What's My Line?

Initially called "Occupation Unknown", What's My Line? was one of the most popular and longest running game shows in entertainment history running on television from 1950 until 1967.  What's My Line? broadcast on radio for a short run from 1952 to 1953. 

The show's panelist would try to guess the contestant's occupation by only asking "yes or no" questions.  The contestant won by receiving 10 no's or as host John Charles Daly put it "Ten Flips for a Flop."

John Charles Daly (of CBS World News Today fame) hosted What's My Line? and the original panelists included Dorothy Kilgallen, Arlene Francis, and Bennett Cerf.  Over the long run of What's My Line? the panelist later included Louis Untermyer, Hal Block, Steve Allen, Fred Allen, Ernie Kovacs and Martin Gabel.  In one episode, Steve Allen popularized the phrase "Is it bigger than a breadbox?"

The last part of the show featured mystery guests who ranged from Walt Disney to Salvador Dali to Marlon Brando.  The panelists would put on blindfolds and attempt to guess the name of the mystery guest.  Often the mystery guest would disguise their voice in a comical way leading to much hilarity.  Other Mystery Guests include the biggest names in show business like Arnold Stang, Marlene Dietrich, Ethel Waters, John Wayne, Orson Welles, Walter Winchell, Ed Wynn, Jimmy Stewart, Dinah Shore, Frank Sinatra, Red Skelton, Kate Smith, Edward G. Robinson, Roy Rogers, Jack Paar, Louella Parsons, Vincent Price, Ozzie Nelson, Groucho Marx, Agnes Moorehead, Peter Lorre, Danny Kaye, Gene Kelly,  Burl Ives, Lena Horne, Hedda Hopper, Judy Garland, Benny Goodman, Errol Flynn, Bette Davis, Joe DiMaggio, Dane Clark, Judy Canova, Gary Cooper, Lucille Ball, Ethel Barrymore, Milton Berle, Abe Burrows, Fred Astaire,and even puppet Howdy Doody made an appearance.

What's My Line? radio show is very rare; this collection includes all known surviving episodes of this entertaining radio quiz show. See also: You Bet Your Life, Twenty Questions, and Guess Who. For more John Daly, see also Continental Celebrity Club. For more Dorothy Killgallen, see also: Breakfast with Dorothy & Dick, Dorothy Killgallen's Diary, People You'd Like to Know, Bright Horizon, and What's My Line