Barbratimeless
 A Personal Retrospective on the Career of Barbra Streisand

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Feature: "What's My Line?"
April 2006


Barbra on "What's My Line?" in 1964

Barbra Streisand made a couple of very unusual TV guest spots during the 60s, when she appeared on two live Sunday night telecasts of the game show "What's My Line?". On both episodes, Barbra was the "mystery guest" who had the task of trying to fool the blindfolded panelists from guessing her identity. In both appearances, it took only a few questions before one of the panelists got it right. Barbra had something to plug on both shows. In 1964, she was there to promote her new musical, "Funny Girl," recently opened on Broadway. In 1965, Barbra returned to promote her upcoming television special, "My Name Is Barbra."  Both shows were broadcast in glorious black & white (the image above has been enhanced to see what the appearance might actually have looked like in color). Transcripts from both appearances are presented below.

Classic episodes of "What's My Line? are currently airing on the Game Show Network
3:00 AM (Eastern) and 12:00 AM (Pacific)


Sunday April 12, 1964, 10:30 PM

Host: John Daly

Panelists:  Dorothy Kilgallen, Gore Vidal, Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf

Daly:
Would you enter, mystery challenger, and sign in please.
Cerf: May we assume that you are in some branch of the entertainment industry?
Barbra: I would say never assume, but I must say, I think so.
Kilgallen: Are you related by marriage to someone who is also in the entertainment business?
Barbra: Yes
Vidal: Are you appearing very soon in a play on Broadway?
Barbra: Yes.
Vidal: I know who it is. Can I take a guess?
Daly: Yes, go ahead, Gore.
Vidal: Joanne Woodward.
Daly: Very good. That's one down and nine to go. Miss Francis.
  (Gore Vidal removes his mask and is disqualified).
Francis: Whisper it to me, Gore.
Is your main performance in the Broadway theatre rather than in pictures?
Barbra: This week, yes.
Cerf: Has your picture ever appeared on the cover of "Time" magazine?
Barbra: A picture, or a painting?
Cerf: Don't argue with me.
Barbra: I must confess, yes.
Cerf: What, I didn't get the answer?
Barbra: Yes it was.
Kilgallen: May I clarify something, John? I thought that someone established that our mystery guest was about to open. Is that true?
Daly: No. I believe the way the question was put, we could assume that anybody who was presently playing and would appear tomorrow would give an affirmative answer.
Kilgallen: Alright. Are you Barbra Streisand?
Daly: Yes. Actually, Bennett hit it right on the nose. Miss Streisand's portrait was in "Time."
Cerf: I've just been reading a wonderful four page piece about Miss Streisand. I'm particularly anxious to hear about that "A" you dropped from Barbara.
Barbra: Oh, they erased it. Look at that. Didn't they say about it in the piece?
Cerf: Yeah. You just dropped it, hmm? Just like that?
Francis: You wanted to change your name. They wanted you to change your name. Is that it, so you dropped the "A" from Barbara?
Barbra: Yes.
Cerf: I think you're so wonderful in "Funny Girl." I think it's one of the greatest performances I've ever seen on Broadway.
Barbra: Thank you very much.
Daly: Let me say, Miss Barbra, that one of our producers told me just before we came on, that he'd talked to you earlier this week, and that said you'd watched "What's My Line?" when you were nine years old. I hope that you saw it, what was it, two weeks ago or three weeks ago, when we had Bette Davis on.
Barbra: I heard about that!
Daly: Because your ears should have been burning. I rarely heard such euphoria. I think it was "Time" that said you have a bit of Judy Garland and a hunk of Ethel Merman. And Bette Davis even made "Time" magazine sound like they weren't praising you at all. You should be very proud of it.
Barbra: She's marvelous.
Daly: She's a very great star.
Barbra: It's such a strange feeling because I did watch it so many times, you know, every Sunday night. It was my last chance at freedom before I had to go to school the next day. And it's so strange to be here.
Kilgallen: We have to go to school in the morning Barbra, too.
Daly: Well, actually I was then just getting out of the 8th grade. Was that when you were 9? I guess I was a little bit older than that. Well, I know that "Funny Girl" is a very great hit, and it must fill your soul with joy, and at the same time, I know that it takes a lot of your time and your energy, and we appreciate your giving us a Sunday night. It was good of you to come and see us.
Barbra: Thank you.
Francis: Congratulations, Barbra.
Kilgallen: Congratulations.


Sunday, April 25, 1965, 10:30 PM

Host: John Daly

Panelists:  Dorothy Kilgallen, Tony Randall, Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf

Daly:
Would you enter, mystery challenger, and sign in please.
Kilgallen: Mystery guest, are you in show business?
Barbra: Barbra says yes in a long-winded answer in Italian
Kilgallen: Grazie, grazie.
Randall: Are you primarily a motion picture actress?
Barbra: Ehh, no.
Francis: Are you better known for your work in the theatre?
Barbra: Si. Si.
Francis: Ecco. Ecco. (Here. Here.)
Cerf: When you are performing in the theatre, do you ever raise your voice in melody?
Barbra: Qualche volta, si. (sometimes, yes)
Kilgallen: Are you also famous for raising your voice in melody on records and in television studios?
Barbra: Mmmm. yes. Si
Francis: Are you about to do a big special on television this week?
Barbra: Mmmm, si.
Francis: You are the inimitable Barbra Streisand.
Daly: There has been so much in the papers about you, particularly in the last week or ten days because, Wednesday night, isn't it, between 9 and 10 o'clock on CBS, "My Name Is Barbra," she wrote up on the board when she came in. And I want to, if I may, tell you something now that I think will please you. Our estimable and excellent crew, our camera men and sound men, worked with Miss Streisand when they were doing some sections of the tape of the show, and they think that it's going to be one of the great successes of all time.
Barbra: Well, they know, they know.
Daly: They're the real pros. If they like it, everybody will.
Cerf: Are you going to sing "People?"
Barbra: Why not.
Francis: She couldn't get off without it. I wish she could sing it for us.
Daly: Well, also with your permission, we can all wish her Happy Birthday. It was yesterday, wasn't it? Twenty-three years old yesterday. Many ,many happy returns of the day.


Did you know...

Both of Barbra's appearances on What's My Line? were broadcast from the CBS studio in NYC which later became the world famous nightclub, Studio 54.
 		 Dorothy Kilgallen, the What's My Line panelist who guessed Barbra's identity during her first appearance on the show, was a graduate of Barbra's high school alma mater, Erasmus Hall.
 		 In 2006, Elliott Gould appeared as the "mystery guest" during a live stage performance of What's My Line? in LA. He was never on the original TV show.
 

Nearly every major celebrity of the day made an appearance as a What's My Line? mystery guest, and many of them had a connection to Barbra Streisand's career. On any given show, you might see the likes of Jule Styne, Liberace, Kaye Medford, Walter Pidgeon, Yves Montand, Maureen Stapleton, Louis Armstorng, Harold Arlen, Lauren Bacall or Mimi Hines, to name a few. James Brolin even made an appearance during the 1970's version of the show. But our favorite Barbra-connected mystery challenger was Billy Rose. He showed up on the August 23, 1953 episode. And no, Fanny Brice was never a What's My Line? guest.
 


Billy Rose on a 1953 episode of
"What's My Line?"
When Barbra made her first appearance on What's My Line?, one of the panelists was author Gore Vidal. In 1961, Vidal was a guest on the same program with Barbra (The Jack Paar Show with Orson Bean), the first time she was ever on national television. Dorothy Kilgallen, a panelist during both Streisand appearances, wrote of Barbra's performance for President Johnson at his inaugural in 1965, Barbra Streisand came on and sang flawlessly...she made 'People' sound like the most important song next to the National Anthem. In 1968, Arlene Francis narrated a short film called The Look of "Funny Girl." The documentary was a promotional piece that featured Barbra modeling several of Irene Sharaff's  proposed costumes for the upcoming feature film.

In 1964, Barbra's newest fan was the legendary Bette Davis

On the March 29, 1964 episode of What's My Line?, legendary screen actress Bette Davis appeared as the mystery guest and professed her admiration for Barbra Streisand, having just seen Funny Girl on Broadway. Bette Davis's comments were conveyed on the air to Barbra two weeks later, when Barbra was the mystery guest herself.

 "I have been seeing plays, and I have fallen madly in love this week with Barbra Streisand. I think she's the most wonderful thing I've ever seen. It's hard to believe that she's never really been a performer before. I just sat with my mouth open, in awe, in love with her, really. I don't think she needs my compliments. Some day they will be doing her life."