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Garry Moore/Steve Allen (1952-1967)
- July 22, 1953: David Niven's secret: "I'm sitting on a cake of ice". After Bill Cullen guesses the secret, David stands up and the seat of his pants are all wet.
- October 5, 1955: Ronald Reagan's secret about how acting in movies and live TV is different. In movies, when the actor stumbles over his line or says "Uh..." the director says "cut" and they start the whole scene over again. On TV, if you stumble you must continue the scene. They played the game without the panel knowing that the game was going to be played like a movie. Whenever a panelist said "Uh...", Reagan would walk off the set and Garry would introduce him again with the exact same dialog:Garry Moore: How did you like the way the (World) Series came out?Ronald Reagan: I liked it a lot. I thought it was a very good thing for baseball.Garry Moore: I did too.
- This ended up happening four times, the first time with Henry Morgan, then Jayne Meadows three times.
- April 29, 1959: Don McNeil drops eggs
on a rubber mat while Garry Moore and the panelists catch them. For a bonus, stick around to hear Moore's explanation on next week's show as to why he wore an overcoat without pants. - January 14, 1959: The inner tube stunt mentioned on the Awesome Moments subpage has quite a few funny moments:
- Everyone is scared of the increasingly expanding tube, especially poor Bill Cullen, who hides behind the desk!
- Gary Moore gets in quite a few quips:Henry Morgan just left, said "I'm going to the drug store next door; call me when he's through."
He's using up more wind than it took Clark Gable to be gone with!
- July 1, 1959: Groucho Marx's appearance. His secret? He had nearly gotten the hosting job on Take It or Leave It (which became The $64,000 Question), but lost it to Moore.Garry Moore: Excuse me, Groucho, Henry [Morgan], but I see someone holding up one finger, does that mean anything?
Groucho Marx: What does one finger mean on this show? - December 2, 1959: A panel member/Jayne Meadows was tasked to milk a cow that was brought on stage. However, the cow opted to relieve itself on live television, cutting the segment by default.
- May 11, 1960: Hilarity Ensues as Garry Moore and Wally Cox try to build DIY furniture.
- November 2, 1960: The Bill Cullen lookalikes. They were part of a contest Bill Cullen held on his morning radio show the preceding summer. The winner, Vincent Griski, looks so much like the real deal it's uncanny!
- Circa late 1950s: A contestant is introduced as "Mr. D", an Academy Award-winning composer. His secret: "I'm Bill Cullen's father-in-law" (Heinz Roemheld, whose daughters Ann and Mary Lou married Cullen and Jack Narz respectively). Of course, Cullen recognized him immediately, but instead of disqualifying himself he took a different line of questionning:Bill Cullen: Do you think this person you're related to should be in the movies?
Garry Moore: Matters of speculation are not to be upheld on this program.
Bill Cullen: I understand you, having written all those songs, sir... undoubtedly, you are an ASCAP member, is that so?
"Mr. D": Yes.
Bill Cullen: And ASCAP does have a situation whereby they pay their full-rated members an amount of money for every performance of a tune like "Ruby", which is very popular.
"Mr. D": Yes.
Bill Cullen: I just wonderded if, uh... this isn't even nice to bring up, but I'm wondering if this is transferable. Let's assume you wanted to help a poor relative, this would be possible... this could be collateral for a mortgage, is that right?
Garry Moore: It would be possible... I don't think he has it in mind.
Bill Cullen: Well, it sure stumps me.
Steve Allen (1972-1973)
- Unknown date: The above-mentioned egg-dropping stunt was done again, this time with Alan Alda doing the honors.
- Week of November 27, 1972: Bob Barker, in a crossover of sorts with The Price Is Right, had four audience members bid on items they obtained from panelists Pat Carroll, Arte Johnson, Anita Gillette and Richard Dawson while they tried to guess which of their belongings they were bidding on. The items up for bids were Arte's nightshirt ("What would you give that away for? I just bought that in Germany for me!"), Anita's bikini, Richard's mailbox(!) and Pat's kazoo:Bob Barker: This is no reflection on you, but please give your bids in pennies for this.Pat Carroll: What? In pennies?
