[Magdalen] What's My Line? On Facebook and YouTube

[Jim Guthrie]

From: Grace Cangialosi

>Am I remembering correctly that Dorothy Kilgallen was the other woman on the 
>panel?

Yes indeed -- and both Kilgallen and Arlene Francis had daily radio shows on WOR 
New York. Francis also did spots on Weekend Monitor" on NBC Radio

Kilgallen was a newspaper columnist -:The Voice of Broadway"  for the Hearst 
papers (NY Journal then Journal-American then the short-lived 
World-Journal-Tribune).and syndicated across the country to 146 papers. It 
should be noted that her fellow panelists on What's My Line didn’t like her very 
much -- conservative politics (She WAS a "Hearst Girl" after all <g> for one 
thing, but also because the panelists shared a dressing room and she'd often 
repeat the gossip and remarks  made there in her column -- some of which were 
embarrassing to people like Cerf and Francis.

Kilgallen was married to Richard Kolmar, a Broadway Actor and later Producer, 
nightclub owner  and Radio Actor -- most remembered nowadays as "Boston 
Blackie"in the popular radio show of the late 1940s and early 50s.

"Breakfast with Dorothy and Dick (8:15-9:00 AM 1945-1963) from their breakfast 
nook in their East Side Apartment was an interesting show from a marketing point 
of view. They'd see all the new shows and plays and nightclub acts, new fashions 
and then talk about them the next morning. And along with other such chatter, 
interspersed lots of commercial time from Manhattan Retailers and Restaurants. 
Until the 1960s there really weren;t many stores that had established themselves 
outside Manhattan.

And the commuter railroads all had "ladies day" fares and promotions to 
encourage "going to the city" to  shop.

The strategy was that Dorothy and Dick would tell women what was going on -- and 
then they;d go into the city to shop, see a matinee, etc., and then meet their 
husband for dinner  in the one of the restaurants advertised on the show. Of 
course, shopping in those pre-ATM, pre-credit card days was easy --  all the 
Manhattan Stores were happy to send purchases home via Railway Express --COD. 
And they'd even take a check!