1950 What's My Line Debut First Aired Episode! | BUZZR

[@WintersWar]

pretty neat watching this show bumping along the bottom in it's infancy. they were able to see what and wasn't necessary.

[@jamesgee9738]

John Daly a True Gentleman.

[@C_HILL_OUT]

Seeing these early episodes makes you realize how much Arlene Francis really brought to this show.

[@mcmlxii4419]

Yes. At first I thought the panel was going to be made up entirely of stodgy old men, before they got to Dorothy.

[@MikeMc442]

@@mcmlxii4419 Shifting to a mix of two men and two women improved the chemistry; so did bringing in witty panelists such as Bennett Cerf, Steve and Fred Allen. The debut episode came off at times like a courtroom drama with witnesses being grilled.

[@mcmlxii4419]

@@MikeMc442 Well, yeah I guess...if you're a person who considers Bennett Cerf to be a witty panelist. Personally, I don't happen to be one of those people. More often than not, he came across as crude and one-dimensional.

[@stevemarx415]

U in it y8 use it

[@anneroy4560]

she has no chin ...@@mcmlxii4419

[@macmcleod1188]

"do you consider your life worth while?" "In other words do you give comfort, joy or substance to other people" Right there. Key difference between them and now. And a strong personal philosophy.

[@mikewrasman5103]

The panelists and John Daly later switched to formal evening dresses and tuxedos.

[@mistermac56]

CBS wasn't happy with the format of the show and the camera work early on. It is good that they had patience to keep the show on the air and after retooling it and getting good financial support from sponsors, it became the hit show for decades we all love.

[@captainsenileinfo]

John DALY was a cool dude even back then.

[@margaretklos8937]

He was, but him lighting a cigarette next to that girl was not cool imo.

[@MrBig1946]

Well, off to a very awkward start - a good learning experience. I guess the good news is that there were so few households back then with a television.

[@michaelinminn]

Phil Rizzuto, Pro athlete, Hall of Famer, New York Yankee, and he worked off season selling suits. My oh my !

[@MikeMc442]

Some years later, he was a panelist for a night.

[@LandondeeL]

Back then, MLB only paid players during the actual baseball season.

[@NEPatriot]

You mean, HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@larchmontmark1]

So great to have this, and I love especially that the first mystery guest was Rizzuto -- but like many of the other comments say, this wasn't a great episode. That said, it's nicely remarkable that so much of the format survived forever.

[@maryeckerberg8041]

So awful they were allowed to smoke on this show.

[@stratplayr6997]

I kept waiting for Phil Rizzuto to say "HOLY COW!", Loved watching him on the NY Yankee broadcasts for all those years, R.I.P. Scooter

[@garyfrancis6193]

I was born in June 1950 so I missed this show.

[@MrMalibu30]

This was 10 days before I was born..............

[@mariedirvin5468]

Would be great to be on tv instead of Cell phone

[@amethystanne4586]

My parents had not even met each other yet when this episode aired. Dad’s family could not afford a TV. Mom’s parents did not have electricity on the family farm. They had a battery-powered radio.

[@hcombs0104]

Holy Cow 🐮, it's Phil Rizzuto!

[@georgemaster689]

Shows like these need to be put onto newer media.This way it won't fade into obscurlty!

[@lesterhall5145]

Lighting a smoke, I remember when yo uh would ask a lady if she minded.

[@glennwisniewski9536]

Phil Rizzuto is also known for his "play-by-play" in Meatloaf's classic Paradise by the Dashboard Light.

[@chrisandersen5635]

How?? Do you have this recording? History. Different time. Kind of amazing.

[@witherblaze]

Mark Goodson really cared for this show, and asked CBS to not wipe much. Though that policy didn't become a thing until 1952. So anything before 1952 is up in the air.

[@RalphOnofrio]

The Scooter as a kid.....Just great.

[@58christiansful]

Interestingly awkward if not gauche - improved immensely as the show progressed.

[@mepperganfortas]

Yes. I watched these live from about 1962 on. People were civil and educated. Not like today's Hip Hop frenzied B's.

[@mepperganfortas]

Some of the comments toward large people seem very inappropriate now. Then people were more direct, less educated, and not very concerned with sugar coating everything.

[@ModMokkaMatti]

Took a major step backward with the inclusion of the uncouth clod, Hal Block. Thank goodness they overcame that casting gaffe.

[@martinfelsenfeld6012]

I believe this was about the only episode that Arlene Francis didn't appear on--if my memory is correct!

[@quizmaster85]

There have actually been a few episodes where Ms. Francis didn't appear.

[@cynthiaahern9081]

The neurosurgeon really pissed off the veterinarian.

[@antoniograncino3506]

A no more awkward debut than a good many live TV shows ever since. I was hoping to see some early commercials.

[@morganrussell6783]

I 💖 this show 💯

[@ajbeard2444]

She still has her purse on her shoulder. 🤣

[@paulgrimaldi1751]

Who was lucky to have a television set in 1950!?

[@sandybruce9092]

We didn’t get one till sometime in 1951. I was 4 and have no memory of this but I was told by my Mom that she needed one because my new sister was cranky!!!

[@davebevpeffer4176]

John Daly NOT standing after the guest signs in.

[@flyingchimp12]

The no clapping was absolutely painful lol

[@HelloooThere]

OMG 😱

[@darrelltiencken9421]

So formal!

[@yvetteking7749]

Lovely!

[@joeguzman3558]

It's funny to see the doctor smoking cigarettes Lol

[@Questor-ky2fv]

Great show! Unfortunately, the volume is a little too low to run the video while doing chores. I'd have to hold my phone the whole time, to have it close enough to hear good, which would prevent me from getting my chores done. Unfortunately, I have to give episode one a pass. Been watching random episodes ever since they started showing up in my KZbin feed a short time ago. However, this isn't my first introduction to the show. In the sixties, when I was a little kid, my mother used to watch this and other game shows, along with some soap operas while doing her own chores. She also exercised along with Jack LaLane. Being little, I was mostly hanging out with my mother until I was a little bigger, so I was exposed to all of her daytime shows. Never did like the soap operas, but the rest of them were okay. I will continue watching this series, and the other game shows that she used to watch, but will have to keep skipping low volume episodes. For those wondering, Mom passed away in 2003. My father made it into his mid 90s, but passed away 2 or 3 years ago. Stepmom is still around. I owe her an email, but I'm behind on my chores. I want to make a bigger dent in them before spending a lot of time on my desktop computer to catch up with everyone. Thanks for posting this video!😊

[@MrXminus1]

Comments that couldn’t be made today.

[@mariedirvin5468]

A cyber company in those days

[@savvyside]

When John fired up a cig on-air i was shocked

[@sucher22]

Shocked! --- Shocked! ...and where's his bowtie?

[@georgemaster689]

This was a time when you could smoke and drink on a game show.

[@bbailey7818]

It was a very different time, wasn't it? Also shocked to see Daly and panelists lighting up at will. Smoking's obviously bad but in many respects we had more freedoms and liberty then.

[@MikeMc442]

@@sucher22 Soon, dressing John and the male panelists in more formal suits (tuxedos) gave it a bit of a Broadway aura.

[@blozier2006]

Am I correct in assuming this is the oldest Goodson-Todman episode in the Fremantle archive?

[@pbatommy]

71 years old.

[@janeiwasduncan8463]

I was five when this aired....we had no TV but two years later we got one!💥💥☺️☺️

[@tejaswoman]

@@janeiwasduncan8463 - My paternal grandmother was the opposite. She got a TV set 2 years before Corpus Christi, Texas, had any broadcasting stations!

[@PurpleHaze929]

That’s the year I was born. Crazy!! 70 years ago. Can you imagine the outrage today saying those things to a young lady about her looks.And how about the look on John Daly’s face after he said goodnight. Was it relief or turn that camera off. 😊

[@bbailey7818]

@Keith Johnson And they never asked the men their marital status. But people were more formal then, always Mr or Miss or Mrs Soandso. Then it was like wokesters asking for people's pronouns only far less silly.

[@englishwithteachermark4307]

Same year I was born too partner!😉 I'm thinking about that beautiful hat check girl, if she was 20 then, she would be 91 now! Oh God!

[@kenoneill8783]

I noticed that too, probably feared his career was over before it started with those dodgy creeps only short of sexually assaulting the first guest live on air.

[@monicaclark9581]

​@@bbailey7818 I wouldn't put these people of 1950 into same category with the current twisted thinking of the politically correct Woke Folks who are dangerous to society.

[@GrasshopperRDG]

According to Google, a 40 week salary for a year was estimated at a whopping $1, 560.00! That was quite something! 💚* 🙏🏽

[@maryannlampe5622]

John Daly lit a cigarette. Never saw that before.

[@allthingsretro2]

Poor Miss Finch. I have always loved this TV show but this episode is a little painful to watch. I guess I just really love Dorothy Kilgallen, Arlene Francis and Bennett Cerf.

[@janeiwasduncan8463]

Hat check girl??? Young people would question that job...This was in the era where a gentleman wore hats..ladies wore hats and gloves but did not check them like men did...

[@buckroo8424]

@Keith Johnson it a different time and era. You’re thinking like someone today in the 21st Century. I lived overseas 20 years and come back to America and I don’t recognize the changes for the worst. This show ran for 17 years. After this show came Arlene Frances and Bennett Cerf. This show to me did bring changes to make it more entertaining and still had the best panel for years! All the future panel with several famous panelists brought much more than television today in my opinion!

[@teresaavizienis8491]

@@buckroo8424 I totally agree. You cannot judge this show by today's standards. This episode may had had some rough spots, but they kept improving with every episode. It became one of the classiest shows on television. The concept was wonderful. It never had the scandals of the big-money game shows. Also, people were proud of the work they did. It evolved from a hidden diamond in the rough to a brilliant shining diamond. It was more intelligent and more civilized than most of the shows made today, especially in the realm of game shows.

[@toddsubjent7142]

interesting variants of layer shows the set layout & how/where they dignin! PLUS the smoking by Mr Daily & men.9n panel! The walk over and the panel requests are indeed odd to weard as rheblafy to l8ck 8n her tight pencil fress to walking with b99k 9n head of first female contestant, the hat check girl. Also no celebrity guest so n9 bl8ab folds! indeed the pr9gram evolves So improved when Arleen Frances kpins the panr! Great shows gr9man earlier gentle time so refreshing vs what is on now 70yrs later!!

[@michaelinminn]

Another comment. Notice how everyone is so much more casual and uninhibited, that is to say natural in their demeanor. Can we rewind our country to 1950? Really. Everyone is so uptight today - 2021.

[@trfarmer3869]

Good show but I wish the sound was a little bit better.

[@emmgeevideo]

The sexism in this piece is very startling.

[@Omego2K]

It's interesting how casual they are smoking on the show. Nobody is even batting and eyelash.

[@Juliaflo]

I was not even born.

[@janethartwig774]

The way they had the contestants parade in front of the panel for examination was extremely creepy.

[@janeiwasduncan8463]

Different time...but they did stop that practice as well as the free guesses...

[@MikeMc442]

​@@janeiwasduncan8463 The "perp walk" and free guesses lasted for three or four years.

[@flyingchimp12]

It’s a good thing they got rid of it but the free guesses was fun

[@nolancain8792]

Arlene was the one that technically got the walk taken out.

[@jamesgee9738]

You're a downer

[@serenesplendorasmr3635]

I wonder if the panel ever hit the jackpot with the wild guesses.

[@tejaswoman]

Yes, at minimum there's an episode in the 1955 season. Can't think of it right now.

[@catmiller1574]

Not the best episode glad they improved. Sound quality not good.

[@sucher22]

That would, I believe, be panelist Jimmy Hoffa sitting next to John Charles Daly. He is now retired, and resides in the New Jersey Meadowlands.

[@TheRealMrAndrew]

I really enjoy watching this show, but my word is this episode so different from what it would become. John’s smoking during the show, the camera work is dreadful, and it’s just so unpolished. Thank goodness it wasn’t axed after one episode.

[@macmcleod1188]

The veterinarian in panel interaction was *satisfying* and amusing. The heart of the show was right there in that guest.

[@jeffreygrossi2800]

Old men with corny jokes.... show needed a transfusion which it did..

[@sucher22]

Geeeze! That panel seems to consist of four perverts! Creepy!

[@pgh45rpms]

It was a from different time, but those three male panelists come across as dirty old men, oggling contestant Pat Finch.

[@billdurham8477]

Smoking on live TV! I guess they didn't do any dry runs before hand. Dorothy sniffs out the DVM!

[@esmeephillips5888]

Sheesh, so stilted and ponderous compared with what would come. 'Expert' guys instead of entertainers, engaged on the mistaken premiss that they would be better at profiling the guests and intuiting their jobs. In fact all it takes is native shrewdness, and the wit and geniality contributed by those who please crowds for a living would be the magic extra ingredient. Louis Untermeyer guessed the first contestant right and gets the most laughs, but G and T soon concluded that he could not sparkle the way another literary big shot, Bennett Cerf, could. Poor Louis was so downcast by his dismissal that he hardly left his NYC apartment for a time, fearing that people would mock him in the street. Above all, this tryout shows how much WML needed the warmth and humor of Arlene Francis to complement Dorothy's steely forensic air.

[@georgecherucheril9947]

Louis was let go because of his ties and sympathies with communist organizations. He was not let go for performance. He would have been fine continuing on the panel with Dorothy, Arlene and Herb Block.

[@chappy675]

This was cringy and I’m a big fan of the show. The way the men sized the woman up at the beginning and made her walk with a book on her head!! WTF?!? I am forever grateful to the women’s rights movement of the 70’s when I see crap like this.

[@robertlarue2569]

This is very early television. It's interesting to find that a lot of this show's vaunted decorum wasn't original. Neither Daly nor the men on the panel stand up for female guests; Daly smokes without asking his female guest for permission to smoke. On the other hand, there was no wolf-whistling for the (attractive, young) female guest (an unpleasant feature of later seasons). Also (no disrespect to her), they found a way to make Dorothy Kilgallen look considerably better in later episodes.

[@jaysilverheals4445]

amazing the show even made it with this mismanaged disaster. even to the end of the run they could never get daly to shut up with his long disruptive speeches every question.

[@georgecherucheril9947]

Daly was a wonderful host. I likes his manner and style of speaking. He was not long winded but effective.

[@blacknight7643]

What was he trying to learn by making her walk with a book on her head. You tell someone that right now, not sure if the audience would take that lightly.

[@joeguzman3558]

We must have that at that time people were still wearing 1940s clothes styles just look at the guys suits

[@joycejean-baptiste6285]

They fine tuned the show from these early beginnings.

[@SweetChicagoGator]

This debut show was very lame, as was the panel ! Glad it got much better after Arlene, Dorothy, Steve Allen, Fred Allen, and Bennett Cerf joined the cast of panelists !! 💟

[@hcombs0104]

Dorothy appears to be wearing little or no makeup! And women's hairstyles were not all that flattering at that time.

[@firstlast5499]

After watching more of these episodes you can see why they quickly replaced Governor Hoffman after only two episodes, and then Dr. Hoffman a few episodes after that. They were very uninteresting as panelists. Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf, and Fred Allen probably did the most to help the show’s popularity.

[@HelloooThere]

They tried to pass off the panel as a bunch of intelligent people lol

[@mikewebber2637]

Not the same without Arlene Francis.

[@Jall234]

How about colourizing them?

[@Sindimindi]

Poor quality at that time. The panel was more of an interrogation than a guess round.Dr. Montenier of stopette had the chance to buy the show for a small Budget.

[@lesterhall5145]

Not much money.

[@nolancain8792]

Almost $600 now.

[@michellebeckstrom6110]

these men's line of questioning was disgusting.

[@Gunnifunz]

Thank god for #MeToo!

[@suestephan3255]

These folks are duds

[@joycejean-baptiste6285]

I wonder why they didn't put their own masks on. Nice occupation for the young lady.

[@garyfrancis6193]

This is so awkward at the start. I can’t stand watching it. But these are the early days days of TV. They had to work out what worked or not. It’s hardly the Price is Right with Bob Barker. This is so dull.

[@sandybruce9092]

I’m surprised this program was allowed to continue. This first show was the worst I’ve ever seen, even considering it was at the beginning of TV.

[@freddyfurrah3789]

HOLY COW 😅😅😅😅

[@freddyfurrah3789]

February 2cd 1950.