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116-444: American television personality Steve Allen as the host of The Tonight Show further developed the "man on the street" interviews and audience-participation comedy breaks that have become commonplace on late-night TV. Usually the interviewees are shown in public places, and supposed to be giving spontaneous opinions in a chance encounter – unrehearsed persons, not selected in any way. As such, journalists almost always refer to them as

232-478: A celebrity guest appearance (originally called "mystery challengers" by Daly) whom the panel had to identify by name, rather than occupation. (In the first episode, the mystery guest was New York Yankees shortstop Phil Rizzuto .) In the early years of the show, the questioning was the same as it was for regular contestants, but starting with the April 17, 1955 edition, panelists were only allowed one question at

348-495: A 1976 episode of Witness to Yesterday as composer-pianist George Gershwin . Allen remained friendly with television executive Fred Silverman , who was a longtime fan. After Silverman became head of programming at NBC , he hired Allen for two primetime projects: The Steve Allen Comedy Hour (1980), similar to Allen's 1950s variety hour, with comic characters and sketches; and The Big Show (1980), an attempt to stage spectacular events for television. A third Silverman project got

464-596: A Bela Lugosi/Dracula lookalike. Other recurring routines included "Crazy Shots" (also known as "Wild Pictures"), a series of sight gags accompanied by Allen on piano; Allen inviting audience members to select three musical notes at random, and then composing a song based on the notes; a satire on radio's long-running The Answer Man and a precursor to Johnny Carson 's Carnac the Magnificent (sample answer: "Et tu, Brute." Allen's reply: "How many pizzas did you eat, Caesar?"); and dramatic comedy readings of real letters to

580-597: A Personal Peabody Award in 1977 for creating and hosting "a truly original show." The award also recognized Meadows for her various portrayals. In 1981, the show won an Emmy for Outstanding Informational Series, and Allen's writing was Emmy nominated. It was the show Allen wanted to be remembered for, because he believed the issues and characters were timeless and would survive long after his death. A similar Canadian television series called Witness to Yesterday , created by Arthur Voronka, aired in 1974, three years after Allen's local Emmy Award-winning program. Allen appeared on

696-492: A Secret , and later, the syndicated version of WML engaged in the practice of contestants demonstrating their talents. However, despite frequent requests by the panel, particularly Arlene Francis, such demonstrations rarely occurred as according to executive producer Gil Fates , Daly was not fond of this practice. After the first four episodes, the show gained its initial sponsor when Jules Montenier paid to have his product, Stopette spray deodorant, featured in advertising on

812-522: A breaking news story. While Daly moderated the first live episode after his return from Moscow, he praised his employers' use of videotape. In such instances, cast and crew worked on two episodes consecutively during the same Sunday night: the "taped" one, followed immediately by the "live" one. The cast and crew began taking "summer breaks" from the show in July 1961, through July 1967. The closing credits of each prerecorded episode included an acknowledgment of

928-492: A chalkboard, and meet the panel up close for a casual inspection, and the panel was allowed one initial "wild" guess. The first contestant on What's My Line? was Pat Finch, a hat check girl at the Stork Club . Finch appeared again on the fifth anniversary show (with the "line" of "chorus girl" appearing in the musical Fanny ) and on the final broadcast in 1967 as a guest. Beginning in 1955 Daly simply greeted and seated

1044-400: A dozen international versions, radio versions, and a live stage version. Revivals in the U.S. were proposed several times, but all of them failed to go past the planning stages. New episodes have not been created for American television since December 12, 1974. In 2013, TV Guide ranked What's My Line? ninth on its list of the 60 greatest game shows ever and Time ranked it as one of

1160-433: A flop!" Daly later explained, after the show had finished its run on CBS, the maximum payout of $ 50 was to ensure the game was played only for enjoyment, and that there could never be even the appearance of impropriety. Later in the series, Daly would throw all the cards over with increasing frequency and arbitrariness (frequently to give a particularly interesting or worthy panelist the maximum available prize money), evidence

1276-415: A fourth guest panelist. After Kilgallen's death in 1965, she was similarly not replaced with a permanent panelist, and for the show's final two years, the panel consisted of Cerf, Francis and two guests. At various times, a regular panelist might take a vacation or be absent from an episode due to outside commitments. On these occasions, a guest panelist would take their spot. The most frequent guest panelist

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1392-429: A group of students about the quality of their education. With increasing public familiarity with the term, several radio and television programs have been named "vox pop" in allusion to this practice. The Latin phrase Vox populi, vox dei ( / ˌ v ɒ k s ˈ p ɒ p juː l i ˌ v ɒ k s ˈ d eɪ i / ), 'The voice of the people [is] the voice of the gods', is an old proverb . An early reference to

1508-459: A human hood ornament , jumping into vats of oatmeal and cottage cheese , and being slathered with dog food before allowing dogs backstage to feast on the food. During the run of this series, Allen also introduced Albert Brooks and Steve Martin to national audiences for the first time; Allen's talent coordinator for the Filmways show was Bill Saluga , who himself became a TV personality in

1624-405: A live broadcast but during the last eight years many episodes were videotaped weeks or months in advance of their telecasts. The show's announcer acknowledged this fact during the closing credits of every "prerecorded" episode. In addition to the television version, What's My Line? was also broadcast on network radio for a short time. From May 20 to August 27, 1952, an NBC Radio Network version

1740-544: A local New York show. Allen told his nationwide audience that first evening: "This is Tonight , and I can't think of too much to tell you about it except I want to give you the bad news first: This program is going to go on forever ... You think you're tired now. Wait until you see one o'clock roll around!" It was as host of The Tonight Show that Allen pioneered the " man on the street " comedic interviews and audience-participation comedy breaks that went on to become staples of late-night TV. In June 1956, NBC offered Allen

1856-488: A long time in the archive of producers Mark Goodson and Bill Todman , but some of the episodes were lost in 1975. After the Sunday night series's cancellation by CBS in 1967, it returned in a syndication package for local television stations that committed to airing it five days a week. This version originally was hosted by Wally Bruner and later by Larry Blyden . It was seen by viewers from 1968 to 1975. There have been

1972-499: A new prime-time, Sunday night variety hour, The Steve Allen Show . NBC's goal was to dethrone CBS's top-rated The Ed Sullivan Show . The show included a typical run of star performers, including early television appearances by rock and roll pioneers Elvis Presley , Jerry Lee Lewis , and Fats Domino . Many popular television and film personalities were guest stars, including Bob Hope , Kim Novak , Errol Flynn , Abbott and Costello , Esther Williams , Jerry Lewis , Martha Raye ,

2088-450: A panelist sometimes jokingly called him the son of panelist Fred Allen , but the two men were unrelated. He also revived and popularized the question "Is it bigger than a breadbox?" while trying to guess the products associated with What's My Line? contestants. He then created a late-night New York talk/variety television program that debuted in July 1953 on local station WNBT-TV (now WNBC-TV ). The following year, on September 27, 1954,

2204-421: A potentially confusing question, but he had a penchant for amusingly wordy, long-winded replies that often left panelists more confused than before, which Danny Kaye once parodied as a panelist. On more than one occasion, Daly "led the panel down the garden path" – a favorite phrase used when an answer had proven misleading to the panelists. From 1950 to 1966, the game show was broadcast in black and white , as

2320-418: A rating company interviewer, asking Carson if the television was on, and what program he was watching. Carson did not immediately realize the caller was Allen. A rarity is an exchange between Allen and Carson about Carson's guests, permitting him to plug his own show on a competing network. One notable program, which Westinghouse refused to distribute, featured Lenny Bruce during the time the comic repeatedly

2436-417: A regular panelist in 1951, and comedian Steve Allen replaced Block in 1953. Allen left in 1954 to launch The Tonight Show , and he was replaced by comedian Fred Allen (no relation), who remained on the panel until his death in 1956. Fred Allen was not replaced on a permanent basis, and for the majority of the show's network run, between 1956 and 1965, the panel consisted of Kilgallen, Cerf, Francis and

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2552-426: A round, Daly would invite the contestant to "come in and sign in, please," which, by 1960, had evolved to the more familiar "enter and sign in, please." The contestant entered by writing his or her name on a small sign-in board. (For the first few telecasts, the contestants signed their names on an artist's sketch pad; but when the brightness of the studio lights made it difficult for the signatures to be seen clearly by

2668-604: A similar show for Disney, Steve Allen's Comedy Room , this time with professional comedians talking about comedy styles. From 1986 through 1988, for NBC Radio , Allen hosted a daily, national three-hour comedy show that featured sketches and America's better-known comedians as regular guests. His co-host was radio personality Mark Simone, and they were joined frequently by comedy writers Larry Gelbart , of M*A*S*H writing fame; Herb Sargent , perhaps, later on, best known for his writing work on "Saturday Night Live," and Bob Einstein, brother of Albert Brooks and creator and portrayer of

2784-498: A single 1971 episode, and then became a semi-occasional guest host (15 episodes) from 1973 to 1977. After another long layoff, he guest-hosted two episodes in 1982, the last time he would host The Tonight Show . A syndicated version of I've Got A Secret hosted by Allen and featuring panelists Pat Carroll and Richard Dawson was taped in Hollywood and aired during 1972–1973 season. In 1977, he produced Steve Allen's Laugh-Back ,

2900-526: A small fraction of them were ever recorded. In one famous stunt, he made a bet with singer-songwriter Frankie Laine that he could write 50 songs a day for a week. Composing on public display in the window of Wallach's Music City, a Hollywood music store, Allen met the quota and won $ 1,000 from Laine. One of the songs, "Let's Go to Church (Next Sunday Morning)" became a chart hit for the duo of Jimmy Wakely and Margaret Whiting , hitting #13 pop and #2 country in 1950. Allen began his recording career in 1951 with

3016-486: A studio band with the top Los Angeles musicians to include Conte Candoli , Pete Candoli , Carl Fontana , Med Flory , Plas Johnson , Alan Broadbent , and drummer Frankie Capp . 27-year-old Bill Maher was the announcer and "sidekick." The show featured musicians and entertainers including Melba Moore , Joe Williams , Paul Williams , Burt Bacharach , Anthony Newley , Rosemary Clooney , Lou Rawls , Dizzy Gillespie , Sarah Vaughan , and Henry Mancini . Allen spun off

3132-489: A syndicated series combining vintage Allen film clips with new talk-show material reuniting his 1950s television gang. It elicited a kind of mail none of us connected with its production had ever seen. What appealed to the thousands who wrote, I believe, was that they were actually given the opportunity to hear ideas on television, a medium which otherwise presents only people, things, and actions. -- Steve Allen From 1977 until 1981, Allen wrote, produced and hosted

3248-416: A television announcer for professional wrestling . Knowing nothing about wrestling, he watched some shows to gain insight and discovered that the announcers did not have well-defined names for the wrestling holds : when he got the job, he created names for many of the holds, some of which still are in use. After the first match got underway, Allen began ad-libbing in a comedic style that had audiences outside

3364-536: A time. Mystery guests usually came from the entertainment world, either stage, screen, television or sports. When mystery guests came from other walks of life or were non-famous individuals whom the panel but not the studio audience might know, they were usually played as standard rounds. However, the panel might be blindfolded, or the contestant might sign in simply as "X," depending on whether they would be known by name or sight. Mystery guests would usually attempt to conceal their identities with disguised voices, much to

3480-866: A week (Monday and Tuesday nights were taken up by guest hosts for most of the summer of 1956; then by Ernie Kovacs through January) until early 1957 when he left the show to devote his attention to the Sunday night program. It was his (and NBC's) hope that The Steve Allen Show could defeat Ed Sullivan in the ratings. Nevertheless, Maverick often bested both in audience size. In September 1959, Allen relocated to Los Angeles and left Sunday night television (the 1959–'60 season originated from NBC Color City in Burbank as The Steve Allen Plymouth Show , on Monday nights). Back in Los Angeles, he continued to write songs, hosted other variety shows, and wrote books and articles about comedy. After being canceled by NBC in 1960,

3596-441: Is known for its attention to manners and class. In its early years, business suits and street dresses were worn by the host and panelists, but by 1953, the men normally wore black suits with bow tie (a few guests in fact wore black tie ) while female panelists donned formal gown and often gloves . Exceptions to this dress code were on the broadcasts immediately following the deaths of Fred Allen and Dorothy Kilgallen, in which

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3712-475: The Ed Sullivan Theater , 1697 Broadway at 53rd St., NY). CBS announced in early 1967 that a number of game shows, including What's My Line? , were to be canceled at the end of the season. Bennett Cerf wrote that the network had decided that game shows were no longer suitable for prime time, and that the news was broken by The New York Times on February 14 before anyone involved with the show

3828-466: The FCC forced networks to cede one half-hour to their affiliates. The Prime Time Access Rule was intended to permit local stations to produce news and public affairs programming, but instead many of them turned to programs like WML, as practically all stations outside the largest markets found it unprofitable to produce their own shows locally. The first three seasons (1968–1971) originated from Studio 50,

3944-567: The Golden Globe Awards for Best TV Show in 1962. More than 700 episodes exist as kinescope recordings, filmed in 16mm, which was the only way moving pictures and sound from spontaneous, unscripted television shows could be preserved on a long-term basis prior to the emergence and subsequent widespread use of videotape . Many early episodes were lost because of economic decisions made by CBS executives between 1950 and 1952. Every episode from July 1952 to September 1967 existed for

4060-717: The Hollywood Walk of Fame and a Hollywood theater named in his honor. Allen was born in New York City, the only child of Billy Allen ( né Carroll Abler ) and Belle Montrose (born Isabelle Donohue ), a husband-and-wife vaudeville comedy team. His father died when he was an infant. Allen was raised on the South Side of Chicago largely by his mother's Irish Catholic family. Milton Berle called Allen's mother "the funniest woman in vaudeville ." Allen ran away from home at 16 and described in interviews

4176-511: The Mutual Broadcasting System in 1946, talking the station into airing his five-nights-a-week comedy show Smile Time , co-starring Wendell Noble. After Allen moved to CBS Radio's KNX in Los Angeles, his music-and-talk half-hour format gradually changed to include more talk in an hour-long late-night format, boosting his popularity and creating standing-room-only studio audiences. During a show's segment, Allen went into

4292-458: The UNIVAC . Near the end of its run, sponsors would be introduced in the opening title and given commercials during the show, but would not be displayed on the set. Frequent sponsors in the 1960s were Kellogg's cereals, Allstate Insurance , and Geritol . Unknown to the public, mystery guests were paid $ 500 (equal to $ 6,332 in 2023 ) as an appearance fee, whether they won or lost the game. This

4408-619: The "Hiyo!" chant later popularized by Ed McMahon ). While the show was not an overwhelming success in its day, David Letterman , Steve Martin , Harry Shearer , Robin Williams , and a number of other prominent comedians have cited Allen's "Westinghouse show," which they watched as teenagers, as being highly influential on their own comedic visions. Allen later produced a second half-hour show for Westinghouse, titled Jazz Scene USA , which featured West Coast jazz musicians such as Rosolino, Stan Kenton , and Teddy Edwards . The short-lived show

4524-415: The "best talk show on television", created by the person who "invented the television talk show", and added: The amazing thing about this show is that it actually comes off as a talk show, with a talk show's rhythm and pace. A truly conversational script is a tough trick to turn; Allen turns it with apparent ease. Allen was a "philosophy fanatic" and avid reader of classic literature and history. He wrote

4640-485: The 100 "All-Time" TV shows ever. Produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS , the show was initially called Occupation Unknown before deciding on the name What's My Line? The original series, which was usually broadcast live, debuted on Thursday, February 2, 1950, at 8:00 p.m. ET. After airing alternate Wednesdays, then alternate Thursdays, finally on October 1, 1950, it had settled into its weekly Sunday 10:30 p.m. ET slot where it would remain until

4756-665: The 1964 Grammy Award for Best Original Jazz Composition for "Gravy Waltz," for which he wrote the lyrics. He also wrote more than 50 books, including novels, children's books, and books of opinions, including his final book, Vulgarians at the Gate: Trash TV and Raunch Radio (2001). In 1996, Allen was presented with the Martin Gardner Lifetime Achievement Award from the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSICOP). He has two stars on

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4872-433: The 1970s as "Raymond J. Johnson, Jr." ("You can call me Ray! Or you can call me Jay!"). The Filmways show was offered to local stations in both 60-minute and 90-minute versions; during each taping, after an hour had passed, Allen simply said goodbye to part of his audience and continued the show for those stations using the longer version. This Filmways show ran through 1971. Allen returned to guest host The Tonight Show for

4988-452: The CBS run, was heard live from CBS Studio Building 22 (49 E. 52nd St., NY). Episode #225 (September 19, 1954) was a color edition of the show, broadcast live from CBS Studio 72 (on Manhattan's Upper West Side , Broadway at 81st St., NY). This predated the show's eventual move to color by 12 years. Episode #323 (August 12, 1956), in conjunction with the 1956 Democratic National Convention ,

5104-470: The Street" interviews about some topical subject. Poston would appear as a dullard who could not remember his own name. Nye's character was an effete advertising executive named Gordon Hathaway, known for greeting the host with "Hi ho, Steverino!" Dana played amiable Latino "Jose Jimenez." Knotts was an exceedingly jittery man who, when asked if he was nervous, invariably replied with an alarmed "No!". Harrington

5220-780: The Three Stooges , and a host of others. The show's regulars were Tom Poston , Louis Nye , Bill Dana , Don Knotts , Pat Harrington, Jr. , Dayton Allen , and Gabriel Dell . All except film veteran Dell, who had appeared in the Bowery Boys movie series (also known as the Dead End Kids and the East Side Kids ), were relatively obscure performers prior to their stints with Allen, and all went on to stardom. The comedians in Allen's gang often were seen in his "Man in

5336-436: The abbreviated vox pop . In U.S. broadcast journalism , it is often referred to as a man on the street interview or MOTS . The results of such an interview are unpredictable at best, and therefore vox pop material is usually edited down very tightly. This presents difficulties of balance , in that the selection used ought to be, from the point of view of journalistic standards , a fair cross-section of opinions. Although

5452-496: The album Steve Allen At The Piano for Columbia Records . He then signed with Decca Records , recording for their subsidiaries Brunswick Records and then Coral Records . Allen would release a mixture of novelty singles, jazz recordings and straight pop numbers for Decca throughout the 1950s, before switching to Dot Records in the 1960s. Allen's best-known song, " This Could Be the Start of Something ", dates from 1954. Though it

5568-427: The amusement of the studio audience. According to Cerf, the panel could often determine the identities of the mystery guests early, as they knew which celebrities were in town, or which major movies or plays were about to open. On those occasions, to provide the audience an opportunity to see the guest play the game, the panelists and host would typically allow questioning to pass around at least once before coming up with

5684-519: The announcer following the show's introduction, and each panelist would introduce the next in turn, with the last introducing Daly. During his tenure, Hal Block sat in the final seat and began the practice of introducing Daly with a pun. Upon his departure, Bennett Cerf took over this position. Cerf's introductions of Daly were generally straightforward in his earliest years on the show, but as time went by Cerf expanded these introductions, often telling long jokes which he tied to Daly in some way. To begin

5800-470: The arena laughing. An example: Leone gives Smith a full nelson now, slipping it up from either a half-nelson or an Ozzie Nelson . Now the boys go into a double pretzel bend with variations on a theme by Veloz and Yolanda . After CBS radio gave Allen a weekly prime time show, CBS television believed he could be groomed for national television stardom and gave him his first network show. The Steve Allen Show premiered at 11 a.m. on Christmas Day, 1950, and

5916-445: The audience with a microphone to ad lib on the air for the first time. This became a commonplace part of his studio performances for many years. His program attracted a huge local following; as the host of a 1950 summer replacement show for the popular comedy Our Miss Brooks , he found himself in front of a national audience for the first time. Allen's first television experience came in 1949, when he answered an advertisement for

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6032-528: The award-winning show Meeting of Minds , which aired on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The series brought together actors portraying historical figures such as Socrates , Marie Antoinette , Thomas Paine , Sir Thomas More , Attila the Hun , Karl Marx , Emily Dickinson , Charles Darwin , Oliver Cromwell , Daniel O'Connell , Galileo , and many others, as if transported from

6148-439: The comedy ensemble show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In . In 1968 Steve Allen returned to syndicated variety/talk with a new show for Filmways , produced and co-written by Jeff Harris and Bernie Kukoff. The show was a free-wheeling, light-entertainment blend of comedy sketches, musical specialties, and conversation. It sometimes featured the same wacky stunts that would influence David Letterman in later years, including becoming

6264-434: The contestant worked for a for-profit corporation or non-profit organization or whether a product was alive, worn, or ingested. To increase the probability of affirmative answers, panelists would often phrase questions in the negative starting with "Is it something other than..." or "Can I rule out..." The show popularized the phrase, "Is it bigger than a breadbox ?" Steve Allen first posed this on January 18, 1953, and it

6380-415: The contestant, who later met the panel at the end of the game. Additionally, starting April 17, 1955, the panel stopped taking initial guesses. The contestant's line was then revealed to the studio and home audiences, and Daly would tell the panel whether the contestant was salaried or self-employed , and from 1960 on, whether they dealt in a product or a service . A panelist chosen by Daly would begin

6496-485: The contestants were from the general public, but there was one weekly celebrity "mystery guest" for whom the panelists were blindfolded. It is on the list of longest-running U.S. primetime network television game-shows . Originally moderated by John Charles Daly and most frequently with regular panelists Dorothy Kilgallen , Arlene Francis , and Bennett Cerf , What's My Line? won three Emmy Awards for "Best Quiz or Audience Participation Show" in 1952, 1953, and 1958 and

6612-1127: The correct guess. As Cerf admitted in the episode broadcast on November 27, 1966, his wife, Phyllis, was frequently told the name of the mystery guest beforehand. Sometimes, two mystery guest rounds were played in an episode, with the additional round usually as the first round of the episode. Most notably, the mystery guests ran the gamut of show business's most legendary icons, including Jack Benny , John Wayne , Gary Cooper , Elizabeth Taylor , Ella Fitzgerald , Ava Gardner , Joan Crawford , James Cagney , Julie Andrews , Jack Lemmon , Jackie Gleason , Steve McQueen , Alfred Hitchcock , Doris Day , James Garner , Ronald Reagan , Jane Russell , Rosalind Russell , Fred Astaire , George Raft , Edward G. Robinson , Gene Autry , Lena Horne , Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward , Andy Griffith , Harry Belafonte , Ginger Rogers , Roy Rogers , Lucille Ball , Desi Arnaz , Bob Hope , Frank Sinatra , Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis , Sammy Davis Jr. , Peter Lawford , Sean Connery , James Stewart , Henry Fonda , Salvador Dalí , Aretha Franklin , and many more. What's My Line?

6728-554: The distributor chose not to broadcast it nationally, feeling it would not draw a large enough audience. Even PBS backed off on showing it, and many in the television industry felt the series was "too thoughtful" for the American public. Allen then produced the first shows at his own expense, which resulted in attracting major backers. It eventually aired nationally, beginning in 1977. The series, consisting of six hour-long episodes per season, became enormously popular. Allen received

6844-531: The early 12th century, William of Malmesbury refers to the saying as a "proverb". Of those who promoted the phrase and the idea, Archbishop of Canterbury Walter Reynolds brought charges against King Edward II in 1327 in a sermon " Vox populi, vox Dei ". John Locke in his Of the Conduct of the Understanding (1706) criticises the phrase, writing "I don’t remember God delivering his oracles by

6960-709: The ease with which he descended into begging. Allen's first radio job was on station KOY , in Phoenix, Arizona , after he left Arizona State Teachers College (now Arizona State University ), in Tempe , while a sophomore. He enlisted in the United States Army during World War II and was trained as an infantryman . He served his enlistment period at Camp Roberts, California . Afterward, he returned to Phoenix, before moving back to California. Allen became an announcer for radio KFAC in Los Angeles, then moved to

7076-489: The editor from New York City newspapers. Allen's show also had one of the longest unscripted "crack-ups" on live television when Allen began laughing hysterically during "Big Bill Allen's Sports Roundup". Allen, known for his infectious high-pitched cackling laugh, laughed uncontrollably for over a minute with the audience laughing along, because, as he later explained, he caught sight of his unkempt hair on an off-camera monitor. He kept brushing his hair and changing hats to hide

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7192-507: The end of its network run on September 3, 1967. Starting in July 1959, and continuing until July 1967, the show would occasionally record episodes onto quadruplex videotape for playback at a future date. In July 1959, this was state-of-the-art technology. At that time, the immediate concern of Mark Goodson and Bill Todman was that John Daly, anchor of the ABC network's nightly newscasts, would be allowed to visit Moscow to cover, in that capacity,

7308-403: The end of the series, the panelists were being paid "scandalous amounts of money." The first four episodes (#001 – #004; February – March 16, 1950) were broadcast live from a converted loft at the former CBS Studio 41 Grand Central Studios at Grand Central Terminal (15 Vanderbilt Ave., NY). Beginning with the first Wednesday episode (#005; April 12, 1950, and continuing until around 1951),

7424-420: The expression is in a letter from Alcuin of York to Charlemagne in 798  CE . The full quotation from Alcuin reads: Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, Vox populi, vox Dei, quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit. And those people should not be listened to who keep saying the voice of the people is the voice of God, since the riotousness of the crowd is always very close to madness. Writing in

7540-509: The faux stuntman character Super Dave Osborne. On October 30, 1988, Allen played a radio newscaster in a remake of the famous The War of the Worlds broadcast of fifty years earlier. The 1988 version was produced by WGBH in Boston and picked up by 150 National Public Radio stations. According to his own estimate, Allen was a prolific composer who wrote more than 8,500 songs, although only

7656-401: The film Picnic in 1955; the song was a No. 13 U.S. hit in a vocal version for The McGuire Sisters in 1956. The song, however, is chiefly remembered as an instrumental, often performed in a medley with " Moonglow ," a popular song from 1933. Two instrumental versions charted in the U.S. top 5 in 1956, including a No. 1 hit version by Morris Stoloff . Because he did not write the music, Allen

7772-449: The game. If their question elicited a yes answer, they continued questioning. When a question was answered no, questioning passed to the next panelist and $ 5 was added to the prize. The amount of the prize was tallied by Daly who flipped up to ten cards on his desk. A contestant won the top prize of $ 50 by giving ten no answers, or if time ran out, with Daly flipping all the cards. As Daly occasionally noted, "Ten flips and they (the panel) are

7888-418: The general people will be known. Generally, the vox pop question will be asked of different persons in different parts of streets or public places. But as an exception, in any specific topic or situation which is not concerned to general people, the question can be asked only in a specific group to know what the perception/reaction is of that group to the specific topic or issue; e.g., a question can be asked to

8004-437: The green light: Allen would return to his roots as a late-night star, in a weeknight revival of The Steve Allen Show . Silverman scheduled the hourlong show for five nights a week at 12:30 a.m. Eastern time, immediately following The Tonight Show. Allen was excited about the opportunity, only to be disappointed: Johnny Carson was opposed to the plan and voiced his objections to Silverman. Silverman's own schedule of new NBC shows

8120-647: The home of the final year of the original series, but with a new, modern-design set. In 1971, production of What's My Line? moved from the Broadway studio to Studio 6-A at NBC in Rockefeller Center , and the series remained there for the rest of its run, with a set redesign in 1974 for the final season. As they had with the original series, Goodson-Todman went to ABC News to seek a host, whose title had ceased to be that of "moderator," and hired Wally Bruner to take over for John Charles Daly. Bruner left

8236-421: The identity of the celebrity. Panelists were required to probe by asking only yes–no questions. A typical episode featured two standard rounds (sometimes a third, and very rarely a rushed fourth) plus one mystery guest round. On the occasions on which there were two mystery guests, the first would usually appear as the first contestant. For the first few seasons, contestants would "sign in" by writing their name on

8352-481: The initial program of February 2, 1950, the panel comprised former New Jersey governor Harold Hoffman , columnist Dorothy Kilgallen , poet Louis Untermeyer , and psychiatrist Richard Hoffmann . The panel varied somewhat in the following weeks, but after the first few broadcasts, during the show's earliest period the panel generally consisted of Kilgallen, actress Arlene Francis , Untermeyer and comedy writer Hal Block . Publisher Bennett Cerf replaced Untermeyer as

8468-415: The male cast members wore straight neckties and the women wore simpler dresses. The game followed a line of formality and adherence to rules. Although using first names at other points, Daly usually addressed using surnames when passing the questioning to a particular panelist. He would also amiably chide the panel if they began a conference without first asking him. However, even with such formality, Daly

8584-476: The messy hair, and the more he tried to correct his appearance the messier and funnier it got. Allen helped the then-new Polaroid camera become popular by demonstrating its instant-picture capabilities during live commercials and amassed a huge financial windfall for his work because he had opted to be paid for it in Polaroid Corporation stock. Allen remained host of "Tonight" for three nights

8700-435: The multitude, or nature delivering truths by the herd!". [REDACTED] Quotations related to Vox populi at Wikiquote Steve Allen Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was an American television and radio personality, comedian, musician, composer, writer, and actor. In 1954, he achieved national fame as the co-creator and first host of The Tonight Show , which

8816-413: The original What's My Line? had ended, Goodson-Todman struck a deal with CBS's syndication arm, which in time became the present-day Viacom (now CBS Media Ventures ), to syndicate a new weekday videotaped edition, beginning one year after the network version's cancellation. This version became a staple of local stations' afternoon and early evening schedules, especially from the 1971–72 season onward, when

8932-480: The past, all in a round table discussion and sometimes arguments. The dialogue covered issues such as racism, women's rights, crime and punishment, slavery, and religious tolerance. Jayne Meadows-Allen played most of the female characters, wisely eschewing Emily Dickinson, played by Katherine Helmond , and the Empress Tz'u-hsi, played by Beulah Quo . Associated Press television columnist Peter Boyer called it

9048-404: The prerecorded status by the offscreen announcer. The host, then called the moderator, was veteran radio and television newsman John Charles Daly . Clifton Fadiman , Eamonn Andrews , and Random House co-founding publisher and panelist Bennett Cerf substituted on the four occasions when Daly was unavailable. The show featured a panel of four celebrities who questioned the contestants. On

9164-514: The prize was secondary to game play. Panelists had the option of passing to the next panelist—or even disqualifying themselves entirely if they somehow knew the contestant's occupation or identity (especially in the case of a mystery challenger) before the round. They could also request a conference, in which they had a short time for open discussion of ideas about occupations or lines of questioning. Panelists adopted some basic binary search strategies, beginning with broad questions, such as whether

9280-469: The program. This involved featuring the product in the show's opening, on the front of the panel's desk, above the sign-in board, and on Daly's scorecards. In his last years, Cerf explained to interviewer Robbin Hawkins that Montenier was ultimately ruined by his refusal to abandon or share sponsorship as the show entered new markets and became too expensive. After Montenier sold Stopette to Helene Curtis ,

9396-474: The scripts based on the actual writings and actions of the guests, and as host would lead the conversations to different subjects. He described the show as "drama disguised as a talk show." Most of the female roles (Marie Antoinette, Catherine the Great , Florence Nightingale , et al.) were portrayed by Allen's wife, the actress Jayne Meadows – over her objections. She resisted monopolizing these roles, but Allen

9512-406: The series at the conclusion of its fourth season in 1972, and Broadway actor Larry Blyden , who had already helmed several other gameshows and served as both a Line panelist and mystery guest in the past, stepped in at the beginning of the 1972–1973 season to host the remaining three seasons. The syndicated edition had two regular panelists for its entire run, with comedian Soupy Sales joining

9628-575: The series was sponsored by a variety of companies which were either regular or rotating. Sponsors were accorded the same exposure on the set as Stopette. One of the first rotating sponsors, which actually came before Montenier's sale of Stopette to Helene Curtis (who continued to sponsor the program after the purchase and still promoted Stopette in their advertising), was the Remington Rand Corporation, who used their time to promote their line of electric shaver and computers such as

9744-483: The show returned in the fall of 1961—on ABC , as The New Steve Allen Show . Nye, Poston, Harrington, Dell, and Dayton Allen returned. New cast members were Joey Forman , Buck Henry , the Smothers Brothers , Tim Conway , and Allen's wife Jayne Meadows. The new version was canceled after fourteen episodes. From 1962 to 1964, Allen recreated The Tonight Show on a new show, The Steve Allen Show , which

9860-435: The show used CBS Studio 52 (254 W. 54th St., NY; the future Studio 54 ). The last episode aired in black & white was taped on July 17, 1966, and the last episode to be produced there in black & white aired live on July 24. For the final season, from episode #830 to episode #876 (September 11, 1966 – September 3, 1967), in conjunction with the program's permanent move to color, the show used CBS Studio 50 (later renamed

9976-513: The show was broadcast from the now demolished CBS Studio 51 ( Maxine Elliott's Theatre , aka Maxine Elliott Theatre, 109 W. 39th St., NY). At least by episode #034 (January 21, 1951), the show moved to CBS Studio 59 (Mansfield Theatre, later renamed the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in 1960, 256 W. 47th St., NY), and stayed until Episode #516, June 5, 1960. Meanwhile, the concurrent 1952–1953 Radio edition, at least during

10092-549: The show went on the full NBC network as The Tonight Show , with fellow radio personality Gene Rayburn (who later went on to host hit game shows such as Match Game , 1962–1982) as the original announcer. The show ran from 11:15 p.m. to 1 a.m. on the East Coast. While Today developer Sylvester "Pat" Weaver often is credited as the Tonight creator, Allen often pointed out that he had created it earlier as

10208-471: The show wrote, "One of the most hilarious one-man comedy sequences projected over the TV cameras in many a day ... The guy's a natural for the big time." Leaving CBS, Allen briefly hosted a talent-competition program on ABC called Talent Patrol in the first months of 1953. At the same time, he became a regular on the popular panel television game show What's My Line? from January 1953, substituting for

10324-411: The suspended Hal Block , and replacing Block by March. He continued on the show until 1954, and returned frequently as a panelist until the series ended in 1967. He once appeared as a regular contestant on June 19, 1966, but the panel failed to guess his line, which was selling motorcycles; Allen at the time was co-owner of a Los Angeles dealership selling Honda motorcycles. Those introducing him as

10440-470: The term "larger than Steve Allen's breadbox" in reference to any item under discussion. He also presented Southern California eccentrics, including health food advocate Gypsy Boots , quirky physics professor Dr. Julius Sumner Miller , wacko comic Professor Irwin Corey , and an early musical performance by Frank Zappa . During one episode, Allen placed a telephone call to the home of Johnny Carson, posing as

10556-428: The two can be quite often confused, a vox pop is not a form of a survey. Each person is asked the same question; the aim is to get a variety of answers and opinions on any given subject. Journalists are usually instructed to approach a wide range of people to get varied answers from different points of view. The interviewees should be of various ages, sexes, classes and communities so that the diverse views and reactions of

10672-469: The viewers, the white sketchpad was replaced by a black chalkboard.) Daly would then usually ask where the guest lived and, with a woman, if she should be addressed as "Miss" or "Mrs." Early in the show's run, the panel was allowed to inspect contestants, studying their hands, or label on their suit or asking them to make a muscle. While ostensibly a game show, if there was time, it also was an opportunity to conduct interviews. Line's sister show, I've Got

10788-576: Was Arlene Francis's husband Martin Gabel , who appeared 112 times over the years. Other frequent guest panelists include Tony Randall , Robert Q. Lewis and Phyllis Newman . Dick Cavett , in an early television appearance in Fred Allen 's vacated chair in 1966, noted that the mystery guest was probably wondering who Cavett was. Regular announcers included Lee Vines , who served from 1950 to 1955; Hal Simms , from 1955 to 1961; Ralph Paul, whose tenure

10904-410: Was a regular panel member on CBS's What's My Line? and, from 1977 until 1981, he wrote, produced, and hosted the award-winning public broadcasting show Meeting of Minds , a series of historical dramas presented in a talk format. Allen was a pianist and a prolific composer. By his own estimate, he wrote more than 8,500 songs, some of which were recorded by numerous leading singers. Allen won

11020-517: Was a special Chicago episode broadcast from the studios of CBS owned-and-operated WBBM-TV (630 N. McClurg Ct., Chicago, IL). Episode #397 (January 12, 1958) was a special Hollywood episode broadcast from CBS Television City (7800 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA). The moderator and panel's desks were not brought over, as they had been for the Chicago special. Beginning with episode #517 through episode #829 (June 12, 1960 – September 4, 1966),

11136-623: Was being arrested on obscenity charges. Footage from this program was first telecast in 1998 in a Bruce documentary aired on HBO . Regis Philbin briefly took over hosting the Westinghouse show in 1964. The show also featured many jazz songs played by Allen and members of the show's band, the Donn Trenner Orchestra, which included such virtuoso musicians as guitarist Herb Ellis and flamboyantly comedic hipster trombonist Frank Rosolino (whom Allen credited with originating

11252-427: Was broadcast live on all the major networks (CBS, ABC, NBC, and DuMont) on the afternoon of Sunday, September 27, 1953. The program began with Daly and panel entering from off-stage as they were introduced. Prior to 1954, both panelists and host began the program in their seats, but this was changed, responding to letters asking what panelists looked like away from their seats. The first panelist would be introduced by

11368-405: Was confined to 1961; and Johnny Olson , perhaps the best known of Goodson-Todman's television announcers, whose tenure began in 1961 and ran until the show's cancellation in 1967. What's My Line? was a guessing game in which the four panelists attempted to determine the occupation (i.e., "line [of work]") of a guest. In the case of the famous mystery guest each week, the panel sought to determine

11484-404: Was failing (Allen's Comedy Hour ran for only five episodes and The Big Show for only eleven) and the network couldn't afford to alienate the highly successful Carson, so the new Steve Allen show was abandoned. From 1984 to 1986, Allen created and hosted Steve Allen's Music Room which aired on the newly formed Disney Channel . This was a talk show with jazz vibraphonist Terry Gibbs leading

11600-491: Was highlighted by clips from past telecasts, a visit by the show's first contestants, a challenger from the New York unemployment office, and the final mystery guest, who was John Daly himself. Daly had always been the emergency mystery guest in case the scheduled guest was unable to appear on the live broadcast, but this had never occurred. Mark Goodson, Bill Todman and (briefly) Johnny Olson appeared on-camera as well. Once

11716-441: Was hosted by Oscar Brown, Jr. In 1964 Allen returned to network television as moderator of the game show I've Got a Secret (replacing original host Garry Moore ). In the summer of 1967, he brought most of the regulars from over the years back with The Steve Allen Comedy Hour , featuring the television debuts of Rob Reiner , Richard Dreyfuss , and John Byner , and featuring Ruth Buzzi , who would become famous soon after on

11832-475: Was in addition to the maximum $ 50 (equal to $ 633 in 2023 ) game winnings, which guests sometimes donated to charity. Guest panelists were paid $ 750 (equal to $ 9,498 in 2023 ) as an appearance fee. The regular panelists were under contract and were paid "much more," according to Fates. Bennett Cerf explained that when he became a permanent member of the program, he was paid $ 300 (equal to $ 3,799 in 2023 ) per week, and he told Robbin Hawkins in their interview that by

11948-471: Was insistent. She recalled in 1994, "He came to me and he said, 'You're gonna play Cleopatra .' I said, 'I am not! Go away. Go away!' And he calmly said, 'It's a divorce if you don't play it.'" Allen first conceived the show in 1959 but took almost 20 years to make it become reality. He initially produced a version in 1971 that aired locally in Los Angeles and earned three Local Emmy Awards. But, although it received critical acclaim from Hollywood critics,

12064-420: Was later moved to a thirty-minute, early evening slot. The new show required him to relocate, with his family, from Los Angeles to New York. It ran until 1952, after which CBS tried several different formats to showcase Allen's talent. He achieved national attention in early January 1951, when he was pressed into last-minute service to guest host the hugely popular Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts when Godfrey

12180-544: Was marked by the same wild, unpredictable stunts, and comedy skits that often extended across the side street to an all-night food outlet known as the Hollywood Ranch Market, where Allen had a hidden camera spying on unsuspecting shoppers. On one show, he had an elephant race down the side street, much to the annoyance of the occupants of the neighboring houses. On this show, he originated the term "little black things" in reference to anything regarding food, and

12296-438: Was never a hit, the song was recorded by numerous artists, including Count Basie , Tony Bennett , Bobby Darin , Ella Fitzgerald , Mark Murphy Judy Garland , Aretha Franklin , Lionel Hampton , Claire Martin and Oscar Peterson . Allen used it as the theme song of The Tonight Show in 1956/57, and as the theme song to many of his later television projects. Allen wrote the lyrics for the standard " Theme from Picnic " from

12412-418: Was not above trading bon mots with the panelists during the game, and Cerf would often attempt to make a pun of his name. Occasionally Daly would amiably one-up Cerf if he felt the pun was of lesser quality. Cerf also played a myriad of games with Daly's full name, John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly, reciting it correctly only a handful of times over the course of the series. Often Daly would need to clarify

12528-474: Was not credited as a songwriter on the instrumental versions. What%27s My Line%3F What's My Line? is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States, between 1950 and 1967, on CBS , originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panelists to question contestants in order to determine their occupation. The majority of

12644-436: Was notified. The primary reason for the cancellation, along with the other panel shows CBS aired in prime time, was that the programs' low overall viewership—the key metric of success during Michael Dann 's time with the network—could no longer justify their presence even as the shows continued to turn a profit with their low production costs. The 876th and final CBS telecast of What's My Line? aired on September 3, 1967; it

12760-425: Was produced on Tuesday nights with the same cast as the TV version. After August 27, the program was then broadcast live on CBS Radio on Wednesday nights at 8:00 PM for 10 months, concluding July 1, 1953. The radio version is notable for the only appearances of Marlene Dietrich , Constance Bennett , and Marlon Brando . A Community Chest Special, completely separate from the regular production of episodes,

12876-400: Was syndicated by Westinghouse TV. The five-nights-a-week taped show was broadcast from an old vaudeville theater at 1228 North Vine Street in Hollywood that was renamed The Steve Allen Playhouse . The new Allen show could be programmed by local stations as an alternative to the networks' late-night shows, but many stations opted to broadcast the Allen show during the daytime hours. The show

12992-457: Was the Italian immigrant and former golf-pro Guido Panzini. Dayton Allen, who had gotten his start playing various characters on the children's television series "Howdy Doody," played wild-eyed zanies answering any given question with the question "Why not?" Dell usually played straight men in sketches (policemen, newsmen, dramatic actors, etc.), and occasionally played the character Boris Nadel,

13108-426: Was the first late-night television talk show . Though he got his start in radio, Allen is best known for his extensive network television career. He gained national attention as a guest host on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts . After he hosted The Tonight Show , he went on to host numerous game and variety shows, including his own The Steve Allen Show , I've Got a Secret , and The New Steve Allen Show . He

13224-402: Was then refined over subsequent episodes. Soon, other panelists were asking this question as well. On one occasion the guest was a man who made breadboxes. Allen correctly guessed the guest's occupation when Daly could not restrain his laughter in response to Kilgallen asking, "Is it bigger than a breadbox?" The ultimate or penultimate round of an episode involved blindfolding the panel for

13340-476: Was typical of most game shows at the time. In September 1966, all three networks began broadcasting their prime-time schedules entirely in color television , including What's My Line? The new color episodes were preserved only with black-and-white kinescopes, however, and even several of those from 1967 were lost. The color composition of the What's My Line? soundstage has been lost to posterity. The show began as

13456-405: Was unable to appear. He turned one of Godfrey's live Lipton tea and soup commercials upside down, preparing tea and instant soup on camera, then pouring both into Godfrey's iconic ukulele. With the audience (including Godfrey, watching from Miami) laughing uproariously and thoroughly entertained, Allen gained major plaudits both as a comedian and as a host. Variety magazine editors who had seen

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