Final word on Hal Block. Quick, I promise.
NapaValley
the obnoxious childlike comedian who was one of the few *regular*
panelists on What's My Line? during its 17-year run on CBS.
If he's not the dishonest subject of the blind item Mark Goodson put
in the 1967 TV Guide article, then why did Goodson Todman *never* use
him again after 1953?
Can anyone cite a Hal Block gig on I've Got A Secret, To Tell The
Truth, The Name's The Same or any other Goodson Todman show that
existed while the memory of Mr. Block's gigs was still relatively
fresh?
If you counter this theory by saying Block was so obnoxious on Line
(as Gil Fates describes it in his book) that the company was loathe to
use him on a single I've Got A Secret episode, then you're way off.
Henry Morgan was absolutely disgusting, both in his panel seat and in
some of the demonstration segments, but we have no evidence that he
ever cheated.
If you oppose this because you think Block's anger at Fates for firing
him (throwing the alcohol glass on a restaurant floor) made him afraid
to do I've Got A Secret or any other show, then you don't understand
show business. Before the 1959 scandals newspapers and magazines
didn't report that someone had cheated on a game show. It's likely
that nobody outside of Goodson Todman knew in 1953 that a television
employee without a connection to the Red Menace could cause trouble.
Hal Block knew that whoever had witnessed his glass-smashing in the
restaurant didn't understand the context and they forgot about it. So
why would he be afraid or ashamed to return to an employer who beamed
him to millions of clueless people? He made a living with audiences.
Goodson told the story of the cheating to the TV Guide reporter at a
time when Block or the mystery cheater as well as Goodson himself were
too young and poor to retire. Goodson didn't know if he'd ever have
another hit again, and it was possible this TV Guide article could be
his swan song to the media. So he used the then-common show business
practice of ratting on someone anonymously in order to make the
article as fascinating as possible. By the time Franklin Heller
identified Block as the cheater in a *never broadcast* video interview
in 1987, everyone was old. If Block managed to survive in 1987
without going on Howard Stern's radio show, he should have had a
retirement fund.
Have I been as concise as possible? Our only other possible sources
are Ira Skutch, who might be clueless, and a 1953 Line episode with a
contestant who plays the drums. It exists. Everything from July 20,
1952 and onward exists.
Reactions? If anyone out there is a loved one of Mr. Block, please
remember that very few people watch Game Show Network in the middle of
the night and even fewer people read this newsgroup. The Lexis Nexis
database turns up *no* obituary for a Hal Block, a possible example of
the oblivion that befell 90 percent of the people you see in the
middle of the night. That doesn't change the fact that Mister or Miss
Nobody was someone's brother, mother or sister.
