What's My Line? - Dick Powell; Tony Randall [panel] (Sep 9, 1962)

MYSTERY GUEST: Dick Powell
PANEL: Dorothy Kilgallen, Tony Randall, Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf

[@JakeMabe1]

So happy to be watching this on my birthday! I love not only "WML?" of course, but also Dick Powell, especially in "42nd Street," and in his later career as a hard-boiled detective, most notably "Murder, My Sweet" and the classic radio series "Richard Diamond," which spotlighted several of Powell's talents -- acting, singing, and smooth delivery of one-liners. Don't know how I've managed to miss this particular appearance.

[@cort_tempered]

Joanna Lee has a fairly extensive body of work according to IMDB and it's pretty amusing that she just showed up as a normal guest I guess mostly because of her profession and her doing more after this as well... I love this show haha

[@donhailer4994]

I’m not certain if someone has already posted this but Joanna Lee won an Emmy for Best Writing in a Drama series in 1974. For “The Waltons”. She was the first woman to ever win in that category.

[@kimfuhrmann7700]

The Weatherly did indeed win the 1962 America's Cup. And you can still charter her today!

[@loissimmons6558]

I have a memory of _Weatherly_ successfully defending the America's Cup against _Gretel_. As I recall this was the first time there was a challenger from Australia. Here's a link to a picture of President Kennedy watching an America's Cup race with Jackie Kennedy. As an aside, there's a bit of an interesting fashion statement as JFK is wearing white crew socks (with a red stripe and blue stripe), but also appears to be wearing dress shoes and a suit. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Cup#/media/File:President_Kennedy_and_wife_watching_Americas_Cup,_1962.png

[@lorim667]

I love Dick Powell. It makes me sad when I think he passed away way too early

[@JamesRichards-mj9kw]

He killed himself.

[@MrEdWeirdoShow]

He died the very next year after this show was broadcast. And Dorothy was killed by JFK's killers.

[@RADIUMGLASS]

Dick Powell was the one who gave Aaron Spelling his big break as a writer and Spelling always credited him for doing so. He quit the company Powell started "Four Star Television" for years after his employers death because Dick's name was being removed from the company.

[@fromthesidelines]

Yes, Spelling noted in his autobiography that he left Four Star in 1966 "when some idiot decided to wipe Dick Powell's name off the masthead".

[@ginnylorenz5265]

@@fromthesidelines Bravo Mr. Spelling!!

[@perfumeaddict1204]

Poor Dick Powell - only days after this, he would find that he had cancer and he lived only another three months.

[@JamesRichards-mj9kw]

He was a chain smoker.

[@pattih7]

Oh, how sad. I love watching his old black and white shows, now! He was a wonderful actor, and I appreciate the fact that he chose to go his own way in entertainment. RIP.🌹

[@MisterMasterShafter1]

Joanna Lee was an actress turned writer who won an Emmy for writing The Waltons Thanksgiving episode, and she created the "Great Gazoo" for the Flintstones! As an actress, she was in 'Plan Nine from Outer Space' which could've been why she switched to writing, though she was one of the few good things about it.

[@erichanson426]

John Daily's joke of Grease was funny 😄 😆

[@RobertPerrigoOkiechopper]

After a long day's work, and when I get sat down for the night, this is my first duty, to watch WML, Thank you for the beginning of my night of peace.

[@craigsmith157]

Arlene Francis is so pretty. She's 55 here.

[@itsgleneaton4883]

What a wonderful voice and a fine gentleman Dick Powell was. He must have made a great father.

[@randysills4418]

Not according to Joan Blondell. She also said he was a bigot...

[@emilygregory7004]

I love Dick Powell. Sad to say he only had a few months to live since this appearance. This was Sept 1962, he passes in January 2, 1963

[@January.]

*after this appearance. *He passed away on January 2, 1963.

[@emilyhayek1132]

So sad. He was a great actor but he was even better as a producer/director. A great talented important man in Hollywood for tree decades. He left a remarkable legacy in films and television

[@nancyhowell4505]

​@@emilyhayek1132 *three 🙂

[@user-yw6hy5eg4k]

I cried my eyes out when on the evening news I heard that Dick Powell had died 😢😢

[@JamesRichards-mj9kw]

@@emilyhayek1132 He was a wooden actor and he directed crap films.

[@amb1962]

And I was born the following morning.

[@toastedcheeser]

Better than reading a history book....

[@carolynblocker6877]

It's a form of living history.

[@davidsanderson5918]

Those bongos on the main theme are ridiculous. The theme is played with swung eighth notes but the bongos are in straight sixteenths. What were they thinking? Can't believe it made it all the way to 'on the air' without someone pointing it out.

[@jmccracken1963]

When Bennett asks Dick Powell the question, "Who has more shows on the air now? You or Goodson-Todman," Mr. Powell was answered, "Goodson-Todman" - but the number of shows was pretty close. Four Star Productions, the production company which he headed (his "Four Star" partners at the time were David Niven, Charles Boyer, and Ida Lupino (Joel McCrea was the original fourth partner of the company when it was founded in 1952), did have six shows on the air that fall, including "The Lloyd Bridges Show" (created by Aaron Spelling, by the way), "Saints and Sinners," "Ensign O'Toole," "McKeever & the Colonel," and "The Rifleman," as well as "The Dick Powell Theatre," but the first four series were cancelled after one season, and "The Rifleman" finished its successful 5-year run on television at the conclusion of the 1962-63 season, too, as did "The Dick Powell Theatre" finish its successful 2-year run on television. Incidentally, Dick Powell also appeared in 15 of the teleplays during the two-year run of "The Dick Powell Theatre." He appeared as Inspector Amos Burke in the very first teleplay of the show's run, "Who Killed Julie Greer?", which originally aired on Tuesday, 26 Septermber 1961. The last teleplay in which he was in the cast, "The Court-Martial of Captain Wycliff" (he played Major Ed Clayborn), aired on Tuesday, 11 December 1962. 22 days later, he died..... After Dick Powell's death, "The Dick Powell Theatre" rotated hosts through the end of the season. June Allyson hosted the first teleplay to air after Powell's death ("Project X") - and, in the weeks that followed, guest hosts included Charles Boyer, David Niven, James Stewart, Steve McQueen, Robert Taylor, Milton Berle, John Wayne, Jackie Cooper, and Ronald Reagan. The final teleplay of the series' successful two-year run on NBC, "Last of the Private Eyes" (written by Richard Carr and Robert L. Jacks, and directed by Marc Daniels, guest-hosted by Ronald Reagan, with a cast that included Robert Cummings, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, William Bendix, Sebastian Cabot, Macdonald Carey, Linda Christian, Jeanne Crain, Jay C. Flippen, William Lundigan, Janis Paige, Arnold Stang, Keenan Wynn, and Lawrence Dobkin), aired on Tuesday, 30 April 1963. In future seasons, Four Star Productions would produce such TV series as "Burke's Law," "The Rogues," "Honey West," "The Big Valley," and "The Smothers Brothers Show" (a half-hour sitcom which aired on CBS in the 1965-66 TV season - NOT "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour"; it was co-created by Aaron Spelling and Richard Newton, and was later syndicated as "My Brother the Angel") - but its days as a major player in TV production pretty much died after 1966 (and died completely with the cancellation of "The Big Valley in 1969). The company would syndicate a number of game shows in the late 1960s and the 1970s (the best-known of which was probably "PDQ," hosted by Dennis James and produced by Heatter-Quigley), but that was it.....

[@loissimmons6558]

+jmccracken1963 Great recap of Four Star Productions. It was interesting to read about all the names and shows, both well-known and long forgotten.

[@toreckman8899]

People like you are annoying

[@MariaPerez-zm6hj]

so sad he died so soon, there was so much talent in him.😭

[@MariaPerez-zm6hj]

He was an amazing talented man. He breathed showbiz in all levels. The more I find out about him the more my admiration towards him grows. How I would have liked to have met him in person.

[@MariaPerez-zm6hj]

😪It needed his touch. It's a good thing we have these tapes to enjoy. RIP Dick Powell🙏🏻

[@preppysocks209]

Speidel Twist-O-Flex wristbands are still around. The corporate history of the company is a checkered one but the product is still popular. You can even by a Speidel Twist-O-Flex band for an Apple watch.

[@carollee444]

Dick Powell was a great actor 😘

[@JamesRichards-mj9kw]

He was a wooden actor.

[@galileocan]

Although Dorothy may have seemed a little "high", it was nice to hear her fun little laugh so many times in this episode

[@shirleyrombough8173]

Dorothy didn't seem "high" at all.

[@bluecamus5162]

Although there were many times when Dorothy appeared to be enjoying herself a bit too much, and I wondered too if she might be feeling a little too good, I always knew her to be very sharp and into the game, nor did she ever slur words or lose a train of thought. I think she just thoroughly enjoyed being there. And I too always enjoy hearing her guffaws and giggles.

[@mshow81]

I had long been interested in seeing this episode, since it was from the day I was born.

[@bobbyfrancis8957]

I was born on Sept. 6, but when this aired I was seven already. This year, in 2020, my physical body will be 65 (spiritual body is ageless).

[@vertxxgg]

Dick Powel the hero of Busby Berkeley Musicals a great carachter actor and producer .TV Disk Powell Theatre is masterpieces of TV best history

[@JLionelWaller]

Do not forget, he had two excellent detective shows on radio, Richard Diamond, and Rogues Gallery. They were both great .

[@maynardsmoreland]

Wow! Joanna Lee, who may be best known as 'Tanna' in Ed Wood's classic "Plan 9 From Outer Space." Later wrote episodes of 'The Brady Bunch.'

[@tomservo56954]

She's now far better known for her writing...

[@fromthesidelines]

At the time, she'd written at least one episode of "THE FLINTSTONES" {"Fred Strikes Out", the one where he has to bowl in the big lodge tournament while taking Wilma out to a drive-in movie on the eighth anniversary of the night she accepted his marriage proposal}.

[@loissimmons6558]

She wrote for a lot of shows that are still well-known today. In additions to the ones already mentioned, she also wrote for "My Three Sons", "Mr. Magoo", "Bewitched", "Death Valley Days", "The Farmer's Daughter", "Gidget", "Gilligan's Island", "Petticoat Junction", "Julia", "I Dream of Jeannie", "Mod Squad", "Nanny and the Professor", "The Courtship of Eddie's Father", "Room 222", "Marcus Welby", "The Waltons" and "Dynasty". In the mid-70's, she started to become more involved with TV Movies (the one I remember was "Babe" about the life of Babe Didrickson, starring Susan Clark in the title role and Alex Karras as her husband). And then in the mid-1980's her career shifted again to writing for children's afternoon television programming.

[@VickyRBenson]

Lois Simmons, Wow!

[@nadiazahroon6573]

Dorothy is so happy

[@dougfinlay7528]

The founder of Four Star TV, one of the early, top TV production companies. It wouldn't be too long before he would be dead and Four Star would slowly fade from the scene.

[@MariaPerez-zm6hj]

So sad. All good things come to an end. The end of a beautiful era. Many talented actors & musicians. It shouldn't be.💔 Love Dick Powell also like Dick Clark and his America Bandstand.💜🎶🙏🏻

[@marycleary7810]

Its funny that neither Dorothy or Bennett thought about writing for that California lady. I'm

[@steveliveshere]

I don't want to suggest things that aren't the case but my impression is they did not consider a woman could be a writer,

[@cogidubnus1953]

I think the formal dress requirements, coupled with the old fashioned courtesy/good manners are a good part of what made this programme stand out even at that time...

[@DCFunBud]

Dick Powell died January 2, 1963, so he only had a little under four months to live before he died of lung cancer. On Sept. 29, 1962, twenty days after this filming, he admitted to being treated for cancer. He was a chain smoker.

[@vertxxgg]

DICK POWELL and DICK CLARK are the best interwiers in TV History

[@LarsRyeJeppesen]

"Guns of Navarone". .. what a great movie that was.. also the book

[@MarkHarrison733]

It was garbage.

[@algoritmosalfredohipicasig7116]

"It take's one to know one?" Pretty funny that four writers didn't guess the comedy writer.

[@frankray4140]

day one of the best intro music. the drums liven it up and makes you want to dance to it. i have no idea why it was used for such a brief time.

[@davidsanderson5918]

Frank Ray The bongos in straight sixteenths don't fit the original swing rhythm. The person who came up with that had no idea at all.

[@Larry2463]

Sadly, on September 27, 1962, just 18 days after this broadcast, Mr. Powell would acknowledge rumors that he was undergoing treatment for cancer. He would die of this illness at the age of 58 on January 2, 1963.

[@bobbyfrancis8957]

June Allison's autobiography had said that Richard wasn't told that his illness was terminal.

[@bobbyfrancis8957]

I meant June Allyson, and Joan Blondell knew about it and kept hanging around him, and she told June she was sorry that she divorced him. And no, Joan wasn't in the room when Powell died, the last thing he said, when he was lying on a bed and June was looking at his blue eyes; he said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry ."

[@MarkHarrison733]

@@bobbyfrancis8957 Allyson lied about everything.

[@JamesRichards-mj9kw]

@@bobbyfrancis8957 He knew.

[@JamesRichards-mj9kw]

@@bobbyfrancis8957 He regretted marrying a Jew.

[@robertmelson2130]

Back in the '60's and '70's the America's Cup competition generated a LOT of public interest, perhaps peaking in 1977 when Ted Turner (Mr. Jane Fonda) won it. There were a lot of superlatives associated with it (oldest international sports trophy, longest winning streak,1851-1983) as well as drama (bickering, national pride, court battles, Ted Turner). I remember it well (the races were shown on TV), but these days few Americans, it would seem, (including me) pay much attention to it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Cup

[@johnnewcomb534]

We did when the Austin's won it and used it in the commercial advertising Australua as a tourist spot

[@preppysocks209]

Many commenters have suggested that a panelist peeked through their blindfolds. It is possible, hard to know. But this is the only occasion in which an MG suggested, possibly in jest, that a panelist had peeked, albeit on prior occasions, when Powell says this about his friend Bennett at 21:30.

[@VahanNisanian]

New television season, back to live tapings.

[@jayro4407]

Crazy to see my grandfather on TV back in the day.

[@dancelli714]

I may have to play radio's RICHARD DIAMOND with Virginia Gregg tonight. I have lots of 4 STAR THEATER In my collection;David Niven, Ida Lupino, Charles Boyer, Dick Powell. Good short stories. I added to my collection with only Ida Lupino from that series. (Early 50's.)

[@neilphelan145]

Rouges gallery is a great radio detective show.

[@keithdow8327]

I hope I am this healthy when I die.

[@soulierinvestments]

RE: Joanna Lee. Well, I am hard pressed to think of another person who appeared in an Ed Wood film that appeared on WML.

[@loissimmons6558]

It would be difficult to cross reference all of the obscure actors and actresses who appeared in Ed Wood's low budget films with all the people who appeared on WML, including all of the non-celebrity challengers. I can only find three well-known performers from the WML 1950-67 era who appeared in an Ed Wood film: Bela Lugosi, Criswell and (if you count "I Woke Up Early The Day I Died", with a script by Wood, but filmed after his death) Tippi Hedren. But none of them ever appeared on WML according to my research.

[@markcornish2519]

Bela legosi?

[@kingforaday8725]

Dick Powell was a huge mover-shaker in television in the 50-60s. His Four Star was involved in many of the westerns from this time period.

[@davidsanderson5918]

Dick Powell having nothing to do with music?!? I've got several Busby Berkeley DVDs where he sings his head off!! Ahhhhh Dorothy's just flagged it up. Yeahhhh man, Dorothy, I hear you!!!

[@donaldrohan1046]

Yes, the panel had a legit beef there.

[@steveliveshere]

I think technically it was the right call because at this stage he legitimately had another job which wasn't musical.

[@jacquelinebell6201]

Interesting that they're talking about the America's Cup. The Weatherley against our Australian yacht Gretel in the upcoming race. Yay!

[@robertromero8692]

I wonder if Joanna Lee did any modeling work? The way she walks suggests it.

[@richardhenry5961]

Dick Powell, its sad just less then 5 months after being on What's My Line? he pass away, lung cancer is so unforgiving specially during that time period in history... He was a chain smoker. Yet he was a great man with natural flaws like any one else.🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀

[@JamesRichards-mj9kw]

He was a Zionist warmonger.

[@syd8802]

20:30 ha waves back gotta love john

[@kristabrewer9363]

I'd LOVE to be a TV comedy writer

[@akampfer]

This seems to be the date they added the drums to the theme.

[@frankray4140]

this is the best intro... i don't know why they used it so briefly!

[@davidsanderson5918]

It's a mess. The bongos don't work. They should be swung, not played straight.

[@washoe4827]

@@davidsanderson5918 don't get davey goin'...!

[@galileocan]

Have you ever noticed that when Dorothy doesn't seem to have much of an idea who the mystery guest is, or what a regular guest's line is, and there is only one guess left, she will commonly pass rather than be the one who uses up the final guess. In this episode she specifically asks how many more guesses the panel has left. When she finds out she is the person with the final question, she immediately passes. If she couldn't be the one to solve, she couldn't stand to be the one who ends the game wrong

[@loissimmons6558]

To be fair at least in this one instance, she thought Tony had an idea and didn't want to shut him out from being able to pursue it. I've noticed her passing at other times during the middle of a round. It seems that when she was stumped and couldn't think of a question, she didn't want to waste a turn just pulling a question out of the air. And this is somewhat contrary to the general consensus that she looked to hog camera time (although this tended to happen more in the earlier years of WML).

[@preppysocks209]

@@loissimmons6558 So she said. But Tony had no idea and I think it was a pretext. Galilieocan g has identified an example of a repeated pattern of Dorothy's.

[@HelloooThere]

I think she had the hots for John when she first came out lol

[@loissimmons6558]

It had been a while since the panel participated in an episode. It seemed to me that they weren't as sharp as usual. They got a lot of no answers, especially surprising with both the Mystery Guest and a non-celebrity challenger from the world of show business. With Miss Lee, it sounded like some of them were kicking themselves afterward that they didn't come close to thinking of someone who wrote for show business. And they sounded unusually inept when it came to the segment with Dick Powell, although they did claim that getting a "no" on him being associated with music was misleading.

[@neilmidkiff]

And it was misleading, at least from my point of view; I turned seven in the month he died, so did not grow up watching the TV dramas he produced and acted in. I know him best from revivals of his film musicals of the 1930s and early 1940s -- he had a sweetness in his singing and acting too that is very endearing.

[@trickydick6152]

They never guess Powell, very odd.

[@anneroy4560]

to be fair he said 'no' when asked about singing ...

[@ScottMartinD]

He died just months later.

[@kingforaday8725]

Miss Lee is beautiful.

[@hariseldon2450]

After the show Dick Powell was diagnosed with cancer and died 4 months later.

[@JamesRichards-mj9kw]

Good.

[@sabinebeyer9249]

How often was Dick Powell as Mystery Guest on the show? It seems to me, that must be more then three appearances, alone and together with his wife?

[@WhatsMyLine]

Powell was on WML four times as mystery guest, once on the panel.

[@fromthesidelines]

He was host of his own anthology series, "THE DICK POWELL SHOW", which was about to begin its second season on NBC. As noted, in January 1963, he died of cancer- and guest hosts filled in for the rest of the season before it was cancelled.

[@craigsmith157]

Sadly, Powell passes away less than 4 months later. 😧

[@joet840]

Tony Caban From lung cancer, January 2,1963.at 58.

[@loissimmons6558]

He looked and sounded so healthy here. Cancer can strike so fast at times. It's both amazing and sad how the human body can function so well and so intricately, even in its ability to heal itself. And yet here the body's system malfunctions and it ravages itself. The older I get, the less I want to think about it. And I'm about 8 years older than Dick Powell was when his life ended.

[@adriennegormley9358]

I always get a chuckle out of the fact that in this later animated intro yo the shiw, that the final "job" shown is somebody being a horse's a**. That just tells me that someone on th final production staff had a sly sense if humor.

[@JamesRichards-mj9kw]

So glad he was a chain smoker.

[@nancyhowell4505]

I've seen some of the tallest women on this show! 😳 And I don't mean with their high heels.

[@ChrisHansonCanada]

*_YACHT DESIGNER_* *_TV COMEDY WRITER_*

[@shirleyrombough8173]

How could a yacht go up and down?

[@DB9CR7]

When the wind is strong and the waves are mighty.

[@shirleyrombough8173]

@@DB9CR7 - I see. I think I'd hate to be back on one of those.

[@DB9CR7]

@@shirleyrombough8173 Can't blame you!

[@HelloooThere]

If your on dope when riding it can seem like it

[@dinahbrown902]

Never been on a boat obviously

[@billthestinker]

Dick Powell doa in 4 months lung cancer

[@toreckman8899]

Define native habitat. AOC circa 1960.

[@MarkHarrison733]

The lung cancer was obvious from the change in his voice.

[@miketheyunggod2534]

That first contestant was horrible. Giving wrong answers and couldn’t hear.

[@MarkHarrison733]

Powell was a wooden actor.