poetcomic1 They tried so hard to tamp down any "bad thoughts" but double meanings among adults are inevitable.

This is 1953. I don't think the panel is told any occupations, but Steve Allen asks the most simple questions that have these funny connotations so often when he was a regular that I think the producers give the panel questions to ask. In 1953 this was very likely.

Agreed, it almost brought the house down. Steve Allen was a master of asking questions that could be taken in a funny way.

@@kennethbutler1343 Steve Allen (in my opinion) knew the occupation of one guest on each episode. And the questioning always started with Steve when he knew the guest's occupation. The whole nature of his questioning is completely different when he knows the occupation. They clearly did this for comedic reasons. To his credit, he usually delivered.

@@givemepizzaorgivemedeath3983 So true. TV is fiction and scripted. Some of the actors can improvise and some cannot. Game show and talk show hosts are directors.

The answer should have been "yes" this time, though.

But where is Polly Purebred?

Jonathan C working hours? Is the best

I wonder how many of Steve Allen's (and previously, Hal Block's) questions were scripted in advance, or at least suggested by someone like the director or producer. It seems like his questions lead to too many funny and absurd images to be just coincidence.

@@Paul71HThere was a good deal of tipping off…

@@Paul71HAgree!

@@cadaverdog1424Have to agree!

John was surprisingly subdued considering how funny Steve Allen was during the zipper segment.

I didn't think he was a tough guy at all. I actually thought he was handicapped

He’s doing a marvelous send up of his good buddy Marlon Brando

Actually a tough guy- he was a bodybuilder. I was knocked for a loop to see those considerable muscles displayed on an episode of Mission impossible.

I have to agree! He is cute here!

@@bartgreenberg9001 "Good buddy..." 😉

+suzycreamcheesez He may have loved him like a brother but I can't think of many brothers who would take the ashes from a brothers wife, keep the ashes in their bedroom for thirty years until their own death. Arrange to have their own ashes mingled with his, then have their combined ashes scattered together. Theirs was an intense and life long friendship (they met when they were children.) They also lived together for several years as young adults.

I met him on more than one occasion in the late 1970s at a swanky Boston hotel where I worked. He actually took the time to pull a gag on me with a clothes hanger. Very nice and down to earth guy. I met many stars who were the opposite.

@@jimkilleen9130Did he give you an abortion?😂

The Milkybar Kid

Wally Cox was awesome!!!

Christopher K "Look! Up in the sky! (It's a bird!)(A plane!)(A frog...)(A frog?) "Nope, it's just little old me...Underdog." :)

@@magnificentfailure2390 There's no need to fear...

Thanks, shoeshine boy! You're humble and lovable.

Steve's deadpan look during the zipper laughter is priceless.

@@lisasimmons5362 After the "efficient secretary" question, I think there is no way his questions aren't scripted

Startled? He gets that laughter several times. He's just wondering about the object.

@@umot6277 Could make for good discussion. Gil Fates' book claims there was no scripting on WML, as that would have ruined the game (he explains why). However, 1) this is a very early episode; and 2) Mr. Fates may have merely been covering his bases in his book. Your point is well taken, and part of me agrees with you. The other part of me insists that I'm wrong. Maybe this episode was a "test" by the producers to see if scripting might be in order?? I don't know.

My theory is that it wasn't so much scripted as that they would give him a direction to take. For example, in the previous episode with the maternity hospital director, I wonder if they didn't say "ask questions that would make sense for a restaurant."

She is always on fire. What a brilliant woman she was.

It looks like that trait got her killed. A pity there weren't, aren't many more reporters like her.

Watch the one that has Victor Borge as the mystery guest.

@@richstrobel which time?

Nah, the funniest episode has got to be the one with the lady who operated a nudist colony, and Steve hilariously asked if he could improve his eyesight by going to her! I've seen the segment at least 5 times, and it never fails to elicit a good laugh.

Hysterical!

Yes, Steve Allen was not even telling jokes. He was asking serious questions about office machines!

The way several of his questions are tailored to the occupation like that whenever he's on suggests HEAVILY that someone either told him what to ask or clued him in on the line straight-up before the line. There's no way he can consistently ask *just* the right questions like that every. single. show.

@@DocFunkenstein Steve Allen's were just normal questions because in his mind, I'm sure he was thinking of typewriters or such. I think it's funnier that you think that this was staged somehow. Just saying

@@gregengel1616 No. If it happened occasionally, you'd probably be right. But it happens nearly *every* episode he's in, and usually only with the first two contestants (since there being one after the mystery guest was a gamble). Several of the questions he ask are TOTALLY unrelated to any he normally asks, and are STRIKINGLY apt for the current guest in an exceedingly hilarious way. That's not coincidence. It's not a occasional one-off, it happened ALL the time, nearly EVERY one of his episodes, and usually MULTIPLE TIMES with the same guests. And no, they're definitely not normal questions; normal questions for him are 'is it bigger than a breadbox' and 'do you work for a non-profit?' I'm not saying he was told exactly what the guest's lines were, but he was CLEARLY given hints about what questions to ask in order to solicit the most laughs. (Keep in mind that during this time, it was completely fine to cheat at gameshows. In fact, there was quite the scandal about that sort of thing.)

Love of his life

The thing about that zipper spot is that it's the incident that proves that Steve Allen was fed questions in advance to elicit all those "wrong track" responses. The reason why I know this is because several months later on another Goodson-Todman panel show "The Name's The Same" where the object was to guess a contestant's name and in this case they had a contestant named "A. Zipper." Gene Rayburn proceeded to ask questions that were WORD FOR WORD identical to the one's Steve Allen asked on this show right down to the final punchline question "When you get to the end of the line does a bell ring?" This was technically not rigging the game in the sense of giving the panelist the answer, but it was rigging in the sense of "ask these questions and you'll get yes answers but you'll be so far off-track the audience will go wild" and the resident funnymen of the panel were glad to do it.

epaddon Fascinating-- this would mean Gil Fates was less than totally honest in his description of how the "gambits" worked. He made it sound like all they would do is give the panelist a general line of questioning, like "Make sure to ask if you could use the product".

epaddon I have a thought, though-- and maybe this is unlikely, but it seems possible. What if the gambits on WML were just as Fates described, but Steve Allen got such huge laughs with the zipper guy, the producers decided, "Let's have him on 'The Name's the Same'", and purposely fed Rayburn the questions that Steve Allen got such big laughs on? In other words, Steve Allen was ad libbing, but it was so funny they decide to rig a later segment using his funniest questions?

What's My Line? It's certainly possible because Steve was a great ad-libber who knew how to mine comedy on the spur of the moment, but one thing that makes me think a bit otherwise is the predictability of how the "wrong track" spot was always the second contestant and always came when Daly would say Steve would start the questioning. I have seen one instance where I know Steve created a genuine "wrong track" line of questioning on his own (the time Margaret Truman I think was guest panelist and George and Gracie were mystery guests) because the questioning didn't start with him, but in these cases where John would arbitrarily pick him first, I have to think involved the spot pre-chosen for "Steve gets his big laughs tonight" moment.

What's My Line? I’m still looking for the bit on the Steve Allen show where the gorilla arm would hand him the mail through a small door.

Right U are!

Rumors are he was doing a Brando on the side

Only true Wally fans know this! Bravo!

Were their ashes mixed?

Was he handicapped? or did he talk like that normally? because he didn't sound like he was faking

They were kids together and roommates. That was back when they were starting out.

Abbe B I agree !!

Abbe B She had a beautiful smile.

Always assuming that the writer(s), cast and crew feel there is no further risk from anybody involved at the time.

@@libertyann439Yes!

She was killed for knowing UFO secrets disclosed to Marilyn Monroe from JFK. She was pushing hard to get it to print and the powers that be disagreed.

Wally Cox had a short-lived show called "The Adventures of Hiram Holliday" where he a guy who traveled around the world and solved crimes. In one episode he was swimming with no shirt and he was in good shape.

Joe Keaton there are some episodes of ‘The Adventures of Hiram Holliday’ on KZfaq.

@@Rose-zn5ql You're right -- wow! A "new" show to watch! :D kzfaq.info?search_query=%22The+Adventures+of+Hiram+Holliday%22

a bit closer than brothers..

Your sentiments are well-intentioned. But, seriously, none can hold a candle to either WC or MB, not even by the remotest comparison. Each one made and busted the mold, in their own unique ways. Any attempt at a (conventionally produced) screen biopic would be D.O.A., if not a gross insult and embarrassment. Best thing is for people to go to (or back to) the ORIGINAL MATERIAL, and watch/listen to/read anything done by either of these extraordinarily talented, one-of-a-kind men. That, in my opinion, is the best way to appreciate, respect and admire their truly phenomenal gifts.

That's what he was doing ? Doesn't come across like that, but oh we'll. he is deadpan.

He was imitating marlon brando

Hello Cynthia, How are you doing?

@@aidennewell4034 Okay, thanks. Happy Memorial Day.

@@cynthialyman2636 Same from here, Nice to meet you. Where are you from?

Agree

Have to add that she was already slaying in the last episode, but in this one she was particularly successful.

@@markoperak5989she was brilliant. So sad her life was so short.

@@debbiemartin2026Brilliant!

I heartily concur !!

He was also very athletic, and a master electrician.

I thought he was hilarious....maybe imitating or channeling Brando in his answers

Hey! I’ve gone through them three times, and plan to go through them again. This show is better than anything on today!

He did his ear pull to let them know to cut it out lol

I wondered about that. Seemed unfair some didn't get it all.

Too right, remember poor Pat Finch from the first show, she was the guinea pig of television history for the ol' "walk of Shame".

Ginny, I agree...!

It just took time away from playing the game. Glad they ditched the preliminary guesses, too. I can remember at least one episode where one of the panelists made a correct guess. Something to do with a swimming pool. Torpedoed that whole round.

@@PrenticeBoy1688 yep that was the lifeguard, guessed by Arlene Francis. I couldn’t believe she actually got it ha

@@user-wb3in7qm9v I'm not sure why I remembered 'something to do with a swimming pool' but didn't make the final leap to 'lifeguard'. It's not like there are tons of swimming pool related occupations.

That's rather young to be enjoying sophisticated TV shows. 🤪

I think they did feed them questions and they were given clues before the show re the occupations

He was. I'll just copy & paste David Martin's comment from earlier for you, because he covered this so well: "What makes Mr. Cox's performance particularly funny is that he was doing a satirical impression of 'method actors,' the top example of which was Cox's best friend - Marlon Brando."

Paul Bradford - Macbeth!

Daly had met all of the contestants before the show, backstage. Strange he tries to seem as if he has never seen them.

Hello Deborah, How are you doing?

Lois Simmons, I thought she actually looked a lot like my mother looked at that time (at least from pictures I have of her).

Hello Lois, How are you doing?

@@aidennewell4034 Fine.

@@loissimmons6558 Where are you from?

@@aidennewell4034 New York

Well, in all fairness, he was hysterical, but for the wrong reasons.

They were boys together in Illinois! They went back a long way.

Funny here as a mystery guest. Very!

He was so different than Brando, but Marlon loved him.

I thought he was hilarious the first time he appeared on the panel (instead of Cerf); less so the second (with Cerf) when I think he was possibly a bit "stoned". The show format doesn't really suit his kind of comedy; because I don't think the expression "I'll pass" is in this man's vocabulary, but on his first appearance he was great. Seems he was nothing like "Mr Peepers" in real life: he and Brando were like brothers; he was a master craftsman in metalwork; served in the infantry and was deceptively strong. As a comedian he's a master of: "dead air"; comic timing and anyone who can make the room laugh without saying a word is a real talent. Do you wear glasses? (removes glasses) ... Lol! "Yeah ... but just to see twith, Dorothy".

jpireri obviously

+What's My Line? Well, I'm not thinking what you're thinking. Wally Cox is cerebral and funny. John Daly clearly "got" him. Too bad Cerf wasn't smart enough to do so.

mistergoodear Well, you're clearly new to the comments. It's well known amongst the "regulars" that I can't stand Wally Cox on the panel of WML. I have nothing against him otherwise. But he was a terrible panelist on this program. That said, why you feel the need to gratuitously insult Bennett Cerf in your comment, I don't understand.

Not gratuitous at all. Mr. Cerf was cited as classifying Wally Cox as the "worst panelist". He could not be farther off base. Cox has a style that is very different from shallow, tortured puns. I submit that if one views Cox's panel appearances as comedy performances rather than game show hijinks, they hold up very well.

+What's My Line? Wally Cox is one of the best panelist, if you don´t get that his slow comedic timing is a genius thing thats fine. But I find it rather strange this bashing you do of him.

***** It's a running joke how much I dislike Wally Cox on the panel-- that's all. You're taking it WAY WAY WAY too seriously. If you enjoy him on the panel, that's wonderful.

+soulierinvestments I was watching all the wrong guesses the panel were making and thinking, "He should be flipping cards." Complaint or no complaint, he should have been given points for all the "no" answers.

I’m thinking that one of the panelists may have asked John if the Indian carver got the full prize while they were away on break.

I thought it was funny that Dorothy asked if a New Yorker might have one in the home when she herself had one at home (if I remember the televised for of her house correctly)

What does that mean?

Except when he was on the panel! Worst. Panelist. Ever.

THat was not his best, I agree.

Look up his recording, "What a Crazy Guy"

What's My Line? So true. Biggest mistake when they asked him to be a guest panelist on the show.

Hubert Smith check out Wally's guest appearance on Lost in Space acts just like himself except with "alien makeup"

He was about as funny as a cancer diagnosis.

@@peternagy-im4be Kind of a pointless and nasty observation. I wonder what Mr. Cox ever did to you.

I agree that he should have gotten the full $50. And, they gave it to him later.