You Bet Your Life #59-27 Fashion analysis by William Travilla ('Face', Mar 24, 1960)

COUPLE #1:William Travilla, Hollywood dress designer / Martha Mirrer, a housewife who gets fashion advice from Travilla.
COUPLE #2: Sarita Heredia, who met her husband in a cave / Charles Carraci, who sets up educational programs in high schools about television
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Episode identification and basic description based on "Tell 'em Groucho Sent You", © 1997 by Mark Petty. Used by permission.

[@julietteyork6293]

William Travilla was one of the most talented dress designers in film history. His costumes for Marilyn Monroe and others were divine.

[@patfromamboy]

I’m more talented than he was.

[@tula1433]

Absolutely and he was so handsome!

[@tula1433]

@@patfromamboy love your confidence Pat from amboy !

[@DAVEJJR]

Dona Drake was gorgeous! Travilla crossed racial lines when he married Dona, she’s 75% black and 25% white. Most Americans didn’t know this at the time….

[@Glad2BGolden]

We don’t know her percentages stop posting false information. She was racially mixed.

[@obsidianbeau4087]

​@@Glad2BGolden she wasn't racially mixed. Dummy. Her mom was Black, her dad was mixed. Might as well say she was Black. Stop projecting.

[@pjwl3006]

​@@Glad2BGolden they do know her racial mix according to census. She was 75% black

[@pjwl3006]

You are correct according to her family on the census

[@laurnaleto4622]

Travilla dressed many of the leading ladies of Hollywood for the majority of his illustrious career, acclaimed all the way to the Oscars; best known for the iconic gowns from eight Marilyn Monroe movies. He and Drona were together for 45 yrs.

[@ruallthru]

Married in 1944 and supposedly legally separated in 1956 but never divorced and obviously still friendly with Travilla in 1960 during this episode .

[@jigglejello]

He was married to her til she passed. Supposedly he had male lovers and she knew about them.

[@ed3432]

Thanks for posting. Groucho's program is the best comedy on the web.

[@grouchomarx-youbetyourlife7476]

My pleasure-- glad you appreciate how great he was on this show!

[@eggbertinkabod1121]

@@grouchomarx-youbetyourlife7476 MI PUSSY OPEN

[@bettymcfattypants291]

Sooooo true!! Love love this show!!

[@ttp436]

You can clearly see Dona Drake was suffering with some mental health issues. She had a hard life bless her.

[@thegreaterbilby2171]

Thanks for uploading these wonderful time-capsules of classic entertainment. Educational too! :-) Cheers from Brisbane, Australia this sunny Winter's Saturday.

[@SheilaB]

Thanks for posting another episode. I was beginning to have withdrawal symptoms. :)

[@eggbertinkabod1121]

I'M 900 POUNDS AND NEED A DATE

[@roncote215]

Thanks for uploading 2 shows per week .I've watched every You Bet Your Life episode you have uploaded.

[@grouchomarx-youbetyourlife7476]

I've already fallen way behind that pace. But I'm glad you're enjoying the shows. :)

[@masonldn8647]

12:05 hard to believe Donna Drake was actually African American and she presented herself as Mexican

[@garyfrancis6193]

It’s possible to be both.

[@DeVron83]

@@garyfrancis6193 she wasn’t both though. One of her parents was black and the other was biracial (black/white). She was passing. It is what it is.

[@jigglejello]

Her and her husband both were passing. He as Italian (even tho he was Mexican) and she as Mexican even though she was biracial (blk/why)

[@TrangPakbaby]

@@jigglejello she wasn’t biracial. She was black.

[@jigglejello]

@@TrangPakbaby her parents and grandparents were both biracial so wouldn't that continue to her? Or is it a washout thing? Lol

[@Ron898]

Dona Drake was beautiful.

[@SusanLynn656]

Did you know she was black?

[@keithdoersam2557]

Beautiful Spanish beauty!

[@ckh937610]

@@keithdoersam2557She was actually of African American descent and her parents were from Arkansas and Alabama.

[@yoli5779]

I wonder where that dress is now. For it to elicit gasps and awe like that, I would love to see it in person!

[@jimmiedee2315]

Charles Callaci was a pioneer of "interactive television". Here's a link to a youtube video which times out at 13:34. The first two minutes are from the above You Bet Your Life episode. The remainder is excerpts from one of his "Choo Choo Charlie" kiddie shows. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z6fFlqyufLt6fpo

[@grouchomarx-youbetyourlife7476]

How interesting-- thanks for the link!

[@Professicchio]

Travilla made a fuss about his name pronunciation yet turns out Groucho was right: if it's Italian then it's pronounced like 'gorilla' not like 'tortilla' 😆🤣

[@zacredman9137]

Groucho was usually right!👍

[@mattmexor2882]

You're assuming his name is pronounced in standard Italian and not some dialect that pronounces things differently. It turns out Venetian has an l that is pronounced like an e in some localities, for example.

[@Cdptnp]

He lied about Italian, statistics state Philippines

[@westy40]

As always..thanks for posting!!

[@TheMarilyn1969monroe]

William Travilla one of the best clamour designer of Hollywood.

[@MrMenefrego1]

'clamour designer' ? 👀

[@garyfrancis6193]

Clamour designer. He made a lot of noise?

[@mcvivanco]

Where is his family from? Mexican?

[@jayboucher2310]

@@mcvivanco Italy

[@zacredman9137]

Thanks so much for these shows...I love Groucho Marx!❤😘

[@jfinner86]

Wonder if they knew she was African American, they refer to her as mixed race.... But essentially she was Black. And also her and her husband were separated from 56 until her death in 89 but they remained married, had one child, he passed in 90 and their child passed in 2002.

[@martinjones5965]

24m24s I was so impressed Groucho restrained himself ... emotional intelligence

[@pjwl3006]

Miss Dona was African American and was greatly loved by her husband

[@masonldn8647]

What a broken heart does , the costume designer's wife died in 1989 and he died less than a year later . Wife since 1944

[@marymarysmarket3508]

They had been separated since 1955...

[@ttp436]

@@marymarysmarket3508 but remained close for the rest of their lives

[@ckh937610]

Their daughter died in 2002 without any children too.

[@solohoh]

Intelligent women are just great.

[@CamhiRichard]

I don't get it. Travilla was very particular about how his name was pronounced, with the double L sounding like a Y. That's the Spanish way of pronouncing it, yet he said the name was Italian. In Italian, the double L would be very strongly pronounced, as in "bella" or "allegro." What gives?

[@eggbertinkabod1121]

SHUT UP JACK ASS

[@mattmexor2882]

Maybe his family is from Veneto. From wikipedia: "Some varieties of Venetian also distinguish an ordinary [l] vs. a weakened or lenited ("evanescent") ⟨l⟩, which in some orthographic norms is indicated with the letter ⟨ł⟩;[31] in more conservative dialects, however, both ⟨l⟩ and ⟨ł⟩ are merged as ordinary [l]. In those dialects that have both types, the precise phonetic realization of ⟨ł⟩ depends both on its phonological environment and on the dialect of the speaker. Typical realizations in the region of Venice include a voiced velar approximant or glide [ɰ] (usually described as nearly like an "e" and so often spelled as ⟨e⟩), when ⟨ł⟩ is adjacent (only) to back vowels (⟨a o u⟩), vs. a null realization when ⟨ł⟩ is adjacent to a front vowel (⟨i e⟩). In dialects further inland ⟨ł⟩ may be realized as a partially vocalised ⟨l⟩. Thus, for example, góndoła 'gondola' may sound like góndoea [ˈɡoŋdoɰa], góndola [ˈɡoŋdola], or góndoa [ˈɡoŋdoa]. In dialects having a null realization of intervocalic ⟨ł⟩, although pairs of words such as scóła, "school" and scóa, "broom" are homophonous (both being pronounced [ˈskoa]), they are still distinguished orthographically. " Or perhaps other Italian dialects also have a similar feature.

[@jigglejello]

He and his wife were both passing. He was Spanish passing as Italian and she was biracial (black and white) passing as Mexican

[@marymarysmarket3508]

I think he actually was Mexican

[@Cdptnp]

I think he was lying about his race

[@radhadhatrak1863]

No chair or couch to seat .

[@Matt2chee]

This is historic! The start of public television!

[@ttp436]

I enjoyed all the couples and contestants. The Spanish lady was a lot of fun and took the jabs on the chin but didn’t take no nonsense.

[@jeffschornack3519]

Thank You

[@billyshepard5514]

The scene with his wife Dona Drake was cut out 😢

[@wotchermystic2335]

It starts at 10:55.

[@ttp436]

Groucha Marx was extremely crude and disrespectful towards his guests especially women.

[@annodomini7887]

We were still respected around the world at this point in time...

[@jigglejello]

The world was so different then. Dona Drake is magnificent! Groucho was a creepy comic genius!

[@thecursor1]

Dona Drake was a mixed-race actress and singer who actually was very talented but she had to pretend to be Hispanic to get any parts.

[@valsadie]

In her one-woman autobiographical show, "The Lady and Her Music," pretending to be Hispanic is what was suggested to Lena Horne at the beginning of her career, as well, but she turned it down flat. Solidly talented Black women performers and these were their available choices. SMH

[@meditationgardenofpeace6233]

"Mixed"? What she mixed with, Klingon? It looked like both her parents were human beings. Are you referring to her being a light-skinned black woman?

[@mnmcv1]

She was 1/4 white. This does make her technically mixed, but I agree that I would consider her a light-skinned Black woman.

[@Glad2BGolden]

She pretended to be Mexican, French and Italian. That made her appear spicy white.

[@mrpuniverse2]

notice that there is no advertising on the set which other shows clearly had sponsors featured

[@FF11Freshstep]

those were added in later by this point in the show's history

[@annodomini7887]

Of course there was advertising, it’s edited out for dvd purposes.

[@27kjh]

Martha Mirrer is a intelligent women.

[@papagen00]

Donna was black. "African-American" is a modern term not used in 1960.

[@m42037]

Now Jay Leno is redoing this show, do you think he'll be good or ruin it? He best pay tribute to the great Groucho for it's his baby not Leno's

[@marymarysmarket3508]

Now AlLL the schools are using this man’s technology.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

Near the end of the show, they ran out of time to play the game with the second couple. Groucho invited them to come back next week. Did they film only one show a week or more? I wonder if that couple just remained and filmed their segment after the end of this show? Today, they would tape the couple right then and there and not want to incur the expense of bringing them back. But this 1960 so who knows what went on then?

[@grouchomarx-youbetyourlife7476]

No, they recorded only one show at a time, as far as I'm aware (but it's entirely possible I just don't know all the facts). Remember that they recorded a full hour of material for each show and edited it down to the best 25 minutes later. I think it would have been too grueling to do more than one show. What is more possible is that they recorded just the following week's segment with the holdover couple the same night. Part of the reason Groucho always wore the exact same outfit was so that the editors were free to mix and match segments from different recording sessions. When they did this, they had to make sure there was no continuity problem introduced by the secret word being different on the different nights. E.g., they might have to choose a secret word for broadcast that was never used in any of the recording sessions if it would have created too many difficulties to edit around it otherwise.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

Groucho Marx - You Bet Your Life By the way, Gary, how many cameras did they use on YBYL? And since it was film, I guess the director is limited as to what he can do with the cameras during filming, huh? Or did they use a video monitor outfit?

[@grouchomarx-youbetyourlife7476]

Joe Postove No, no video monitor was possible. The only film-based system in this era that was capable of doing that was Dumont's failed Electronicam system, used for the single Classic 39 season of "The Honeymooners" (and not much else). YBYL used 4 cameras, with the intent being that 3 could be actively filming at any given time while the film was being changed in one of the cameras (film reels only last about 10 minutes each). They would stagger the cameras so that no two would run out of film at the same time. One camera stayed on Groucho, one on the contestants, and one was for long shots.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

Groucho Marx - You Bet Your Life So since the director could not see "cameraview", I suppose there would be little direction, huh?

[@grouchomarx-youbetyourlife7476]

Joe Postove Of the type you're thinking of, yes. It was a totally different manner of producing a show than with TV cameras. But remember that 90% of YBYL was static camera setups, with the contestants at the microphones and Groucho at his desk. Minimal camera direction required.

[@ianpunchard2878]

travilla later went on to design Marilyns white pleated dress in the 7 year itch you know the sidewalk scene... apparently debbie reynolds bought it.. later she sold it for $6 million

[@Kelly-fk3oi]

William Travilla reminds me of Morton Csokas from The Equalizer.

[@AK-gt8zy]

We need some image stabilization all up in here

[@MrJoeybabe25]

Did celebrity guests get an extra talent fee, even if they were not in AFTRA?

[@grouchomarx-youbetyourlife7476]

No, not on quiz shows.

[@ladivinapr]

Travilla is a Latin/ spanish last name...he probably don't wanted to identify as such, which was probably what he was in those times...and that last name is pronounce with the two LL's,he was lying.

[@SheriSoltes]

Once they say they hunt, I’m out. Cruelty

[@robertewing3114]

Groucho very much interested that she can dress to cut her height and better encounter low doorways, would say one of his brothers.

[@k00hki3c]

The hist is just... ugh. Glad i was born in the 90s

[@irontribeissues9104]

Travilla seems to be doing some race shifting... meanwhile as ever they humiliate women on appearances. How do you expect women to perform after such?

[@garyfrancis6193]

You must be a very unhappy person.

[@fathiyyah3198]

The fashion tips he gave are actually still useful to this day, go watch every style youtubers and you'll find out that what he said is still relevant until now, I'm a fashion student and I found his tips helpful. Yes ofcourse you should always dress for yourself and you don't need to follow any rules but for us people who are struggling with personal style it's pretty useful. But I do have to say that groucho is being pretty sexist

[@patrickhawkins4677]

10:54

[@Glad2BGolden]

Spitting image of my aunts minus the light eyes. Beautiful woman.