I've Got a Secret

One of the best game/quiz shows ever. With Garry Moore as host, and many celebrities throughout the years as guest panelists, this durable program is very entertaining indeed!! To me, the program hit its stride in the years from 1958-1964, with Bill Cullen, Betsy Palmer, Henry Morgan and Bess Myerson as the panelists and the above mentioned Mr. Moore as host. One of the funniest moments that I recall is when guest star, Faye Emerson, tried to dress a blindfolded Henry Morgan as Santa Claus and he ended up looking like a skid-row version of Santa!!! Hilarious and wholesome entertainment all around!!

I love all these little shows of the past. I'm seeing them again on Game Show Network. They take me back to the nice times back in the 50's when I was a kid. We need more entertaining shows like these on TV today.

I recently got into looking at this show and I have to say that this is definitely a treasure. To me this is a much lighter than What's My Line?, which I thought was a more serious show. I never saw the Steve Allen era, but the Gary Moore era is being shown on Game Show Network as I'm writing this commentary. Gary Moore was probably the hardest working man on television because not only did he host this show but he also hosted his own highly successful variety series. Also, the panel of Bill Cullen, Betsy Palmer, Henry Morgan and Bess Myerson looked as though they had a lot of fun as they tried to guess the guests' secret. Betsy Palmer and Henry Morgan were especially funny as they pretty much was the butt of a lot of the jokes. Too bad the reruns are shown so late at night. This classic should be enjoyed by everyone.

While channel-surfing the backwaters of digital cable, I came across a whitecap of historical political incorrectness. Gary Moore, the winsome host of "I've Got A Secret," dons an overcoat and muffler at the start of the broadcast. He then breaks the "fourth wall" of the studio on West 47th Street, ventures out into the bitter cold of a New York winter's night and corals a fifteen year old boy on his way to a show. Moore invites the kid in to be a contestant on HIS show. The boy's secret: "I was brought in from the street" easily stumps the celebrity panel. The young man wins two prizes: eighty dollars and a carton of Winston cigarettes--the show's lone sponsor.

Can you imagine the outrage today if a television host gave a minor a carton of smokes? The fifties WERE a simpler time.

I love WHAT'S MY LINE and many other old panel shows but despise this show and find it absolutely unwatchable because NO ONE EVER GUESSES THE SECRET. I have watched a dozen shows and no one has ever gotten even CLOSE to guessing. The game has to matter.