To Tell the Truth - Otto Graham, football great; PANEL: Betty White (Sep 23, 1963)

[@Kumakahi777]

In the first game, not only did Lauren Hutton become a famous actress, but Melba Tolliver eventually became a reporter for ABC News in New York. Lulu Porter? Not so sure what happened to her....

[@loissimmons6558]

Odd that the two impostors became more famous than the one contestant telling the truth who was supposed to be something of a celebrity. Miss Porter was divorced from Bob Mackie the same year as this telecast but rebounded quickly to marry her manager in March 1964. Lulu and Mackie had a child together and apparently remained friends. They were quite young when they were together from 1960-63. It doesn't appear that she had any records after the mid-60's.

[@shave-a-thon3415]

@@loissimmons6558 Melba Tolliver was one of the original members of the Eyewitness News team on WABC-TV in NYC along with Roger Grimsby, Bill Beutel, Geraldo Rivera, Milton Lewis, Tex Antoine and Rose Ann Scamardella. Melba also asked this classic question of a young Mick Jagger at this Rolling Stone press conference for their show at Madison Square Garden in Nov. 1969. It's been played thousands of times over the year in highlight films on TV: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6nCommspZp5p7c

[@gwenniegirl50]

I’m not sure if this is the same person but there is a Lulu Porter listed on IMDb. She acted and danced in a few movies. She was once married to designer Bob Mackie. They had a son, Robin, who died in 1993.

[@justinmay3451]

How times have changed! I find it interesting that one of the greatest football players of all time would be unrecognizable by a panel.

[@joeambrose3260]

Hello ???!!!! No cable or internet. You probably wouldn't know him if he fell on you

[@mikezulim2567]

They did haveTV! Newspapers and magazines too! Otto was on covers of sports magazines. People seem to think nobody knew what people looked like back then! Not true. Panel not sports fans.

[@63utuber]

same thing happened with Y.A. Tittle - but he wasn't the "truth teller"

[@williamanthony9090]

Well, if you weren't a football fan, there's a fair chance you might not have recognized Otto on sight. Football wasn't as popular as baseball in those days, and unless you were an avid sports fan in general, recognizing him from photographs in newspapers or magazines was a hit or miss affair. To tell the truth, no pun intended, even in 2022 I had to guess which one was Otto. I guessed right, but guess is the key word. Btw, the three television stations in Cleveland at the time of this broadcast were, KYW, WJW, and WEWS. I believe KYW was somehow connected with Westinghouse. WVIZ (PBS) went on the air in early 1965.

[@nobodyaskedbut]

Graham was the GOAT QB and it's still not close but this was before MNF and prime time NFL & college. Therefore, many men didn't exactly know what he looked like. It also, shows how far sports has come in terms of it's position in popular culture. Both he and the incomparable Paul Brown over 60 years ago created the modern offense which exists today.

[@loissimmons6558]

I would have known him back then (and I did immediately when he was introduced), but as a kid, I devoured the sports section of the newspaper, some football magazines and there were pro football trading cards (not as popular as baseball cards, but they came the same way in a pack with a slice of bubble gum).

[@Adam-do8eh]

WOW! So amazing to see Lauren Hutton before she was a star!! She had the "IT" factor even then.

[@noelnewlon]

Otto Graham: In the top 10 pro QBs of all time.

[@Jdjdenedidokalaos]

He is the greatest pro an of all time.

[@floyjoy]

I remember watching this game show when I was child. It was good hearing announcer Johnny Olsen voice again.Mr. Olsen was the announcer on the Price is Right with Bob Barker.

[@mindfulness123]

It's wild that the two "imposters" became so famous. Actress, Lauren Hutton, and news anchor, Melba Tolliber.

[@sixtythreekraft2608]

9:50 Before he coached the Browns, Paul Brown coached at Great Lakes Academy. He coached at Ohio State before that. (And Massillon before that.) The Massillon part was well-known. Brown had a winning streak spanning several years at Massillon. He was known statewide and was a consensus choice to coach Ohio State. Some of his players on the Browns were with him at Massillon and Ohio State.

[@DavidBugea]

The now-famous model Lauren Hutton appears as an imposter in the first team of challengers.

[@loissimmons6558]

Melba Tolliver, among many career highlights, became known for defying ABC when she refused to cover up her Afro with a wig or scarf when covering the wedding of Tricia Nixon in 1971. She started working as a secretary for ABC in Nov. 1966 and started going on the air for brief stints when there were two separate strikes in 1967 affecting on air personalities. That was enough for ABC to move her in front of the camera full time.

[@waldolydecker8118]

What goes around comes around...today's angst is braids and cornrows in place of the Afro. Kudos to Ms. Tolliver for standing her ground and apparently likewise to ABC, who employed her for a decade afterwards, first promoting her to full-time reporter and then to desk anchor. Clearly, Ms Tolliver was no piker.

[@tomservo56954]

Interesting move, from nurse to reporter

[@bendakstarkiller1270]

As a Pole, I never heard of that singer. I can tell the English speaking audience, though, that "parasolki" means "umbrellas".

[@jayrice5156]

Love the Black Girl's dress!

[@sladestumbo4117]

Oh wow! Lauren Hutton went on to be the highest paid model of her day. I’m surprised she wasn’t mentioned in the caption.

[@davidcouch6514]

Wow; yes amazing. I actually recognized her by her favoring one side of her lip which I read she did always to compensate for some “imperfection”.

[@IPlayOneOnT.V.]

It's amazing who will be found tucked away in these classic T.V. shows; and, there is celebrated actress Lauren Hutton! (6:58)

[@lta4615]

Wowww they can do this with otto graham because so many ppl never saw his face this is amazing. A world without social media is crazy

[@justinpettit3432]

Wow. Young Betty White.

[@kristabrewer9363]

I hope this wasn't the first time you saw her!

[@TheHaratashi]

Lauren Hutton was even more stunning at that age.

[@piustwelfth]

Watching the Otto Graham segment, #3 made a mistake by talking about Otto Graham in the third person. When asked by Tom Poston who holds the record for most touchdown passes, #3 answered "Otto Graham" instead of saying "me". Unbelievable that he rec'd two votes.

[@waldolydecker8118]

Good catch...I caught that too, and my immediate thought was - there goes a great sign to the panel its not #3. I'd seen pics and film of Graham for decades, so knew he was #2.

[@44032]

At that time it was Bobby Layne anyway.

[@piustwelfth]

@@44032 So he had the wrong answer, and he referred to "Otto Graham" in the third person (a giveaway that he was not Otto Graham), yet he still received half the votes.

[@giarc888]

I liked the way bud kept the show moving, some of the people are motor mouths and take all the time.

[@truecrimescotsman]

All contestants get a carton of smokes on their way out....different times, better times.

[@kentetalman9008]

I had no idea that Melba Tolliver started out as a nurse.

[@Lisa-di1wi]

I also didn't know that Melba Tolliver was a nurse. I do know that she was a New York City newscaster.

[@maggdoodle]

Lulu Porter was married to fashion designer Bob Mackie. They had a child Robin Mackie who died at age 33. Porter and Mackie were married from 1960-1963.

[@Lisa-di1wi]

Bob Mackie also designs clothes for Cher and Diana Ross.

[@sogorgeous2257]

Wow I did not know that. Interesting fact.

[@paulnguyen8910]

To Otto Graham: he had held the record for most career TD runs by a QB. Today, Cam Newton's the king.

[@nobodyaskedbut]

The incomparable Graham held that record for 60 years.

[@angelakortlander3854]

Melba Tolliver became a famous newscaster in NYC.

[@Lisa-di1wi]

Betty White was the second Mrs. Allen Ludden. His first wife and the mother of his three kids, Margaret, died of cancer a few weeks after Password has debuted on CBS two years earlier.

[@tomservo56954]

The hospital bills for her illness were the reason Ludden took the PASSWORD gig, as he would make a lot more money...

[@kristabrewer9363]

@@tomservo56954 I can do ya one better than that. Allen Ludden was Betty White's THIRD husband

[@sportsmediaamerica]

Betty White IS cute!

[@sixtythreekraft2608]

I am very surprised that they did not recognize Graham. That would be like today the panelists not recognizing Tom Brady.

[@terryniblett9329]

That's because nowadays much football is on TV...duh!!!

[@ChrisHansonCanada]

Lauren Hutton was just 19 at the time.

[@shave-a-thon3415]

Melba Tolliver was one of the original members of the Eyewitness News team on WABC-TV in NYC along with Roger Grimsby, Bill Beutel, Geraldo Rivera, Milton Lewis, Tex Antoine and Rose Ann Scamardella. Melba also asked this classic question of a young Mick Jagger at this Rolling Stone press conference for their show at Madison Square Garden in Nov. 1969. It's been played thousands of times over the year in highlight films on TV: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6nCommspZp5p7c

[@johndangelo7434]

Melba Tolliver later became a TV anchor of the news on, I believe, ABC in New York.

[@Lisa-di1wi]

I think she was on WABC, Channel 7, in New York.

[@loissimmons6558]

She was on both WABC-TV (1967-76) and WNBC-TV (1976-80).

[@JimGrey]

In game 1, is that Melba Tolliver, the television journalist? How could it not be!

[@HumbleHarry]

I know! I kept saying to myself that she looks so familiar. Of course, in addition to being known for having been a TV journalist at WABC-TV all through the 1970s, Tolliver was, perhaps, equally known for her gorgeous Afro hairstyle. And Lauren Hutton! How could I have not recognized Hutton, who went on to become a famous model and actress?

[@JimGrey]

Oh my gosh! How did I not recognize Lauren Hutton?

[@moontheloon5]

I'm afraid I didn't recognize Hutton either...maybe if ther'd been a clearer view of her famous gap?

[@audw2534]

Oh, wow, Lauren Hutton. I kept thinking, "she looks familiar."

[@loissimmons6558]

@@moontheloon5 She was still hiding the gap in her teeth at that time. She eventually stopped using a cap because she would either swallow it, it would come out when laughing or she misplaced it.

[@taofanarchy96-renzomaracas14]

Game #1: *STOP PRESS* because I found the performance of Lulu Porter in Sopot, directly from Polish Television archives: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4aThYOlibqBh5Y. Also I believe that was the only breakout of her brief musical career. Also the sarcasm of giving her _cigarettes,_ most importantly when Bud said she had a sore throat.

[@1959HT]

How the hell didn’t the panel not know Otto Graham?!

[@kristabrewer9363]

The word has absolutely NO basis for your sentence. And I've never even heard TELL of Otto Graham (and I'm positive I'm not the only one)

[@1959HT]

Krista Brewer - Of course not you weren’t old enough to see him play, unlike all the panelist on the show

[@waldolydecker8118]

That was not in any way a strong sports panel. The most likely of the four would probably had been Tom Poston with just a medium chance to recognize him. The rest highly unlikely to know him on sight (unless they had randomly met him at some celebrity function). I watched a 1963 episode last week that had Don Drysdale from the LA Dodgers and when the questioning came to Kitty Carlisle, she admitted that she had NEVER seen a baseball game. Many just didn't follow.

[@44032]

@@waldolydecker8118 Still, I was amazed that Poston, knowing all about Paul Brown, would never have seen a picture of Otto Graham.

[@waldolydecker8118]

@@44032 - the other thing you have to keep in mind - and many younger folks watching these programs years later particularly have a problem with this - the media 50-60 years ago was absolutely nothing like today. Today we have pictures of EVERYBODY, including some third string high school guy who doesn't even get playing time. With only 3 TV networks 60 years ago that did limited sports broadcasting, and limited sports coverage in newspapers and a few sports magazines, its understandable how many people busy with their professional careers and families simply did not follow sports. Sports 60 years ago did not have the widespread penetration that it does today into nearly every American household. If you didn't follow it, you wouldn't know what Graham looked like. I'm the same way with soccer today...I don't follow it, so I couldn't identify the biggest male soccer player's picture if you showed it to me - and football probably wasn't even as popular in the early 1960's as soccer is today. If you watch other WML episodes you will see all kinds of guests come on the show who the panel could not recognize by face - Mayors of major cities; Governors of several U.S. states, several major sports figures - it was just a much smaller media world 60 years ago and many Americans had never ever saw pictures of these folks.

[@danehart2783]

wow i knew the Otto 1 .this like 50 years ago , he went to like 10 Super Bowls in a row for his day

[@44032]

The Super Bowl began in 1967. But yes, he went to 10 championship games in ten years, in two different leagues, and won 7 of them.

[@HeWentThattaway]

It's too bad there was usually never enough time for thorough cross-examination.

[@dannydoc1969]

Wow, Lauren Hutton before she was famous, and Melba Toliver from the news, who I later met at her PA home after she had retired.

[@Lisa-di1wi]

I didn't know that Number 3 was Melba Tolliver. She was also a panelist on the syndicated version of What's My Line? back in the 70's.

[@kbunky69]

She is still alive at age 82 and worked in New York City tv News broadcasting with WABC then WNBC and Finally ending her career at New 12 Long Island

[@rayzdavibe3422]

How do they not know what Otto looks like

[@sixtythreekraft2608]

The Browns have won only one NFL championship since Graham retired. They used to win all of the time when he was their quarterback.

[@Budman_Buds]

For appearing on our show as one of the greatest athletes of all time you get a carton of Winston cigarettes.

[@jmadratz]

Game 1, #2 Lauren Hutton was always a beauty but here she looks so exotic also, and apparently always had the front tooth gap. She went from being a Playboy Bunny to 1st tier movie star within 10 years.

[@ChrisHansonCanada]

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

[@Hgood1]

I believe the Black female impostor who gives her name as Melba Tolliver is the same Melba Tolliver who went on to become a famous broadcast journalist.

[@davidfritz1331]

I can tell you exactly what disease gorillas are most susceptible to in captivity: clinical depression. (Wouldn't you be depressed if you were shot, knocked unconscious, and then found yourself caged against your will for doing absolutely nothing wrong?)

[@user-ne8lh2vr2t]

The people that work with animals are the same people who go after the poachers which are the actual enemy of all life.

[@joeambrose3260]

Yes, we know, it's THE Lauren Hutton

[@nicklanese2210]

Can’t believe they didn’t know Otto.

[@kenyongray2615]

Why didn't the panel recognize the great Otto Graham? Mainly because the panel ( maybe except for Tom) couldn't tell the difference between a baseball and a football. Their sports knowledge was negligible if you have watched previous shows. I thought Lauren Hutton was known for the gap between her two front teeth? Her teeth weren't great in this episode but there didn't appear to be a gap. She was really gorgeous on this show and so were Lulu and Melba.

[@sogorgeous2257]

Oh my gosh Lauren Hutton!

[@bufb]

Lauren Hutten known for gap in teeth and slightly crooked eye. She is still beautiful

[@68lifeguard]

There his a coast guard station on fire island

[@patriciamooney928]

Betty White - Animal Activist for Life

[@RM-zo2nh]

This show, during it's run, must have used every bunny girl at the NY playboy club. Shows what the Producers got up to in the evenings!

[@DannyManny98]

Her last appearance on "To Tell the Truth" before her Father died (True Story).

[@Walterwhiterocks]

Who are you referring to ?

[@DannyManny98]

@@Walterwhiterocks Betty White

[@user-ne8lh2vr2t]

Lauren was a model first.

[@JayTemple]

I always chuckle when the contestant in your title is a man and the first contestant is a woman. I saw these three ladies stepping forward and thought, "That football player certainly had to beat the odds!"

[@savethetpc6406]

Lol!

[@desertbreeze69]

If they only knew...Lauren Hutton would outshine them all😀however, on Wikipedia there’s no mention of her appearance on this show.

[@sogorgeous2257]

Yes, there is. This is also the first time Hutton faced the camera!

[@TheDfarhie]

The Loren Hutten

[@Rosina57NZ]

Deets Picket...not Dietz

[@andrewfriedman440]

D len

[@sportsmediaamerica]

Otto Graham was a famous football player. Not a good choice for fooling people, right?

[@loissimmons6558]

I knew him by sight but this particular panel, besides Tom Poston, weren't particularly knowledgeable about sports (and Kitty knew zero). They got three incorrect votes which is above average. A pro football player of similar fame today wouldn't be possible on TTTT. They'd have to go on WML with the panel blindfolded.

[@craigrohn9938]

Professional football was just starting to come out into the mainstream from being a fringe interest, a process that started with the 1958 NFL Championship, "the greatest game ever played," and culminating with the advent of the Super Bowl era. Before this time college football was more popular, by a wide margin.

[@michaelcox436]

Tom Poston never learns that he isn't as smart as he thinks he is.

[@44032]

That's what makes him funny.

[@chriswesterfield2042]

Everyone pronounced Massillon (Ohio) EXCEPT TOM POSTON. Massillon is pronounced "MASS-LUN." The "i" is totally silent and the "o" is pronounced like a "u." Poston pronounced it like most non-Ohioans do. Ironically, Tom WAS an Ohioan, so I do not understand his error. Tom was an absolutely hilarious character actor. Ohio dominated the field of comedy in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Bob Hope, Dean Martin, Tim Conway, Paul Lynde, Jonathan Winters, Phyllis Diller, and many more.

[@satori03]

#2 was Lauren Hutton? the actress?