What's My Line? - Yves Montand; PANEL: Jayne Meadows, Steve Allen (Feb 12, 1967)

MYSTERY GUEST: Yves Montand
PANEL: Jayne Meadows, Steve Allen, Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf
Many thanks to Steve M. Russo for providing this episode in much higher quality than the version I had previously. Folks interested in high quality, well packaged, well-edited DVDs of WML (and other game shows) can contact him directly for more information at [e-mail].
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[@patriciaannking8601]

I really miss Dorothy Kilgallen more with each show. NO ONE could replace her.

[@davidsanderson5918]

Patricia Ann King They could've at least TRIED.....after a respectful length of time has passed....to get someone again with a literary voice and to be a straight, methodical player (something sorely missed since Kilgallen left) but no, they seem to favour getting vacuous women with big hairdo's!!

[@robbob1234]

@@davidsanderson5918 Nonsense! How do you replace her? You can find someone with a nearly identical career, but Suzy K was waaaay too stiff for the show. HGB was decent at the game but not meant for TV. Sue Oakland was smart and cute, and with her connections might have ended up on more often if the show wasn't cancelled. I've seen your comments about Phyllis; she actually had a very high solving percentage. My personal favorite, post-DK. Perhaps in another year they may have steered toward a permanent panelist as you suggested, but Dorothy was Dorothy and irreplaceable. :)

[@robbob1234]

I feel like I missed one of the rotating hairdos?

[@gailsirois7175]

Me too

[@perrybarton]

@@robbob1234 It’s probably right under my nose, but I’m having no luck decoding “HGB.” 😎

[@omargonzalez2641]

This episode I think is the best. I'm laughing heartily. Jayne Meadows was absolutely lovely. Thank God for life affirming stuff.

[@user-ne8lh2vr2t]

Sit back and relax and watch the best game show ever and enjoy the numerous personalities of a bygone era. G-T did the best job that anyone could imagine!!!!

[@leannsherman6723]

Steve Allen was so funny. I hope Jayne appreciated it.

[@rmelin13231]

So true! I rolled over when he said "Gosh, I don't know any French men who don't know my wife". What a wonderful wit he was.

[@rivaridge7211]

My favorite Yves Montand film moment is from "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" - with Mr. Montand wonderfully singing "Come Back to Me" from atop the Pan Am building! It's a great scene with some tremendous overhead shots of New York City. This film (released in 1970) was one of the last big productions Director Vincent Minnelli was involved with.

[@leesher1845]

Steve Allen was sooo clever!

[@soulierinvestments]

I wonder how many engineers were required for Jayne Meadow's hair style. And apparently she inherited some of the planets that Dorothy wore in her hair back in 1963.

[@rapunzelz5520]

soulierinvestments it is funny how clothes or hair styles that were considered “hot” at the time, are things you wouldn’t be caught dead in now. And then, after a while, the styles make a comeback.

[@El_Ophelia]

She looks so glamourous, like she's always attending some type of premier or event. That hair is incredible. Imagine what that hair piece cost, plus with all those jewels in the pins? Like a bit of a tiara thing going, very regal. I don't think I could hold up that amount of weight for very long. I wonder how heavy that 'do is!!

[@Nanna1954]

@@El_Ophelia v

[@christianbaylor5352]

I know I am pretty off topic but does anyone know of a good site to watch new series online?

[@daytondario6216]

@Christian Baylor I would suggest Flixzone. You can find it by googling :)

[@DebbieFaubion]

Jayne and Audrey Meadows look and sound so much alike!

[@poetcomic1]

I found photos of Jayne Meadows in casual hair styles and not made up...WHAT an amazing natural beauty. She had the WORST taste in clothes, jewels and that wedding cake of a jewelled hair do!

[@beadyeyedbrat]

It was nice that they took time with the mystery guest instead of rushing through another contestant.

[@El_Ophelia]

Bennett seems to always be going on exotic traveling vacations so often in addition to all of his regular traveling "for work" or whatever it is he does when he goes around the country.

[@madeleine9907]

Don't be silly!

[@philippapay4352]

@Lilly Beans - He was owner/publisher at Random House, having founded it and gotten "Ulysses" allowed into this country along with publishing many of the best authors of the early and middle 20thc. His wife brought in Dr. Seuss and she was the creator behind Landmark Books for kids. She also wrote a book or two. He travelled virtually every week to get Random House publications placed in public libraries, universities, and professional associations. He also gave talks about the benefit of reading and education. He took about one vacation out of the country per year with his whole family and one for a long weekend or a week with his wife, while the boys were in school. It was relatively new for people of means to be able to get to and from places like the Caribbean and Europe readily for pleasure travel. Being what one could legitimately call wealthy at this point, he could afford it and probably needed to get away for long weekends and a week here and there to just do nothing but what the family wanted to do for renewal of their energies and spirits. He loved words, talent, jokes, people and so was happy to do all the travel he did for work, but he adored his family, too, so did right by them. And he had friends and associates in some of the seemingly exotic places, so visiting cousin-in-law Ginger Rogers or best friend Moss Hart or the interesting Noel Coward in Jamaica often netted him more contacts, but a beach is a beach is a beach, so they would understand if the Cerfs just needed to sunbathe awhile.

[@hizgrase]

@@philippapay4352 I love Arlene’s reference and one of her introductions in an earlier show, I love her reference to green eggs and ham. Little did they know…

[@jacquelinebell6201]

He works very hard with his publishing business. He deserves the vacations he gets.

[@lindafurr2404]

Oh how I wish this was in color so I could see the gorgeous gowns the ladies wear. I love Arlenes dress.

[@VahanNisanian]

You gotta love the new camera angles here. When the show moved to Studio 50, this allowed the Cameramen to be more felxible with their photography.

[@neilmidkiff]

Miss Livingston had the kind of trim figure that looked good in a miniskirt, but when her line was shown on screen, I admit that my first thought was "I hope she wears slacks at work." Fortunately John made that clear later on.

[@Johnmiller-rg3yo]

Wonderful times…class at its best! Regrettably gone forever!❤️🌹🇮🇹🇬🇧🇺🇸

[@halkahn5035]

Dorothy was such a terrific listener and such an insightful questioner.

[@loopshackr]

1st contestant: Jayne: "May I rule out, Miss Livingston, that it is not modeling in any form?" The dreaded double-negative, should have gotten a "no." (Miss Livingston replies "You may rule that out, yes," ignoring the "not.")

[@RikardPeterson]

No, it should not have gotten a no. It was clear what she meant.

[@johnbarge6135]

Double negatives are used regularly in the show as they are required. The people involved are intelligent and are capable of understanding both the questions and their meanings.

[@leannsherman6723]

Steve Allen was the best!😂❤

[@rmelin13231]

He was indeed.

[@soulierinvestments]

Miss Livingston I presume LOL. Bennett can do it well when he puts his mind to it. The pretzel riddle gets my vote as one of his worst. My favorite of his WML riddles: what is red, bumpy, and sleeps outside on the Texas prairie? The Lone Raspberry. badda bing.

[@Beson-SE]

I would have been very disappointed if Bennett HAD NOT reused the Livingston phrase. :) I bet he hoped that Steve or Arlene wouldn't say it before he got the chance. This was still the time when people were educated enough to understand the joke.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

"Miss Livingston I presume" was still funny in 1967. Now you would get no reaction, except the audience furiously googling to see what's what.

[@savethetpc6406]

soulierinvestments Do raspberries grow on the Texas prairie? If they do, I wonder if prairie chickens ever eat them. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZe7eoinbcx_n5o and kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5SqqWiepNmlabM (Well, in case you didn't already, now you know what my user name means! ;) )

[@SuperWinterborn]

SaveThe TPC I have, three days in a row, tried to give you a *+1* for this comment, but have all three times been denied by the mysterious YT engine. Hereby I consider it to be in my right to give you *+3* for this comment! ;)

[@savethetpc6406]

SuperWinterborn Thanks x 3! :D

[@rapunzelz5520]

Wow. .35 cents for a shoeshine.

[@stevenweygint7557]

Jayne was subtly flirting with Robert, the guy who builds fire engines. It was cute!

[@Eddie_Schantz]

At around 13:00 Arlene ask"Does the product stay where it is put?" They answered "no". That was a misleading answer. It "does" stay where it is put until it is moved.

[@philippapay4352]

Not the most interesting of mental wanderings, but I wonder how much more this pleasant young woman made shining shoes in a men's barber shop than a man would have or even more than she would in a train station where clients could be in a hurry or women or both? It may have been the result of a good business sense that had her make that choice, so would be perhaps instructive to discover what went on in her business, financial life over the years.

[@drumbum3.142]

"Mrs Livingston.. ...I Presume.." 😂😂😂😂☺️😊😂😂😂☺️😂

[@Beson-SE]

5:33 *callisthenics* ... what a word! Never heard that one before. :)

[@savethetpc6406]

Johan Bengtsson When I was growing up (1960s & 70s), calisthenics referred to exercises, such as pushups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, etc. I don't think I've ever heard the word "callisthenic" used as an adjective before, though, as Arlene uses it here. As the 70s wore on, I think that's when "aerobics" became the more popular form of exercise, and now I think the general term, "aerobic exercise" would include any type of exercise that increases your heart rate over time, including calisthenics. I can't remember the last time I heard someone contemporary use the word "calisthenics," though.

[@soulierinvestments]

Montand mentioned Candace Bergen. She appeared in 1965 WML with her ventriloquist father. I hear she appeared in 1967 -- is that a lost episode? I hope not.

[@jvcomedy]

+soulierinvestments She appeared on the 4/16/67 episode and it would appear it's not available for viewing on this WML channel. Don't know if it's lost or not, but it's not showing up here as of 2/22/16.

[@yeahnoonecaresifyouarefirst]

It's shocking to think that most if not all of those fire engines he helped to make were crushed, etc. on 9/11/01

[@Steve27775]

"Wear out the Yellow Pages instead of yourself" isn't exactly the greatest advertising slogan of all time. "Let your fingers do the walking" is much better, which is why it was still being used decades later.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

I have heard from my friends in the states the "White Pages" are becoming a thing of the past, what with so many companies and ways to telecommunicate.

[@WhatsMyLine]

Joe Postove "Becoming"? I haven't seen printed white page telephone directories for years now. It's bad enough there are still companies uselessly printing yellow pages that most everyone tosses immediately into the garbage. But at least that's intended as advertising of a sort. The white pages have no real function anymore.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

What's My Line? Well, I've been in Jewish regimentation camp for three and a half years now, and they had it in Norfolk when I left. Maybe I was the one who triggered the end of an empire? Here in my little burg of Ramat Beit Shemesh they have a small white and yellow pages (small community). How do you get the phone number if you don't know it, the web?

[@druidbros]

What's My Line? The zoo here in town has a recycling day every year where you can get free admission for every phone book you bring to them.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

druidbros Do lions eat paper?

[@nicoledotson1605]

Dorothy was one of the best❤

[@joycejean-baptiste4355]

Never saw a shoeshine girl before.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

Segment 2: Mr. Fox build fire engines. I thought fire engines just came, you know, like gravy comes from a turkey.

[@brookford2628]

Spoken like a real man! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@robg9601]

Sadly this is the last show episode before word came of cancellation on Se😢

[@Retroscoop]

Miss Livingstone "I presume" will have had to clean 3 x 50 pairs of shoes less with the 50 $ she won during this show.... Some people really have frivolous signatures, including young Fox.

[@davidsanderson5918]

Benoit Vanhees They got a flat appearance fee.

[@jacquelinebell6201]

Bennett always tells them they have the loveliest wife! He likes a beautiful woman.

[@allanshulstad1783]

Montand was in a,movie called "Z"

[@soulierinvestments]

Did the panel have any indication that CBS was about the drop the ax. And -- unless the next programs are videotaped, Bennett it turns out did not go anywhere away from WML until late Spring.

[@WhatsMyLine]

The first anyone on WML learned of the cancellation was the mention in the NY Times two days after this show aired. This is according to Mark Goodson-- who said in an article shortly afterward that the status of the show was still unsettled as far as he was aware, and that all he knew about talk of cancellation was what he read in the newspaper. Bennett also said, in his oral history interview, that the first he learned of the cancellation was when he was called by a reporter for a reaction. Disgraceful, disrespectful treatment by CBS of the people who had earned them millions over the course of the prior 17 years.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

What's My Line? "Disgraceful, disrespectful treatment by CBS" but not uncommon. It was rather the usual course for series personal to find out about a cancellation in the newspaper. CBS was no worse than the other two. Re, Ed Sullivan from Wikipedia..."In the late 1960s, Sullivan remarked that his program was waning as the decade went on. He realized that to keep viewers, the best and brightest in entertainment had to be seen, or else the viewers were going to keep on changing the channel. Along with declining viewership, Ed Sullivan attracted a higher median age for the average viewer (which most sponsors found undesirable) as the seasons went on. These two factors were the reason the show was canceled by CBS after the end of the 1970-1971 season. Because there was no notice of cancellation, Sullivan's landmark program ended without a proper finale. Sullivan would produce one-off specials for CBS until his death in 1974." Now I cannot think of anything worse than the way they treated Ed, who was the cornerstone of Sunday Night for CBS for nearly a quarter of a century. Think of all the little shows where actors would show up for work, and the set was already stricken.

[@WhatsMyLine]

Joe Postove Disgraceful, again. It's disgraceful behavior even toward the staff of a failed show, let alone a successful one. But the Ed Sullivan Show and WML weren't just successful shows. They were, as you said about Sullivan, the cornerstone of Sunday night television for roughly the first 20 years of TV history. CBS's ingratitude in these particular cases is simply astonishing.

[@soulierinvestments]

What was it that Fred Allen said about the size of a network vice president's heart?

[@WhatsMyLine]

“You can take all the sincerity in Hollywood, place it in the navel of a fruit fly and still have room enough for three caraway seeds and a producer’s heart.” One of my favorite f.a. quotes.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

I find it interesting that Jayne was a Republican and Steve was a noted liberal and Democrat. Not that you can't have a two party marriage (although I think the law in California now allows for three party marriage,,,I am so sorry) but Steve, at least until his final years (when he became more conservative) was pretty out spoken in his liberalism. Jayne was a liberated Republican!

[@barrykendrick3146]

+Joe Postove Well, as he claimed to be a One Worlder in his autobiography, he either believed in the utopian socialist model of such & thus was super lib; or understood this to be a facade for oligarchy, indicating something else!

[@preppysocks209]

Allen's liberalism was frequently manifested in his writing. "The Ground Is Our Table" concerns the plight of immigrant farm workers in California, complete with photos and came out the year after Cesar Chavez started to organize strikes by farm workers.

[@robbob1234]

And of course this was before party politics were polarized. You were still allowed to share some opinions with "the other side" in those days.

[@VahanNisanian]

Yves Montand was actually Italian, and he looked Italian, too. His real name was Ivo Livi.

[@angieschneiderman626]

Is that the same Ivo Livi who owned a kosher deli on Delancy Street?

[@loissimmons6558]

+Angie Schneiderman No, no. You are thinking of Avram Levi. Ivo Livi owned the kosher deli on block north on Rivington Street, around the corner from his uncle Yitzhak's tailor shop on Orchard Street.

[@davidsanderson5918]

Vahan Nisanian He moved to France when he was two.

[@feraudyh]

Actually, he wasn't Jewish. Livi is the name of a town in Italy.

[@ekspert52]

How did she make a living shining shoes for $0.35?

[@randallmacphee7260]

Everyone in those days wore dress shoes and good looking clothes and people kept their shoes shined , Miss Livingston received tips plus the fact you could feed a family of six for a week for 15 dollars , You could get a job making 80 dollars a week or even less and have a house and car .

[@paullad3919]

The minimum wage at the time of this show had just gone up to $1.40 per hour. I am fairly certain that she averaged, with tips, well over $1.40 per hour.

[@paullad3919]

The Paul Mole' Barber Shop is still in business: facebook.com/PaulMoleBarberShop/

[@VahanNisanian]

Steve Allen did double duty on February 12, 1967. First, there was a taped episode for the following week, and then the live broadcast of this episode. Two days later, the New York Times announces that "What's My Line?" will not be back this Fall. It will be cancelled.

[@vintagetvandexciting]

thank to fred sliverman, but at least "whats my line?" returns a year later, not as popular but still fun to watch

[@VahanNisanian]

vintagetvandexciting Fred Silverman had nothing to do with primetime programming on CBS; only daytime.

[@vintagetvandexciting]

oh right

[@soulierinvestments]

I read in the Fates book that throughout the Allen era of "I've Got a Secret" he did double duty every two weeks. He would do a live broadcast and a taped a broadcast for the next week. He lived in California and traveled to New York every other Sunday and Monday for his G-T duties.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

***** Fred Silverman's masters thesis at Ohio State analyzed ten years of ABC programming and was so good it got him hired as an executive at CBS at the age of 25 in 1963.

[@RichardHannay]

Yves Montand is in “Paris Is Burning”?

[@noeldown1952]

"I don't know any Frenchmen who don't know my wife." - Steve Allen is taking no prisoners.

[@soulierinvestments]

What Steve should have said when Jayne became so chummy with the young second contestant and they discovered was 23: "What a coincidence. Jayne, too, was 23 once." "May I call you [whatever his first name was}? The kid should have replied. "Yes, and so can your husband."

[@Beson-SE]

Jayne was 47, I wouldn't call that being "young" as she did.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

Johan Bengtsson But she looked younger...to me, anyway.

[@soulierinvestments]

Well, Jayne was the youngest woman on the panel. And youth, I guess, is somewhat a state of mind.

[@savethetpc6406]

Johan Bengtsson I think she was being at least somewhat facetious. soulierinvestments, I did not notice you commenting on Steve's flirtatiousness with the lovely shoeshine girl. Maybe Jayne was just trying to even the score!

[@loissimmons6558]

What's good for the gander is good for the goose!

[@ultrakool]

I've got a riddle for you Bennett: what if Carmen Miranda were a beautician and married Yves Montand? she'd be Carmen Miranda-Montand when she combs!

[@loissimmons6558]

+ultrakool A tip of a fruit-covered hat to you. That truly ranks up with the biggest groaners that Bennett ever uttered. In fact, your pun was utterly awful (in a good pun way).

[@geraldkatz7986]

That is a joke by Johnny Carson uttered on the Tonight Show.

[@ultrakool]

@@geraldkatz7986 the great carnac, to be exact

[@MrJoeybabe25]

Can you still get a shoe shine...in a barber shop or on the street?

[@SuperWinterborn]

Joe Postove On the street. $10 for a pair of shoes in New York city according to the 2010 prices.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

SuperWinterborn Including spit?

[@SuperWinterborn]

Joe Postove Nice try, Joe. ;)

[@jmccracken1963]

There are a few places in the Chicago area where one can get a shoe shine - but the nearest one to where I live is in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago, and I wouldn't dare chance driving there during the day, much less at night. I know that the Chicago White Sox employ two or three people to shine shoes at various places inside U.S. Cellular Field at Sox home games, too.

[@loissimmons6558]

I have no doubt that a lot of the men in that barbershop took a shine to Miss Livingston.

[@christopherjones8517]

Only thing I don’t like are the wolf whistles!

[@hizgrase]

Arlene Arlene would’ve been gorgeous in a potato sack and bald it didn’t matter what she wore with her hairstyle was she was always gorgeous and a personality was a huge part of that. That being said I feel like whoever did her hair for these later shows tried to put age on her by outing her in “ appropriate for her age“ hairstyles,that had they kept some of her older hairstyles the non-extreme ones… I just feel like the hairstyles here they were trying to make her into an 80 year old lady. She was so gorgeous she could’ve pulled off anything. It’s one of my complaints about the syndicated series that they tried to age are in the old pants suits when she could’ve still pulled off the way younger clothes styles and still been appropriate

[@MrJoeybabe25]

Steve asks if Miss Livingston has anything to do with "lady barbering" (as if we needed more of them) but the liberal John would have hesitated a bit and would have given the panel a clue, which would not have been totally unwarranted this late in the game. The fact that she works in a barbershop, although she is not a barber, would have on other occasions gotten a hesitant no, or a very qualified yes. No?

[@savethetpc6406]

Joe Postove That occurred to me too, but I think that "no" was the correct answer here, nevertheless. So maybe John had finally (or at least temporarily) learned something about being too free with "clues."

[@VahanNisanian]

By 1967, Yves Montand had gotten much better at English. In his last appearance in 1961, he could barely speak it.

[@jmccracken1963]

Though he spoke it well enough to get by in GOODBYE AGAIN that year.

[@joelfogelsanger5773]

Robert Fox was cute.

[@leannsherman6723]

Those guys who were whistling, were so obnoxious.😖

[@leesher1845]

Smart young man who built fire engines. Where is our brain power today? There seems to be a lot less of it.

[@greeneyes2256]

Does John Daley EVER shut up? Talking over the guests was rude. Jayne and Steve Allen were adorable.

[@wcwindom56]

she might get more tips if she did her work in that miniskirt

[@randallmacphee7260]

That was not a miniskirt

[@miketheyunggod2534]

I bet she gets $5+ tips.

[@kennethbutler1343]

You'd think a lady shoe shiner would have been more....'endowed'...?

[@paullad3919]

What the hell is wrong with you?