989). Early life Goldman graduated from Far Rockaway High School in ...
, Annabelle Gurwitch,
Mariette Hartley Mary Loretta Hartley (born June 21, 1940) is an American film and television actress. She is possibly best known for her roles in film as Elsa Knudsen in Sam Peckinpah's '' Ride the High Country'' (1962), Susan Clabon in Alfred Hitchcock's '' M ...
,
Elaine Hendrix Katherine Elaine Hendrix (born December 28, 1970) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in ''Dynasty,'' '' Superstar'', '' Romy and Michele's High School Reunion'', the 1995 ''Get Smart'' series, the 1998 remake of '' The Parent Tra ...
, Marty Ingels, Cathy Ladman, David Lander, Kate Linder, Ann Magnuson, Jayne Meadows,
Lee Meriwether Lee Ann Meriwether (born May 27, 1935) is an American actress and the winner of the 1955 Miss America pageant. She has appeared in many films and television shows, notably as Betty Jones, the title character's secretary and daughter-in-law in th ...
,
Patt Morrison Patt Morrison is a journalist, author, and radio-television personality based in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles and Southern California. Media Morrison is a writer for the ''Los Angeles Times'', with the weekly '' 'Patt Morrison Asks' '' ...
,
Rick Overton Richard Overton (born August 10, 1954) is an American actor and screenwriter. His writing credits include ''Dennis Miller Live'' (1994–2002), for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award, while his acting credits include '' Gung Ho'' and '' O ...
,
Jimmy Pardo James Ronald Pardo, Jr. is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and host of the comedy podcast ''Never Not Funny''. From the show's inception until mid-2015, he performed as the Conan O'Brien program Conan (talk show), ''Conans warm-up comedi ...
,
Lisa Jane Persky Lisa Jane Persky (born May 5, 1955) is an American actress, journalist, author, artist, and photographer. She played supporting roles in the films '' The Great Santini'' (1979), '' Peggy Sue Got Married'' (1986) and '' When Harry Met Sally...'' ...
, Nancy Pimental, Greg Proops, Mink Stole, Nicole Sullivan, Marcia Wallace, Matt Walsh,
Len Wein Leonard Norman Wein (; June 12, 1948 – September 10, 2017) was an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine (character), Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel sup ...
,
Wil Wheaton Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is an American actor and writer. He portrayed Wesley Crusher on the television series ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'', Gordie Lachance in the film ''Stand by Me (film), Stand by Me'', ...
, Gary Anthony Williams,
Debra Wilson Debra Wilson is an American actress and comedian. She is the longest-serving original cast member on the sketch comedy series ''Mad TV'', having appeared on the show's first eight seasons from 1995 to 2003. As a voice actress, she has voiced va ...
,
April Winchell April Terri Winchell (born January 4, 1960) is an American actress, writer, and radio host. Since 1996, she has been the voice of Clarabelle Cow. Early life Born on January 4, 1960, in Whitestone, New York, but raised in the Greater Los Angel ...
, and
Andy Zax Andy Zax (active since 1999) is an American music historian and a producer of music reissues. Early life and education A Los Angeles native, Zax received a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from USC Fi ...
. Mystery guests have included Ed Begley Jr., Stephen Bishop, Mr. Blackwell,
LeVar Burton Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) is an American actor, director, and television host. He played Geordi La Forge in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1994), Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries ''Roots'' (1977 ...
, Brett Butler, José Canseco,
Drew Carey Drew Allison Carey (born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actor and game show host. After serving in the United States Marine Corps, U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey gained stardom in his own Situa ...
, Andy Dick,
Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * he He ..., a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...
and
Kitty Dukakis Katharine Dickson Dukakis ( ; Maiden and married names, née Dickson; December 26, 1936 – March 21, 2025) was an American author and activist for various social causes. She served as the First Lady of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and 1983 t ...
, Hector Elizondo, Nanette Fabray,
Peter Falk Peter Michael Falk (September 16, 1927 – June 23, 2011) was an American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Columbo (character), Lieutenant Columbo on the NBC/American Broadcasting Company, ABC series ''Columbo'' (196 ...
, Bruce Jenner,
Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American TV and radio host presenter, author, and former spokesman. He was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s and beginning in ...
,
Kathy Kinney Kathy Kinney (born 1954) is an American actress and comedian. After appearing as Prudence Godard on the CBS sitcom ''Newhart'' (1989–1990), she achieved fame with her portrayal of Mimi Bobeck on ABC's ''The Drew Carey Show'' (1995–2004). ...
, Bruno Kirby,
Tara Lipinski Tara Kristen Lipinski (born June 10, 1982) is an American former competitive figure skater, actress, sports commentator, and documentary film producer. A former competitor in women's singles, she is the 1998 Olympic champion, the 1997 Worl ...
,
Lisa Loeb Lisa Anne Loeb (; born March 11, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author and actress. She started her career with " Stay (I Missed You)" from the film '' Reality Bites'', the first number-one single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 10 ...
, Shelley Long,
Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...
, Rose Marie, Wink Martindale,
Sally Struthers Sally Anne Struthers (born July 28, 1947) is an American actress and activist. She played Gloria Stivic, the daughter of Archie Bunker, Archie and Edith Bunker in ''All in the Family'', for which she won two Emmy Awards, and Babette on ''Gilmor ...
, Rip Taylor,
Judy Tenuta Judy Lynn Tenuta (November 7, 1949 – October 6, 2022) was an American comedian, actress, and comedy musician. She was known for her whimsical and brash persona of "The Love Goddess", mixing insult comedy, observational humor, self-promotion, ...
,
Alan Thicke Alan Willis Thicke (né Jeffrey; 1 March 1947 13 December 2016) was a Canadian-American actor, songwriter, and game/talk show host. He was the father of singer Robin Thicke. Thicke was best known for playing Dr. Jason Seaver on the 1980s sitco ...
,
Dick Van Patten Richard Vincent Van Patten (December 9, 1928 – June 23, 2015) was an American actor, comedian, businessman, and animal welfare advocate, whose career spanned seven decades of television. He was best known for his role as patriarch Tom Bra ...
, Lindsay Wagner,
Wil Wheaton Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is an American actor and writer. He portrayed Wesley Crusher on the television series ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'', Gordie Lachance in the film ''Stand by Me (film), Stand by Me'', ...
,
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, and
Sean Young Mary Sean Young (born November 20, 1959) is an American actress. She is particularly known for working in science fiction films, although she has performed roles in a variety of genres. Young's early roles include the Independent film, indepe ...
. Panelists and guests who appeared on the original TV versions and on the stage version include Shelley Berman,
Lee Meriwether Lee Ann Meriwether (born May 27, 1935) is an American actress and the winner of the 1955 Miss America pageant. She has appeared in many films and television shows, notably as Betty Jones, the title character's secretary and daughter-in-law in th ...
, radio commentator
Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...
, Jayne Meadows, Nanette Fabray, Joanna Barnes,
Julie Newmar Julie Newmar (born Julia Chalene Newmeyer; August 16, 1933) is an American actress, dancer, and singer known for a variety of stage, screen, and television roles. She is also a writer, lingerie designer, and real estate Business magnate, mogul. ...
,
Margaret O'Brien Angela Maxine O'Brien (born January 15, 1937), known professionally as Margaret O'Brien, is an American actress. Beginning a career in feature films for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at age four, O'Brien became a child star and received a Juvenile Acade ...
, and Marty Ingels. Usually when such a veteran appears, the audience watches a pristine-quality DVD screening of the original kinescope film on a plasma screen. Non-celebrities include the lifelong Los Angeles-area resident who challenged the panel with her line, afterward reminiscing how 43 years earlier she had traveled to New York, where
Arlene Francis Arlene Francis (born Arline Francis Kazanjian; October 20, 1907 – May 31, 2001) was an American game show panelist, actress, radio and television talk show host. She is best known for her long-running role as a panelist on the television game ...
identified her as a meter maid. A clip from the kinescope film was played. In addition, the show has featured relatives of the original cast: Jill Kollmar (daughter of Dorothy Kilgallen and Richard Kollmar), Nina Daly (daughter of
John Charles Daly John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly (February 20, 1914 – February 24, 1991) was an American journalist, host, CBS radio and television personality, ABC News (United States), ABC News executive, TV anchor, and game show host, best known for his wor ...
), and
Vint Cerf Vinton Gray Cerf (; born June 23, 1943) is an American Internet pioneer and is recognized as one of "the fathers of the Internet", sharing this title with TCP/IP co-developer Robert Kahn. He has received honorary degrees and awards that inclu ...
(co-inventor of the Internet and distant cousin of
Bennett Cerf Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearanc ...
). It also included a segment in which Vint Cerf's son Bennett (named after the panelist) appeared as a guest.


Episode availability

All original series shows were recorded via
kinescope Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940s ...
onto motion picture film, but networks in the early 1950s sometimes destroyed such recordings to recover the
silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...
content from the film. CBS regularly recycled ''What's My Line?'' kinescopes until July 1952, when Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, having realized it was occurring, offered to pay the network for a film of every broadcast. As a result, only about ten episodes exist from the first two years of the series, including the first three broadcasts. Episode #048 from April 29, 1951, exists at the University of Wisconsin Center For Film and Theater Research. Episode #013 (August 2, 1950), episode #084 (January 6, 1952), and episode #855 (March 26, 1967) exist at The Paley Center for Media. An audio-only portion of episode #079 from December 2, 1951 (only has part of Game 1 with Mrs. Virginia Hendershot as the Steam Shovel Operator from Bound Brook, NJ) exists. A portion of episode #097 (April 6, 1952), the full episode #533 (October 2, 1960), and the full milestone 800th episode (January 23, 1966) exist at the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Only a portion of episode #191 (January 24, 1954) w/Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis as mystery guests exists, and was shown in ''What's My Line? at 25''. Episode #195 (February 21, 1954) only exists among collectors as a second-hand kinescope, as the official kinescope is missing from the Goodson-Todman archive. In 2016, episode #018, aired live on October 1, 1950, was discovered by a film archivist. It was preserved and digitally converted for release. An audio-only excerpt from the otherwise lost episode #866 (June 18, 1967) can be heard in an LP called ''The Age of Television''. This album, which was released by RCA Records in 1971, featured interviews with TV personalities about the medium's first 25 years. One of these interviews concerned ''What's My Line?'' and included audio from the mystery guest segment featuring Betty Grable from that now-lost episode. Lost segments include one in which panelists tried to determine that a contestant was a lawyer. He was F. Lee Bailey. The existing kinescope films (now digitized) have subsequently been rerun on television. The series has been seen on
Game Show Network Game Show Network (GSN) is an American basic cable channel owned by the television network division of Sony Pictures Television. The channel's programming is primarily dedicated to game shows, including reruns of acquired game shows, along wit ...
at various times. The series has also been shown on
Buzzr Buzzr (stylized as BUZZR) is an American digital broadcast television network owned by Fremantle North America, a unit of the Fremantle subsidiary of RTL Group. The network serves as an outlet for the extensive library of classic game shows ow ...
, a digital broadcast television network which is owned and operated by
Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...
. Some episodes of the CBS radio version of the 1950s are available to visitors to the
Paley Center for Media The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York City with a branch office in Los Angeles. It is de ...
in New York City and Beverly Hills, CA. Others are at the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
in
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, where procedures to access them are more complicated.
Alpha Video Alpha Video (also known as Alpha Home Entertainment) is an entertainment company founded in 1985 as New Age Video, based near Philadelphia, that specializes in the manufacturing and marketing of public domain movies and TV shows on DVD. Alp ...
released a
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
containing four episodes on February 26, 2008. This is an unofficial release of
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...
episodes, and it is unclear if an official release will occur. A
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
channel features all surviving 757 episodes of the CBS run of ''What's My Line?'', plus extras featuring WML regulars, various compilations of clips, and several "lost" episodes that were never included in reruns. Some are off-the-air home recordings of rebroadcasts. Many, but not all, episodes of the 1968–75 syndicated run were preserved and have been rebroadcast, since the 1990s, on several cable and broadcast networks, notably GSN and
Buzzr Buzzr (stylized as BUZZR) is an American digital broadcast television network owned by Fremantle North America, a unit of the Fremantle subsidiary of RTL Group. The network serves as an outlet for the extensive library of classic game shows ow ...
.


Merchandise


Board games


Lowell (1955)

The original ''What's My Line?,'' based on the Daly era, was released by Lowell in 1955.


Whitman (1969)

The second version, based on the Bruner/Blyden era, was released by Whitman in 1969.


Endless Games (2001)

In order to commemorate the show's 50th Anniversary at the time, this version was released by Endless Games in 2001.


Record album

Released by Dot in 1955, audio recordings of eight "mystery guest" segments from the original Daly era can only be heard.


Book

Released by Prentice Hall in 1978, Gil Fates, the executive producer of the show, looks back over the quarter-century run of the series. The cover of the book features the photos of panelists
Arlene Francis Arlene Francis (born Arline Francis Kazanjian; October 20, 1907 – May 31, 2001) was an American game show panelist, actress, radio and television talk show host. She is best known for her long-running role as a panelist on the television game ...
,
Bennett Cerf Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearanc ...
, Dorothy Kilgallen and host John Daly.


In popular culture

* The 1956 children's novel '' The Hundred and One Dalmatians'' by Dodie Smith as well as its Disney movie adaptation from 1961 included a parody of ''What's My Line?'' entitled ''What's My Crime?'' in which panelists had to figure out what a criminal's committed crime was. * A 1959 episode of '' The Art Carney Special'' had a parody sketch called "Whats Your Business?", featuring
Art Carney Arthur William Matthew Carney (November 4, 1918 – November 9, 2003) was an American actor and comedian. A recipient of an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe Award, and six Primetime Emmy Awards, he was best kn ...
as John Daly,
Dick van Dyke Richard Wayne Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, entertainer and comedian. Dick Van Dyke on screen and stage, His work spans screen and stage, and List of awards and nominations received by Dick Van Dyke, his awards includ ...
as mystery guest Stone Martin, and Betty Garrett as Arlene Francis. *
Woody Allen Heywood Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades. Allen has received many List of awards and nominations received by Woody Allen, accolade ...
parodied ''What's My Line?'' in his 1972 film '' Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex,'' with the segment "What Are Sex Perverts?" featuring a game show called ''What's My Perversion?'' Appearing as panelists were
Robert Q. Lewis Robert Q. Lewis (born Robert Goldberg; April 25, 1921 – December 11, 1991) was an American radio and television entertainer, comedian, game show host and actor. Although born with the Goldberg name, he grew up as Lewis, his father's profe ...
, who had been a panelist on the original ''What's My Line?'', and Pamela Mason, who had been a mystery guest. Jack Barry, partner of Dan Enright, both of whom had taken falls in the quiz-show scandals of the 1950s, hosted the ''What's My Perversion?'' game show, shortly before both finally returned to television in triumph with '' The Joker's Wild''. * In the late 1970s, the comedy show SCTV did a parody titled "What's My Shoe Size?".


International versions


See also

*'' Figure It Out'' *''
Front Page Challenge ''Front Page Challenge'' was a Canadian panel game about current events and history. Created by comedy writer/performer John Aylesworth (of the comedy team of Frank Peppiatt and John Aylesworth) and produced and aired by CBC Television, the s ...
''


References


External links

* * * *
''What's My Line?'' — Live On Stage
1950 American television series debuts 1967 American television series endings 1968 American television series debuts 1975 American television series endings 1950s American game shows 1960s American game shows 1970s American game shows American panel games 1950s Australian game shows Black-and-white American television shows Black-and-white Australian television shows CBS game shows Nine Network original programming Emmy Award–winning programs American English-language television shows American live television series First-run syndicated game shows Panel games Television series by Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions Television series by CBS Studios Television shows filmed in New York (state) 1956 Australian television series debuts 1958 Australian television series endings Guessing games