What's My Line? Season 12 Episode 51

This definitely was a bad pun night. Between Bennett's "moth bawl" comment and several others he made, it was a wonder John could continue to do the show with such a straight face. However, that only added to what turned out to be an outstanding performance by the panel as they continued their run of good performances by having a perfect night. In the first game, Bennett correctly guessed that Mr. Picard was a deep sea explorer. Of course, Bennett had a lot of help from Arlene in the form of a big hint about water. Arlene had earlier disqualified herself after she finally recognized Picard, after having asked him several questions. Nevertheless, Bennett was given credit for making the correct guess. After the game, Picard talked about his seven mile trip down the Marianas Trench and his plans to build an undersea helicopter. In the second game, Bennett, with a huge assist from Joey, correctly guessed that the young lady from New Jersey by way of Arkansas was a Steel Pier horseback diver. Bennett gave Joey credit because Joey not only called for the conference, but he also made the suggestion to Bennett. In the mystery guest round, Arlene correctly identified Mitch Miller. Mitch was on the show to promote his highly successful 1961-1966 musical variety hour "Sing Along With Mitch," which was airing on NBC. John also took time to bring up the fact that he and Mitch had been very good friends for several years, going back to their days on the "Report to the Nation" radio show. This definitely put a great cap on a perfect night. - Sargebri

MITCH MILLER: As was mentioned in the post game chat, Mitch Miller's "Sing Along With Mitch" TV series was about to start its first full season on NBC after having started as a mid-season replacement. That show, based on his highly successful sing-along albums, would become one of the biggest hits of the 1960's, lasting from 1961 until 1964. The highlight of each show was the sing-along feature. When a song was playing, the lyrics would appear at the bottom of the television screen and a bouncing ball would cue the audience at home to start singing along with the performers, which included Leslie Uggams, Diana Trask and Sandy Stewart. However, Mitch's biggest claim to fame was as chief A&R man (Artists and Repertoire) at Columbia Records where he launched the careers of dozens of artists. However, Mitch's strict "anti rock and roll" policy proved to be his downfall as head of Columbia. While labels such as Atlantic and Capitol were dominating the charts with their rosters, Columbia was seen as a label that only appealed to older audiences. After Mitch was let go in the mid-1960s, the label, under the stewardship of Clive Davis among others, began to sign more rock acts, including Janis Joplin, Moby Grape and Aerosmith. - Sargebri

Prior to Mitch Miller's taking the post of A&R representative (Artist & Repertoire - ie: talent scout) at Columbia Records in 1950, he had worked at Mercury Records. Under his tutelage at Mercury, such recording stars as Frankie Laine, Vic Damone and Patti Page first became famous. Laine, Damone and Page would all later record for Columbia during Miller's reign there, albeit at different times. After Miller left Columbia in 1965, he would record for Decca and, in 1970, Atlantic, where he recorded a "Sing Along" album of peace songs. - W-B

Mrs. Ann Miles signed in with "Mrs." so John did not have to ask her if she was Miss or Mrs. - agent_0042

During the end credits, the announcer stated that this episode was prerecorded. From Gil Fates' logs, we know this episode was taped on June 4, 1961.

Jacques Picard (from Switzerland) is the son of the famed Swiss balloonist August Picard. (Sometimes, the family name spelled as Piccard, with two c's.) In 1950, Jacques and August designed a fully self-contained new type of vessel called the bathyscaphe (or bathyscaph, literally, deep boat). It was designed to submerge deeper than the 1930 bathysphere. It was not tethered to the surface, and had an oblong submarine shape. In 1960, Jacques Picard and Lt. Don Walsh (an officer of the U.S. Navy) descended 35,820 feet (10,916 meters, 6.78 miles) in the Swiss-built, U.S. Navy-owned bathyscaphe "Trieste." This dive took place in the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench, 250 miles southwest of Guam, one of the deepest parts of the world's ocean. Water pressure at this depth is 16,883 psi, temperature 37.4°F. Picard observed what he later called "a flatfish at the very nadir of the earth" but no specimens could be collected. Trieste left the surface at 8:22 a.m., reached maximum depth at 1:10 p.m. and surfaced at 4:30 p.m. No one will ever go deeper... unless, of course, oceanographers discover a deeper spot than the Mariana trench. Jacques co-authored a 1961 book (with Robert S. Dietz) about the adventure titled "Seven Miles Down: The Story of Bathyscaph Trieste."
Bennett Cerf commented on Jacques Picard's height, which was well over 6 feet. Bennett also reprised a bad pun he originally told on November 3, 1957, by referring to John Daly and Jacques Picard as "Ham and X." Toward the end of the game, Arlene realized she knew who the guest was, and disqualified herself. She then gave the panel a big hint by saying their feet were not even wet yet, and they guessed his identity.
The fictional "Star Trek: The Next Generation" character Jean Luc Picard (played by Patrick Stewart) was named after the Picard family. In one of the "Star Trek TNG" episodes, he speaks of his ancestors who were famous explorers.
On the WML EPISODE #679 of September 1, 1963, another relative, hot air balloonist Don Piccard (with two c's) was a contestant. By coincidence, on each episode, the mystery guest was Mitch Miller. - Suzanne Astorino

John Daly mentioned that he and Mitch Miller worked together years ago on a radio program called "Report to the Nation." It was a serious political program, a dramatic reenactment of wartime events using a full orchestra and a regular group of actors. Mitch Miller was in charge of the music. In 1943, John Daly was reassigned as a war correspondent, and Douglas Edwards took his place. The show lasted a few years, ending around 1946. John Daly will also mention this radio program on EPISODE #756 of March 21, 1965, when mystery guest Art Carney appears.
Here was a typical show: Report to the Nation (November 3, 1945) Format: Dramatic Anthology; Title: "Back for Christmas" by John Collier; Adaptation: Charles Monroe; Announcer: Ted Pearson; Performers: John Daly, Boris Karloff (as Professor Herbert Carpenter), Alan Young, Maxine Sullivan, Sgt. Ben Haroki; Network: CBS; Broadcast Time: Saturday, 1:45 PM; Running Time: 30 minutes. - Suzanne Astorino