26     December 25, 1952
Bill, Jayne, Henry, Kitty Carlisle

Herman Perlman of Washington, DC: “I decorated the bathtubs in the White House” 
Mr. Perlm​an was a renowned DC area artist who had successes in various media.  He did caricatures for the Washington Post in the 1920s and 1930s and briefly worked for animators Walt Disney and Max Fleischer, but was best known for his glass works, among them the etchings in the aforementioned fixtures.  His decorative work was permanent, and not (as you might expect given the date of this show) associated with the holiday.  Perlman was the winner of a national I’ve Got a Secret contest which had people send in ideas to their local affiliates, one of which would be selected to play on the air.  He received a $500 bond in addition to his prize money.    

Miss Marion Ettie: “I am the 1953 Orange Bowl Queen”   
It’s hard to imagine today, but in 1953, there were only seven bowl games, all of which played on January 1st and virtually all of which had elaborate festivities leading up to the football matchup.  Today, except for the Rose Bowl, most have dramatically scaled back the extraneous events to focus almost exclusively on the big game.  The Orange Bowl eliminated its queen and court in the 1990s.   

Special Guest Basil Rathbone: “I’m wearing long red flannels” 
The suave British actor had a long career playing various heroes and villains, but he was best known, then and now, for a series of fourteen films released between 1939 and 1946 in which he played Sherlock Holmes.   

[Mrs. Saretta]: “I was nurse for Kitty Carlisle’s husband” 
Mrs. Saretta took care of Moss Hart in 1945 while he was convalescing in Mt Sinai Hospital.