What's My Line?

There's a program on late at night called What's My Line? I remember watching a later version of this game show when I was growing up, but this particular series is from the 1950s. It was filmed in black and white, and the sets almost appear to be made out of cardboard--a far cry from the colors, lights, and sophisticated graphics of shows today. There's something quite endearing about the amateur quality of the bare sets with names of long-forgotten advertisers in big letters over the host's desk and along the front of where the four guest panelists sit.

The object of the game is for the panelists to discover the contestant's job--his or her "line"--through a series of yes/no questions. The panelists take turns asking as many questions as they can until the contestant answers "no" to one of the questions. With each "no," the contestant wins $5.00 (one of many signs that this show was produced 50 years ago!). The game ends either when one of the panelists correctly guesses the contestant's job or when there are ten "no" answers. (Incidentally, it's a fun game to play with ESL/EFL students and is good practice for speaking/listening, yes/no question forms, and critical thinking.)

The show is so clearly of another era--the women wear cocktail dresses and clip-on earrings that glitter; the men wear bow-ties (definitely not of the clip-on variety). The jobs are often bizarre: a hog buyer, a woman who dives into a tank of water on horseback, a bee hive inspector. Female contestants' jobs frequently are ones not associated with women at that time: an army doctor whose patients are all men, a judo instructor, a navy barber, a gas station attendant.