More What's My Line?
For the “Mystery Guest” segment on What’s My Line?” the contestant is Ethel Merman. This comes from the later color-version of the show with Larry Blyden as the host. The rules are a little different for the Mystery Guest, so it’s not as fun – the panelists only have a couple minutes to make their guesses, which rushes things. (On the original series, they could take around six minutes or so at times.) And they really do a poor job here, inexplicably not asking the most basic question after learning that she sings – “Would we know you from night clubs? Or the stage? Or movies?” But the fun here is Merman putting on an unexpectedly fun, disguised voice and being bemused as their guesses keep getting “No’s” from her. By the way, worth noting that panelist Alan Alda starred in a Broadway musical with host Blyden, doing The Apple Tree together, a show written by Harnick & Bock, who did Fiddler on the Roof.
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