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What’s My Line?

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Today is Dave Garroway‘s birthday, in the year 1913. He was a TV star back when people dressed up to be on TV. But he was a radio man too, and for a time in the ’50’s he was everywhere. His conversational style of hosting was a departure for the more formal, announcer-y approach, and his work as the original host of the Today show helped bring some intimacy to the new, blurry, black-and-white frontier.

How’s this for a good morning greeting in November of 1957.

“And how are you about the world today? Let’s see what kind of shape it’s in; there is a glimmer of hope.”

And you have to love a guy who established as his trademark, in Eisenhower’s America, at the height of the Red Scare, a simple one-word sign off, accompanied by a raised hand with the palm forward – “Peace.”

Signing off with "Peace".

Though Garroway seemed so easygoing and cheerful on the air, he struggled off-camera, and depression eventually took its grim toll. He ended his own life with a shotgun. He was 69.

There were a lot of things wrong with the ’50’s and ’60’s. I wouldn’t want to go back there to watch good people endure semi-official racism and a host of corrosive things we just “didn’t talk about”, like mental illness. But I do like the thought of TV shows where the ladies wear diamonds, the gentlemen have bow ties, and there’s room for chalkboards and chimpanzees.

Here’s Garroway’s appearance as a surprise guest on a popular show – basically 20 questions, but televised.

How do you feel about guessing games?

89 thoughts on “What’s My Line?”

  1. Rise and Shine Baboons?

    How do I feel about guessing games?

    What emotion is it in which you feel drawn in by an issue?

    What happens when you ask questions that seem to dance around the issue, but never quite nail it down?

    How would you define the experience in which you are blindfolded and hold the tail of a donkey and a pin? Do you recover quickly after you are spun around and pointed in the wrong direction?

    In this day an age what would I wear on TV? What happened to my cocktail dress, high heels and diamonds ala Kitty Carlisle?

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  2. Speaking of the unspoken things of the 50’s–which were awful, Kitty Carlisle and Gary Moore not withstanding–my wife is the child of an abusive alcoholic father and a defenseless severely crippled mother. My wife’s number one rule, which makes her the world’s most beloved human (I would say the world’s most beloved creature, but that would include the relationship between cat lovers and their cats and between Brad and Angelina), is to charm and never offend. So she comes at everything obliquely; thus my very happy marriage of 46 years is one long guessing game.

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    1. As another survivor of the 50s, I hasten to agree with Clyde. There is a film that captures much of this: “Far From Heaven.” It stars a stunningly beautiful Julianne Moore in what is my favorite of her films. Everything–sets, costumes, acting–is first rate. Above all, the film shows the social pressures and hypocrisy of the 50s.

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    2. Never knew what the secret to a long happy marriage was before, but would probably confuse the heck out of the husband if I changed now. Sigh. 🙂

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  4. Unless I’m very wrong, life is a guessing game. We can make a big show of gathering facts and doing our analysis, and then we take a big flier with a wild guess. Hey, it’s all part of the show, all part of the thrill.

    When I was a kid, Iowa NEVER showed up in any way at all on national TV, most of which came from New York city, where they didn’t have the foggiest idea of what the interior of the country was like. That’s why I was fascinated one night when “What’s My Line?” featured a guy who ran a pig hatchery just north of Ames. Sure enough, the cosmopolitan urban panel didn’t come close to guessing this guy’s line. Dorothy Kilgallen blinked sweetly and said, “A pig hatchery? Oh, my! I didn’t even realize pigs came from eggs!”

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  5. Good morning to all,

    Guessing games are okay. I like watching them more than playing them. Dale, I very much like that clip of Dave Garroway on What’s My Line. I watched What’s My Line, but I don’t remember seeing the show with Dave on it. Also, I forgot that Dave signed off on the Today Show holding up his hand and saying peace. Dave seemed to be a very genuine person who didn’t put up any false fronts.

    Dave Garroway had some guests that I especially liked on the Today Show including the jazz pianist, Erroll Garner. One of the funniest things I saw on the Today Show was a guest apperance by Carol Channing. Carol Channing’s flirty presence flustered Dave and he could not speak. Dave looked at Carol, his mouth dropped open, and he lost his voice.

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  6. First time anyone discussed Garroway and did not mention the chimp.
    I never saw him; TV vas verboten in the daytime in my house.

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    2. I do remember the chimp, of course. Something about the way Dave Garroway reacted to Carol Channing really stuck in my mind. I’ve never seen any one on TV become speechless like Dave did. However, Carol had a remarkable manner which I think could cause the kind of reaction shown by Dave.

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  7. Oh, I used to love Garry Moore and I thought Kitty Carlyle was terrifying but the most elegant person I had ever seen. Given my profession, I try not to ask people too many questions outside of the therapy room, as I worry they may think I am analyzing them. My daughter has a game on her Ipod something like Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral that we play on long road trips.

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  9. Education is really one big guessing game.
    For instance successful students are often ones who do not think of their own answer to the question but figure out the answer the instructors had in in mind when they asked the question. Hope I did not often ask questions that way.
    One of the constants of my classroom was the daily question. I had a trivia hall of fame plaque in my room; have contact with a few of those on it now through facebook.
    In college prep I used to alternate long writing assignments with short assignments. Two of my shorter ones were how to write a clear, brief, and precise definition and how to ask a clear, brief, and precise question. I wish I knew the impact of those lessons, or any for that matter. See education is just a big guessing game.
    I guess Donna has left us.

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  10. I do better with essay and short essay questions – I’d be lousy on a quiz show where answers should be brief. But I’d love the excuse to wear sparkly necklaces and fabulously elegant dresses (though I try at least once a year to find an excuse to dig out a little black dress and one of my sets of “gaudy rocks”…it’s good for the soul).

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  11. Morning all.

    I am not a guessing game kind of person. Faced with guessing, I prefer to find a way to let things unfold on their own. If guessing is required, then I just make the quickest guess I can and move on. And I also am not crazy about “what if” scenarios. I don’t see any point in answering questions like “If I died, would you marry again?” or “If both of your kids were drowning, who would you save?” This irritates the teenager that I won’t answer these kinds of questions.

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  12. I love guessing games! Back during my bachelorette days, between husbands, I used to hang out with a bunch of friends who would play games of all sorts. Charades was a favorite. During that time I lived in a beautiful old mansion, the perfect setting for Halloween parties, and I had some fun ones. People were incredibly creative in putting together memorable costumes. One year, as an ice breaker, each guest upon arrival had a piece of paper pinned to their back with a name on it. It could be the name of a living or dead person, a fictional character or cartoon figure. The object of the game was to guess whose name was on your own back. To figure this out you had to ask questions of other guests who were allowed to answer only yes or no. Much hilarity ensured as people were milling around and getting to know one another. At one point during this game I noticed a guy in an elaborate costume who I could not identify, I didn’t recognize him as one of my friends, so I asked him “who are you?” He replied that he was trying to figure that out. I clarified that I was trying to figure out his real identity since I was the hostess and I didn’t recognize him. He responded “Oh! You don’t know me. My girlfriend and I were on our way to a Halloween party but couldn’t find the address. When we saw a bunch of people in costumes coming in here, we decided to check it out. Hope you don’t mind? It’s a great party.” It was a great party and I did let them stay.

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  14. Greetings! I sort of enjoy guessing games — I’m fairly good at games like Trivial Pursuit depending on the category. I’m not that well read in literature, but I’ve read lots of magazine articles and remember a fair amount of trivial, weird information that I may have come across 15 years ago. I don’t remember jokes or answers to important questions, just frivolous factoids. Here’s one … Question: An eggplant is classified as a: A. Vegetable B. Berry C. Fruit

    Hah — wrong! It’s ‘B’ – a berry! Isn’t that just weird?! Who knew?

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    1. I’m with you, Joanne, that’s the sort of obscure information that my brain stores too. Ask me about a movie I saw a week ago, or a book I read a month ago, and I have only the vaguest big picture recall of it. Not good at names either. But ask me weather a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable, and I know the answer. It’s a fruit! Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

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      1. Cliffy alert! The fun part for me about the tomato question is that it’s classified as a veggie here in the States because 100 years ago (or so), some produce guy didn’t want to pay taxes on the tomato as a fruit. I guess fruit taxes were higher. It went all the way to the Supreme Court, who decided that since the tomato is eaten more like other vegetables are eaten, that it is taxed as a vegetable!

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      2. Thanks for that tidbit, vs, that’s info that’s likely to stay with me. And the lesson here is? Money can change anything.

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      3. In the botanical sense, anything that contains the seeds of the plant in the part that you eat is a fruit. That includes eggplant, cucumbers, squash, peppers, all sorts of things that we don’t normally think of as fruits. Vegetables are roots, tubers, stems, leaves, and in general plant parts that do not contain seeds. Rhubarb is a vegetable – although we think of a rhubarb pie as a fruit pie, it isn’t, botanically.

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      4. Hm! Now you’ve got me thinking. What do we need to reclassify to fix the economic quagmire we find ourselves in the moment? Anyone?

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      5. Maybe reclassify elected officials as non-essential employees and send them pink slips.

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  15. If a crossword puzzle is a guessing game, them I’m in. I also like charades…
    Out of town guests, must go for now.

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  17. Tapping index finger to nose and pointing to Anna. Holding right hand up with all fingers and thumb extended.

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      1. ROFLWM! Might be easier to just meet at Jerabek’s and have coffee and you can tell me what you have in mind. But I’m game to continue if you are. At the moment, I’m stymied.

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  23. Shaking head with small wave of hand. Now holding up right hand with all fingers and thumb extended.

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      7. O.K. Let’s get serious here. We’re looking for a five word movie title and the first word sounds like?????

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  26. Well, obviously Linda and I are not on the same wave length. Not knowing her, I have no idea what movies she might have in mind. But I’m trying. Jump in if you have any ideas.

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  28. Oh, I don’t think I was ever any good at charades. It was intended to be Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner. I was trying to get to the fifth word after giving up on the first. What’s the gesture for that?

    PJ, you are a very good sport and a patient woman.

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    1. Linda, this was fun. I’m a bit rusty on Charades myself, having not played it in over 30 years. Of course, it doesn’t help that we don’t know each other. As Ben said, this was a hoot. Thanks for being such a good sport yourself.

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      1. I haven’t played it in fifteen years or so either, and I’ve forgotten how all the clues are supposed to go.

        Pantomiming a yawn and a stretch, and tipping head sideways onto hands pressed together and closing eyes.

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