What's My Line?

"What's My Line" was also the title of two episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer; see "What's My Line, Part One" and "What's My Line, Part Two".

What's My Line?
File:WML1.jpg Show logo, c. 1974-1975
Starring	John Charles Daly (host, 1950-67) Wally Bruner (host, 1968-72) Larry Blyden (host, 1972-75) Arlene Francis Dorothy Kilgallen (1950-65) Louis Untermeyer (1950-51) Hal Block (1951-53) Bennett Cerf (1951-71) Steve Allen (1953-54 et al.) Fred Allen (1954-56) Soupy Sales (1968-75)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	876 (original run, 1950-67) + 1315 (second run, 1968-75)
Production
Running time	30 minutes with commercials
Original release
Network	CBS, Syndicated
Release	February 2, 1950 – 1975

What's My Line? is a weekly panel game show which was originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. The series, which was usually broadcast live, debuted on Thursday, February 2, 1950 at 8:00 p.m. ET and aired on alternating weeks. On Wednesday, April 12, 1950, the broadcast was moved to alternate Wednesday evenings at 9:00 p.m. ET. On Sunday, October 1, 1950, CBS moved the show to weekly on Sundays at 10:30 p.m. ET, where it would remain until the end of its run.

The original series ran for eighteen seasons, ending its run on September 3, 1967. It is the longest-running game show in the history of prime time network television, and the sixth longest-running game show overall (behind It's Academic, The Price Is Right, Wheel of Fortune, Hollywood Squares, Jeopardy! and Concentration).

From 1968 to 1975, a daily (Monday to Friday) version was produced by Goodson-Todman Productions for syndication, and was distributed by CBS Enterprises, which was renamed Viacom in 1971.

Hosts and panelists

The original series was hosted by veteran radio and television newsman John Daly. Panelist Bennett Cerf often referred to him as "John Charles Daly," Daly's professional name at the start of his CBS News career in Washington. Sometimes Cerf would introduce Daly by his full birth name, John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly. Eamonn Andrews (host of the British version of What's My Line?), Clifton Fadiman, and Bennett Cerf all substituted as host between the four occasions on which Daly was unavailble.

Four panelists appeared on each program. The panelists on the initial episode were former New Jersey governor Harold G. Hoffman, psychiatrist Dr. Richard Hoffmann, columnist Dorothy Kilgallen and poet Louis Untermeyer. Actress Arlene Francis was scheduled to appear on the first program but had to miss it for reasons she could not recall when she reminisced about the series after its cancellation much later. Her debut came on the second program. Comedy writer Hal Block and Random House publisher Bennett Cerf joined the regular panel early on. Cerf, Kilgallen and Francis would remain regular panelists for most of the show's run. Steve Allen joined the panel on a regular basis when Block left the show in 1953, although he had been a guest panelist in a 1951 episode. During Allen's year as a regular, his wife Jayne Meadows often appeared in place of Arlene Francis or Dorothy Kilgallen, when needed. During that season, Kilgallen missed several episodes due to the birth of her third child.

Both Untermeyer and Block had been fired from the show; Untermeyer because of his alleged affiliation with suspect socialist and communist organizations (this was the time of McCarthyism), and Block for his erratic and often embarrassing on-air behavior. In a 1987 interview, director Franklin Heller claims that cheating with the help of a studio audience member was another reason for Block's departure. Heller's description of a 1953 episode on which Block supposedly did this, however, does not match exactly what happens on the existing record of the episode, which has aired on GSN.

In 1954, Steve Allen left to launch The Tonight Show and Fred Allen filled the fourth seat on the panel until his 1956 death. The series lost another panelist when Dorothy Kilgallen died in 1965. After the death of each panelist, their spot was left open to a guest panelist each week, although a 1966 TV Guide article claimed that Goodson-Todman tried at first to find a permanent replacement for Kilgallen with no shortage of offers. Hundreds of celebrities appeared as guest panelists in the rotating seats, or when regulars were absent. The most frequent guest panelist was Arlene Francis' husband Martin Gabel, who appeared 112 times as a guest panelist.

Regular announcers included Lee Vines (1950-55), Hal Simms (1955-61), Ralph Paul (1961), and Johnny Olson (1961-67).

Gameplay

Each typical episode of What's My Line? features two standard contestant rounds, sometimes a third if time permitted (and very rarely a fourth), and one mystery guest round.

Standard rounds

Each standard round was guessing game in which the panel tried to identify the "line" (vocation) of a contestant. The contestant be quickly greeted and introduced by Daly who would seat the guest. For a time, the panel was allowed to "inspect" the contestant up close, and make one initial guess as to the contestant's line, but this practice was cut in later seasons. Daly would briefly explain the game play, or in later seasons, would ask the contestant if they knew how the game was played and only explain if they did not. The contestant's line was then revealed to the studio and television audiences, and Daly would tell the panel whether the contestant was salaried or self-employed, and later in the series, whether they dealt in a product or service.

A panelist chosen by Daly would begin asking the contestant yes-or-no questions. If the panelist received a "yes" answer, they continued questioning. If they received a "no," the questioning passed to the next panelist, and $5 was added to the contestant's prize, denoted by a stack of cards in that Daly would flip over the front of his desk to keep score. If the contestant could give ten "no" answers, they won the game and earned $50, though Daly frequently "threw all the cards over" fairly arbitrarily, evidence that the prize was always a second to the gameplay. Daly explained, at the end of the show's run, that the maximum payout of $50 ensured that the game would be played only for enjoyment, and that there could never even be the appearance of impropriety.

Each panelist had the option of passing to the next panelist. They could also request a group conference in which the four members had a short time to openly discuss their ideas about the occupation or possible lines of questioning. John Daly set a time limit each time a conference was requested, and he chided the panel in a friendly manner if they discussed the line without asking for one. Questioning continued in rotation until the occupation was deduced, until the panel received its tenth "no" answer or until Daly threw the cards over for time or because he felt the panel was too far away from the correct line to ever get it.

The panel usually adopted some basic binary search strategies, often beginning with several common broad questions, such as whether the contestant dealt in a product or service (in the days before this information was given by Daly), or whether the contestant's organization was profit-making or non-profit, and whether a contestant's product was "alive" (in the animal sense) or "consumable" (typically in the ingestible sense). Because "no" answers were to be avoided, panelists would often phrase their questions in the negative so that a "yes" answer would be more probable, starting questions with "it is something other than..." or "can I rule out..."

Besides hosting the show, Daly was known as the "moderator" of the panel, cueing the panelists on their turns and assisting contestants with their answers, often replying for them in the case of difficult questions that needed clarification. He would sometimes need to ask the contestant a question in order to determine the correct response to the panel, and would himself have a short conference. A running joke amongst the panel was that Daly would make sure to have a conference with an attractive female contestant.

Mystery guest rounds

See also: List of mystery guests

The third round of an episode was similar, but involved blindfolding the panel for a celebrity "mystery guest" (originally called "mystery challengers" by Daly), who the panel had to identify by name. The questioning process was initally the same as in the standard rounds, but in the mid-1950s, a rule was added limiting the panelists to one question at a time regardless of the answer.

Mystery guests would usually try to conceal their identities by disguising their voices, much to the amusement of the studio audience. Sometimes, a two mystery guest rounds were played in an episode, with the additional round as the first round of the episode. Mystery guests usually came from the entertainment world, either stage, screen, television or occasionally sports. Famous contestants from other walks of life, or non-famous contestants who the panel might know from personal acquaintance, were usually played as standard rounds, although the panel might be blindfolded, or the contestant might sign in simply as "X", depending on whether they would be known by name or sight.

Style

What's My Line? is known for its attention to manners and class. In its early years, business suits and street dresses were worn by the host and panelists, but by 1953, the men wore black suits with bow ties (a few guests actually wore tuxedos) while female panelists donned formal gowns and often wore short gloves. The two exceptions to this dress code were on the broadcasts immediately following the deaths of Fred Allen and Dorothy Kilgallen, in which the male cast members wore straight neckties.

The guessing game had a feeling of formality and adherence to rules. Daly used mister and miss to hand the questioning to a particular panelist, though he sometimes used first names at other points, particularly in later years when the cast was more familiar with each other. Despite his responsibility to keep things moving, Daly was not above trading bon mots with the panelists during the game. Daly would often have to clarify a question with a confusing answer, but his penchant for long-winded replies often left the panelists more confused than before. After a while, he played up the joke by making his replies even longer. Panelists would often use this as a joke, implying that they did not learn anything from his confusing comments. On more than one occasion, Daly "led the panel down the garden path," a favorite phrase used when the panel was misled by an answer.

Production practices

When the series began, both the panelists and host would begin the program in their seats. Starting in 1954, the first panelist would be introduced by the announcer following the show's introduction, and would enter the set through a built-in entrance. Each panelist would introduce the next in turn, with the last introducing Daly. Bennett Cerf was usually the last panelist introduced, giving him a chance to make some mild joke or pun at the expense of Daly while introducing him. The entrance was a response to letters the show received asking what the panelists looked like away from their seats.

At the beginning of a round, Daly would invite the next contestant to "come in and sign in, please." In late 1960, this evolved to the more familiar phrase, "enter and sign in, please." The contestant would write his or her name on a small sign-in board attached to the wall, which had removable sheets of black art paper which could then be saved for posterity. Daly would then introduce the contestant to the panel. If the contestant was female, Daly asked if she should be addressed as "Miss" or "Mrs." As a sign of the time, attractive female contestants often elicited wolf-whistles from the studio audience. In addition, Daly would usually ask the guest what where he or she hailed from.

While ostensibly a game show, What's My Line? also was an opportunity to interview celebrities and people with interesting occupations. If there was time after the game, Daly would talk with the contestant about their line, or for the mystery guests, about their careers and latest works. However, despite frequent hopes or requests by the panel (particularly Arlene Francis), there were very rarely demonstrations, unlike on sister show I've Got A Secret and the later syndicated reincarnation that combined the two shows. According to executive producer Gil Fates, Daly was not fond of this practice.

Behind the Scenes

Unknown to the public, mystery guests were paid $500 as an appearance fee, whether they won or lost the game. This was in addition to the maximum $50 game winnings, which guests sometimes donated to charity. Guest panelists were paid $750 as an appearance fee. The regular panelists were under contract and were paid "much more," according to Fates. Following CBS's 1967 cancellation of the original version, the regular panelists (and the estates of Fred Allen and Kilgallen) got residuals only once, when clips were rebroadcast on a 1975 special; mystery guests never did.

The final show

The 876th and final CBS telecast of What's My Line? aired on September 3, 1967; it was highlighted by clips from past telecasts, a visit by the show's first contestants, and the final "mystery guest," who was none other than John Daly himself. Daly had always been the emergency mystery guest in case the scheduled guest was unable to appear on the live broadcast, though this never occured. Mark Goodson, Bill Todman and Johnny Olson appeared on-camera as well.

Episode status

All of the series' episodes were originally recorded via kinescope onto film. In the early 1950s, some network employees recovered silver content from the silver nitrate film used to record live broadcasts and resold it legally at a profit; this happened to several TV series that aired live on all networks concurrently with the early What's My Line? in 1950.

CBS regularly profited from What's My Line? kinescopes by destroying them for their silver content from 1950 until July of 1952, when Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, having realized it was occurring, offered to pay the network for a film of every broadcast. As a result, only a few episodes exist from the first two years of the show. Film of the premiere broadcast, however, was not destroyed, and still exists, as does the second from two weeks later. The entire run of the syndicated series was recorded directly onto color videotape and still exists.

25th anniversary special

In early 1975, with production of the syndicated version of the series on break, the show's staff went through the annual process of selling the syndication rights to TV stations across North America. That year, there were not enough takers to justify further production. Just days after disbanding their technical crew, Goodson and Todman pitched the idea of a retrospective network special to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the program's CBS debut. The programming department at CBS turned down the idea but ABC bought it. The special was broadcast by ABC on May 28, 1975, and is currently available for viewing at The Paley Center for Media.

In producing the special, the only existing records of the original series on kinescope film were removed from storage and the entire series was brought to a Manhattan editing facility that Goodson-Todman Productions rented. There, company employees Gil Fates, Bob Bach, Pamela Usdan and Lloyd Gross worked round-the-clock for three days to compile the 90-minute special under deadline pressure from ABC network official Bob Shanks. In the process of viewing and editing the films for the special, they accidentally damaged or destroyed several kinescope films that spanned the entire run of the original series, including a few that did not make the final cut of the retrospective. In addition, some unspooled film remained on the floor after the group's rented time at the facility ran out. An April 1967 episode featuring Candice Bergen as the mystery guest and a criminal defense attorney as a contestant was lost in its entirety. (The attorney's name was lost to posterity.) So was a June 1967 episode featuring both Betty Grable and F. Lee Bailey. Other episodes sustained only partial damage, such as a 1965 episode that is mainly damaged during the mystery guest appearance of Marian Anderson.

Alternate versions

Versions in the United States

U.S. radio (1952-1953)

A weekly American CBS radio version of What's My Line? was produced from May 1952 until July 1953. The regular panelists Dorothy Kilgallen, Bennett Cerf, Arlene Francis and Hal Block, along with host John Daly, premiered the radio version of their show on Tuesday May 20, 1952, while still performing the Sunday telecast. The debut mystery guest, in her only What's My Line? appearance, was Marlene Dietrich. Marlon Brando made his only What's My Line? appearance on the radio program that aired on December 3, 1952. The radio show continued through the "Hal Block era" into the "Steve Allen era" while once moving its broadcast to Wednesday. The final radio broadcast was July 1, 1953. Recordings of some episodes of this year-long radio version are easily available to visitors to The Paley Center for Media in New York City and Beverly Hills, CA. Other radio episodes are at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., where procedures for someone to access them are more complicated.

It is unknown how the radio show's staff let the audience know what the contestants' occupations were. Possibly, announcer Lee Vines, who was that era's TV and radio voice of WML, might have delivered the contestants' occupations or the names of the mystery guests in a low voice, sotto voce. If the producers followed a format similar to the TV show, this method would have informed the radio listeners of the facts. If this were the case, it predated by nine years what Goodson-Todman Productions did with the password on their television series Password.

U.S. syndication (1968-1975)

With the original What's My Line? gone in September 1967, only four Goodson-Todman game shows remained on the air, all of them in the daytime: To Tell the Truth and Password on CBS, Match Game and Snap Judgment on NBC, and their time, too, was running out. Thus, in 1968, G-T decided to strike a deal with Viacom to syndicate a new, videotaped five-days-a-week edition of What's My Line?, which ran for seven seasons and 1,315 shows, with game play largely identical to the original version. The revival was considered by producers to be a merger of What's My Line? and 1950s spinoff I've Got a Secret. Reminiscent of the sister show, contestants on this version of WML frequently demonstrated their skill or product during their segments, often with the help of the panelists and often with hilarious results. In fact, the interviews and demonstrations became the dominant element of the show, with games often being cut short because the demonstrations required so much time. The dollar signs for the "no" answers - which were retained early in the run - were eventually removed and replaced by sequential numbers 1-10. Mystery guest rounds were no longer scored and were simply played until the guest was guessed or time ran out.

Also, a new game, "Who's Who," was played on occasion; four audience members stood on stage with four occupations indicated on cards. The panelists would attempt to place the occupations with the correct contestants. In a manner reminiscent of To Tell the Truth, the audience member team split $25 for each panelist that failed to correctly match their careers, with a $100 possible prize.

The color animated intro used during the final CBS season was reused for the new version's main title sequence. Wally Bruner was the original host and was succeeded by Larry Blyden in 1972. Arlene Francis and comedian Soupy Sales were regular panelists; Bennett Cerf continued to make frequent appearances until his death in 1971. Other panelists included Alan Alda, his father Robert Alda, Joanna Barnes, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Bert Convy, Joel Grey, Sherrye Henry, Elaine Joyce, Ruta Lee, Meredith MacRae, Henry Morgan, Gene Rayburn, Nipsey Russell, Gene Shalit and Dana Valery. To indicate the daily scheduling of the show more than anything else, panelists discontinued the formal dress of the CBS years in favor of street clothes, as did hosts Bruner and Blyden. Although Bruner had an on-air style somewhat reminiscent of Daly and kept things moderately formal, Blyden, a comedy actor, approached his duties with a considerably more casual attitude, probably in order to reflect general cultural trends of the time against pretension, with an aim of attracting a younger audience.

While widely praised among fans and critics, there was one point of contention during the series' seven-year run. Bennett Cerf died in 1971, and he had videotaped many shows during the months prior to his death. His last five-episode taping day occurred three weeks before his end. Television stations continued to air shows where he was a panelist, sometimes up to 18 months after his death. This resulted in confusion among some fans, who were seeing "new" episodes with Cerf, long after hearing about his death. Not everyone understood the workings of television syndication, which, in the 1970s, involved affiliate stations sharing the master tapes, with some having to air episodes later than others. This prompted producer Gil Fates, who recalled the situation in his book, What's My Line?: TV's Most Famous Panel Show, to send a form letter to fans who had written in complaining about the late Bennett Cerf's failure to disappear. Some said the television stations were using poor taste. Fates explained that Cerf indeed had died, but television was practicing a time-honored tradition of celebrating one's work long after their passing. As he wrote in his book, Fates knew in the early 1970s, but did not tell viewers, about the production costs that would have gone to waste had his company acceded to the demands, some of them coming from station managers around North America, to scrap the Cerf tapes.

Johnny Olson, who had been the show's announcer dating back to the early 1960s, continued with What's My Line? during its early syndication years (as he did with another G-T show, To Tell the Truth.) He left Line and Truth in 1972, when he was tapped to announce the revivals of The Price Is Right and I've Got a Secret in Los Angeles.

Olson was succeeded by Wayne Howell and later by Chet Gould; Howell was a staff announcer for NBC, to whose Rockefeller Center studios Line and Truth moved in the early 1970s. Both shows had been taped at CBS facilities in New York during their network and the (early portion of) syndicated runs. Line used two sets during its run, the latter one during its final season in 1974-1975.

The last tapings aired in most parts of North America in the fall of 1975. The advance taping schedule for the show had concluded in December of 1974. Larry Blyden, who was informed the program's termination in 1975 and then offered a job hosting a new Goodson-Todman game show in Los Angeles, was killed in a car accident in Morocco at the age of 49, a few weeks after taping the pilot.

New versions of WML were planned as early as 1981, with Harry Anderson announced as the host of a 2000 revival. The most recent version, taped in 2002, was hosted by Alex Trebek. However, none of the revivals made it to air. In comparison, Line's sister show Truth has appeared in no fewer than three revivals (two in syndication, one on NBC) since it ended its original syndicated run in 1978, and Secret has been brought back three times since 1973, once for a short 1976 summer run on CBS, again in 2000 for a three-year run on the cable channel Oxygen, and again during the mid-2000s on GSN. In the 1980-81 season CBS ran a short lived series called That's My Line! Hosted by Bob Barker, it was not a game show, but an attempt to emulate the then-popular reality show Real People. The show bore little connection to WML, other than the similarity in name and the fact that it was also produced by Mark Goodson.

Live stage version (2004-present)

From November 2004 through July 2006, Jim Newman and J. Keith van Straaten produced one-hour live stage versions of the show at the ACME Comedy Theatre in Los Angeles, California, titled What's My Line? - Live On Stage. The Los Angeles version of the live show went on hiatus when van Straaten relocated to New York, then resumed in June of 2007.

Live on Stage panelists have included, among others, Carlos Alazraqui, Alison Arngrim, E.G. Daily, Andy Dick, Paul Goebel, Danny Goldman, Annabelle Gurwitch, Mariette Hartley, Elaine Hendrix, Marty Ingels, Cathy Ladman, David L. Lander, Kate Linder, Ann Magnuson, Troy McClain, Jayne Meadows, Lee Meriwether, Patt Morrison, Rick Overton, Jimmy Pardo, Lisa Jane Persky, Charles Phoenix, Nancy Pimental, Greg Proops, Barry Saltzman, Mink Stole, Nicole Sullivan, Marcia Wallace, Matt Walsh, Wil Wheaton, Gary Anthony Williams, Debra Wilson, April Winchell, and Andy Zax.

Live on Stage mystery guests have included, among others, Ed Begley, Jr., Stephen Bishop, Mr. Blackwell, LeVar Burton, Brett Butler, José Canseco, Drew Carey, Andy Dick, Michael and Kitty Dukakis, Hector Elizondo, Nanette Fabray, Peter Falk, Bruce Jenner, Larry King, Kathy Kinney, Bruno Kirby, Tara Lipinski, Lisa Loeb, Shelley Long, Leonard Maltin, Rose Marie, Wink Martindale, Sally Struthers, Rip Taylor, Judy Tenuta, Alan Thicke, Dick Van Patten, Lindsay Wagner, Wil Wheaton, Noah Wyle, and Sean Young.

Panelists and guests who appeared on the original TV version and who have also appeared on the stage version include Shelley Berman, Lee Meriwether, radio commentator Michael Jackson, Jayne Meadows, Nanette Fabray, Joanna Barnes, Julie Newmar, Margaret O'Brien and Marty Ingels. Usually when such a veteran appears, he/she along with panelists and the audience are treated to a pristine - quality DVD screening of the old kinescope featuring him/her on a plasma screen that is above the stage. This has also been done for ordinary contestants from yesteryear who have come forward expressing an interest in the presentation at the ACME Comedy Theatre. In 2007, a lifelong Los Angeles - area resident appeared onstage to challenge the panel with her line of matchmaker, after which she reminisced about how she had ended up traveling 43 years earlier to New York, where Arlene Francis identified her as a parking meter maid. A clip from this kinescope, too, was played for everyone.

In addition, the show has featured relatives of the original cast: Jill Kollmar (daughter of Dorothy Kilgallen and Richard Kollmar), Nina Daly (daughter of John Charles Daly), and Vinton Cerf (co-inventor of the Internet and distant cousin of Bennett Cerf). It also included a segment in which Vint Cerf's son, Bennett, named after the more well-known Bennett Cerf, appeared as a mystery guest.

Live stage version (2006-present)

Beginning in August 2006, ViceHeadGirl Productions has staged a monthly, downtown version at the Parkside Lounge in New York, New York, including panelists Clams Casino, Jonny Porkpie, Lindsay Robertson and Garth Wingfield and host Neil O'Fortune. Their web site lists the previous and upcoming panelists, as well as mystery guests.

Versions around the world

United Kingdom

A British version of What's My Line? ran from 1951 to 1963 on BBC Television. It was briefly revived in 1973, and then again by ITV (produced by Thames Television) from 1984 to 1990.

Eamonn Andrews hosted the original British series, except in the first episode where the host was Gilbert Harding. In the UK, the host's position was called the "chairman." Panellists on the original show included Elizabeth Allan, Lady Isobel Barnett, Katie Boyle, Jerry Desmonde, Gilbert Harding, Barbara Kelly, Ghislaine Alexander, Cyril Fletcher, Marghanita Laski and David Nixon.

• See photo from original series at this TV history link

From 1973 to 1974 the show aired on BBC2, hosted by David Jacobs with regular panellists William Franklyn, Lady Isobel Barnett, Kenneth Williams and Anna Quayle (who was later replaced by Nanette Newman).

• See photo from 1973 series at this BBC TV link

Eamonn Andrews returned to host a revival of the series on ITV in 1984 with John Benson as his announcer. The revived version continued to air in prime time and although mainly recorded, some episodes were screened live (John Benson would open the show with "Tonight from London it's time for What's My Line" on taped episodes or "Live from London it's time for What's My Line" on live editions). Regular panellists included Angela Rippon, Ernie Wise, George Gale, Jeffrey Archer, Barry Sheen and novelist Jilly Cooper. After Andrews died in 1987, actress Penelope Keith assumed the role of chairperson. The programme then aired for a further two series from 1989 to 1990 with Angela Rippon taking over as host. All episodes of the Keith and Rippon versions were pre-recorded and screened in the ITV daytime schedule.

The show was revived once again by Meridian Television in the mid-1990s, hosted by Emma Forbes. A special one-off edition hosted by Hugh Dennis was produced for BBC Four in 2005, as part of a season about British culture in the decade immediately following World War II. An edition of the original series (from 5 October 1957) was also shown on BBC Four as part of this season.

Germany

The German version was called Was bin ich? which translates from German to English as What am I? and was hosted by Bavarian Robert Lembke. The show ran from 1955 to 1958 and again from 1961 until Lembke unexpectedly died in 1989. It was broadcast on the TV station ARD (First German Television). Lembke, at that time head of the news division of the state-owned Bavarian Broadcating Establishment Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), bought the rights to the television format during a visit to the English BBC in 1954. Lembke later was the head of the German Olympic Centre for the Olympic Games at Munich, 1972.

The best-known German panel consisted of district attorney Hans Sachs, actress Marianne Koch, TV announcer Annette von Aretin, TV announcer Anneliese Fleyenschmidt, and Guido Baumann, head of the Swiss radio and TV station DRS. The guests received 5 Deutschmarks (DM) for each "no" answer, for a total prize of 50 DM if their profession was not guessed by the time the panel had given 10 "no" answers. Price money was given to the guests in a porcelain Piggy Bank, and Lembke would insert a 5 DM coin into the slot of the Piggy Bank each time the answer was "no", producing a loud and characteristic sound. Related to this is Lembke's most famous line from the show, "Welches Schweinderl hättens denn gern?" ("Which piglet would you like to have?", spoken in Lembke's strong bavarian accent), which referred to the differently coloured Piggy Banks guests could choose from before questioning began.

A new version of the show aired weekly on Kabel 1 from 1999-2005. The show was hosted by Björn Hergen Schimpf. The panel consisted of entertainer and comedian Herbert Feuerstein, talk-show host Vera Int-Veen, former German minister of labour and social affairs Norbert Blüm and entertainer and comedian Tanja Schumann.

Canada (French-speaking)

The French Canadian version of What's My Line? was called Chacun son Metier, which translates from French to English as To Each His Job or To Each His Trade. In 1959, the host of the French Canadian version, Louis Morisset, appeared as a contestant on the American version, on Episode #448 on January 18 1959. This alternate Canadian version was aired in Canada from 1954 to 1959.

Brazil

The Brazilian version of What's My Line? was called Adivinha o que ele Faz? which translates from Portuguese to English as Guess What He Does? In 1956, the host of the Brazilian version, Heloísa Helena, appeared as a contestant on the American version, on Episode #341 on December 16 1956.

Korea

In 1963, a panelist on the Korean version, Miss Keun Oh Kim, appeared as a contestant on the American version, on Episode #674 on July 28 1963. The Korean version began in 1956, and was owned by the Korean government and run as a non-profit organization.

Venezuela

The Venezuelan version of What's My Line? was called Mi Trabajo y Yo which roughly translates from Spanish to English as My Job and I. In 1961, the director and moderator of the Venezuelan version, Jacques Lemoine, appeared as a contestant on the American version, on Episode #594 on December 24 1961.

Show trivia

• The show popularized the phrase "Is it bigger than a breadbox?" A slight variation of this question was first posed by Steve Allen on January 18, 1953, during his 1953 to 1954 tenure as a regular panelist. Over several subsequent episodes, he refined his breadbox question. Soon, other panelists were asking this question as well, often crediting Allen, and continued to do so until the end of the series. It became such a running gag that on three separate episodes over the years, the producers booked contestants who made or designed breadboxes. On one episode, a contestant from England was asked the famous question. He seriously replied, "Oh, I'm English. What's a breadbox?"

• The live 10:30 P.M. starting time in New York was, between 1950 and 1967, a difficult time of night to attract a television studio audience in that city. The problem was overcome by the fact that many Broadway shows were dark on Sundays while many nightclubs had shows that ended by ten. These patrons lent a well-dressed appearance to the studio audience, although CBS viewers saw them onscreen just twice during 17 years. The Duke of Windsor and Wallis, Duchess of Windsor joined the crowd more than once, although they declined to appear on the air. The syndicated version eventually put its audience, many of them dressed in the casual style of the early 1970s, on camera during morning and afternoon videotaping.

• When Ernie Kovacs joined the panel in 1957, with the show's staff hoping he would remain indefinitely, he made a habit of asking the odd question "Can it be folded?" whenever he found that the guest was associated with a product. The answer was almost always "no." The producers eventually booked a guest who made folding beds so that Kovacs would finally receive an affirmative reply. Kovacs never appeared on Line after 1957.

• What's My Line? won three Emmy Awards for "Best Quiz or Audience Participation Show," in 1952, 1953 and 1958.

• When President Lyndon Johnson hired Jerri Whittington as the first African-American White House secretary, he chose to announce the fact by arranging for Whittington to appear as a contestant. She appeared on Episode #696 that aired live on January 19, 1964. A TV Guide article that profiled the series after its cancellation claimed that Johnson had telephoned the TV studio while Whittington was there. The claim is supported, more or less, by the LBJ Library in Texas, which has a White House telephone log on which someone erroneously identified the program as I've Got A Secret.

• The closing theme song used on the show from 1950 to 1967 is titled "Rollercoaster" and was composed by Louis F. Busch and Milton DeLugg in 1949. It was used for all but a few episodes in the 1959-1960 season, when the Raymond Scott composition "The Toy Trumpet" was used.

• The announcer on the British version of the show, which was revived in 1984 by Thames Television with Eamonn Andrews as host, was John Benson, better known as the voice behind the UK version of Sale of the Century.

• In Dodie Smith's 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians, the dognappers' favorite television program is called What's My Crime?, a parody version of What's My Line? in which the guests are convicted criminals and the panelists are supposed to guess the crime they committed. (They correctly deduce, for instance, that one guest had stolen twenty bathplugs from hotel rooms.) In the 1961 Disney cartoon movie One Hundred and One Dalmatians, which was based on Smith's novel, the puppies can be seen watching What's My Crime? on television when Pongo and Perdita arrive to rescue them.

• Sesame Street had two spoofs of What's My Line? called What's My Part? hosted by Guy Smiley, whose mystery guests were actually parts of the body; one spoof featured a nose; the other a foot.

• Jimmy Carter appeared as a contestant on a syndicated episode when he was governor of Georgia, two years before he announced his run for president. Panelist Dana Valery suggested that "Mr. X" seemed to have "a certain spiritual quality" and asked if his line was "recruiting nuns."

• On at least one occasion during the syndicated run a panelist discussed (on-air) material in a New Hollywood movie that could have offended some of Line's viewers. After mystery guest Dustin Hoffman was identified in December 1968, Arlene Francis told him how lucky Mrs. Robinson was to have seduced successfully his character of Benjamin in The Graduate. Hoffman explained he was doing the show to promote Midnight Cowboy, which had just wrapped filming in New York, but he gave no hint as to the film's contents. The following August, Cowboy cast member Brenda Vaccaro taped five episodes as a panelist, but nobody discussed the film's subject matter on-camera that day, either, despite the crowds who were seeing it in theaters across the United States.

• On the original UK series, a frogman who appeared on the show was recognized as fraudulent. The manager of a bank saw the broadcast, called the police and the contestant was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

• On one edition of the UK version of What's My Line?, a trick was played on the panel when the host Eamonn Andrews himself posed as the mystery guest.

See also

• That's My Line (1980-81 CBS reality program based on What's My Line?)
• Front Page Challenge (Canadian CBC Television game show similar to What's My Line?)

External links

• Complete Episode Guide for What's My Line? at TV.com
• Discussion Forum for What's My Line? at TV.com
• Yahoo Groups Discussion Forum for What's My Line?
• The Internet Movie Database for the classic 1950-1967 What's My Line?
• The Internet Movie Database for the syndicated 1968-1975 What's My Line?
• The Internet Movie Database for the UK 1951-1963 What's My Line?
• The Internet Movie Database for the UK 1973-1974 What's My Line?
• UK Gameshows What's My Line? site
• UK Whirligig What's My Line? site
• Jason Colflesh's Tribute To What's My Line?
• What's My Line? - Live On Stage