What's My Line? - Jacques Picard; Mitch Miller; Joey Bishop [panel] (Aug 20, 1961)

MYSTERY GUEST: Jacques Picard; Mitch Miller
PANEL: Dorothy Kilgallen, Joey Bishop, Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf

[@donnacook8994]

What a rare treat to see Jacques Piccard, a pioneer in his field! Thank you so much for airing this episode!!! Too bad Arlene gave it away,but she just couldn't help herself🤣 It was also fantastic to learn of the future plans. 👍👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@mikejschin]

This episode aired on the most memorable day of my childhood. This was the summer when Maris and Mantle were chasing Babe Ruth's home run record, and I was a 10 year old boy consumed by baseball. On this day, my father took me to Cleveland to see a double header between the Indians and the Yankees. In the first game, Mantle hit a 3 run homer in the first inning, his 46th of the year. Two innings later, Maris hit his 49th, a 2 run shot. The memory of those home runs, and the wonderful time I had with my father, will always remain with me.

[@sallyhaid7030]

I envy that experience!

[@mikejschin]

@@sallyhaid7030 Hi, Sally. It was certainly magical...enough so to remain a vivid memory 60 years later. I can still see in my mind the flights of both homers. And any time spent with my father was priceless. He's been gone over 10 years now, but I still miss him every day.

[@user-go3bg3kn8v]

God Bless us all Sweetie, what beautiful memories !!

[@adamodeo9320]

Jacques Picard; Mitch Miller are both amazing men in their field - unbelievable achievements

[@dannydoc1969]

One day I was going into the main entrance of Rockefeller Center to visit my friend who worked as a waitress in one of the restaurants, Mitch Miller was on his way out. I stopped to talk to him. At the time I was in the NYC All-City Orchestra as a trumpeter. He was really sweet, and informative. He was very short too, lol. I told him how much I loved his show.

[@Fatherofheroesandheroines]

An ACTUAL Captain Picard!

[@williamlynnroden]

Jacques The long cool glass of water with the fun spirit of adventure.

[@peternagy-im4be]

The moon's a balloon old chap.

[@moonlightray8493]

Bennett and Joey, each in their own way, were really delivering some great wisecracks in this episode!

[@rr8960]

The lady who did the stunt with horses (Ann Miles) was also a former actress, stuntwoman, Playboy bunny, Broadway hairstylist, and model. She also performed stunts on the hidden-camera series Candid Camera, and was credited as a hairstylist in 1984 film called Union City. I’d say she led a full life.

[@Sylvander1911]

Arlene - If you're going to disqualify yourself, don't hand out clues

[@jyutzler]

It was funny though

[@leesher1845]

I agree and John Daly should have given him the full $50.

[@leesher1845]

Forcing a horse to jump 40 feet into water regular repeatedly was animal abuse.

[@gailsirois7175]

Exactly...that was really very tacky

[@peternagy-im4be]

@@leesher1845 never mind.

[@janet8418]

What a great show!

[@steveo288]

If you watch these shows in binges, it's easier to remember people's lines. This is at least the 3rd time they had a lady diver on horseback. Also numerous lady judges and dog catchers. Always fun stuff. :)

[@moonlightray8493]

Don't forget all the fire eaters and garbage collectors ;)

[@stevenjoyal6565]

Mitch Miller was such a great contestant. I had the great pleasure to meet and work with him once and he was always a gentleman and gifted at his craft (originally a professional trombone player)!

[@JPcares]

He played everything but oboe was his instrument. I interviewed him once around 1980. Very important figure in the recording industry in the 1950's.

[@bluecamus5162]

Unfortunately, as head of Columbia Records, he was also infamous for refusing to sign Elvis, Buddy Holly and the Beatles when he had the chance because he hated R&R. To his credit, he did snag Bob Dylan, but only because he thought Bob was a common folk singer.

[@kentetalman9008]

Not a trombone player. Mitch played oboe and English horn.

[@LarsRyeJeppesen]

"Dives into tank on horseback"... we've had that weird occupation a few times before...

[@MrJoeybabe25]

Too many times! As a member of the "All American What's My Line Family"... I PROTEST!

[@jmccracken1963]

This show was pre-recorded on Sunday, 4 June 1961. Joey Bishop was also the guest panelist for that evening's live episode. And, by the way: The musical instruments that Mitch Miller was quite proficient at were oboe and English horn. He was the English-horn soloist on a late 1930s/early 1940s RCA Victor recording of Sibelius's "The Swan of Tuonela," conducted by Leopold Stokowski. And, in the 1950s, when he was Columbia Records's popular-music A&R director, he recorded at least one album of classical concerti for oboe and orchestra, as well as a couple of easy-listening "quiet nighttime" music, with his oboe playing backed by Percy Faith and his orchestra.

[@stevenjoyal6565]

I understand he was also quite proficient on the trombone.

[@donnacook8994]

So gracious the way Mitch Miller kissed the ladies hands as he was leaving. Quite the gentleman! 🥰

[@marycleary7810]

This was a great line up of guests.

[@smithsmith9379]

John gave a hilarious deadpan look at the camera after Bennett's joke at 12:31 :)

[@michellepost1016]

I always liked Mitch Miller.His singers had such awesome harmony...love their singing of Xmas songs.Joey Bishop was kinda cute.

[@michaelmiller1215]

I barely remember the Mitch Miller show as a small child in the early 1960s.

[@maynardsmoreland]

If you ever get the opportunity to hear Mitch Miller's sing-along version of John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance," you must. Especially in the light of Miller's anti-rock stance at Columbia for many years.

[@jmccracken1963]

That album was recorded for Atlantic Records around 1970.

[@robertmelson2130]

Jaques Piccard's first cousin Don will be a guest on 9/1/63 (and coincidentally Mitch Miller will be the Mystery Guest!). The fathers of the two cousins, twin brothers, were famous in their own right: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Piccard

[@WendyDarling1974]

I’ve always thought Miller looks like a Lenin lookalike.

[@vickiebohy7609]

I have a friend who loves bad jokes. I will have to share Bennett's story with him. He'll love it!

[@nowvoyagerNE]

Arlene's dress reminds me of a dress my mother had in the late 50's or early 60's, when i was about 7 or 8 years old...sheer material with the same neckline...only my mother's was gray and white checks, with a white collar and cuffs on 3/4 length sleeves. it was a pretty dress, and i always thought my mom looked wonderful in it..

[@MrWindermere123]

John Daly's accent could be mistaken for an English one except for certain words - the first one I noticed was 'theatre' which he pronounced 'theadre'. He was born in South Africa and educated in the north east of the USA, so his accent is not 100% American. He also enunciates his words in an exaggerated way which he probably learnt from his role as a radio news reporter. For example, he adds an H to What's My Line, so it sounds like H-What's My Line? He is very patient with Bennet Cerf's lame jokes - he must have been a true gentleman to do that last thing!

[@jackkomisar458]

When I was in elementary school in the 1950's, one of my teachers said that "wh" in the beginning of a word is "the soup-blowing sound." I ignored her.

[@rmelin13231]

Very observant notes on Mr. Daly and his linguistics. He and Mr. Cerf were constantly badgering one another during the run of What's My Line, all in good fun.

[@sdacj]

His mother came from England and he often said that she insisted on proper speech from her sons, and John had a Scotch nanny when he was a toddler. So he was born and lived his first decade in South Africa, taught to speak by people from England and Scotland, educated from 5th grade on in New England, then had training as a professional radio announcer. His accent was the sum of many parts - he talked of being teased as a boy because of the accent, and once said "I have a quaint illusion that I don't sound funny".

[@romeman01]

Jacques Piccard (whose name is spelled with two c's), as Bennett Cerf notes, was extraordinarily tall; in speaking of one of the vessels in which he traveled, he told National Geographic, "I had the cabin made with a diameter of six feet four inches - almost my height." This program was recorded on June 4, 1961.

[@RikardPeterson]

An explorer… I wonder if Jean Luc Picard possibly got named after him?

[@robertmelson2130]

According to Wiki, yes. It states that Roddenberry named the character after Jaques Piccard's father and uncle (twin brothers). In Star Trek, at some point Jean-Luc Picard speaks of his ancestors who were famous explorers.

[@jesssands5349]

That was fun to have Mr. Piccard

[@drzarkov39]

Piccard's descent in the bathyscaphe was a joint Swiss/U.S. venture. However, the U.S. insisted the American flag be higher than the Swiss flag, so the Swiss actually went deeper than the American flag.

[@Dios67]

Joey Bishop fits in so well IMO.

[@Merrida100]

11 years and I can still hear that same blustery fella hollering and yelling uproariously. There's a few voices yelling in the audience that are very distinctive and identifiable. I'm gathering they were paid for their "performance"

[@sitarnut]

One of the very few who sit taller than Daly in those seats.

[@sandydog291]

Maybe, in some ways at age 65, I still think like a kid. When Mitch Miller came out I thought of The Flintstones "Hum Along With Herman" episode.

[@neilmidkiff]

What a treat! I was five in 1961, and can remember Mitch Miller being scary-looking to me on TV. No one I knew then had a mustache or beard. I think this must be the first time in 55 years that I've seen him, and what a difference -- I've even grown a beard myself a few times for stage roles (as in my Google+ photo, though not often in real life), and so can see through facial hair to the person underneath as I couldn't do as a young boy.

[@WhatsMyLine]

Just wanted to mention, Neil, after having read so many of your comments over the last few months, that I think you'd really enjoy our WML Facebook group. I know a lot of people have good reasons to stay away from Facebook, but if you're not one of them, I'd love to see you join the group! facebook.com/groups/728471287199862/

[@neilmidkiff]

+What's My Line? How kind of you to offer a personal invitation! Unfortunately I'm over-committed to other activities just now, mostly nonprofit arts organizations as well as some family responsibilities, and I know that Facebook can become a great time sink, so I can't take on a new group anytime soon. I'll weigh in here via KZbin comments whenever I have something relevant to say about a particular episode, but that's all I can promise.

[@WhatsMyLine]

Neil Midkiff I understand completely. That's one of the GOOD reasons to stay away from Facebook, that it's a time sink. The silliest reason is when people are worried about privacy, since you can just lie to Facebook and make up whatever name you want. They don't like it, but there's not much they can do about it (as long as you don't use an obviously fake name!) And please continue to weigh in here on KZbin whenever you're so inclined. You leave great comments. Generally, the percentage of new comments that are worth reading continues to go down as more time goes by since the shows were first posted.

[@richardsteinberg9696]

Neil Midkiff is

[@loissimmons6558]

+Neil Midkiff I'm a few years older than you (I was going on 9 and soon to begin 4th grade when this episode aired). But facial hair wasn't scary to me as my dad had grown a mustache by this time and looked quite distinguished. Also, that lovable Beatnik, Maynard G. Krebs (played by Bob Denver), had already been on "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" for two seasons. And I was familiar with the pictures of former U.S. Presidents who had facial hair (the first being Lincoln and the last being Taft). I had a framed poster of all the Presidents from Washington to Eisenhower and I could pretty much name them all by the time I started school.

[@ericgrove7755]

Follow the bouncing ball and Sing Along With Mitch Miller.

[@Gwaithmir]

What happens with you accidently bump into a wasps' nest while you blunder through a patch of poison ivy? You sting along with itch.

[@kentetalman9008]

Mitch Miller's show never had the bouncing ball, just the lyrics on the bottom of the screen.

[@accomplice55]

@@kentetalman9008 It definitely had the bouncing ball.

[@sdkelmaruecan2907]

And his father, Auguste Piccard was the inspiration for Professor Calculus (From Wikipedia: Inventor Auguste Piccard (1884-1962), Hergé stated in an interview with Numa Sadoul: "Calculus is a reduced scale Piccard, as the real chap was very tall. He had an interminable neck that sprouted from a collar that was much too large... I made Calculus a mini-Piccard, otherwise I would have had to enlarge the frames of the cartoon strip.") No wonder his son is so tall.

[@kathyrobertson5132]

Who was the other MM? Mickey Mantle?

[@curiouscharacter1]

Judgin from the look on Joey Bishop's face, I think he was referring to Marilyn Monroe.

[@moonlightray8493]

As a fan of both Tintin and WML, that was a delightful piece of trivia - thanks for sharing!

[@leesher1845]

7 miles as a deep-sea diver ~ can you imagine?

[@lindalangrell471]

Researching that now. Crazy!

[@lindalangrell471]

I'm looking for the book " Seven Miles Down" - that has to be one heck of a read, I hope.

[@richstrobel]

The only other time I've seen Mitch Miller is in the movie Catch Me if you Can.

[@robertmelson2130]

8:56 Arlene Francis, who has disqualified herself, gives away the contestant's line in order to show how smart she is. It's the second time I've seen her do this. Martin Gabel wasn't here, unfortunately.

[@thamnosma]

I've thought that a few times

[@user-iv9xw3vs6c]

Robert Melson for Christ sake, she just helped them

[@stranger7138]

Hope no one ever shared any secrets with her.

[@rmelin13231]

@Craig Willis Exactly!! Thank you for that.

[@jasonayres]

In modern film and television, it might be noted that "No animals were harmed in the making of this production.." Well, in their own words, only the horses that did want to dive, did. Must have had a horse whisperer on hand to explain the job beforehand!

[@curiouscharacter1]

Pretty tame audience for this one. Usually when a woman comes on (and I mean ANY woman almost), there are tons of wolf whistles. Very surprising that Mrs Miles didn't garner that attention.

[@johnchrysostomon6284]

He's the reason there's a character called Capt. Picard on Star Trek

[@tatersalad5149]

They never would have guessed the first guest if it wasn’t for Mrs Gabel’s big mouth. What was the point of “disqualifying” herself.

[@miketheyunggod2534]

They mentioned every band leader except Mitch Miller. 😝

[@JPcares]

If you look at his career in total, being a band leader (in the traditional sense) was only one part of his career. His biggest influence came as the primary A&R man for Columbia records.

[@alskndlaskndal]

Who was the other "MM" that Joey spoke of? I always enjoy Joey's appearances. :-)

[@romeman01]

I should think almost certainly Marilyn Monroe.

[@anneroy4560]

the diving into a tank woman has been here before ...

[@Merrida100]

I was thinking the exact same thing. Seen her before. The horse. Man, I feel so bad for those poor animals. I think the previous Judge (earlier) was here before too.

[@gailsirois7175]

Different one

[@AbcXyz-hz9jm]

Shame on Arlene for giving it away.

[@gailsirois7175]

Agree

[@peternagy-im4be]

@@gailsirois7175 go back to bed and pull the covers over your head and stay there. Ok?

[@randylovering24]

Good

[@vickiebohy7609]

How awful to make horses dive off a platform into 40 feet of water. That would constitute animal cruelty today. Those poor horses had to be terrified.

[@eightbars1]

wait until that diver discovers ballast tanks, something he should know all about. But to say the only way to get the "underwater helicopter" is by the blades pushing will soon be proven wrong, and they will use ballast and neutral buoyancy to sink and rise. The propellers may also be used, but I think they save power by just using negative buoyancy to sink to the bottom

[@44032]

Why disqualify yourself when you realize, (during the game) that you know who he is?

[@accomplice55]

Because the goal is to guess, and if you realize that you actually know who the person is, it's no longer a guessing game.

[@44032]

@@accomplice55 The goal is to figure out who he is and Arlene had done that. You disqualify yourself if you know the person or have information you received before the show that this person was going to be on it. Neither applied here.

[@randylovering24]

The Knicks need all the luck

[@brandonflorida1092]

The audience gives a lot away. They seem incapable of shutting up.

[@TheBraveIntrovert]

I believe this is about the 4th time Arlene has worn this dress.

[@MauriatOttolink]

What does the bloody horse think about this?

[@peternagy-im4be]

Like, i mean, who actually cares?

[@zoepaulastrassfield2664]

JCD thinks the Marianas Trench is in the Mediterranean?

[@alanfollett6242]

Actually it was Bennett who moved the Marianas Trench to the Mediterranean, at about 10:15.

[@gailsirois7175]

Diving... abusive to horses ...would never happen today

[@peternagy-im4be]

Ok. Have a nice day.

[@leesher1845]

Arlene should have kept her mouth shut About the deep-sea diver. As a result, he didn’t get the full $50 even though John Daly should’ve given it to him since Arlene gave such an obvious clue.

[@peternagy-im4be]

Don't be silly.

[@ChrisHansonCanada]

*_DEEP SEA EXPLORER_* *_DIVES 40 FEET INTO TANK ON HORSEBACK_*

[@lllowkee6533]

What a horrible thing to do to horse, the most majestic of animals. I fast forwarded thru this crap, shame on WML even then. They also had African animals Hunter on the show! 🤯

[@roberttelarket4934]

How could anyone stand Mitch Miller and his idiotic arm/forearm motion?!

[@tomcorey3722]

Joey Bishop isn’t funny!

[@gailsirois7175]

THANK YOU !!!!

[@peternagy-im4be]

Sure he is. He's a hoot. A riot. A very funny guy.

[@rberry4288]

Cerf ALWAYS seems irritated when he's told NO. "NO!!" Yes Bennett, NO. Cerf is so annoying I rarely watch. I just can't stand his nasally whine and his arrogant ego.