Your First Impression

I remember this game show. It was similar to "What's My Line", in that there were would be a celebrity, and the panelists (3 I think) would try to guess who it is, by asking a series of "fill in the blank" questions. The panelists would be given a choice of like 5 celebrities of who it might be, and would try to guess who the mystery guest was.

What I remember most is that Dennis James was one of the regular panelists, and he always guessed correctly who the celebrity was. He was never wrong! And once on a Christmas show, the mystery guest was, of course, Santa Claus. And not only did Dennis James guess that it was Santa, but he guessed that it was producer Monte Hall dressed in the Santa suit! And he was right! I became a big Dennis James fan because of this show.

The three panelists had to guess who the mystery celebrity was from their answers to fill in the blank statements or free associations to a word. The panelists were encouraged to play psychologist. The panelists were given a choice of five people, one of whom was the mystery guest.

Dennis James was always a panelist. The other two panelists were rotating regulars. Panelists I remember include Inger Stevens, Julie Adams, Richard Long, Paul Winchell, Gisele Mackenzie, and TV writer George Kirgo. I think Dr. Joyce Brothers also played. Dennis called Richard Long Richard Wrong for his bad guesses.

Dennis James didn't pull any punches. He had no respect for Troy Donahue as a man or as an actor. Once Suzy Parker was the mystery guest. To "I really am a good judge of" she answered "men." One of the five choices of who the mystery guest was was Suzanne Pleshette. Dennis said it couldn't be Pleshette because she married Troy Donahue, so she definitely couldn't call herself a good judge of men.

When Troy Donahue was the mystery guest he tried to be funny by making all his answers about women and sex. Dennis was lacerating in his psychological analysis of the mystery guest's character when he correctly guessed Troy. Dennis thought Troy was pretty superficial. Troy rolled with the punches and laughed it off.

When John Kerr was the guest, other choices for the answer included David Janssen and Martin Milner. Dennis correctly guessed Kerr saying Kerr wasn't as "dynamic" as Janssen or Milner but saying Kerr had an appealing boyish quality that had made him a big star.

Jeffrey Hunter was mystery guest when he was doing publicity for his series "Temple Houston". When asked to describe himself he said he was "tall, tan, and tender".

When Richard Long was mystery guest, he was asked to free associate to "blondes". Long said "bottles". He later explained it was because so many blonde's hair color came from a bottle.

Ray Danton completed the sentence "When I'm alone ..." with "I brood".

Richard Nixon finished the sentence "I wish that I" with "had been a PT-boat captain."

Other mystery guests I remember were Barbara Eden, George Peppard (who said Alan Ladd has never been better than he is in "The Carpetbaggers"), Darren McGavin (who was doing a revival of "The King and I" at Lincoln Center with opera star Rise Stevens), Eileen Heckart (who had just finished a two-part episode of "The Fugitive"), James Franciscus (who said he wasn't talking to his brother), Dane Clark (who talked about playing the Jason Robards role in the national tour of "A Thousand Clowns"), Gerald Mohr, Steve Forrest (doing publicity for a "Kraft Suspense Theater" he was in with John Gavin), Jack Kelly (who Dennis complimented for a terrific recent "Kraft Suspense Theater" about a Las Vegas gambler), Lloyd Nolan ( who Dennis complimented for giving quick and egoless answers), Paul Richards, Lloyd Bridges, Roger Smith (who Dennis joked shouldn't be doing flying as a hobby because of his bad luck with accidents), Macdonald Carey ( who had just done a "Checkmate" and lamented that fine show being cancelled), Thomas Gomez (who said "Trapeze" was his favorite movie because he loved living in Paris while making the film), Imogene Coca (who wished she were prettier), Don Adams (who talked about his new show "Get Smart"), Michael Ansara, Dan Tobin, and Frank Gorshin (panelist Julie Adams gave a very flattering analysis of the mystery guest's egoless personality based on his answers but then guessed that David Janssen was the mystery guest rather than Gorshin).

I seem to remember Robert Montgomery stressing the importance of the work of Radio Free Europe and the US Information Agency. Montgomery was media advisor to Ike during his presidency. Maybe Montgomery helped get Nixon his gig on "Your First Impression". Montgomery had himself been a PT-boat captain and starred in John Ford's lovely "They Were Expendable".

I have a vivid memory of this show from grammar school for some reason. It's possible, though I can't say for sure, that we used to go home for lunch and watch it - our school was within walking distance. At any rate I saw it every day.

There were three panelists - I recall George Kirgo, Dennis James, and Paul Winchell, though over time there may have been others. There would be photos of five celebrities - one was in a soundproof box, and the panelists had to guess which one. They would ask questions and Leyden, who wore an earpiece, would answer. I think there was also a contestant who possibly had to pick which panelist would be correct or something. That part is vague I remember that Paul Winchell couldn't get the right answer no matter what. Once, there was a question about hair, and Leyden censored the answer, meaning that he said that he couldn't reply because it would give the celebrity's identity away. Obviously to the panelists this meant the celebrity was bald. There were two bald men in the photos. One was the composer Dimitri Tiomkin. Winchell chose him and it was the other contestant. Winchell finally guessed right when Ann Miller was on the show, and left the panelists chair to come up and hug her.

I also remember Linda Christian being on the show promoting her autobiography. I remember that because at that time, Saturday Night at the Movies, which was a 20th Century Fox show, was on at the time, showing Fox films from mostly the '50s, and I had a crush on Tyrone Power, who had been married to Linda. Forty-some years later, I met Linda and Tyrone's daughters.

I think I remember this show because it had a very relaxed atmosphere and the panelists ad-libbed and seemed to have a good time. Also I loved show business and wanted to be an actress so I liked anything with celebrities.

I have distinct memories of "Your First Impression" as well as "Here's Hollywood" - never missed them!