What's My Line? - Allan Sherman; PANEL: Mark Goodson, H.G. Brown, Tony Randall (May 14, 1967)

[@troydante]

I love how John Daly makes the first contestant, who admittedly is frightened, feel more at ease; a true gentleman ...

[@asteverino8569]

Mr Sherman, you gave us a lot to laugh about. Also other things you wisely added your talents to. Thanks.

[@TheJonaco]

I still have most of Allan's original LPs and know a lot of his songs by heart (and have since age 6).

[@Beson-SE]

He wrote some very funny songs and I listen to them frequently.

[@katherineg9396]

Some of us were raised right!

[@doodlemunch2774]

I managed to find most of his records at estate sales in the last year. I grew up listening to his greatest hits.

[@Farrah300]

"Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" is one of my favorite novelty tunes. Alan Sherman was awesome!!!

[@sipesthebest128]

My, this is another example of what a gracious, gorgeous woman Arlene Francis was.

[@Farrah300]

She is indeed so beautiful. I love her personality too.

[@galileocan]

At the end of the Screwdriver segment, I thought for sure that John was going to say "you change the appearance of that and your screwdriver...and you're screwed"....but then I remembered....it was 1967

[@johnnytheyoungmaestro]

It's wonderful seeing Mark Goodson as one of the panelists!! He did a fantastic job! :)

[@VahanNisanian]

Allan Sherman was the father of Goodson-Todman producer Robert Sherman. And it was Allan who came up with the idea of "I've Got a Secret", because to him, "somebody is going to copy "What's My Line?" sooner or later".

[@VahanNisanian]

Another appearance of my favorite game show producer, Mark Goodson. Stay tuned for the July 16, 1967 episode, with not only Goodson on the panel, but also with his top MCs: Bud Collyer, Allen Ludden, Gene Rayburn, and Ed McMahon as Mystery Guests.

[@VahanNisanian]

Allan Sherman was one of the Mystery Guests on the first taping day of the new WML in July 1968.

[@libertubey2199]

Also, Helen Gurley Brown was the Mystery Guest in a 1973 episode of WML.

[@VahanNisanian]

Allan Sherman was the original Weird Al Yankovic. His "My Name is Allan" album was a parody of Barbra Streisand's "My Name is Barbra".

[@savethetpc6406]

***** That's one album of his that I hadn't heard of before -- but now I've *got* to hear it!

[@williamjones7163]

I have started watching Green Acres in reruns. That show is a hoot!

[@DreamDancer82]

I love Allan Sherman. He's such a nut!

[@tomgraves6463]

I bet he was an inspiration to Bobcat Goldthwait. 😂

[@soulierinvestments]

Biggest hair night in history of WML. I thought Helen's hair was big. Then the first contestant hauled out her hair do and that I thought that was big. And then the second contestant heaved into view.. You could practically hear the audience exclaiming, "Oh my lawz, it's coming this way." The last contestant should have been the engineer that put up the infrastructure for that do.

[@ccbsnyc]

I couldn't agree more. Dorothy Killgallen had some strange hairstyles, too, but this crowd gets the prize.

[@debbigray1752]

And the 80s thought they invented big hair!

[@donnacook8994]

Arlene's reaction to Allan's loud voice was priceless! Hilarious 🤣🥰👏

[@MrJoeybabe25]

Sherman was the inspiration for a new generation of developing parodists such as "Weird Al" Yankovic. Sadly his career never again reached the heights of the "Hello Mudda" era. He began to drink and eat heavily and died at 49 years of age in 1973.

[@freddolson2324]

One thing that stunted his career was doing "Pop Hates the Beatles" in the middle of Beatlemania

[@LOA1955]

Gil Fates devoted an entire chapter to Allan Sherman in his book about WML: Hello Mudda.... Hello Fadda. Allan was quite a character.

[@soulierinvestments]

CORRECTED -- Brilliant, funny creative man. In reference to his work with G-T and Fates on "I've Got A Secret", Fates wrote of him that he was not at his best as a game show producer. I think it is better to say that he was not at his best working with Fates. The episode that supposedly broke the straw over the camel's back (1956??, 1958??) appears somewhere on KZbin is not really that terribly horrible.

[@WhatsMyLine]

soulierinvestments Heads up that you typed WML but I'm sure you meant IGAS. And I agree with you, that Tony Curtis segment was nowhere *near* the disaster Fates described it as in his book. I refuse to believe that the sponsors, network executives and G-T were all clamoring for Sherman's head the minute the show went off the off as Fates tells it. Reading a little between the lines, it's clear to me that Fates was sick and tired of dealing with an outright insubordinate subordinate (Fates was executive producer of IGAS and Sherman was producer), no matter how talented the subordinate was. What was awful about that story as he tells it is that Sherman was a pain in the butt refusing to budge on the idea and that he had been caught deceiving Fates in order to get the segment on the air. That kind of behavior isn't going to sit well with a boss. The resulting segment wasn't great, but it would never have stood out in any way-- as good or bad-- to anyone but the executive producer who was angry over the way Sherman handled getting it on the air against his wishes.

[@soulierinvestments]

thanx. I'll correct / edit the entry.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

AS's yelling was hilarious!

[@enriquesanchez2001]

@@soulierinvestments The FATES were against him... bump-de-bump.

[@michaeldanello3966]

Back in the 1930s-1950s hot dogs used to be primarily beef but now mixtures of chicken and pork are frequently used for less expensive versions

[@loissimmons6558]

Another reason was times when people were concerned about eating too much red meat.

[@TheBatugan77]

Lips and a**holes

[@bigred997]

another point- allan sherman insisted in his autobiography that goodson/todman stole the i've got a secret idea from him. he claimed that he had no alternative but to take the offer to be a producer as a way to monetize his creation in order to make a living.

[@adelechicken6356]

I'd forgotten how big, big hair got as I was growing up! Wow! Lots of frozen OJ cans and back combing, and hair spray.

[@aileen694]

Yes, especially the hot dawg vendor hair! Yikes! That was massive on top of such a sweet face...

[@jacquelinebell6201]

I was glad I was a kid then lol. I'm not into huge hair😊

[@larryteren5054]

was waiting for goodson to say, "didn't we fire you once?"

[@alanfollett6242]

+Larry Teren Well, Sherman's "...and I still would like my severance pay!" is a sort of reference to his firing.

[@kmac3215]

😝

[@christopherjones8517]

Sad ending for a great man!

[@soulierinvestments]

If any color videotapes did go into the WML archive and if any of them survived, I would say this episode has a high probability of such a record. Goodson did keep a color videotape of himself hosting "To Tell The Truth" and here he is.

[@VahanNisanian]

Allan Sherman died young at only 48 in 1973. Sadly, he had weight problems.

[@maynardsmoreland]

There's an excellent biography on Allan Sherman released in 2013 called "Overweight Sensation" by Mark Cohen.

[@Yowza78]

Wow, the hair!

[@usermikes]

Tony Randall was funny guy..

[@TheJMascis666]

I may have lost it when Arlene started talking about Sausages "coming" on her.

[@davidsanderson5918]

TheJMascis666 Did you like her question about 'wood' as well?

[@nguyendailam6703]

@@davidsanderson5918 I need to re-watch this one!

[@vitalyjohnson3514]

Arlene makes me point north

[@TheBatugan77]

@@vitalyjohnson3514 Calm down nubby.

[@epaddon]

The show Allan Sherman said he was writing for Broadway was the musical "The Fig Leaves Are Falling" which ran for exactly one week in 1968.

[@kevins.butler3402]

Al Sherman's last projects was doing cartoon voice overs for Depatie Freling...as "The Cat In The Hat".

[@TheBatugan77]

Wow. Grew up near Smithtown. Must have been the sticks back then.

[@rucksackzen]

I was thinking the same. I grew up in Sayville and it was the “country” way back then.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

For you lil' fellers, HGB's magazine Cosmopolitan was a very old (going back to the 19th century) general interest monthly until she turned it from being almost moribund and revived it as a chi chi gal's zine.

[@michaeldanello3966]

Once again Helen Gurly Brown has an improved hair style...and this one is quite beautiful. Compared to her first appearance not only her hair but she looks very much more attractive. I was never aware of just how much of a difference a hair style could make ! Absolutely remarkable

[@loissimmons6558]

Congratulations. You have some insight now as to why women consider beauty parlors and our hair stylists so important.

[@jacquelinebell6201]

It was very apparent with Dorothy. Some of her hairstyles were awful. But others made her look lovely.

[@ItsKrma00]

How can you get that hair into a car?

[@VahanNisanian]

Recorded on May 7, 1967.

[@tomgraves6463]

This episode is from the *Spring of Big Hair,* preceding the *Summer of Love.* 😍✌

[@TheBatugan77]

What about the Autumn of skipped periods and the Winter of unplanned pregnancy.

[@tomgraves6463]

@@TheBatugan77 Now all those babies would be censor citizens. 🙂

[@bigoldinosaur]

It's funny. I just watched the other two episodes, with Allan as the mystery guest, and he was wearing his glasses and now he's not.

[@sandrageorge3488]

Maybe wearing contacts.

[@davidhenschel1990]

Does anyone know which 1958 episode of I’ve Got A Secret includes a segment that was described by the Chicago Tribune as follows ? : “[Allan] Sherman left the program in 1958, when humorist Henry Morgan substituted for regular host Garry Moore and came up seven minutes short in scripted material. Morgan, a rather cranky sort on his best days, spent the dead air time berating Sherman.” The Chicago Tribune published those words in 2000 as part of a review of a legitimate theater tribute to Allan Sherman’s 1960s song parodies.

[@sandrageorge3488]

Henry Morgan such a CRAB!!!!

[@rmelin13231]

6/11/1958

[@soulierinvestments]

Randall's introductions in this booking period have been truly memorable if for how amusingly short they are. Bennett could be short when he wanted to. When.

[@dizzyology7514]

But John misquoted the classic advice to public speakers: Be Bold, Be Brief, Be Seated.

[@soulierinvestments]

dizzyology The version I have heard is "Stand Up. Speak Up. Shut Up."

[@Beson-SE]

soulierinvestments Or 'KISS' (Keep It Short, Stupid). :)

[@jackseward7779]

Street cart hot dogs from a cart with sauerkraut were a special treat as a kid in Philly. But I don't agree that they are usually meant for only one meal - we eat them at lunch and dinner.

[@rmelin13231]

My guess is that the reference to "one meal" may have been referring to lunch, as the guest sold from a pushcart. That's the only thing I can think of. I agree, they are good anytime.

[@RonGerstein]

In 1967, a hot dog on a bun (frankfuter) cost 10 cents from a pushcart.

[@ToddSF]

Every dictionary I looked it up in says that a frankfurter is a type of cooked sausage made of beef or beef and pork or even just pork that may be skinless or stuffed in a casing, of a reddish or reddish brown color. Wiener is typically defined as a synonym for frankfurter. I note that there are lots of kinds of sausages with various names and I disagree with Mr. Daly when he said that sausages are always pork. No, there are sausages made from various kinds of meat or blends of more than one kind of meat, and there are certainly all beef sausages. A knockwurst or knackwurst is defined as a short, thick heavily seasoned sausage. Kosher knackwursts are commonplace and definitely not made from pork.

[@Beson-SE]

Can a man from Frankfurt say, "Ich bin ein Frankfurter"? :)

[@savethetpc6406]

Johan Bengtsson He *could*, but he'd probably get a laugh if he did! ;)

[@Beson-SE]

SaveThe TPC Same with a man from Hamburg? :)

[@savethetpc6406]

Johan Bengtsson Absolutely! :D

[@soulierinvestments]

I thought that a hot dog was some sort of sausage.

[@jacquelinebell6201]

No Bennett. I always miss when he's not making comments about John.

[@TheBatugan77]

Heard Allen Sherman on Doctor DeMento. Good memories.

[@soulierinvestments]

Goodson's introduction of Arlene and then of Helen is way more diplomatic and even- handed than what he did the night Sinatra blew into WML

[@druidbros]

Yes but later he asks Allan Sherman how much weight he has lost. Just a little insensitive.

[@soulierinvestments]

druidbros Big time insensitivity. However, they did talk about I've Got a Secret like adults. Sort of.

[@TheIgnatzz]

I think Allan Sherman's yelling voice is an attempt to imitate Andy Devine.

[@druidbros]

John and company seems a bit sad in the end goodbyes. Maybe the reality of the end is sinking in.

[@DLAN-jb3hb]

Yes, I know Bennett got the call back in February.

[@jmccracken1963]

Arlene Francis's introduction of Mark Goodson sounds valedictory to me.

[@davidsanderson5918]

DLAN 1122 We know they know.

[@davidsanderson5918]

druidbros Yep Daly looks pissed off at the end of this episode.

[@paullad3919]

Hair!!!!

[@VahanNisanian]

This is the last appearance of Cosmopolitan Liberator and Woman's Rights champion Helen Gurley Brown. She would appear a few times as Mystery Guest on the new show. I enjoyed her as panelist. She asked really good, and really intelligent questions.

[@Beson-SE]

I totally agree with you. She made a nice contrast to Arlene.

[@dizzyology7514]

Of the would-be Dorothy replacements, Helen Gurley Brown and Suzy Knickerbocker were both very good players, but their low-key, laid back styles fell a bit short on charisma. At the other end of the scale was the vivacious Phyllis Newman, whose bounciness could occasionally get slightly annoying. In between fell Sue Oakland and Michelle Lee -- I found them the most pleasing panelists, overall.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

dizzyology I haven't noticed Suzy Knickerbocker lately, and Tony Randall has become almost a Steve Allen type of guest panelist. All of the women you mentioned are beautiful, but Sue Oakland seemed to leave her personality in her purse (unlike the night of "The Big Show" when Fred Allen made mention of Talluah Bankhead's own purse).

[@dizzyology7514]

Joe Postove Check out the way Sue explodes in delight as she removes the mask after getting a MG (which she did more than once). You could light a fire from her smile.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

dizzyology I like bounciness in a gal!

[@VahanNisanian]

End credits intact again!

[@MrJoeybabe25]

A screwdriver can be fun, but not on network television (and that depends where you find your fun).

[@gretchenking5952]

So rude to out someone on the spot like that asking them how much weight they lost.

[@taraxacum]

I agree.

[@davidsanderson5918]

One has to completely forget about what is rude and what isn't on this show. This is OVER FIFTY years ago. On comedy sitcoms of the time, women were being called 'silly old moos' (Till Death Us Do Part), black people were being called 'nig-nog' (Love Thy Neighbour) and even in 1981, Rowan Atkinson referred to someone in a comedy sketch as an 'utter spastic'.....and audiences laughed heartily!! Many times on WML since 1950 they openly talk about people's size and heavy physique. Often with copious laughter from the audience. Jerry Lewis even joked that someone's slimming tablets (as it was their 'line') weren't working!! And they were a member of the public being joked about!! I'm afraid the past (old movies, old TV programmes, old books, old songs) is RIDDLED with things that are taboo today. Best to just give in and watch as if you were there in 1967!! It can be done.

[@galileocan]

A little known fact, but it was rumoured that there actually was a small family living in Ms. Collura's hair.

[@josephpaul4548]

They had their summer home there as well.

[@soulierinvestments]

Were empire waist gown popular in this time period? Both women panels wear them tonight and Arlene seems to have a whole walk in closet full of them.

[@loissimmons6558]

Arlene was getting her gowns from Bonwit Teller, the store for which she served on their Board of Directors. :Probably most, if not all, of them ended up back in their store on Monday morning (or maybe after a trip to the cleaners).

[@dellaroux]

Absolutely. This was the time of the "granny gown" in hippie-wear, and the "Empire style" in less casual settings. As soon as I saw the dress H.G. Brown was wearing, I said, "Ah the Josephine look" (named for Napoleon's wife).

[@kentetalman9008]

Yes, empire waist dresses were extremely popular in the late 60s.

[@VahanNisanian]

Look at the big hair on the second contestant!

[@Beson-SE]

What's in there? A loaf of bread?

[@dizzyology7514]

Johan Bengtsson It's bigger than a breadbox, for sure.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

The first contestant had the EXACT same hairdo as my Mom did in the 60's. My Mother was chic.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

Poor girl walks crooked because her hair is the heaviest part of her body (besides her chest).

[@MrJoeybabe25]

She serves the hot dogs hot and fresh from her beehive!

[@MrJoeybabe25]

The hot dog lady is far too beautiful to be hawking frankfurters. Eventually, I hope, she moves up to hamburgers or maybe even Falafel!

[@loissimmons6558]

+Joe Postove Next thing you'll have her selling pastrami sandwiches on white with mayo.

[@fje6902]

@@loissimmons6558 That crime still gets the death penalty in NY, lol.

[@paullad3919]

Did Goodson really need to ask Allan Sherman how much weight he had lost?

[@TJWhite-pl6gt]

Wow, its weird seeing Allan Sherman with no glasses or crew-cut. Sad to know that by this point in time, his career was all but over. (Except for his brilliant book on the sexual revolution, "Rape of the A*P*E", published not long before he passed away.)

[@jmccracken1963]

Said book was published by Playboy Press - which, I believe, bankrolled Sherman's writing of said book.

[@soulierinvestments]

Allan Sherman's yelling his answers is not quite as jarring as when Red Buttons yelled his answers the night that E Andrews moderated the program in 1959.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

HG Brown mentions that Tony with his new record has brought Carmen Lombardo out of retirement (he was Guy Lombardo's younger brother and I didn't know he was retired). I know,,,who's Guy Lombardo? Well, here for your enjoyment, from high atop the Central Hotel in Akron, Ohio is Carmen Lombardo! kzbin.info/www/bejne/f5CalISLoshlbqc

[@Steve27775]

Tony Randall comes in different colors? That's quite a trick if you can pull it off (so to speak). p.s. Nothing dangerous about a screwdriver? I heard of a guy being stabbed with one.

[@soulierinvestments]

Daly probably should have said that it was not dangerous when it was used with skill and care for its purpose. Even hot dogs could be dangerous if frozen and sharpened.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

A screwdriver can be dangerous if you've had too many.

[@alanfollett6242]

+soulierinvestments Practically anything can be dangerous given sufficient ingenuity and malice. MacGyver could doubtless have fashioned a serviceable tactical nuke from three cuff links, a liter of Mountain Dew, and half a box of canary seed.

[@neilmidkiff]

I assume the "different colors" referred to Tony Randall's multiple makeups for the Seven Faces of Dr. Lao movie. (I'm not putting the title in quotes because I can't remember if the official title had "The" in it, and whether it was officially Seven or 7.)

[@MrJoeybabe25]

Alan Follett Cottage Cheese?

[@williamlinington9166]

Screw drivers could be and are dangerous in the wrong hands.

[@mulberryman1305]

well ya, but so is almost everything else

[@martinvanr.545]

In that case the person is dangerous, not the screwdriver in itself.

[@loissimmons6558]

It depends upon how much vodka one uses.

[@sandrageorge3488]

The big hair.....wow.

[@soulierinvestments]

What is it with Goodson's complexion.

[@savethetpc6406]

soulierinvestments Miami Beach?

[@loopshackr]

Goodman had a dark tan, as did Michelle Lee in the previous episode. Apparently, he also wore sunglasses, giving him a "raccoon" effect around the eyes. The fact that you can tell is the tipoff that the B&W kinescope films of the color shows were produced on color-capable equipment. Roughly speaking, B&W TV's displayed the whitest areas as brightly as possible, and the dark areas appeared anywhere from full black to light grey, varying from shot-to-shot, or even within a single shot. You can see the variations in the B&W show films. Cheaper B&W TV's skimped on the circuitry to minimize the effect, and looked even worse, but It worked as long as the blacks appeared reasonably darker than the whites. Color TV's can't tolerate that - to keep the colors right, they had to hold a consistent black level - that is, dark picture areas were consistently black, whites were white, with the rest of the shades spread out between. Some have described the kinescopes of the color shows as "murky," but that's not actually true - actually, we consistently see the full brightness range of the original picture, with the dark areas displayed as fully dark, though the color info is gone....

[@loopshackr]

...OR IS IT? The KZbin videos are murky enough to disguise whether the kinescope equipment used a monochrome (B&W) or color CRT (picture tube). Ironically, if it was a mono CRT, much of the color information may still be preserved on the B&W film. The reasons would take too long to explain here, but if you're interested, google "Doctor Who color recovery". The BBC used the color tapes of the earliest episodes of Doctor Who to produce high-quality B&W kinescopes for world distribution, then scratched the tapes (sound familiar?) (film needed no video standards conversion, and the far-flung broadcasters didn't do color anyway). A group of Doctor Who fanatic techies got together and had some success reconstruction color sequences from the kinescopes. There's no telling whether those tricks would work for the WML material, though.

[@soulierinvestments]

Fascinating. Would be worth taking a try.

[@SuperWinterborn]

loopshackr Thank you very much for interesting information! :)

[@VahanNisanian]

Where are Allan Sherman's glasses?

[@Beson-SE]

He didn't wear any glasses on the cover to his album "Togetherness" either.

[@DLAN-jb3hb]

Yeah, no glasses and more hair!

[@MrJoeybabe25]

The second contestant said (in response to Tony Randall's question) that a screwdriver is, in and of itself not a funny item. I must disagree. Screwdriver is funny. Wrench is funny, PHILLIPS screwdriver will make them pee in their pants. Hammer is not funny, torch is not funny, and locks is not funny, but LOX is funny.

[@beadyeyedbrat]

Lots of high hair in this episode.

[@vitalyjohnson3514]

Arlene makes me shoot white glue

[@TheBatugan77]

Outward and upward?

[@sandrageorge3488]

Talk about a beehive hair do.

[@Visiontech]

WOW! Goodson had I'm guessing a REALLY bad tan. I wish tat we could have seen him in color. What happened???

[@mulberryman1305]

Arlene Frances "you say it's in the animal family" guest "yes" Arlene Frances "would it then be in the meat family" she's a brainy lass ain't she

[@davidsanderson5918]

Mulberryman To be fair it could've been an egg. :)

[@stevekru6518]

Or leather or jello or heart valves or medicines derived from animals (insulin, other hormones) or fur or milk and other dairy products,

[@safepethaven]

Every decade has its ugly fashions and/or hairdos, and this poor hot dog vendor has one of those hairdos, when that era followed the short, sleek emulations of the Beatles, Twiggy, etc.

[@TheBatugan77]

I don't like your tone, son. Knock it off.

[@miketheyunggod2534]

The first contestant didn't look scared. Perhaps she mentioned it before the show.

[@TheBatugan77]

She wet herself. Look close.

[@ItsKrma00]

Who sells screwdrivers for a living - that's just weird.

[@kentetalman9008]

What do you think, they just magically appear in stores?

[@maynardsmoreland]

There's an excellent biography on Allan Sherman released in 2013 called "Overweight Sensation" by Mark Cohen.