History Trivia / WhatsMyLine

** Shortly after taping for the syndicated version ended, Larry Blyden was killed in a car accident in Morocco. A handful of episodes wound up airing after his death.

** When Creator/BobHope appeared as the Mystery Guest on the 12 December 1954 episode, Arlene asked several questions that showed she was closing in on the correct answer, then went for the laugh by guessing "[[Film/RoadTo Bing Crosby]]". It got a massive reaction partly because, unbeknownst to the blindfolded panel, Hope had signed in using [[Music/BingCrosby Crosby's name]] instead of his own.
** When Creator/AnneBancroft appeared as the Mystery Guest on the 1 July 1962 episode, she gave her first "Yes" and "No" answers in American Sign Language before saying anything, a reference to her performance as Anne Sullivan in both the stage and film versions of ''Theatre/TheMiracleWorker''.
* {{Blooper}}: There has been a couple of incidents with intruders on the show:
** On the 10 May 1959 episode, at the end of the Mystery Guest segment featuring Milton Berle, a man rushed onstage, shook hands with Berle and disappeared as quickly as he came in. Berle ad-libbed that it was his agent, then asked the question everybody had on their minds: "Who was he?" [[https://youtu.be/sI5-8AZYbW0?t=23m Here's the video of the incident (starts at 23:00)]].
** During the Mystery Guest segment on the 7 October 1962 episode, an intruder managed to get into the soundstage while the panelists were blindfolded. He was quickly removed from the stage by Johnny Olson and Gil Fates, and after a brief explanation from John Daly, the round proceeded as normal, with guest panelist Creator/VictorBorge joking about the incident on his next question. According to [[WordOfGod Gil Fates]], the intruder was supposedly trying to promote a personal dating service. [[https://youtu.be/LDAi8WI2PUw?t=19m Here's the video of the incident (starts at 19:00)]].

** The April 18, 1965 show had its mystery guest segment with Marian Anderson featured in the 25th anniversary special (see below). The rushed editing of that special resulted in a portion of the master copy being cut up for the clips, then reassembled in the wrong order, rendering the mystery guest segment unwatchable. A corrected version is up on Website/YouTube, but the TV reruns still use the mashed-up copy.
** Several shows exist in copies that include the commercials, network promos and idents that were in the original broadcast. While they are of no interest for reruns, they do hold some historical interest and can be seen on [=YouTube=]. Also, as of February 2018, Amazon has available 40 episodes of the show from 1955, complete with the original commercials.
* LongRunner: Ran on CBS for 17 years and 7 months, making it the longest running game show in prime time history. It was also the longest-running game show overall until ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' eclipsed it in April 1990.

** Additionally, everyone who appeared on the show--celebrities and regular contestants alike--had to sign a release giving Goodson-Todman permission to air clips featuring them (even Goodson-Todman themselves). Despite all these quirks, it was critically well received and seen as a very nice celebration of television's then-longest running game show.

** In 2015, it was discovered that the March 26, 1967 show is available at The Paley Center for Media, and, apparently, was only recently donated to them. Guest panelists were Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows, Game 1 had Orson Bean as a Mystery Guest, Game 2 had a normal contestant in Frank Mills as the president of a shopping cart company, and Game 3 had Creator/SidCaesar and Imogene Coca as the Mystery Guest duo.

* FanNickname: Some fans weren't too fond of the 1968-1975 Daily Syndicated era of the show, thinking it was too much like Goodson-Todman's ''I've Got a Secret''. Hence, they have dubbed it as ''What's My Secret Line?''.

** CBS had earlier tried to pick up a different version (co-produced by [[Creator/MiramaxFilms Miramax Television]]) for the fall of 1999, but it didn't happen due to CBS thinking the show was "too costly and ambitious".

** Another pilot was taped in the fall of 2014 for a potential syndicated revival. Nothing's been heard of it since then.

* DiedDuringProduction: Shortly after taping for the syndicated version ended, Larry Blyden was killed in a car accident in Morocco. A handful of episodes wound up airing after his death.

* DiedDuringProduction: Shortly after production for the syndicated version ended, Larry Blyden was killed in a car accident in Morocco. A handful of episodes wound up airing after his death.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Shortly after production for the syndicated version ended, Larry Blyden was killed in a car accident in Morocco. A handful of episodes wound up airing after his death.

** Nobody in the cast or on the crew cared for Hal Block, the show's first comedian panelist, for his crude, blunt questions, his leering at the female contestants (including, at least once, literal skirt-chasing on stage), and his refusal to conform to the show's policy of etiquette and good manners. Audiences enjoyed him, but reviewers - as might be expected in the famously repressed [[TheFifties '50s]] - singled him out for their harshest criticisms. In early 1953, when his contract was up, it was not renewed, and Block was replaced by a succession of much more intellectual, sophisticated comedians (Steve Allen, Fred Allen, Ernie Kovacs, Johnny Carson, etc.)

* LongRunner: Ran on CBS for 17 years and 7 months, becoming the longest-running game show until ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' eclipsed it in April 1990.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Shortly after production for the revival ended, Larry Blyden was killed in a car accident in Morocco. A handful of episodes wound up airing after his death.

* TooSoon: When Bennett Cerf died in 1971, episodes of the syndicated version that featured him aired well after his passing due to the way it was distributed (tape-sharing among stations, or "bicycling") preventing simultaneous airing of each episode in every market. This prompted confusion and complaints from viewers that doing so was in poor taste. Producer Gil Fates responded to those complaints with a form letter explaining that they were practicing the time-honored tradition of celebrating one's work after their death, though the real, unspoken reason was that he didn't want the production costs of those episodes to go to waste.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: CBS issued an order cancelling all their prime time game shows at the end of the 1966-67 season, claiming they were no longer preferable for those hours (not surprising, considering Fred Silverman was an executive at the time). No one on the staff was ever notified with Bennett Cerf reading about it in ''The New York Times''.