Continuing my series posting 10 of my favorite or notable moments from the history of What's My Line?, celebrating its 75th anniversary at the beginning of February.
4. As can happen, people close to a program can sadly and unexpectedly pass away while a show is running. This happened twice to What’s My Line? and this will be another double dip. Panelist Steve Allen left the show as a permanent panelist in 1954 as his local Tonight program launched nationally as The Tonight Show. In his place, the show tapped a radio veteran, icon Fred Allen. His wry humor fit in well with Dorothy, Arlene and Bennett and his reputation for his kindness preceded him. He did well on the show from August of 1954 — initially as a guest panelist — until March 11, 1956. Then, on the evening of Saturday, March 17, 1956, he died suddenly of a heart attack. They decided to continue with the show the following night, clearly grief stricken, but soldiering on. A somber moment for an otherwise light show that wouldn’t be the last time the show faced tragedy head on. Dorothy Kilgallen was on the first episode. From Week 1, it was her and John. Besides going off on different assignments for her massively influential column, she was there for 14 ¾ years. That ended on November 7, 1965. Following the episode that aired that night, Dorothy died under mysterious circumstances the following day. Unlike Fred Allen’s death, the show had a little more time to consider what to do and, in the same vein as Allen, went on with a show the following week, though just as sad. With Steve Allen returning, as he had when Fred passed and the show, the show respectably went forward in her honor along with friend, socialite and fellow game show panelist Kitty Carlisle in her seat. Following this, no one would permanently take her seat. Both shows, understandably, did not feature panel and host introductions with the announcer giving a generic intro to the panel before introducing the host. Links to the entire episodes, featuring the panel’s heartfelt goodbyes, will be below.
No comments:
Post a Comment