What's My Line? - Edward G. Robinson; PANEL: Martin Gabel, Marianne Means (Dec 5, 1965)

MYSTERY GUEST: Edward G. Robinson
PANEL: Arlene Francis, Martin Gabel, Marianne Means, Bennett Cerf
NOTE: Closing credits added from an older rerun pre-GSN-credit-crunching.
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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[@HAZIDEAD]

Edward G Robinson was a magnificent actor in every sense of the word. He takes over the scene he appears in and you can't take your eyes off him.

[@patricia7823]

Indeed, Incredible actor, dancer, humanitarian etc. Etc

[@carolynthornton8017]

IN MY VIEW Edward G. Robinson's Master Crafted Acting and his unique voice is timeless.

[@LOA1955]

To witness Mr. Robinson's incredible acting ability and versatility, all one needs to watch is "Double Indemnity".

[@jmccracken1963]

"Key Largo," too. I also like him in a few "off the beaten path" films which he made over the years, such as "The Stranger," "The Red House," "Night Has A Thousand Eyes," "Vice Squad," "Illegal," and "Nightmare" (the mid-1950s remake of "Eyes In The Night").

[@preppysocks209]

Tremendous role. He hardly seems to be acting. It is as if they cast a man who had been a professional insurance claims adjuster his whole life.

[@henry20008]

and soylent green

[@Beson-SE]

It's always a pleasure to see Martin Gabel on the show. He was the best guest panelist ever! :)

[@kristabrewer6736]

between him and Steve Allen

[@kentetalman9008]

Martin's my second favorite, after Tony Randall.

[@geoffm9944]

Edward G Robinson was a wonderful actor. He gave a magnificent performance as Barton Keyes, the insurance manager, in the film noir, Double Indemnity.

[@bbailey7818]

My favorite Edward G. role. That and Johnny Rocco in Key Largo.

[@maynardsmoreland]

Edward G. Robinson never receiving an Oscar is one of the greatest mysteries in Academy history.

[@praxicoide]

Agreed. He was incredible in Scarlet Street, for example. So many others.

[@3gdosrsfs]

+maynardsmoreland A true travesty of justice. Classic character all the way and not one quite like him. Do you remember his role in "The Ten commandments"?: "Where is your Messiah now, Moses!" It's kind of funny that I have known a few people that did not know it was him in that role until I pointed it out to them. So different a character than his usually gangster roles( but kind of a bad dude role nonetheless)....not that he only did those but those are the ones most people remember him by. Great actor.

[@sdkelmaruecan2907]

That he wasn't even nominated for "Double Indemnity" is even worse

[@tishhill9561]

maynardsmoreland How right you are!

[@leesher1845]

You’re kidding! I had no idea. He was really cheated and unjustly so.

[@jamesfeldman4234]

Terrific episode. And I enjoyed seeing this sharp panel being stumped by "Mr. X." I found it puzzling, though, that Marianne Means behaved so coolly--almost with resentment--toward the great Edward G. Robinson. Incidentally, at the time Ed appeared here, he had completed his co-starring role as "The Man," Lancey Howard, in the film, "The Cincinnati Kid," starring Steve McQueen. And an interesting bit of trivia about this picture is that Steve McQueen and Edward G. Robinson, in their only film appearance together, each got their start in acting by performing in Yiddish Theater in New York City. Ed considered his performance in The Cincinnati Kid" to be one of the best in his career and he held Steve in the highest esteem.

[@jadezee6316]

mcqueen was hardly the star of that movie...no matter what the billing says and i didnt bother to look...because compared to Edward g Robinson...he is a zero...go look at their scenes together especially where Robinson is asking the "kid"...about his girl....Robinson is in another class as an actor

[@TheCosmicVagabond]

I noticed her resentment of EGR also. Strange woman. 😝

[@ChristopherScottDixon]

@@TheCosmicVagabond Yes indeed, I saw that too. What was her problem?

[@CBCycles]

@@TheCosmicVagabond I have no idea to what you all are referring, she’s smiling as she took off her mask, she smiled throughout the back and forth with him, and she smiled as she shook his hand.

[@soulierinvestments]

Robinson had a big movie hit in 1965 with "The Cincinnati Kid," early Norman Jewison as I recall. Again that year, he did not get an Oscar nomination. Only when he was dying in 1973 did AMPAS award him an honorary Oscar. No nominations for "Little Caesar," or "Double Indemnity," or "The Ten Commandments" or "Soylent Green." A classic case of Oscar myopia.

[@galileocan]

So many celebrities who were mystery guests obviously wanted to be guessed immediately. Why a star like Edward G. Robinson who has such a distinctive voice would babble on and on when questioned, obviously indicates his desire to be guessed right away.

[@joemartines3545]

A great great actor... I wish there were more like him...

[@jadezee6316]

without question Edward G Robinson ....was one of the all time great actors...certainly in the top 5.....he was sadly a victim of the blacklisting...his career suffered....greatly...a divorce cost him his art paintings that would be worth BILLIONS of dollars today....he eventually was able to buy some back....but.....not nearly what his collection once was...

[@jadezee6316]

his best movies include Scarlet Street....Double Indemnity....Key Largo... Cincinnati Kid....The Amazing Dr Clitterhouse..... as well as performances on the Lux radio show

[@lynnpineda7615]

Marianne Means, ironically replacing Dorothy Kilgalen, who was investigating JFK Assassination before her sudden death in November 1965, was a reported in Dallas at the time of the Assassination, and appeared on film at Parkland Hospital...

[@britainluver431]

Look out Dathan is in the house. Loved his role as Dathan in the Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston.

[@soulierinvestments]

The number of people who were both contestants and guest panelists was a tiny subset of WML. And here she is. 22 January 1961 and then tonight.

[@savethetpc6406]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/aGLdl6Soiqqjq8k *Edit*: Why do the links to YT videos no longer show up with their titles, the way they used to? Anyway, the link above is to the Jan. 22, 1961 WML episode, mentioned here by soulierinvestments and elsewhere on this page by *****.

[@bluecamus5162]

Such stunning looks and I love her voice, and she \played the game very well. Not to denigrate her talent or accomplishments, but she had many doors opened to her by JFK.

[@thanosdave]

wow bud sagendorf !! one of my cartooning heroes great to see this.

[@rmelin13231]

Me also. Delighted to see him on this show.

[@leesher1845]

Even the animated beginning was clever.

[@kentetalman9008]

I always loved it.

[@robbob1234]

24:27 "I didn't know you could get that job at the age of 11!" Martin's comment made me curious, so I hit Google. Georgiana O. Miranda was born in 1935 and hence 30 years old when she appeared here. Interestingly, I found no obituary, and she is listed on several lawyer registries online. So perhaps, at the age of 85, she is still practicing law! Her mother, also named Georgiana, lived to be 98.

[@bluecamus5162]

She could pass for a teenager.

[@graperonto]

Robinson's French was impeccable!

[@VahanNisanian]

The next episode we'll be seeing is one they had done before (taped on November 21, 1965, immediately prior to that night's live broadcast).

[@loissimmons6558]

Ironic to have an Assistant District Attorney with the last name Miranda at a time when _Miranda v Arizona_ was wending its way through the courts, eventually to be decided in 1966 by the Supreme Court of the United States in favor of Miranda in a landmark 5-4 decision.

[@gluttonousmaximus9048]

Here for Bud Sagendorf. His Popeye sunday strips are underrated.

[@bencheshire]

Oh man! The first guy they could have had him in about two more questions if theyd stuck with sections of the newspaper!

[@VahanNisanian]

I hate to say this, but Marianne Means was not really the best choice for panelist to rotate in the seat that used to be Dorothy's.

[@Beson-SE]

She was dull.

[@aileen694]

I still miss Dorothy on this show. Just a few weeks after her death. Sad.

[@kristabrewer6736]

I didn't see anything wrong with her! She was better than Carol Channing, THAT'S for sure!

[@howardhowe6173]

@@kristabrewer6736 just

[@MightyMoCat]

Not impressed with her at all. Cold. 🥶

[@icurhuman2]

Some years ago on a live children's tv program a small boy asked a riddle: why does Popeye's tool never rust? The presenter said he didn't know. The little boy said, because he keeps it in olive oil! The audience burst out laughing and the show went off the air and straight to commercials. The incident made the newspapers the next day. The little boy had apparently heard his older brother tell the joke and didn't understand the meaning.

[@finosuilleabhain7781]

I so hope that's true.

[@joelfogelsanger5773]

I guess spinach was his version of viagra.

[@patricia7823]

Hysterically hysterical

[@soulierinvestments]

"Popeye" started as a newspaper cartoon in 1929, drawn by Else Seeger. "Popeye" started as a movie cartoon a year later produced by Max Fleischer.

[@2508bona]

Next to Elzie Segar, Bud Sagendorf was the best of all those creators who tried to fill Segar's unfillable shoes. His comic book work is currently being reprinted by IDW.

[@soulierinvestments]

Thanx for correcting my spelling. I was working from my memory of the 1930s Max Fleischer cartoons in the which Segar got credit by name. And if the Fleischer cartoons are any indication of Segar's original look, it must have been something indeed.

[@2508bona]

soulierinvestments If you get any chance to read Segar's original work (which has been reprinted most recently by Fantagraphics), then do so! It is great. The cartoons only approximate how good it truly was. Unfortunately, Segar died relatively young, so there isn't that much of it. The original THIMBLE THEATER strip appeared in 1919, Popeye debuted in 1929, and Segar died in 1938. Sagendorf's stuff is pretty decent by reputation, but he had a huge legacy to live up to.

[@VahanNisanian]

They brought on the first contestant especially for Marianne Means. The "Popeye" franchise was Syndicated by King Features.

[@lauriecwik7944]

Is Marianne Means still with us?

[@VahanNisanian]

Laurie Grommon Yes, she is currently 80.

[@preppysocks209]

@@lauriecwik7944 She died in 2017

[@VahanNisanian]

Marianne Menas first appeared on the program as a contestant in Game 1 on Episode #548 (January 22, 1961).

[@savethetpc6406]

I put a link to the episode under soulierinvestments' similar comment, but here it is again: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aGLdl6Soiqqjq8k

[@leesher1845]

Arlene was very smart.

[@leesher1845]

You have to respect Edward G Robinson who apparently did not hide the fact that he was Jewish when many celebrities did.

[@evastaitz9911]

ms. means was one of president kennedy's lovers. at his request, she was whitehouse reporter 1961-65. she married for first of 4 times in 1965.

[@scotnick59]

Fun stuff: this aired on my 6th birthday!

[@williamsecor7745]

Johnny Rocco - Key largo

[@davidsanderson5918]

Edward G. AGAIN?!? (I wonder if his prolonged moment talking to Arlene....met with Arlene's sudden long face....had anything to do with Dorothy)

[@2508bona]

I wonder why WML never tried to get cartoonists Harold Gray or Walt Kelly as mystery guests. They lived in the NYC area, like Sagendorf. Of course, they were both a bit on the cantankerous side and may have turned down a WML appearance...

[@bigoldinosaur]

Woo another mention of Iowa. 2:21.

[@roberttelarket4934]

Hardly any young people in 2022 have the name Ethel!

[@stevenginsberg8471]

I like seeing lawyers up there as contestants.

[@Beson-SE]

"I hope it's covered with Olive Oyl!" :) 10:35

[@savethetpc6406]

Johan Bengtsson Years ago I devised a vegetable recipe I named "Popeye's Delight." It features spinach and sweet peas, sautéed in olive oil. ;)

[@Beson-SE]

SaveThe TPC Did you have the connection between olive oil and OIive Oyl in mind even then? :)

[@savethetpc6406]

Johan Bengtsson Of course! And the sweet peas were in honor of Sweet Pea, who was either Popeye's or Olive's nephew, I believe. They used to babysit for him sometimes, and he was always crawling off and obliviously getting into trouble from which Popeye had to save him. :)

[@kevinwachs5905]

@@savethetpc6406 , Swee'pea was Popeye's adopted son.

[@savethetpc1547]

Thanks for that info,@@kevinwachs5905! Your comment led me to do a little research into the "Swee'Pea" character, and apparently there are some differences regarding his relationship to Popeye and Olive and his origin story between the original comic strip, the cartoons, and later films featuring Popeye. According to Wikipedia, the character was first introduced as Popeye's adoptive son in a 1933 Popeye comic strip, so I would agree that should be the definitive relationship. I have never read the comic strips, so I was basing my knowledge of Swee'Pea on the cartoons I watched as a kid, about which Wikipedia says, "In the animated Popeye cartoons produced by Max Fleischer and later by Famous Studios, Swee'Pea was portrayed as being in the care of Olive Oyl, although it was unclear whether he was her own child (in the King Features cartoons of the early 1960s, it is implied that Swee'Pea is Popeye's nephew). " Here's a link to the Wikipedia article: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swee%27Pea :-)

[@galileocan]

Ok...I don't mind a whistle or catcall made to a young, beautiful girl.....but come on....the whistles that Mrs. Ethel Russell (who must have been close to 70 years old) was absolutely ridiculous!!

[@3gdosrsfs]

+Galileocan g Probably more a polite gesture than a perverted motive. I've seen them do this for pre-teens on the show as well. I would like to believe the audience was not full of perverts gawking over a littler girl. You might be taking those cat calls too seriously.

[@Traderjoe]

When they said that Miss Georgiana was from Jamaica, I jokingly thought they meant Queens, assuming the island, but I was right!

[@soulierinvestments]

Marianne Means. Again G-T auditions a professional lady writer-type. Hard to tell how she could have done the show more than once a month being stationed in Washington DC. What was the latest Sunday night flight back to Washington? She also needed a vocal coach. She was a liberal columnist for 50 years and also the wife of James J Kilpatrick, which was a job unto itself.

[@TheBraveIntrovert]

LOL Edward G Robinson favors Colonel Sanders.

[@LANCSKID]

As do I. The Bargain Bucket was a wonderful innovation and I never share mine or the four packs of fries and 3 litres of pop. They are mine, all mine I tell you!

[@bbailey7818]

Another journalist/columnist as panelist audition to replace Dorothy? Means doesn’t cut it. She comes off as arrogant and grating which Dorothy never did. But its great to see Martin Gabel back.

[@Nic-tg2ei]

Quick! a woman! whistle at her!

[@winterlandboy]

Edward G made a feeble attempt at fooling them. With a distinctive voice like his ,you would have thought he would have done a bit more to disguise it.

[@bobcrestwood740]

Maybe he did that on purpose. A lot of mystery guests actually wanted to be found out. They took it as a badge of honor as to how popular and recognizable they were.

[@preppysocks209]

A not very disguised voice of Edward G Robinson forms the voice of the police chief in The Simpsons

[@patriciamooney928]

A woman lawyer was obviously still a new idea.

[@annaljian4799]

Whats my linewhars hy line

[@bencheshire]

Hes too modest. Hes got one of the most distinctive voices of all time. They should have made him not speak.

[@joelfogelsanger5773]

I've seen Arlene go on and ask another question even if a yes or no wasn't received yet for her first one. Also, I've even seen her go on to another question when she has received a no answer. Also I've seen her try to change her question when it looks like she's about to get a no answer.

[@bluecamus5162]

I've seen Arlene proceed with another question before the first one is answered but I think it's because she is looking at the contestant or John and she has gotten her answer visually before it's spoken audibly. John or the contestant is nodding affirmatively.

[@lauriecwik7944]

Is Marianne Means still with us?

[@mickeysanders74]

Per Wikipedia, she died December 2 , 2017

[@savethetpc6406]

Bennett's joke at 16:44 -- I don't get it. Could someone please explain it to me? Even if you don't think it's funny, please let me know what the reference is that's *supposed* to be funny. There must be some double meaning of which I'm unaware or something. ???

[@WhatsMyLine]

No. No double meaning. The audience laughter was proforma, not because he said anything funny. I know the story he was trying to refer to here, and it's a very funny story (if you're able to leave aside the animal cruelty aspect-- as the story goes, Fields was actually attacked by the swan more than once.) It's not, however, a snappy two line story that was well suited to being told quickly, and it doesn't have a real punchline, as Bennett tried to relay it here. Bennett's ability to absolutely ruin funny stories is without parallel. I've posted quite a few of his newspaper columns to the FB group and whenever I do, the discussion tends to center around befuddlement that he managed to get these published at all. His propensity for misquoting other people's quips, too, is unparalleled. He had a rare knack for draining every single bit of humor out of lines that were brilliantly witty in their original form. Groucho was one of his primary victims. He loved retelling Groucho stories and quips, and always, always, always wrong, and badly. :)

[@savethetpc6406]

What's My Line? Oh, okay. So maybe the audience was laughing because they knew the *real* story? But then why did John react as if Bennett had just made a bad pun? (16:55) I may have mentioned this before, but when I was growing up, Bennett Cerf's joke and riddle books for kids were very popular. I suppose his brand of humor was best suited for a juvenile audience. Then again, he had a number of books in the humor field that were apparently best sellers for adults, and if they were all like that "pocket book" for which you had previously posted a link to a whole series of videos critiquing its jokes, it's hard to understand how any of them could have become so popular either. A bit of an enigma, our friend Bennett. Lovable in many ways, yet glaringly flawed at the same time.

[@WhatsMyLine]

SaveThe TPC By "proforma" laughter, I meant that audiences are conditioned to laugh in certain circumstances, even when a joke or a story falls flat. The cadence of speech, the fact that it was a story about W.C. Fields, Bennett's laughter at his own mangling of the story, all of this cues an audience to laugh. Sometimes in these cases, the laughter comes specifically from the audience's discomfort that the speaker hasn't said anything funny. :) John's reaction could equally well apply to any bad joke, story, anecdote, anything, whether pun based or not. It's just that you're accustomed to seeing these reactions from John to Bennett's puns, because usually they *were* in response to puns. There's no pun I can discern in the line "The darned bird hissed me," none at all. It doesn't even make SENSE. Birds don't hiss. Really going on a limb, my feeling is that Bennett realized shortly after he began the story that it was long and had no finish, and so was frantically grasping at straws for a final "punch line". And that's what he came up with. [rolls eyes] Incidentally, as the story goes, Fields hit the swan with a golf club. The idea that he used a whip is a pure Cerfian invention, of just the type that make his stories so incomprehensibly unfunny!

[@WhatsMyLine]

SaveThe TPC SuperWinterborn will love this thread when she see it. :)

[@savethetpc6406]

What's My Line? Gotcha. Btw, geese actually *do* hiss sometimes, so perhaps swans do too.

[@savethetpc6406]

Why would anyone think that using a foreign language, without disguising his voice, would hide his identity? Edward G. Robinson is not the first mystery guest to do this, but it really doesn't make much sense -- especially with a voice as distinctive as Mr. Robinson's.

[@3gdosrsfs]

+SaveThe TPC Not an easy voice to try to fool people with. It's a voice that was a big part of his amazing acting ability.

[@joelfogelsanger5773]

Hey Martin....what's with the "Eddie" bit?

[@dcf3204]

By that time people used to Kiss only those they really appreciated as Mr Robinson did...now we do it all the time everywhere.....j ja jaja

[@bt10ant]

Last contestant looks a bit like Alison Brie.

[@LANCSKID]

But not cheesy! Geddit?

[@Matty-vw8vw]

LOL Swans can't fly 100 mph

[@jackseward7779]

Mr. Daly was losing it. Popeye was not educational, merely amusing. And I fail to see what "service" it performed aside from entertainment. The cartoonist yam what he yam.

[@scottpardee6303]

I agree. John should have been more rigorous in his answers, and given him the full $50!

[@DougLovesMaryAnn]

The precise question that Cerf posed was "Do you have anything to do with an educational institution... ?" While I agree that Popeye is not educational, newspapers certainly are. Within this context, Daly's ruling was accurate.

[@roberttelarket4934]

This is 2022 and I doubt any young people know the cartoon character Popeye

[@bogieviews]

I saw just today that Popeye is being portrayed as bi. The world has gone insane.

[@roberttelarket4934]

@@bogieviews: I don’t believe it!!! Where did you see this or hear of it?

[@ChollaRanch]

No swan can fly 100 mph (@) , not even with a strong tailwind. Mrs. Russell's statement totally fails the straight-face test. ROFL !!!

[@OperaJH]

I think she might have meant in Km because they can do 95-100 kmh

[@joelfogelsanger5773]

Bennett, quite frequently, asks a female contestant if they "touch " someone. Kind of creepy.

[@LANCSKID]

He just can’t help himself, can he?

[@Baskerville22]

Edward G. Robinson was a poor guest. Didn't even try to mask his distinctive gravelly voice

[@drewsmusical]

Edward G. Robinson was a wonderful actor worthy of multiple awards on the other hand Marianne Means i just dont think so

[@Fush1234]

What she ever saw in him..god only knows…. What do they say… small men… big …….

[@kentetalman9008]

Maybe she's not as shallow as you are.

[@ChollaRanch]

No swan can fly 100 mph (@) , not even with a strong tailwind. Mrs. Russell's statement totally fails the straight-face test. ROFL !!!