What's My Line? - Harry Belafonte; Ray Milland [panel] (Nov 1, 1959)

MYSTERY GUEST: Harry Belafonte
PANEL: Arlene Francis, Ray Milland, Dorothy Kilgallen, Bennett Cerf

[@shirleyrombough8173]

Dorothy is so skilled at drawing out even the most unusual occupations. She was really good at this.

[@drumbum3.142]

Sometimes.. . ... A Little Too "Skilled" ... .. 😬😬😬🤔😐🤔😬😬😬😬😬

[@kenyongray2615]

Miss Faulkner could probably lift a television camera. Harry Belafonte was a tremendous talent. Thanks for the video.

[@donnacook8994]

Loved seeing Harry Belafonte!

[@justinmay3451]

Rest In Peace, Harry Belafonte! Thanks for everything!

[@hcombs0104]

RIP Harry Belafonte. It was a long life.

[@nancybrewster9137]

I enjoyed this show very much growing up, and it is still funny, it is too bad that they don't have shows like this on television.

[@sleb99]

Me too! I loved it as a kid and am so glad it still is enjoyable to me as an adult!

[@bt10ant]

Our "celebrities" these days don't have the mastery of English as do these panel members. Their erudite use of language makes the program even more enjoyable and I don't think will ever be duplicated.

[@amberwhite312]

RIP Harry..

[@Visiontech]

They don't make 'em like this anymore. Thanks for the upload.

[@mikejschin]

Miss Faulkner was from Bristol, Tennessee and worked for a TV station in Bristol, Virginia. Bristol would be a single city except that it is separated into two by an imaginary line: the Tennessee-Virginia border runs along the main street of Bristol.

[@waldolydecker8118]

Wonder if she ever did the Bristol Stomp?

[@ToddSproule]

Dorothy shows her lovely neck & shoulders. She is so very smart & classy indeed!

[@gdeec]

Oh Mr Belafonte was simply handsome.

[@shirleyrombough8173]

georgie calverley -Yes he was!

[@rambleonfromhere8780]

Omg yes

[@elisabethlinz4256]

I think, he looked sympathetic, not exactly beautiful.... But he's a very pleasant chap.

[@alexforest1]

Handsome and intelligent.

[@dariawells7438]

I keep noticing that John Daly always gives hints in his replies. Note during the camerawoman that he mentions, "We need to keep things in focus."

[@lopa2828]

That's one of the very rare cases. About a dentist some episodes earlier, he twice mistakenly mentioned "he can pull out your tooth".

[@caroler01]

I just noticed that, as well.

[@eddasimon1427]

Such a handsome man and wonderful artist🌹❤️🍀

[@yatinexile7144]

RIP Harry Belafonte

[@HorneATL]

20:25 RIP Harry.

[@RikardPeterson]

Harry Belafonte! One of the really great singers of all time.

[@SuperWinterborn]

Rikard Peterson And still going strong! :)

[@FungusMossGnosis]

@Jim Stark True, but his accomplishments outside of entertainment don't take away from Mr. Belafonte being an excellent musician and actor as well as an important humanitarian.

[@georgevincent1834]

@@FungusMossGnosis Don't kid yourself. He is a creep.

[@FungusMossGnosis]

@@georgevincent1834 Based on what?

[@georgevincent1834]

@@FungusMossGnosis Had him for four days of jury duty in the late 90's in Manhattan. Extremely arrogant, exhibited a non too subtle racist attitude, very anti-law enforcement, a creep. Considering he's been milking ONE hit song for over 60 years and his movie career is pretty much forgettable unless he had Dorothy Dandridge to carry him through it, his arrogance is very much misplaced.

[@rtflone]

Odds Against Tomorrow, the film noir picture they mentioned as currently running on Broadway, was directed by Robt Wise and starred Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, and Ed Begley with Shelley Winters and Gloria Grahame in supporting roles. If you love great movies this one goes at the top of your list..

[@nancymiller9745]

Love this show.A jewel.

[@davidsanderson5918]

I love the way this programme presents difficulties which you never have thought of. Should a ferris wheel be said to 'move' even though it's rooted to the spot? Good stuff.

[@shuroom57]

It moves through the air. AND it transports objects.

[@randall-king]

@@shuroom57yet it doesn’t move from place to place.

[@maynardsmoreland]

As always, Miss Francis looks like a million bucks.

[@TheVetusMores]

"As always" -- indeed! As sweet as she was beautiful!

[@henry20008]

At Least a million

[@igkoigko9950]

Zimbabwean currency. Smart and ambitious for sure, but not at all a “looker,” even when not compared to beauties like Arlene. The “cameraman” contestant is far more attractive but her job brings to mind the thought that if a casting director were called for an attractive woman, suggesting Dorothy would be career ending.

[@stephaniemccoy9602]

The camera switched to Arlene at a wonderful time when she randomly said Who lol.

[@bethdibartolomeo2042]

Wouldn't children avail themselves of a TV cameraman/woman? If they're on a show, technically they should. I think they were right to complain about the no answer there.

[@neilmidkiff]

Beth Di Bartolomeo I have to guess that the guest and John were thinking of "who would hire her to operate a camera" rather than "who would enjoy indirectly the results of her work" (audience). Your suggested test case of child performers on a TV show is a good one, but rare enough that I'd be surprised if that were the basis of the panel's objection at the time.

[@Chris-lh7wj]

Harry still alive at 94 in 2021!

[@Walterwhiterocks]

Well at least John didn't end the show with "you've done quite well tonight, panel." The only one they got was Belafonte, but he often throws that phrase in even when the panel only gets one right.

[@alexforest1]

I was amazed that Bennett who guessed Harry Belafonte was unaware of the magnificent film he was in “Odds Against Tomorrow “ . This was powerful film noir with Robert Ryan who was once on the panel. It struck me and perhaps others as strange.

[@mzapa]

@@alexforest1 Amazing film, one of my favourite noirs

[@TimLeeSongs]

That would make a good riddle…’what moves around as it stays still?’ A Ferris wheel.

[@feraudyh]

Actually you could have said this of a clock ⏰.

[@kentetalman9008]

How about a roulette wheel?

[@shuroom57]

All these things move; they transport other things.

[@garfieldharrison510]

Harry did it good. You want to me sing.. you got to come to the show.

[@AndrewMacLaine]

I think it was a matter of perspective. To a layperson, a ferris wheel moves mechanically on its own witnout being aided/moved/pushed by a person. To an engineer who makes them, a ferris wheel moves only when a human operator activates it.

[@cruiseboston638]

Sincere question..I know exactly where Bennett Cerf lived but was wondering about his speech and or accent. I'm horrible at recognizing dialect or accents. Thanks in advance for any insight.

[@Lee90000]

the first woman is massive. I mean powerfully built.

[@accomplice55]

John is wrong. Dorothy asked if children could benefit from Miss Faulkner's service, and they certainly could. She could film them as well as she could film adults. Someone else asked if the object benefitted.

[@suzycreamcheesez4371]

Jamaica Farewell

[@rosemarymagrino772]

Day-O

[@blueduck5589]

Broadway Cerf and the fix.

[@bbailey7818]

I can't imagine any tv station camera operator anywhere now wouldn't be unionized. 1959 was a long ⌛️ time ago.

[@TyrSkyFatherOfTheGods]

Okay Dorothy - you already know it has moving parts, so why are you asking if it moves - if the moving parts move? ARGH!

[@toinimoore3463]

When I saw your name I immediately thought of commercial fishing I’m hungry and thought of Salmon haha😃I sure agree with you but like they say she’s in a small town and worked at the misslle plant too boy she’s active !

[@bt10ant]

I think Mr. Milland was a bit out of his element here. The question he asks at 9:30 is a classic of the "weirdest question" contest.

[@lopa2828]

Most guest or celebrity panelists were often except Mr Majnou, Ms Grear Garson, Easter Williams, David Niven, Tony Perkins and John Pyne most came unprepared to the stage.

[@shuroom57]

It's not entirely weird as a question. One of the sponsors of WML was Remington; they made an electric razor the effectiveness of which was demonstrated in an ad by shaving a peach.

[@ChrisHansonCanada]

*_Television Cameraman_* *_Makes Ferris Wheels_* Ray Milland was the biggest downfall of an Oscar winning actor. Post-1950s he appeared in one science fiction and horror movie after another. He never had another great dramatic role.

[@peternagy-im4be]

Please remove this complete and utter waste of space from the comments section. Unfortunately today's awful society is full of pathetic losers intent on ruining other people's enjoyment of social media. Moron.

[@justinmay3451]

Interesting how Harry denied Arlene's request for him to sing a song for her! Of course, Louis Armstrong fulfilled her "Hello Dolly" request a few years later!

[@rmelin13231]

I think I read somewhere that Louis was scolded for that. In this episode, Harry started to explain why he couldn't ("...my contract...") as performers were often limited in their ability to perform specifics outside of a contracted venue. (Those are my words, and probably not precise).

[@waldolydecker8118]

We all love Arlene, but she had a bad habit (her only visible one) of imposing on multiple guests during the run of this show to "perform" on their way off stage. You would think that as a performer herself she'd be more aware that performers either contractually can't perform or do not want to perform unexpectedly, unprepared, or simply on their day "off." Her requests superficially appear "cute" but are actually inconsiderate and unnecessary. Most guests rightfully disregarded the impositions; Louis Armstrong accommodating and thereby encouraging it to continue was unfortunate.

[@joet840]

Back then they still used the word man to an occupation even when it's a woman doing it.

[@hanoc101]

Yes. such and such "person" did not come about for a while after this. Camera operator would have also been a good phrase to use.

[@neilmidkiff]

Yes, the superimposed "line" at the start of her segment read "cameraman," but John corrected it to "camerawoman" at 10:24.

[@davidfahey5068]

Ok

[@leesher1845]

There was a product - the camera.

[@lllowkee6533]

A ‘product’ is something sold or traded, Im pretty sure.

[@jacquelinebell6201]

​@@lllowkee6533 OR made/manufactured.

[@shirleyrombough8173]

He looks like Boo Radley

[@shirleyrombough8173]

I meant the ferris wheel salesman, certainly not Harry Belafonte.

[@kimberlyehrlich4]

Can we talk about why John would think a camerawomen could only work if the job was part-time? That really surprised me, after seeing him have hundreds of women on this show working all kinds of full time jobs just as well as men. (Love this show otherwise. It makes me feel like I’m time-traveling! 🤗)

[@geraldkatz7986]

To explain why she wasn't in a union perhaps.

[@nycbearff]

At that time many kinds of jobs were closed to women - and some unions de facto excluded women. If you weren't a man, you couldn't join the union, and you couldn't get a job in a union shop. The same kinds of things were done to exclude minorities from many fields of work. But - she could get a part time job in a small non-union TV station, because it probably paid too little to live on. And she probably made significantly less money than a man would make in the same job.

[@chrisn7259]

Ah, the uptight fifties. When Arlene asks. "Are you beautiful?" There's an awkward pause until they clarify it to mean handsome leading man. Of course he was beautiful, but people were afraid to use that term for a man then. If Matt Bomer were on today, everyone would just say yes.

[@angelajoseph6709]

Chris N I remember when Suzanne Somers said O.J. Simpson was a beautiful man as she and rest of world watched infamous Simpson Trial with iconic attorney client Johnnie Cochran.

[@shirleyrombough8173]

Chris N Heck yes he was beautiful. Arlene got it right.

[@fshepinc]

@@angelajoseph6709 Interesting to see her in the courthouse and trial scenes of the John Waters film Serial Mom, saying she knew Kathleen Turner's character was innocent...

[@geraldkatz7986]

"Beautiful" wasn't the issue. The issue was of modesty. Whenever someone is asked if they are "vivacious" "handsome" "a major star" "a blonde bombshell" John Daly answers in the affirmative so the guest doesn't have to to avoid being prideful.

[@thesweeples3266]

Shave a peach?

[@georgevincent1834]

We had Harry Belafonte for jury duty years ago in Manhattan. He was a real jerk.

[@waldolydecker8118]

can't blame him...stuck on a jury with you for multiple days....hell, Mother Theresa would be a jerk in that scenario

[@FigaroHey]

.Ferris wheels don't roll around or fly. Parts of it move. Why make it so hard?

[@dcasper8514]

Exactly ..

[@kentetalman9008]

5:57 Children don't watch tv???

[@randall-king]

I believe that answer was given in terms of who would employ her to execute her services. That would be a man or woman working for a television studio or something like that, but not a child. At the time Daly answered, I thought he should have clarified a little, because I had the same thought as you initially.

[@juancarlosvillacrecesvega3999]

The first question. Miss or Mrs ? hahaha

[@accomplice55]

They had to know how to address her. That's the way it was then.

[@carollee444]

Dorothy Kilgallen was a drip! Smart, but snobby!

[@bigwilson8794]

This one was a little boring. But what the heck...they all can't be classic