What's My Line? - Woody Allen; PANEL: Phyllis Newman, Martin Gabel (Aug 13, 1967)

MYSTERY GUEST: Woody Allen
PANEL: Phyllis Newman, Martin Gabel, Arlene Francis, Tony Randall
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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[@buffbill-t2i]

Woody's on a roll and loving it!!!!

[@originalmatchgame]

What am I going to look forward to in a few days ? Every afternoon , I look forward to seeing my " daily dose " of civility and entertainment . Bennett's puns , Arlene's double meaning jokes , John's smile - and sparring with Bennett .

[@slaytonp]

Play it all over again from the beginning. That's what I'm going to do.

[@mikejschin]

@@slaytonp Same here. It will be interesting to see things that I missed the first time through. Plus there will be new comments to read.

[@slaytonp]

And when you are as old as I am, you can't remember anything except the long-long past, so it's new all over again.

[@alexhu7939]

+1

[@Deejaay83urj38]

@@slaytonp they think that's a joke 😜

[@jeffreylockhart6444]

No matter what anybody thinks about Woody Allen yea or nay he is a very spirited person foremost one of the most prolific writers of the language and creators of characters

[@rogerr2796]

Woody Allen is a great talent. He is also a pervert. I guess folks have to pick which one predominates in their own.

[@mona2242]

And an embarrassment to the USA.

[@christophergerety1263]

⁠Don’t you believe it.

[@Beson-SE]

One of the more entertaining WML in a long time, two contestants with unusual occupations and so finally Woody Allen with his confusing answers. :)

[@Walterwhiterocks]

I'm wondering if the paint lady secretly wanted a career in show business. I like it when the guests answer the questions themselves without John butting in for no reason, but Ms. Ward was a bit over the top. Good for her.

[@rmelin13231]

This was a very entertaining show, from start to finish.

[@dizzyology7514]

This is one of the few times when John accidentally gave away the fact that the show was pre-recorded. He tells the firefly catcher that he hopes this summer will be as productive as last summer -- approproate for May (when the show was recorded) but not for August, when it was shown. That some shows were pre-recorded wasn't a secret (Johnny Olson mentions it at the end), but the cast worked hard to convey the impression that the show took place the same night as the broadcast.

[@tomklock568]

Plus Phyllis' hair was longer than it was the previous weeks she had a shorter haircut

[@VahanNisanian]

Of Woody Allen's three Mystery Guest appearances, this one was his funniest.

[@poetcomic1]

+Vahan Nisanian No way. When he got sexy with Pamela Mason was a riot.

[@markzappasodi]

Woody was a nut!

[@mona2242]

@@markzappasodithat’s being kind

[@joycejean-baptiste4355]

Thanks for the video.

[@leannsherman6723]

You could tell the fire fly catcher was a real gentleman. I could see by the way he was acknowledging the four panelists by bowing over.

[@rmelin13231]

Yes! Not only bowing to each, but it appeared he said something to each one. I'm willing to bet each was somehow complemented.

[@Beson-SE]

Feels good to hear John saying "Will you enter and sign in, please!" and nothing else through the whole show. :)

[@Bigbadwhitecracker]

Johan Bengtsson yes, finally. Don't mess with it if it ain't broke

[@libertubey2199]

This episode originally aired in color during the 1966-67 Season. How you can tell the episodes of WML from the 1964-65 & 1965-66 seasons from the 1966-67 season was the animated intro. In the last season, the "colors" on the characters were lighter. This animated intro from the 1966-67 season was carried over to the syndicated WML that started in the 1968-69 season and lasted to the 1972-73 season.

[@stevieg7672]

Also with the end credits. The black and white episodes had credits it black, whereas the original “color” season of 1966-67, had the credits in white.

[@VahanNisanian]

Recorded on May 21, 1967. Bennett Cerf absent (he was taking a vacation in Japan for five weeks) is a dead giveaway.

[@neilmidkiff]

Flecto was indeed a specialty paint and varnish company. I remember them best for Varathane, the first polyurethane varnish, a great product. They were bought by Rust-Oleum a couple of decades ago, IIRC.

[@VahanNisanian]

A year later Allen would direct and star in "Take the Money and Run". Allen made the film in San Francisco, where our very own Gary lives in.

[@suzycreamcheesez4371]

+Vahan Nisanian love that movie

[@davidsanderson5918]

suzycreamcheesez Me too. Like Steve Martin's "The Jerk", his first film is my favourite.

[@loissimmons6558]

Daphne Ward would have been an excellent role model/mentor for any young woman of this era trying to become a business woman. She is intelligent, confident, well-spoken and attractive. She is feminine, yet I can see her holding her own with the boys in male-oriented spaces.

[@VahanNisanian]

The two episodes on May 21, 1967 was the last time Tony Randall was on WML.

[@poetcomic1]

In case you were wondering.... a lightning bug has SIX legs!

[@Walterwhiterocks]

It's a flying INSECT, so of course it does.

[@leannsherman6723]

Thank you!

[@MarthaCarnahan]

The firefly guy ended up becoming a Methodist minister in California, and as of 2014, he was heading up something called "The Firefly Project" where people caught fireflies and turned them in for research. $2 per 100 bugs. (Per random Google searching.) Frankly, as one who love fireflies, I hate that they get caught, it seems that would hinder their population.

[@kokoconsulting833]

That's my dad! He retired from the firefly catching gig (it had been a summer job since he was 19) in 2015. He's now retired from the ministry but still living in California. I have to show him this link! :)

[@richatlarge462]

​​@@kokoconsulting833Very cool! I like how the WML episodes in 1967 had some young participants who are still alive today.

[@TheBraveIntrovert]

Arlenes dress makes me want to say "friends, romans, countrymen, lend me your ears...."

[@patcurrie9888]

Ahh, another home run by Bonwit Teller.

[@joycejean-baptiste4355]

Woody Allen was wild looking even then.

[@ToddSF]

Phyllis Newman can certainly be an airhead. "What kind of animal has no legs?" she asked incredulously and Tony Randall answered "snakes" of course. In a mere second, I also thought of fish, whales, dolphins, narwhals, porpoises, sponges, worms, mollusks such as snails, oysters, clams, scallops and others that have a single shell or two opposing shells, jellyfish, and that's not to get into animals such as octopi or squid that have tentacles that aren't really legs. (I'm only glad that Martin Gabel didn't give us his previous indignant response that his expensive prep school education provided that insects are not animals, but a separate and distinct category from animals.)

[@Ace1King1]

Just lean back and enjoy the show.

[@washoe4827]

You missed ghosts...

[@cadaverdog1424]

When you’re that cute, you can be an air head❤

[@VahanNisanian]

And this was also the end of Woody Allen on WML, as well as the end of his game show career. During the 1960s, Allen made the game show rounds of not only this show, but also "Password", "To Tell the Truth", and "I've Got a Secret".

[@jmccracken1963]

At least, given the civility of the "regulars" among WML? commenters, there are no references to "toga party" regarding Arlene's Bonwit-Teller gown (which I think looks very nice, and which she wears very, very well). It gives her a regal look. And Phyllis Newman's dress looks "tres chic," too. I shudder to think of what the price of Arlene's dress must have been back then..... Daphne Ward's dress is one of the tightest that we've seen on a female on WML?, whether contestant or panelist, in a while. Very beautiful, very stylish - and form-fitting. And she has the beauty, the style, and the figure to wear it well. And she comes across as very sharp and intelligent and personable. I'll bet that she was a very good paint saleswoman back then! And as for Dwight Sullivan: the staff managed to find yet another engaging and personable college student with an interesting summer occupation that completely stumped the panel. Nice! I don't think that John Daly was pleased with Woody Allen's wrong answers during the Mystery Guest segment - but I don't think that Woody came across as nasty or boorish, just his roguish self. And, since the show had already been given its notice 3 months before, and since they were all basically friends out there, why not let him stretch it a little - though John did his best to correct the first several wrong answers that Woody gave. I like the "good night"s tonight, too - particularly Martin's and Arlene's to each other. Thank you very much for sharing these gems from TV's storied past with us - and for all that you have done in organizing this channel so well (and your Facebook group, too) and "cleaning them up" and re-assembling them, when necessary. And, above all, thank you very much for continuing to "fight the good fight" against the corporate giant which has acted completely "contra legem" - with a good deal of help from your Facebook group community. It is because of that exhausting hard work (and because of your continuing work in rooting out KZbin pirates who steal your work and post it as their own) that we are able to continue to enjoy these shows!

[@WhatsMyLine]

Why, thank you, +jmccracken1963! And thank you for leaving many of what are a severly dwindling amount of still-worth-reading comments on these videos now that aren't new shows being posted every day! When we had a regular core of people watching the shows as they were posting, the comments were a lot more interesting on the whole than now. Lots of "Arlene is so beautiful", or "I was only 3 years old when this aired" type comments, totally innocuous, but not like when there were active discussions going on every day with people who really knew the show!

[@philippapay4352]

@jmccracken1963 - I do not know this from any source, but am wondering since Arlene was the first woman appointed to the Board of Directors of Bonwit Teller if, in fact, she may have accepted expensive clothing as her payment for the job in lieu of a salary, which would have been substantial and was and is customary. An elegant version of "taking it in trade," as the phrase used to go. Sensible that.

[@coolfinetime]

Woody was funny😅

[@henrywyche]

I see a lot of comments about "big hair" , 50 years from now, I bet there will be a lot of comments about today's Sunday comics like "tattoos".

[@joycejean-baptiste4355]

Well I used to do what Mr. Sullivan a did, my brother and I caught lightning bugs. We would put them in a glass bottle and watch them light up then let them go. This was also back in the 1960's. Who'd of thunk they would be used to developed technology. Interesting.

[@dinahbrown902]

Also here 😊

[@THE-HammerMan]

More Q & A: Are you a man? "No" Are you a woman then? "No" Are you a wombat? "Yes" Are you more of a comedian than a dramatic actor? "I plead the 5th"

[@16Lizards]

What a pleasure when I don't have to Google the MG name!! :>

[@davidsanderson5918]

16Lizards Admittedly I don't know the American TV people who come on but the movie legends that have been are HUGE. In fact they don't get much bigger. If you don't know thrm, well.......

[@richardr2555]

Woody uses the same fake voice as his other appearances on WML. It's funny that the panel doesn't recognize it from before.

[@lethaluks2942]

I also thought that about Debbie Reynolds voice when she was on the second time

[@poetcomic1]

Woody was funnier the last time he was mystery guest. That is when he signed in as Cary Grant and sort of hit on a surprisingly voluptuous Pamela Mason.

[@ToddSF]

As to fireflies (a.k.a. lightning bugs) being "useful", I suppose if you happened to have a jarful of them and the power failed at night, they might be of some use. Of course, that scenario is highly unlikely. I note that, at age 63, I've never seen a firefly in person. I've spent almost all my life in California, and there aren't any fireflies west of Kansas, I've read. I did live in Iowa from late August 1974 to late May 1975 and didn't see any in Dubuque during that time either, but that may be because fireflies typically appear during the height of summer and that's not when I was there.

[@LOA1955]

Back in the sixties when I was just a lad, I used to catch "lightning bugs", put them in a jar, and used them for a night light. But I was always disillusioned when I awoke the next morning to find just a jarful of black bugs. But I still gaze at them in wonderment every July when they fly around outside, blinking on and off. Always makes me feel like a kid again.

[@jvcomedy]

+ToddSF 94109 I'd never thought about where fireflies are located until reading your comment so it made me do some research and I found that they are located in every state in the US however the ones in the western states do not light up. No idea why they'd be called fire flies if they have no "fire", but that's what I found so it would appear you've got them in California, but they just don't illuminate.

[@ToddSF]

Jeff Vaughn -- No doubt a close relative of the ones that do light up -- but if they don't light up here in California, that would explain why I've never seen a firefly or lightning bug that was recognizable as such.

[@loissimmons6558]

Oh yes. Mayonnaise jars were a popular choice. Mom would use something to poke holes in the metal (at that time) lid and off we'd go. In NYC, it would be around this time of year (end of July) when they'd be plentiful. We were easily amused and that was good.

[@preppysocks209]

One reason no one sees more fireflies is that there are fewer of them now than in the past, like so many species. A great loss. Such a wondrous sight to behold.

[@VahanNisanian]

Awhile back, I listed beautiful women that Allen was lucky enough to work with in his career. There was one other I should have mentioned, but I didn't, and I will right now: The tragic Janet Margolin. She was Allen's leading lady in "Take the Money and Run", and she also had a bit part 8 years later in "Annie Hall". And the reason she was tragic is because in 1993, for no reason, she got Ovarian Cancer, and she died. She was only 50.

[@bt10ant]

I was aware of this and I am glad to know someone else had her in mind. She did a great job in that film with him.

[@preppysocks209]

there is always a reason why someone gets cancer, it doesn't mean it was their fault necessarily. When a young woman dies of ovarian cancer, one possibility is that she carried a gene that increases the risk of susceptibility to that disease.

[@dinahbrown902]

For no reason?, her time was up

[@dinahbrown902]

@@preppysocks209 She was 50

[@VahanNisanian]

Even way back when, it was known that Allen preferrs to work in his native New York. To quote him from Variety Magazine, 1976: "I like filming in N.Y. much better. It's easier to do a picture in your own home town."

[@bt10ant]

He also said on Dick Cavett that it is very easy to make a picture in San Francisco because if you shoot judiciously, you can make that town look like a part of any city....

[@preppysocks209]

@@bt10ant With lower costs, that distinction seemed to belong to Toronto in later years.

[@scottmiller6495]

Woody Allen was a brilliant man!!!!!

[@christophergerety1263]

is

[@ToddSF]

As to Miss Ward, purveyor of paint, I note that "big hair" isn't adequate to describe her coiffure. "Enormous hair" or "gigantic hair" might do it.

[@savethetpc6406]

ToddSF 94109 I couldn't help being reminded of the Bride of Frankenstein!www.amarketplaceofideas.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/bride-of-frankenstein.jpg

[@SuperWinterborn]

SaveThe TPC I would like to have a dress like Ms Ward's here. Beautiful, simple and elegant. :)

[@savethetpc6406]

SuperWinterborn It *is* a nice dress, now that you mention it. I guess I was too distracted by her hair to notice it before. ;)

[@SuperWinterborn]

SaveThe TPC Yes, isn't it? ;)

[@ToddSF]

Whether the dress was beautiful or not beautiful, the scale of her hair was so alarming I didn't notice the dress. Kind of like looking at the U.S. Capitol from across the National Mall -- you really don't notice the beautify of the facade because the huge dome is such a commanding feature.

[@MariaHerrera-jn5vc]

No way can Woody be Ronan Farrow's father.😐

[@markxxx21]

It was sad to see it end but in reality, it never really recovered from the loss of Dorothy. At this point Arlene seems to be phoning it in and John clearly is getting on edge with people. So it was a good time to end it.

[@t4texastomjohnnycat978]

I've never understood Hollywood's or America's infatuation with Woody Allen. Phyllis Newman was hot.

[@patcurrie9888]

He's somewhat funny & wildly talented. Just look at his career.

[@RonGerstein]

CATCHES LIGHTNING BUGS (FOR RESEARCH) SELLS PAINT MG: WOODY ALLEN

[@bryanstorm8291]

I guess Phyllis Newman is not considered to be “Delightful”

[@jacquelinebell6201]

Wheres Bennett? Must have been prerecorded because they always say when Bennett is away.

[@RonGerstein]

At the end of the episode, John Charles Daly told everyone that Bennett Cerf took the week off.

[@ADAMSIXTIES]

Phyllis Newman looks like Marlo Thomas. 19:03 Woody. I mean he was the Mystery Guest on the April 3rd, 1966 show using the same voice giving false answers. Arlene and Tony were on the panel then too and still didn't get it this time even after John said it's an "old friend"?! 23:18 to Arlene "This is the first time you didn't get me". Actually she didn't get it in '66 either. Guess they all have short memories----too much wacky weed?

[@joshorjoshuaorjoshy]

3 days later I was born holy shit

[@cathykinn4516]

Strange how Woody Allen portrays New Yorkers as cynical & fast talking, Nothing like the regular panelists. And Elegant is not usually used to describe New Yorkers either, 'brash' yes, elegant no. Not seen this mentioned yet but yiu can choose how you watch & either see what guests do & laugh at the unintended humour OR Shut Your Eyes & guess like the panelists & maybe guess what BEFORE they do! Not alas the Mystery because they are identified in the listing. As for the daft question Phylis asked re how many legs Rabbits have....answer 5 incl the fluffy one at the rear yiu silly girl. Miss Ward looks like a Bond Girl. Tony wanted to take her home, couldn't take his eyes off her. And she sounded Very modest so charming. Martin has lost weight but looks healthier & Arlene less strained.

[@DannyDeraney]

They really struggled to find guests towards the end.

[@benfranklin9292]

What makes you say that?

[@davidsanderson5918]

Ben Franklin They've either been on before not so long ago or they're rather uninteresting....or even unknown. When you think of the dizzyingly huge stars they've had you think by now they could've had some big big movie stars as the number of shows run down to the last one. You know....Sidney Poitier or Jimi Hendrix or Charlie Chaplin.....someone BIG!!! The MGs are BORING in this last six shows or so.....apart from the very last one of course! :)

[@stevieg7672]

@@davidsanderson5918 I don’t think Charlie Chaplin was allowed in the States in ‘67 and Jimi Hendricks wasn’t a mainstream artist by this point in time. But I think Sidney Poitier should’ve been in one of those final episodes.

[@lindanitzschke1315]

Woody's opposite answers were only funny the first few times he used them. It got tedious after that. It's kind of like when I learned to twirl a baton as a kid...our instructor correctly said to never repeat the same move more than 3 times in a row...same goes with Woody's answering method here.

[@daniellesewitt5484]

Woody so handsome

[@grdn02100]

LOL

[@soulierinvestments]

Woody Allen in this mystery guest appearance is about as aggravating as Danny Kaye back in 1960. Sure it is possible to fool the panel if you lie. However, what's the fun in that sort of game? Allen signing in as John Dillinger is pretty funny in an ironic sort of way.

[@jacquelinebell6201]

He was OK as a panellist but he became an irritating personality as time went on. He wasnt ever my favourite guest.

[@noellesherman4824]

This show, though great, could be sooo annoying. Solid paint. ?? Fireflies in the home. ?? And some of the contestants act as though they don't know what they do for a living, especially the paint letter here. She seems out to lunch.

[@lottalady73]

Woody Allen seems so young... ...and WML seems so terribly old. Many jumps over many sharks by now. Mercifully, they put the show out of its misery soon afterward. It had a great life, that extended a bit too long. They could have ridden off into the sunset three years earlier and it would have been better. WML just wasn’t right for 1967.

[@xr2863]

YUck

[@RonGerstein]

YUCK on you !

[@kristabrewer6736]

The previous episode; the lady had 35 points and he didn't flip the cards over; THIS lady had 35 points, but he had to go and flip them over, even though Arlene guessed it. What A JIP to all those other contestants. What they must FEEL when they watch him do stuff like this :(

[@rmelin13231]

I wouldn't think so. The card flipping was merely symbolic according to Gil Fates, producer.

[@buffbill-t2i]

Give the man a break he can't make one mistake I mean really

[@jacquelinebell6201]

I heard they get paid anyway. It's just token flipping in the last few years.

[@RonGerstein]

In reality, all contestants receive the maximum $50, no matter what transpires with the panel. So, it does not matter how many cards have been flipped.

[@kentetalman9008]

Here we go again. Is this your entire life, bitching about John Daly flipping the cards? Did you forget to take your OCD meds?

[@jessicapigg]

I've enjoyed watching many of these but this was the most frustrating episode I've ever seen. John looks ill. Woody Allen is vile.

[@dmontes133]

To the mystery guest, ‘Are you a child molester?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘It’s woody allen.’