To Tell the Truth - Gimbels store detective; Doctor/Yankees ballplayer (Mar 26, 1957)

PANEL: Polly Bergen, John Cameron Swayze, Kitty Carlisle, Hy Gardner
CONTESTANT #1: Alice Carroll (Store detective at Gimbels)
CONTESTANT #2: Dr. Robert W. Brown (Physician & Yankees player)
CONTESTANT #3: Shirley Adams (1st cross-country stewardess)
Many thanks, as always, to epaddon for providing his copy of this episode.
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[@cmoore185]

What an amazing person Dr. Brown was. He passed away in 2021. His accomplishments did not end when this show was broadcast. He was interim president of the Texas Rangers baseball team and also became the president of the American League. He practiced cardiology in the Dallas area for years.

[@mercywilliams2698]

Creative show..still entertaining decades later..

[@christopherjones1871]

Amazing they don't ,know Bobby Brown, incredible!

[@kenyongray2615]

Dr. Brown is now 96 years old. He played on a lot of great Yankee teams. Thanks for the video. I hope the panel learns to give their reasons why they voted for whom they voted without being prompted. It must be annoying at this point for Bud Collyer to have to keep asking.

[@walkingtrails7776]

OK who has the whistle in the audience..? That wasn't annoying the entire show lol thanks for having these on...we watch with the kids all the time and try guessing.... the kids win most of time😂

[@bigcat618]

What's with all the medical questions for Dr. Brown? I would have asked him who was the first baseman he threw to or who they played in the 1952 Series, etc.

[@epaddon]

Dr. Bobby Brown, who is still alive and 90 years old, played for the Yankees from 1946-54. He was also President of the American League from 1984-1993, the next to last person to hold that job before Bud Selig abolished the separate league offices.

[@MickTheQuickk]

Politically incorrect point: At one time, there was a league president named White (who was not) and another one named Brown (who also was not).

[@44032]

#1 was the real Bobby brown but #2 knew his batting averages: www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/brownbo03.shtml

[@Ea-Nasir_Copper_Co]

Five years later he's still with us, and is now the seventh oldest living major leaguer.

[@mikedoran9851]

During that time, the President of the National League was a black man named White. The President of the American League was a white man named Brown. And the Commissioner of the Major Leagues was a man named Fay ...

[@MichaelSimmons.]

Having done security work at one time, I have to disagree with our lady store detectives. You can stop someone while they're still in the store, but arresting them is very difficult. They can always claim, they were going to pay for the items, before they left the store. You always wait until they have left the store, so there's no burden of proof needed, on the theft.

[@judy-9999]

Michael Simmons Yes, but i “think” that on THIS SHOW, the imposters “agree” so they “SEEM” more believable, as a group & therefore collect more money 💰😉😎👍

[@johnjaylen6754]

instaBlaster...

[@LiLi-lj2ib]

And what's with the masks?

[@shirtless6934]

It is possible but difficult. A shopper who is stuffing items into her purse when she has other items in the cart. I agree it is better to let them leave the store.

[@TravelinJenB]

​@@LiLi-lj2ibif a viewer wanted to steal it would be easier to get out without being noticed if they knew what the store detective looked like. Hence the masks.

[@Beson-SE]

8:38 Contestant #2 in game 1, Virginia Payne played the role as Ma Perkins for 27 years between 1933-60 in the radio soap opera.

[@519djw6]

Johan Bengtsson Okay, you Scandahoovian, come clean! You ain't from Sweden at all. Why would any Norskie know who the hell Virginia Payne (Ma Perkins) was!? I'm as American as Uncle Sam, and I wouldn't have known her from Lou Hoover! :) :)

[@Beson-SE]

519DJW Jag är svensk och från Sverige. Vet inte hur jag ska bevisa det. Borde märkas på mitt allt annat än felfria sätt att stava och skriva engelska. Jag hade varken hört talas om Virginia Payne eller Ma Perkins förut så jag googlade och hittade det jag skrev. Jag anser inte att det är förbjudet, otillåtet eller otillbörligt att skriva om saker som är korrekta men som man inte på förhand hade kunskap om. Jag tvivlar starkt på att allt som skrivs här är hämtat från den egna *fataburen* (där har du ett uttryck som bara en svensk skulle förstå, och inte ens majoriteten av svenskar heller för den delen vill jag hävda!). Ska vi nu behöva referera till källhänvisningar och noter varenda gång vi skriver om saker och fakta. Det är ju dumheter. Jag bryr mig inte det minsta om det folk skriver är sådant som de visste innan eller sådant som de tagit reda på. Ser inte vad det spelar för roll.Bara för att du inte känner till en sak så är det väl ingen orimlig tanke att andra skulle kunna tänkas ha vetskap om det. Jag undanber mig insinuanta kommentarer i framtiden angående både min härkomst och kunskap om saker och ting!

[@519djw6]

Johan Bengtsson Jeg tuller bare, Johan! Jeg vet jo at du er svenske!

[@Beson-SE]

519DJW Ok, då ber jag om ursäkt.

[@stevep-iv4pq]

Very entertaining. When TV was watchable.

[@dforscher]

kitty carlisle reminds me of arlene francis

[@oldfart4751]

+dforscher They were good mates, used to socialise together.

[@Beson-SE]

For a moment I thought Bud was going to miss and question who the other stewardess impostors were but luckily he corrected himself.

[@savethetpc6406]

Johan Bengtsson He momentarily forgot to ask them who they really were, but he caught himself just in time! Polly Bergen at 14:42: "Do you ever get the feeling I really know nothing about this game?" -- Actually, *yes!* Her answers are almost always vague, wishy-washy, and based more on "gut feelings" or general impressions than the answers to questions. In this case, she sort of had a logical reason for her answer, but then she ruined her own credibility by second-guessing herself!

[@soulierinvestments]

Of course Bud knew Virginia Payne. Both of them were huge on radio in the 1940s. They might have crossed paths daily at the same network. Virginia in Rushville as Ma Perkins and Bud in Metropolis as Clark Kent and Superman. We have speculated as to whether Bud knew the challenger identities before they identified themselves on TV. This indicates that he sometimes did know the ID of one of the imposters.

[@StephenBurrus4444]

Last weekend, I watched a Totie Fields comedy show from 1977, and she mentioned Ma Perkins. I had to look up Ma Perkins to find out more about it. So, it's strange that just 4 days later, the actress who voiced Ma Perkins shows up as an imposter.

[@soulierinvestments]

First game, second contestant: Virginia Payne was all of 23 years old when she was hired in 1933 for the lead roll in "Oxydol's Own Ma Perkins." Ma owned a lumber company in a southern backwater called Rushville; at one point two networks broadcasted Ma Perkins at the same time. By 1957, Virginia finally grew into her role, which must have been hard on the vocal chords given that she had to impersonate an old(er) woman. When CBS Radio cancelled Ma Perkins at Thanksgiving time 1960, it had piled up 7065 total performances. It would be darned interesting to know how many episodes got recorded and preserved. I would have thought that Ma Perkins would have been a prime candidate daytime drama to move from radio to TV in 1949 -- but it did not.

[@MikeSmith74653]

+soulierinvestments I do a album narrated by Jack Benny on old time radio, and they have a couple of little clips of the last Ma Perkins broadcast, including the entire goodbye from her!!!

[@Powerranger-le4up]

RIP Bobby Brown

[@joeambrose3260]

Yes, it's true. Bobby Brown is still with us

[@Powerranger-le4up]

Not anymore . He died last March

[@WaltGekko]

Dr. Brown as I remember would later on become President of the American League.

[@Ivehadenuff]

OMG , I started flying in 1978 at the age of 20. This seemed like ancient history to me. Everything had changed by then. My time also feels like ancient history.

[@David-yw2lv]

Were John Cameron Swayze and Patrick Swayze related? I heard of Ma Perkins but never had seen anyone connected with it until this.I was a big fan of TTTT, thanks for posting.The recent reboot was good at first,but got sillier and sillier until it bordered on ridiculing the premise.The footbaall Yankees eventually became the Indianapolis Colts.

[@gurumadeleine3582]

Carol Anderson

[@charlesmeadows6285]

I recognize John Cameron Swayze from not just Camel News Caravan,also those Timex ads.

[@WaltGekko]

Right. He was still doing those well into the '70s and early '80s. As I remember, he also was doing commercials for the then-new WHTZ-FM (100.3 that is still Z100) when that station debuted in the late summer of 1983.

[@mikewrasman5103]

I was too young to remember Mr. Swayze as NBC's news anchor. I remember him as the Timex spokesman.

[@kristabrewer9363]

Ever since Kitty Carlisle has been on, I always thought she sounded an awful lot like Arlene Francis (the first time I heard her voice, I thought it WAS Arlene Francis). Are they related?

[@morganlouisehenderson9901]

No but the where best friends

[@williamanthony9090]

In Game One I voted for #1, In Game Two I voted for #1, and in Game Three, I voted for #3. If anyone cares for how I did, you'll just have to watch the show.

[@wattsjetton3027]

Celebrity Guests: 1. Polly Bergen 2. John Cameron Swayze 3. Kitty Carlisle 4. Hy Gardner Host: Bud Collyer

[@Beson-SE]

19:06 Imagine retiring as a stewardess at the age of 32...

[@SuperWinterborn]

Johan Bengtsson Or imagine playing the same role for 27 years! ;) (Virginia Payne)

[@Beson-SE]

SuperWinterborn Why not retire as a stewardess at 32 and then play Ma Perkins for 27 years? :)

[@SuperWinterborn]

Johan Bengtsson Good idea! :D

[@vidpie]

Better plan: "One of her stewardess friends in the 1960s was Shirley Adams, who went off on a trip with actor Henry Fonda one weekend and came back wearing a long mink coat. She retired after turning 32 and became Fonda’s wife." (from a 2012 story about another woman who worked for American Airlines for 50+ years).

[@randysills4418]

Johan Bengtsson I need to disqualify myself, because I recognize Mrs. Fonda from a video I saw her in in 1974!

[@rayizard5687]

$1,000 isn't divisible by 3 evenly...

[@nelsonricardo3729]

Bud kept the extra penny.

[@joeambrose3260]

Flemming didn't invent penicillin, he discovered it

[@BigEightiesNewWave]

Sabin and Salk.

[@MrSkippydevereaux]

Hard to believe that contestant #2 in game 1 was only 47 at the time.

[@kirkmorgan-austin1187]

I think since it wss Virginia Payne who played a older woman on radio perhaps they wanted to keep that illusion going...Just my speculation.

[@christopherjones1871]

The mask doesn't hide much!

[@BigEightiesNewWave]

George Steinbrenner !😂

[@rickrick5041]

How come Karen Ford was in all of those famous musicals but there isn't one word about her on google?

[@Walterwhiterocks]

Because she likely was a background or chorus singer, not a headliner.

[@ALKAHESTBOY]

She was probably a replacement.

[@rickrick5041]

@@Walterwhiterocks Biden is hiding it

[@BigEightiesNewWave]

Gimbels went way of Sears.

[@9094nancyj]

I like when some of the impostors are also known in other fields. Those hats the stewardess wear are unflattering.

[@BigEightiesNewWave]

I voted for Winston.

[@bornyesterday21]

Does Macy tell Gimbel?? ... lol

[@nickrijnberg]

c30 55

[@jaynerosajohansen4864]

Why aren’t the shows in order, omg

[@boughtbythecross]

Did he say they won $1000.. in Geritol?!

[@tvine1]

Can anyone recommend another youtube channel(s) for early black and white TV? Thanks!

[@karltiedemann9329]

You might try Free the Kinescopes.

[@dannydoc1969]

Why did John Swayze get to go twice in round one?

[@stanbrown32]

Maybe Collyer was allowing them a number of questions, rather a specified length of time--but if the contestants didnt talk much, they had time for extra questions.

[@robertedson2374]

Why do they always shortchange Kitty???

[@bslewi]

Does anyone know why Kitty got to ask an extra question in round 2?

[@judy-9999]

bslewi Ya know what, I can’t follow ANY of their “so called RULES”. I think it’s all just a joke. 😔😔😔

[@stanbrown32]

I expect if they had extra time, the director probably signaled Collyer, who extended the questioning.

[@miketheyunggod2534]

They don't really hide their identity.

[@BigEightiesNewWave]

Wonen have "sticky fingers"😁

[@BigEightiesNewWave]

Said the Rolling Stones.

[@UQRXD]

This Show is like ancient history. Geritol is still sold and works.

[@elliebellie7816]

Stewardesses had to retire at age 32?

[@elliebellie7816]

Yes they also had to remain single. After age 32, they were considered old maids.

[@robertsiebenrock3997]

Sisie

[@ChrisHansonCanada]

Lady #3 in Game #1 Man #1 in Game #2 Lady #2 in Game #3

[@peternagy-im4be]

Please remove this moronic troll from the comments section.

[@BigEightiesNewWave]

retire at 32 ??? I'd sue.

[@Appleholic1]

Today shoplifting is politically correct.

[@dcasper8514]

Great remark.

[@kenbrown438]

Lipstick

[@mikewrasman5103]

In today's culture Bud Collyer couldn't say, "God bless you" at the end of the broadcast. Darned political correctness!!!!!

[@jimmygoodrich9590]

He could

[@gabe-po9yi]

#3 on the stewardess one is a nut job - and mean. At the end, when #1 is waiting for Bud to realize they haven’t introduced themselves, #3 says to her, “Get up!” When Bud realizes why they haven’t gotten up #3 is quite chagrined. Ha ha. Pity the man who married that bat.

[@gabe-po9yi]

@@kitsuneneko2567 Oh, sorry, didn’t know you were there.

[@gabe-po9yi]

@@kitsuneneko2567 If it was just two years ago you were in the audience for this episode, why does the date say 1957?

[@gabe-po9yi]

@@kitsuneneko2567 Yeah, you are some kinda dense, discounting my take on it and declaring the “truth”, as though you were there.

[@snootybaronet]

She seems like a complete phony.

[@gurumadeleine3582]

Carol Anderson