The Official B&W Discussion Thread

[CaseyAbell]

The episode guide clears up Steve Allen's "Forest Ranger" sign-in. Seems that Buddy Hackett had wildly guessed "forest ranger" as the occupation of the first two (civvie) contestants. This was the 10/4/64 ep, right after Steve had taken over I've Got a Secret, which was referred to in the segment.

Odd note on IGAS: there have been stories that John Daly wasn't the biggest fan of that show, especially when suggestions were made to loosen up WML's format.

Frankly, I think Steve Allen's mystery guest appearance on the 5/18/58 episode is a lot funnier. It wasn't named before me.

[Kinokima]

LOL that's a good one too.

I loved these moments especially:

"It wasn't named before me" &

"The situation is we could use more comedy"


Also I will always think of Ralph Bellamy as Cary Grant's "foil" in movies like His Girl Friday and The Awful Truth. He was a great character actor.

[starwheel]

DK: "Is there a dummy here?"
JCD: "Miss Kilgallen, I resent that!"
SA: "Not on this side of the stage!"
DK: [laughing] "There are four over here."

AF: "I detect something adorable in that voice."
SA: "I'll see you later..."

Love that clip!

I'm certainly a fan of Steve, and always have been. He had great chemistry with the IGAS panel, and was one of the select few who could have possibly filled Garry's shoes on a permanent basis, IMHO. His timing was fabulous. I also love Ralph Bellamy, from His Girl Friday and TTTT (and before), all the way up to his final role as longtime shipping magnate James Morse in Pretty Woman.

John apparently wasn't a fan of the demo segments, a la IGAS, and that's one reason he didn't sign on for the syndie WML, of course.

[sestanley]

I ache for these shows to be on again regularly. The weekends and/or late nights would be perfect. Of course, I DVR'd them while they were on. I am watching them VERY slowly as I love having them on there and have no desire to rush through them b/c I want to savor it. Sigh. They really don't make 'em like this anymore at all.

[starwheel]

I ache for these shows to be on again regularly. The weekends and/or late nights would be perfect. Of course, I DVR'd them while they were on. I am watching them VERY slowly as I love having them on there and have no desire to rush through them b/c I want to savor it. Sigh. They really don't make 'em like this anymore at all.

I know what you mean. I've been going through the other eps I've recorded, and whatever I can find on YT. But what I really want is to see a full run again, and I hope we get that soon.

[gameshowmaniac27330]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgERmhiLSWg

Bob McGrath's of Sesame Street on TTTT

[sestanley]

Just watched WML? from the 18th and 21rst and they were really great! Seeing James Cagney was a treat. Also, I can't believe they didn't guess their "Stoppette" sponsor or the kindergarten teacher! The old guy running the nudist camp was quite a surprise. When Arlene asked if they could take advantage of his service right then and there on TV, I was rolling around and dying laughing! The middle aged woman who designed the missles or whatever it was was very interesting. This was an extremely unusual thing for women to do back then-- almost unheard of. She was a "Miss", which, until I learned of her profession, surprised me b/c she seemed like she would be a married lady. However, upon learning what she did, I was not surprised that she was not married at all. Her education and work probably took everything she had!

It is so funny seeing so many of the ladies wearing gloves! Typical back then, but not at all today!

[starwheel]

A treat for everyone, from my bookmarks...Kitty Carlisle Hart interview, 2002.

You may need a RealPlayer to hear this, but it's well worth it. Lots of clips of Kitty singing, and lots of great stories about her life in the business. Enjoy!

(I just realized - this is post #200 here for me! )

[Dolleen48]

It's amazing, the worst piece of live black and white panel shows can't even come close to the heavily rehearsed, edited, and expensive shows produced today. I know this topic has been brought up several times in the past, but doesn't the network now have enough programing to create a Classic GSN channel. It seems to me that the current GSN could easily fill its schedule with their original programing, poker, and any shows produced after the mid-1990s (WWTBAM, Greed, DOND, 21, 1 vs 100, Bergeron's Hollywood Squares, recent wheel of fortune and Jeopardy, etc.) to fill the schedule, and have a spin off channel with straight classics. Additionaly, the network could revert back to 40 minute time slots, so the classics could be shown in their entirery without speedups.

[Kinokima]

So I just read about a Classic IGAS episode I would love to see (which sadly I could not find on youtube).

When Harpo comes out his secret is he is really Chico.

That would be so awesome to see. I heard that the Marx Bros would dress and act as each other's character quite often and many people were none the wiser.

[starwheel]

So I just read about a Classic IGAS episode I would love to see (which sadly I could not find on youtube).

When Harpo comes out his secret is he is really Chico.

That would be so awesome to see. I heard that the Marx Bros would dress and act as each other's character quite often and many people were none the wiser.

I think they've aired it, since it was from 1961 (no Winstons), but it's been a while. That was a FUNNY episode!

[CaseyAbell]

By the way, I just spotted a very nice recent upload on YouTube, the first Christmas episode of I've Got a Secret from 1952. Bill Cullen, Jayne Meadows and Henry Morgan are already on hand. And Garry Moore's hair is a lot longer than usual. Funny to hear the panel discussing "President Truman."

[sestanley]

I hate to bring something serious to the table here at GSN, but please take a moment if you can to see my post about drug shortages in the Green Room/Off Topic forum. It's very important. I'm spreading the word everywhere and I hope you will also.

[starwheel]

By the way, I just spotted a very nice recent upload on YouTube, the first Christmas episode of I've Got a Secret from 1952. Bill Cullen, Jayne Meadows and Henry Morgan are already on hand. And Garry Moore's hair is a lot longer than usual. Funny to hear the panel discussing "President Truman."

Bill's hair is a lot longer too. And it's always nice to see Kitty - not only one of the few to appear on all three of the major G-T panel shows, but one of the rare few to actually appear as a panelist on all of them. Great clip!

[CaseyAbell]

The 1952 ep shows how IGAS started as a pretty straight panel show, similar to What's My Line. Later the format loosened considerably, with skits and stunts and musical numbers and the Salvation Army band and a cast of thousands. Once that happened, IGAS enjoyed its greatest rating success, becoming a top ten show for the 1955-58 seasons.

UPDATE: Just found that William Frawley's performance of Melancholy Baby on the 5/3/65 IGAS episode has been reposted to YouTube. This was one of the eps in GSN's two-week run last month. Commented about this before, but the clip is rather sad because Mr. Frawley died less than a year later.