Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021         Page 710711712713714715716717718719720721722723724725726727728729730731732733734735736737738739740741742743744745746747748749750751752753754755756757758759760761762763764765 of 1029

No. I'll tell you about Dorothy on this. Arlene and I and Fred when he was with us, and Steve when he was with us, would rather get a laugh than a yes. Hams that we were, we loved to get laughs. We would deliberately ask silly questions. Dorothy wanted to get the correct answer. She was dogged and persistent and, like a district attorney, she went plowing doggedly ahead. That was why she was the villain of the show. To the public she was the villain.

I think that a good panel show has to be cast as carefully as a play--with contrasting personalities. Toward the end, as I began making jokes with John, we discovered that this kidding each other was a very popular feature. You know, sort of insulting each other. Every time I introduced John, I'd make some rather disparaging remark. But everybody knew that it was with affection. It was the kind of mock feud that Fred Allen used to have with Jack Benny or W. C. Fields with Charlie McCarthy. Remember? It was all in fun. Nine out of ten watchers knew this. But I did get about fifty letters a week saying, “How can you be so mean to that nice John Daly?" Or they would write him saying, “Bennett is a nice fellow. Why do you insult him this way?" We enjoyed many a private laugh over these letters.

At any rate, Dorothy would go after contestants' occupations like a hawk and people didn't like it. But they liked watching her because she was very shrewd. She would nail down many of them through sheer intuition. She did a couple of things that infuriated us. First of all,