What's My Line? - Gordon MacRae; Martin Gabel [panel]; Faye Emerson [panel] (Oct 19, 1958)

MYSTERY GUEST: Gordon MacRae [singer, actor]
PANEL: Arlene Francis, Martin Gabel, Faye Emerson, Bennett Cerf

[@erichanson426]

Martin Gable is one of my favorite guest panelists

[@pamtebelman2321]

He was a wonderful actor, too. His role as a mobster in Deadline USA with Bogart (1952) was really well done.

[@lopa2828]

@@pamtebelman2321: thanks for letting us know that. I do not recognise him there.

[@hcombs0104]

Such a wordsmith, that John! No wonder he was in broadcasting.

[@ReynaHerichan7769]

I love watching Arlene and Bennett. Smart people from the past.

[@henry20008]

very smart and entertaining

[@keithnaylor1981]

Brilliant edition! Who can ever forget Gordon MacRae singing ‘Oh What a Beautiful Morning’ from the wonderfully enjoyable OKLAHOMA, the greatest picture of 1955, robbed of the Best Picture Oscar when the award incredulously went to ‘Marty’ a film seldom seen or remembered. One of several monumental blunders by the Academy.

[@RobertPerrigoOkiechopper]

I'am so happy you are posting these shows in order, I' m up to Oct. 19th 1958 and hope that you end up posting all you can get your hands on. I' m disabled and in a wheel chair full time and the winter months I'm also a shut in and all I have is You- tube and Face Book, I don't watch much TV. And again thank you for all of your effort. Robert.

[@WhatsMyLine]

My pleasure, Robert. Glad you're enjoying the shows. Some folks don't seem to appreciate that it takes a fair amount of work to put the shows in some kind of order. KZbin doesn't make this easy at all!

[@savethetpc6406]

What's My Line? I appreciate it too -- thanks again!

[@theamishumpire1301]

What's My Line? So do I, as I have stated many times before, and more than likely, so I will do the future.

[@ToddSF]

What's My Line? -- And as I've said before, I really enjoy the playlists that make it so easy to watch the shows in chronological order. In fact, I use the playlists every day and will copy and paste the link to the next show (when I'm done for the day) into my "bookmark" for WML so I can easily find my way back to the playlist at just the right spot. Once again, I commend your excellent efforts and thank you for them.

[@WhatsMyLine]

ToddSF 94109 Thank you. It's been a pretty rough month, as you know.

[@johnwettermark]

I'm addicted to these!

[@shirleyrombough8173]

John Wettermark - Me too!

[@cagnazzo82]

@@shirleyrombough8173 I can't stop watching them. I don't know why. There were so many stars that I've seen in picture that I'm seeing talking for the first time. And everyone's so well-mannered, yet very funny! It's very refreshing.

[@dianefiske-foy4717]

This was a great episode. I love Gordon MacRae!

[@Steezey7]

I love that these very rich, accomplished people still show respect to those of a different income.

[@gregh7400]

That was back before people became stupid and crazy.

[@sandrageorge3488]

Most of the time.

[@igkoigko9950]

These people were probably not “very rich” but were very hard working relying on their heavily taxed earned income to support a suburban house and pied-a-terre. Remember, each has a demanding full time vocation and we are watching just one of their part time jobs. Over the years the cast has respected all contestants except those who were obese or physically different, sophomoric but apparently part of the zeitgeist.

[@leesher1845]

Well, I guess the final contestant had to go home.

[@laurahoward5426]

Arlene Francis was paid the most, $1000 , back when the median weekly income was $100

[@anthonymorano3255]

Never seen any of these shows because there before my time .I been watching them every night and I enjoy them .

[@sunlight4169]

I love these shows -all very special entertainers/panelists. Bennet Cerf had such an unassuming, kind, caring, paternal aura - I particularly enjoy his sweet personality.

[@jackseward7779]

Dice are used to play many family board games. Ergo, they are "useful."

[@peternagy-im4be]

They are certainly not useful

[@allenjones3130]

The MG segment w/Gordon Macrae was quite entertaining. Gordon's vocal disguise was ribtickling!

[@Dolphin-cb9sq]

Always so refreshing to see THIS.

[@neilmidkiff]

What a happy episode! I'm glad John let the panel take the time to guess the dice-dotter. Their approach was slow but sure. And the time was balanced by Bennett quickly guessing the airplane traffic cop, based on his own experience. Even for a widely traveling lecturer, what are the odds that his driver would have been caught by the same cop? That left plenty of time for Gordon MacRae to be charming as the mystery guest.

[@loissimmons6558]

+Neil Midkiff I would say the odds were 100%. I can imagine Bennett talking about the experience when he got back and the WML staff tracking down the flying traffic cop to bring him on the show. It was a great idea for a profession as it was a fairly novel one at the time. And Bennett would not have actually seen the flying cop. The only mistake was in the cop giving his location.

[@frankwoodward5006]

The contestants are always asked where they are from, and the panelists have to deduce if that location has anything to do with their line. And perhaps the cop wasn't from Hammond, but might have been directed to give that as a response because that "fed" Bennet's "Dirty trick!" comment based on the incident. The successful shows included acts of intellect (arriving at dice and dots) and outright amusement, and this episode was no exception.

[@wschmrdr]

He was only going through Hammond, not to there, so they thought they could slip it by. Bennett could easily smell rats, and they had one there. At least they also knew Bennett could put in a hilarious reaction, so why not get the laugh and give the man 50 bucks?

[@bluecamus5162]

I agree with Lois. WML staff went out to Indiana and got THAT traffic cop to be on the show after Bennett got his ticket. The interstate freeways were in the process of being built at this time, and those would allow 73 mph until, that is, the 1970s oil embargo when federal speed limits were reduced to 55! Can you imagine driving from Chicago to LA doing 55 the whole way?

[@Visiontech]

I'm watching these like crazy and forgetting to comment! Really REALLY appreciate your posting these. I'm young and a fanatic for film Noir so that's what brought me here because some of the stars were linked to these videos. Now I realize that "ALL" of the great ones are here and again thanks so much!!!

[@MrWindermere123]

The flying traffic cop was a fascinating idea which I had never heard of. Today it could be done by an unmanned drone relaying video footage to a police car on the road and stationed to intercept the speeding driver with proof of the offence. Here in the UK speed cameras have to be visible - they are painted yellow - but I assume that in the USA in 1958 the flying traffic cop could take people like Bennett Cerf by total surprise.

[@wschmrdr]

In the US, the 6th amendment requires there must be an accuser to cross-examine, so there has to be proper review of the footage. This includes speed and red light cameras. In addition, there must be public announcement that this sort of thing may be happening, otherwise you get into the realm of illegal searches (4th amendment).

[@mikejschin]

Gordon MacRae was not the only performer in his family. His wife, Sheila MacRae was a noted actress at the time of this show. One of their daughters, Meredith MacRae, was also an actress, best known as Billie Jo on the TV series Petticoat Junction. Another daughter, Heather MacRae, was also a busy actress.

[@gbrumburgh]

Gordon's daughter Meredith would be a frequent panelist on the syndicated version of What's My Line?

[@blueduck5589]

MacRae denied he was married on this show.

[@chrisn7259]

@@blueduck5589 No he didn't. He simply said that he wasn't married to a dancer. I think they thought it was Tony Martin, married to Cyd Charisse.

[@ericmaine]

In reference to the lady who paints dots on dice, Faye Emerson asked would be used in any particular part of the home, and Daley said “you can’t answer that question yes or no.” But later on Arlene asks if it could be used in one part of the home rather than another, and the question was allowed.

[@taraxacum]

John Daly has done that a few times in other episodes in reply to that specific question. Of course Miss Emerson's question can be answered yes or no! I wonder if John gets a little confused sometimes. It's been known to happen in regard to other questions and often he catches himself and allows the panelist to continue.

[@ChrisHansonCanada]

The question needs to be one that can be answered YES or NO. Arlene's question was a "yes or no" question. Faye's question was not.

[@ruthkidney3582]

This show should be required for those who wish to learn interviewing techniques!

[@carollee444]

Cerf deseved the ticket!

[@calliopivogiatzis2235]

I thought machines made the dots in dice,wow!

[@andreaplummer3841]

Anyone else think Matt LeBlanc (Joey from Friends) looks like Gordon McCrae?

[@geoffm9944]

Gordon MacRae was a wonderful singer and entertainer. He died too early.

[@allenjones3130]

Indeed he did. So did his daughter Meredith.

[@DDT-lr3zz]

Well men have shorter life expectancy than women

[@leesher1845]

Those regular panelists were so smart.

[@ryanschroer]

Shouldn't have given the location of the traffic cop..Martin and Faye knew as soon as Bennett started in..

[@amberola1b]

This show aired one day after I came into the world.

[@Rhonda9199]

October 18th, my birthday too but 1963!

[@jacquelinebell6201]

Two years minus two days and I was born!

[@larrydonguy]

The panel found out that Gordon sang pretty early in the questioning but no really asked anything that would help reveal the kind of music he sang. There were only so many big male stars in Broadway musical theatre then , and he was probably the biggest.

[@davedavid290]

Gordon had only a few minor credits on Broadway. He was chiefly a recording star and movie star.

[@larrydonguy]

Yes, but the songs and roles he was most noted for were from movie versions of the Broadway musicals Oklahoma and Carousel.

[@laurahoward5426]

The biggest Broadway musical stars were women this particular year, Ethel Merman

[@dianefiske-foy4717]

I would have to say that dice were very useful to me in the home, seeing as how my friend and I used them a lot to play Yahtzee. Though, back then, they may not have had Yahtzee yet. I don’t know when the game was invented, but there are, and probably were back then, a lot of games that have dice in them, so I believe they are useful.

[@oldredbarnman]

Yahtzee was first marketed in 1956, although an earlier version, Yatzie came about in the 1940s.

[@dianefiske-foy4717]

@@oldredbarnman … Thank you 😊

[@jamespicklehead5610]

Gordon MacRae's hair was perfect.

[@karlhungus5554]

And how. I'd envy just about any head of hair, but Gordon's was especially great. Elvis, too.

[@nancyhowell4505]

Thanks and blessings for providing me with delightful entertainment while being a shut-in and unable to move very much. 🙏👏♥️

[@davidarcudi230]

Better actor than I ever imagined

[@hopicard]

The dice, the dice! O it is soooo funny!

[@musik102]

I thought that Gordon came across very impressively.

[@marcuslarinen684]

From certain angles I weren't sure if it was Gordon MacRae or Matt LeBlanc...

[@savethetpc6406]

Marcus Larinen I see the resemblance, but I'm quite sure Matt LeBlanc wasn't even a gleam in his parents' eyes in 1958! ;)

[@larryteren5054]

john did a disservice on the first profession. he threw out a lot of red herrings that misrepresented. dice can be used in board games at home by men and women.

[@savethetpc6406]

Larry Teren True. Sometimes he does go overboard in explaining things or trying to clarify and at times it either confuses things further or gives too much of a hint, but in general I think he did a great job with the show, and I usually find even his most overblown explanations rather endearing. As he mentions after they've guessed correctly, he probably let the questioning for this contestant go on much too long, but it sure turned out to be an entertaining segment!

[@hizgrase]

I said the same.

[@leesher1845]

Cute one by the police pilot. 😂

[@Wizardofgosz]

Someone needs to tell Arlene that common dice are 6-sided, not 4-sided.

[@loissimmons6558]

The panel's knowledge of geometry rivals their knowledge of biology.

[@taraxacum]

As well as the fact that dice are not squares but cubes.

[@mikejschin]

At least she didn't ask if the contestant plucked dice.

[@ryanschroer]

Dice are quite useful as a product...if you played games. That question would have gotten a qualified yes from me....maybe not for everyone..but for gamblers..it would be a useful product.

[@ToddSF]

Ryan Schroer -- Dice are very useful even for children or adults who play board games of various types at home where gambling is not involved. Monopoly, Clue, Careers, Parcheesi, Mouse Trap, etc., all require dice to determine how many steps you get for moving your token around the board. Then there are perfectly innocent games like Yahtzee, where the game provides five dice and a dice cup, plus scoring pads to keep track of the various "hands" you roll for points. I grew up playing tons of games like that and while some board games had numbered spinners with a pointer, most used dice.

[@robertmelson2130]

ToddSF 94109 John Daly was waaay off his game with the first contestant. FE: "Would it be used in any particular part of the home?" JCD: "Now, that can't be answered 'yes' or 'no'." I surely don't see why it couldn't. Then he answers 'no' to Faye's question about its being a useful product, only to be caught on a following question by Arlene about its being decorative such that, realizing something not useful would have to be decorative, he has to answer 'yes'. Dice decorative? John's time management was also less skillful than usual. He let the first contestant take over half the show's time (14:22 out of 25:56), though he at least made the comment afterward that he should have cut the panel off a couple of minutes earlier. As often as JCD handled the game superbly, he did have a rare off day too. Still, I can't think of anyone I'd rather see in that chair than John Daly (as Bennett Cerf and Clifton Fadiman have demonstrated recently); certainly not Wally Bruner or Larry Blyden. Or was it Wally Blyden and Larry Bruner? lol

[@lemorab1]

Dice are also used in math games in elementary school classrooms in the U.S. In fact, we teachers consider them indispensable. Some creative teachers, back in the 1950's probably also had the kids use them. Ditto for dominoes.

[@loissimmons6558]

Having gone to school from 1957 to 1974 (Kindergarten through college) and math being one of my favorite subjects, I don't remember using dice in math class (from basic arithmetic to advanced calculus). Maybe teachers were more basic back then and less creative. Possible schoolroom use notwithstanding, dice are generally used in games (gambling and non-gambling). While they may be necessary to the game, the game is not necessary to life the way food, clothing, shelter, financial matters, law enforcement, etc. are necessary and therefore useful. Under the terms of reference that WML generally used, dice would not be considered a useful product, even though they weren't particularly decorative (and I considered that answer a stretch, unless they were thinking of the fuzzy dice hanging from the rear view mirror of a car. Usually Arlene or Dorothy would contrast useful with luxury rather than with decorative.

[@maremacd]

They never said what the speed limit was, but 73 mph doesn't seem shockingly high for a highway, particularly for that era.

[@neilmidkiff]

maremacd Someone with a 1957 Indiana road map posted in another forum that the speed limit on state highways was 65 mph then. I'll bet it was more strictly enforced, though, than today's speed limits are in California. Here, sometimes driving at the speed limit is dangerously slow because 99% of the drivers are way over the speed limit. My earliest driving was in the 1970s in Missouri, and though I never got a speeding ticket, my recollection is that the enforcement was fairly tight, without much leeway.

[@juliansinger]

I can find a Cora Jean Bronkema being baptised (in Chicago in 1941). That'd make her like, 17 here, in her dice painting period, but she is fairly young... So maybe that's her. I can't find any direct links to her being the Cora Bronkema who married a gent from Michigan in 1966. I really quite hope it was her, because the gent's name was Henry Dice. So, y'know.

[@jennifersliwa]

The Ms. Bronkema you found from 1941 is the one in this video, but she married a gent from Chicago instead of Mr. Dice. Despite missing out on an incredibly ironic surname, things worked out alright for her in the end. At the age of 76, my grandmother's smirk still hasn't aged a day since she was 17.

[@loissimmons6558]

+Jen Sliwa Always love it when someone who was on the show or one of their relatives comments to give an update or further background on their life. I enjoyed your grandmother's appearance. She was a delightful guest. I hope she enjoyed the experience of coming to NYC and being on WML. But who would have thought that there would be two different people named Cora Bronkema!

[@dougtagg9162]

Jen Sliwa Thank you for sharing your personal story and of your grandmother.

[@sleb99]

Jen Sliwa she was a lovely girl here and very sweet! Thanks for posting your story!

[@juliansinger]

@@jennifersliwa Hi! Glad to hear from you, even if I am belated in saying so. I am very glad to know things worked out for her, and that she's had a good life.

[@geracb]

Wow! I didn't now Enrique Pena Nieto appeared on WML! 🤣

[@Baskerville22]

Once again, Cerf picks the occupation (aerial traffic cop) 'out of the blue'. Very suspicious.

[@debbigray1752]

Me thinks he smelled a prank.

[@hizgrase]

He always tells them that one question can be answered yes or no and it can be I watched one yesterday that he told Arlene Francis the same thing. He just doesn’t like the question it’s not that it can’t be answered yes or no. The other thing I wanted to say is even at that time dice came and games like Monopoly and I don’t know many other games they didn’t just have to be used for gambling.

[@ChrisHansonCanada]

*_Paints Dots on Dice_* *_Flying Traffic Cop_* 15:16 "Do you use your hands in your work?" How many jobs DON'T require using your hands at some point?

[@michaeldanello3966]

(Dice) have 4 sides!!?? Arlene didn't think that over very carefully. They have 6 it wouldn't roll.

[@robbob1234]

We know she definitely messed up, but to be a stickler, there are dice of various sides used in role-playing games. Four-sided dice (d4) are also known as tetrahedron or "pyramid" dice and apparently go back millennia.

[@dianefiske-foy4717]

My brother-in-law looks a lot like Gordon MacRae, a whole lot 🥰‼️ He and my husband look totally different from each other. Like my sister and I, they don’t look like siblings at all. But my brother-in-law’s son looks like my husband.

[@bigwilson8794]

Miss Emerson has one hell of a muff

[@dougtagg9162]

Dick Wilson I muff agree.

[@1234pouvez]

I'd love to know what that large club in Brooklyn was at the time.

[@laurahoward5426]

Copacabana

[@1234pouvez]

@@laurahoward5426 In researching the only Copacabana in New York that I could find was the famous one located at 625 W 51st St, New York, NY, where Nat King Cole was going to appear, according to Gordon Macrae. Nothing in Brooklyn in 1958.

[@neilphelan145]

Arlene seems to be ignorant when it comes to dice. They have 6 sides, not 4. Also they're not square, they are cubes.

[@jimchabai3163]

They didn't have 3D in the 1950's

[@savethetpc6406]

Umm... Arlene?... Dice have six sides. (in response to her comments starting around 12:45)

[@boognish999]

ZoneFighter1 I don't think they were playing role playing games with dice in 1958.

[@ToddSF]

Zac M. You're right. In 1958, all games that used dice used the six-sided kind numbered from 1 to 6 by impressed dots. And a lot of games used dice back then and still do.

[@robertmelson2130]

ZoneFighter1 I'm having a hard time imagining (imaging?) a 3 sided die or a 100 sided die (wouldn't that be effectively a sphere for rolling it?). I'm not sure about the 10 sided die either, but maybe there is one, although I do recall a 20 sided die that was used to generate base 10 numbers (every numeral was on it twice). I guess as long as you didn't stick to regular polyhedra, you could have any number you want. Perhaps a 3 - sided die was a triangular prism that only "rolled" along one axis? ******* I just googled it. There IS a 10 sided die, though it's not a regular polyhedron.

[@nadiazahroon6573]

If anyone can buy McRae daughter's autobiography and you can just feel her pain I. Dealing with father's alcoholism it is heartbreaking and painful for a young child to watch.

[@heatheralice89]

Which daughter wrote the autobiography?

[@laurahoward5426]

Dice were more in use for CRAPS than boardgames....at the horseraces, there was always a crap game going on

[@joycejean-baptiste4355]

A-ha, Mr. Cerf got caught in a car that was speeding.

[@timothydouglas7949]

Dorothy must have had something bad going on in the two weeks she was off?

[@richatlarge462]

Maybe the Asian flu, which was a pandemic then?

[@dejpsyd0421]

I can’t believe the Audience didn’t whistle cat calls over the first guest, the dice painter from Chicago…SHE WAS HOT!!!

[@keithnaylor1981]

Me too! It must have been the whistlers day off!

[@preppysocks209]

Dorothy played the game well, even if she was a little too competitive rather than entertaining. But this episode shows that the show could be just as good without her with the right replacement panelists and good guests.

[@greeneyes2256]

Never! Arlene was the perfect panelist.

[@preppysocks209]

@@greeneyes2256 I said nothing to the contrary. The subject was Dorothy, not Arlene.

[@jacquelinebell6201]

I agree. You just need the right combinations. And Faye Emerson was just right.

[@carollee444]

Much better show w/o Dorothy 😍 Person who painted dice, was very enjoyable! John daly was great, as usual🎲🎲🎲