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The Curious Case of Dorothy Kilgallen
Before Barbara Walters, anyone on The View, or even Oprah, there was Dorothy Kilgallen. She was the greatest media star that most people haven’t heard of unless you’re over 70. Even then, she’s been mostly forgotten in the dustbin of the 20th century. Dorothy Kilgallen hosted a popular radio show with her husband, wrote popular newspaper columns and was one of the first personalities to endorse products. She even did commercials for TWA. She was the Oprah of her day. If Dorothy Kilgallen liked a product, America liked it.
What’s My Line?
She reached new levels of fame when she became a regular panelist on the popular quiz show, “What’s my Line?” If you’ve never seen the show, the format was simple. There would be 3 people per episode, 2 regular working people (or groups) and a celebrity. The panelists would be blindfolded for the celebrity round. The person would come out and write their name on a chalkboard (it was the 50s!) and then submit to questions. Using a series of questions, the panelists would have to guess what the profession (or line of work, hence the title) of the person in question. For the celebrity round, they had to guess the celebrity. This created some funny moments for people with iconic voices as they had to disguise their voices.
