What's My Line? appeared on TV from 1950 to 1967. For those unfamiliar with the show, the format was brilliant: Four panelists tried to guess the identity of a mystery guest by taking turns asking questions, with the guest answering merely "yes" or "no." The high point was the celebrity-guest segment, during which panelists wore blindfolds and the superstar answered in a disguised voice. If the panelists wound up stumped when time or the question allotment ended, the VIP won. No cash prize, just a little crow to eat. Most of the time, however, the erudite panelists figured out who the big shot was—helped in part by their vast knowledge of show business. The intensity of the live audience's applause when the star guest emerged to sign the chalkboard helped quite a bit, too. (That's Julie London's hip signature above.)
Most of the time, guests were leading movie stars, comedians and entertainers. But occasionally, the show would feature jazz greats and pop singers. Not sure what sort of present to get so many of you for the holidays, I simply decided to cull 11 of these jazz-pop appearances below. Enjoy—and Merry Christmas!
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Marc Myers writes frequently on music and the arts for the Wall Street Journal. He is author of "Why Jazz Happened" (University of California Press). In 2012, JazzWax was named the Jazz Journalists Association's "Blog of the Year."
Oh for those simpler days of TV entertainment....! I could watch this all day....
Posted by: Greg Lee | December 24, 2009 at 02:00 PM
What a pleasure to see Judy Holliday. Her album, done with boyfriend Gerry Mulligan, is an unexpectedly good one.
Thank you again for the consistently best blog of its kind, and happy holidays to you and yours.
Posted by: Rab Hines | December 24, 2009 at 07:26 PM
Why include the decidedly unswinging Barbra Streisand in this stellar group?
Posted by: John Salmon | December 27, 2009 at 03:02 PM
I agree. Barbara doesn't belong in this group of musicians. Popularity, yes. Musicianship, no way! :-)
Posted by: Jim Martinez | February 09, 2010 at 01:51 PM