What's My Line? 75th Anniversary

[SuperMatch93]

What do we think of the three emcees the show had: John Daly, Wally Bruner, Larry Blyden?

While John and Larry were good fits for the show as it existed at the time, I felt like Wally was too dry and clashed with the up-to-date feeling that the show was trying to move into at the time.

[TimK2003]

What do we think of the three emcees the show had: John Daly, Wally Bruner, Larry Blyden?

While John and Larry were good fits for the show as it existed at the time, I felt like Wally was too dry and clashed with the up-to-date feeling that the show was trying to move into at the time.

I want to say that John and Larry were like the Richard Dawson and Ray Combs of Feud -- they both had their unique styles in hosting the show and took the show in different directions within the format. 

Whereas John Charles had specific ways of responding to the panel and certain celebs in a more formal & technical manner, Larry seemed to make it more laid back and put more of a spotlight on the panel than on himself.

Wally was the Rolf Benirschke of Goodson Todman.  I don't know why they thought he would make a good game show host.

[Eric Paddon]

Bruner's background as a news anchor and White House correspondent, effectively the same as that of Daly, was why they thought he'd be right for the show.    They wanted in effect a Daly type at the outset.

[BrandonFG]

Haven’t seen too much of Wally, but I loved the eloquence John brought to the show. Conversely, Larry moved the show into the 70s very well, and I would’ve loved to have seen him on subsequent shows throughout the decade and into the 80s.

[PYLdude]

I don’t think Wally was that bad. He’s not a Daly, and his voice can grate at times, but he did a perfectly
capable job. As did his successor.

[Blanquepage]

John - Scholarly, kept the game moving, but also joined in the laughs too and used his wizardly way with words to confound the panel. My favorite!
Wally - Affable fellow who kept the game moving and let everyone else shine, but didn't leave a lasting impression.
Larry - Laid-back charm, added a more people-friendly vibe, yet didn't try to hog the camera. That seemed to be a good formula standard for an emcee of a celebrity-heavy format. It's a shame we didn't get to see more of that potential.

[BillCullen1]

What do we think of the three emcees the show had: John Daly, Wally Bruner, Larry Blyden?

While John and Larry were good fits for the show as it existed at the time, I felt like Wally was too dry and clashed with the up-to-date feeling that the show was trying to move into at the time.

Agreed. John was witty, charming and the undisputed master of double speak.

[Neumms]

Seeing a BUZZR bumper with Althea Gibson made me wonder, did the CBS runs of WML? or the others have any Black panelists? This isn’t to condemn them, I’m just curious. Maybe Nipsey toward the end of the run?

[SuperMatch93]

Seeing a BUZZR bumper with Althea Gibson made me wonder, did the CBS runs of WML? or the others have any Black panelists? This isn’t to condemn them, I’m just curious. Maybe Nipsey toward the end of the run?

Harry Belafonte was a panelist at least once.

[Matt Ottinger]

Seeing a BUZZR bumper with Althea Gibson made me wonder, did the CBS runs of WML? or the others have any Black panelists? This isn’t to condemn them, I’m just curious. Maybe Nipsey toward the end of the run?

I've Got a Secret once had Ruby Dee fill in for Bess Myerson.  I think that's the only time.

[BillCullen1]

Seeing a BUZZR bumper with Althea Gibson made me wonder, did the CBS runs of WML? or the others have any Black panelists? This isn’t to condemn them, I’m just curious. Maybe Nipsey toward the end of the run?

IIRC, Nipsey was a panelist on the syndie WML. He was never on Daly's version.

[Eric Paddon]

Harry Belafonte-6/11/61 and 10/21/62

Sammy Davis, Jr.-10/11/64.

Joan Murray-8/20/67 (The last "First time" guest panelist in the history of the CBS run.  She was a journalist with WCBS-TV at the time)

[calliaume]

Joan Murray-8/20/67 (The last "First time" guest panelist in the history of the CBS run.  She was a journalist with WCBS-TV at the time)

You wonder if the scheduled female panelist canceled on short notice. I was born and raised in the NYC area, and I had never heard of Joan Murray until reading this, although admittedly she left WCBS when I turned seven. (I just watched the intro of her episode on YouTube -- I wonder why her panel card said "Joan Murray" instead of "Miss Murray.")

Back to the subject at hand, I don't get the sense that Daly was super popular with the G-T family. Gil Fates' book seemed rather reserved about his contributions to the show (whereas he positively gushes over Larry Blyden), and Paul Alter's book proposal listed Daly as one of the worst people he had to work with (the others: Frank Sinatra, Steve & Eydie, Dawson, and Barker). TV Tropes claims (with no evidence) CBS discussed doing a M-F version of Line in 1963 but decided not to go forward when Daly refused to take part.

[chris319]

How can one obtain a copy of Paul Alter's book proposal?

What was Paul's grievance against Barker?

Was 1963 the year CBS took over ownership of WML?

[Adam Nedeff]

Back to the subject at hand, I don't get the sense that Daly was super popular with the G-T family. Gil Fates' book seemed rather reserved about his contributions to the show (whereas he positively gushes over Larry Blyden), and Paul Alter's book proposal listed Daly as one of the worst people he had to work with (the others: Frank Sinatra, Steve & Eydie, Dawson, and Barker). TV Tropes claims (with no evidence) CBS discussed doing a M-F version of Line in 1963 but decided not to go forward when Daly refused to take part.

When I interviewed Don Morrow 10 years ago, he told me this story--CBS called Allen Ludden one day during the run of College Bowl and asked if he was interested in becoming the new host of What's My Line? The network and Goodson/Todman were apparently having some issues with John during negotiations and John was starting to play hardball. Allen said yes, he'd be interested in taking over the show, and pretty much the moment that John Daly learned that Allen was interested in the job, he signed his new contract. So Goodson-Todman was absolutely ready to unload him at one point.