By N.S.
Some readers and contributors here have lamented the decline of tv game shows, inspiring me to post this item.
What's My Line? ran from 1950-1967. It was hosted by John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly Jr. (1914-1991), a lace-curtain Irishman who was born in Johannesburg, South Africa to a mining engineer. By the way, that's from memory. At some point during the past few years, someone at imdb.com has scrubbed all mention of his parents.
The show was nominated for five prime-time game or audience participation emmys between 1953 and 1959, winning three. Its regular panelists were actress Arlene Francis (1907-2001), Dorothy Kilgallen (1913-1965; accidental overdose of sleeping pills and liquor) and, most brilliant, Bennett Cerf (1898-1971), the founder of Random House books. Francis and Cerf were panelists for the length of the original show's run.
Back in those days, calling something "urbane" was a great compliment. Some time in the 1970s or '80s, urbane was retired. "Urban" appeared. Urban was a euphemism for "the stuff of racist black and hispanic thugs," but it somehow became a positive.
Note that brilliant, long-time panelist Bennett Cerf, like Richard Rodgers (1902-1979), was a graduate of PS10 in Manhattan. John Daly brings up in this episode that PS10 was only days away from having a school reunion honoring Cerf. During the 1930s, future Nobel Laureate Dick Feynman (1918-1988) attended Far Rockaway High School.
I bring up such matters because many of the most brilliant minds in the country grew up attending the New York City public schools. Today, they could not. Far Rockaway High School became such a racist, black-dominated ghetto school that any Whites attending it either become punching bags, human atms, and/or rape toys. The new york city department of education shut it down in 2011. hanged the school's name, in order to hide its criminal history. And nobody glorifies such schools' earlier history, because that would entail glorifying brilliant White men, which is as taboo (unless they were homosexuals, like Turing) as criticizing black crime.
If you want to play along, cover your eyes when John Daly announces a guest, so you won't see the spoiler on the screen. Then, when the mystery guest appears, cover your eyes for the entire segment, just like the panelists.
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3 comments:
Today,on the panel,you'd have Lizzo,Cedric the "Entertainer",Al Roker and MAYBE,Jason Alexander--as the token White.Your host,most likely Michael Strahan or the loudmouth negress host of the horrible "Password" show.
Exactly correct N.S.,the networks think that blacks shrieking and screaming about nothing in particular is exciting for tv.The more reserved White person is reviled and rejected as both guest or contestant.Plus White audiences will watch blacks,but blacks won't watch Whitey--the same method used in voting.
And as a reminder of how far America has fallen in entertainment,there were some great mystery guests who appeared EVERY WEEK.You couldn't find more than a handful of decent celebrities nowadays that would be of interest or anyone would even know.
--GRA
The first guest looked like a kindly old man,but surprise--he was an ex-baseball pitcher,who had pitched(in 1922) the only perfect game,prior to Don Larsen's in 1956.That wasn't why he was there though.
And David Niven is a panelist.Is there anyone around today comparable to Niven?
Where did all the talent go?
--GRA
I've got one for you on youtube.Tbe Wally Cox episode from 1953,the second person is a lady who "fixed zippers".Steve Allen asked some questions that were unintentionally hilarious.
Wally was a big star at this point and was guessed rather easily.
--GRA
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