Concluding my series posting 10 of my favorite or notable moments from the history of What's My Line?, celebrating its 75th anniversary today, February 2nd.
1. Today is the day. The day that this franchise began its historic run. And yet, I’m closing this main lookback with the last episode of the CBS series. What’s My Line?, probably in part because of its historic run, was afforded the opportunity to say goodbye in one final live broadcast on September 3, 1967. Other panel shows hadn’t been so lucky. To Tell the Truth’s final nighttime broadcast concluded with a simple message from Bud Collyer, perhaps because the show would still air in daytime for another year and change. I’ve Got A Secret suffered an even tamer fate. Finding out that they had been canceled and that their last episode would be one that was already taped, the panel went back to the studio to record a very truncated farewell that was tacked on to the end of that previously recorded episode. 1967-68 was not a great year for Goodson-Todman as the networks pivoted away from their shows a little while hot stuff, like that coming from Chuck Barris Productions, took off. They would bounce back with syndicated runs of Line and Truth starting shortly the following couple of years and by the early 70s three more of their previous hit shows would be back in network daytime. News of What’s My Line’s cancellation broke over the summer break as everyone was on vacation while pretaped episodes aired. They came back for this final episode and honored their history as elegant and classy as they always had. Former permanent panelist Steve Allen returns, while most frequent guest panelist and husband to Arlen, Martin Gabel come together one final time. The first segment featured the original three contestants from the first episode — which none of these panelist were around for — and perhaps a subtle homage to the original free guess format, where each member of the panel was allowed one chance to ace the occupation of the contestant before questioning. Following a look back at clips throughout the show’s history, a handler of unemployment claims was the fun tongue-in-cheek second contestant. But the mystery guest round here is the moment that ranks as my favorite throughout the history of the show. The guessing game around who would be the final guest was at fever pitch in the theater that night, I’m sure. Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, the show creators? They’d been on as mystery guests before. Phil Rizzuto, the first mystery guest? Perhaps some gigantic star to wish them well? I know I wondered the first time I ever saw this episode. I was so curious to see how it ended. Imagine my delight and surprise when John Daly asks for the guest to sign in and he gets up from his desk to sign in! The applause and sight of him doing so and sitting in the other seat at his desk is something that always cheers me up. John does a good job of keeping the panel off his trail for a little bit with a high-pitched voice but, with it being the final night, the panel is wise to some trickery afoot. Arlene falls for the Goodson-Todman trap, but it’s Bennett who successfully figures it out. John explains that while asked many times by fans over the years why he’s never the mystery guest, he’s the last line of defense as an emergency mystery guest should the planned guest not be able to do the show — the guest arrives after the show starts to avoid them running into the panel — and there’s been close calls with late and/or moody guests. It truly was the best way to end out the series. Happy anniversary to this wonderful, groundbreaking series. Thank you to all of you who have enjoyed this little series of clips. Thank you to the Game Show Network, and all those involved with the network, for exposing this kid to a whole era of delightful programming in a genre they, and so many others, love. And thank you to Goodson-Todman for this program of What’s My Line?
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