I've Got a Secret

This show was a family favorite when I was growing up. As much as a TV show can, it influenced my perception of the grown-up world in general and of New Yorkers in particular.

Seen today, it is like an American time capsule. Its nonstop parade of personalities of all types amounts to a wonderful snapshot of what America was like at the time. It is still greatly entertaining, but has acquired the additional virtue of being a sort of history lesson. What's My Line and To Tell the Truth provide some of that that too, but they don't compare to this crazy freeform show where anything could happen.

Its format, or lack of it, was a perfect match for Steve Allen, and the later shows where he was the host are every bit as much fun as the Garry Moore shows, in my opinion.

If you have any interest at all in what entertainment was like for previous generations, you should include this show in your travels.

It was in 1955 and I watched in amazement as a 95-year old man came out and whispered into host Garry Moore's ear a secret that knocked my little socks off - he was the last survivor of the audience present at Ford's Theater the night Abraham Lincoln was shot. He said the only thing he could remember was seeing John Wilkes Booth grab hold of an American flag and crash to the stage.

He said he was five years old when this happened. He didn't know who Booth was but had a vivid memory of him falling unto the stage. At the time that the show was telecast, Lincoln's assassination had occurred 90 years earlier.

What a moment in early television history.

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.

ALTHOUGH THE CREATION of this panel show followed that of WHAT'S MY LINE? by about two years, there were both many similarities ; as well as a great may differences. In true show biz tradition, success spawns imitation; and it was never more in evidence than here. Like the older show, Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions was involved.

LACKING THE 'GRAVITAS' of its distinguished Sunday Evening precursor, this middle of the week prime time entry was played more for fun. Laughter was king here and no apologies were made for that little element. Radio & TV veteran, Garry Moore, reigned over the fun and reined in the Panel.

THE COMPOSITION OF the all important Panel was far different than it was over on Sunday's WHAT'S MY LINE. This show's panelists were overall, much more youthful. The Ladies were much more attractive and the gentlemen more energetic and comedy prone. They were: Actress Betsy Palmer, former Miss America Bess Myerson, Humorist Henry Morgan and All Purpose TV Radio Man/Gameshow Host Bill Cullen.

MOST OFTEN THE show would start with the premise of a particular 'Theme'. Physical Fitness, for example, was one that we well recall; having been among the huge numbers of viewers on that evening, circa 1960. Available on Youtube.com, this episode also featured some long distance walkers and swimmers; as well as the NABBA (London) Professional Mr. Universe of 1959, Bruce Randall. For the record, Mr. Arnold Stang's secret was "I'm going to punch my way out of a Paper Bag!" He failed, of course.

AS JUST A WORD to the wise, once again we must relate that there are some fine examples of the show just waiting for viewing on Youtube.com.

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.