129     March 30, 1955
Bill, Jayne, Henry, Faye

Ira Senz: “I made a toupee for Jack Benny”  
Senz is the wigmaker for the Metropolitan Opera Company, as well as for filmmakers based on the East Coast.  Jack Benny wore a toupee at one point, and the open secret of it was one of the many running gags in his long career. By 1955 he no longer wore a toupee, though as he said in a May interview, “…since people find the idea funny, I don’t mind if they think I do.”    

Catherine Marshall: “I had tea with Mrs. Eisenhower today” 
Catherine is the author of A Man Called Peter (McGraw-Hill 1951).  It is a biography of her late husband Peter Marshall, a Presbyterian minister and, at the time of his 1949 death, the chaplain of the US Senate.  Her book achieved widespread popularity, bringing to light the career of an otherwise little-known minister.  A movie version of her biography starring Richard Todd is about to be released.  (Todd is on hand to take a bow.)  Catherine would write or edit some 30 more books in her career, including the historical novel Christy (McGraw Hill 1967).  

Special Guest Victor Moore: “I’m going to sing a song from my first starring role on Broadway (1902)”                 
The song is "Forty-Five Minutes From Broadway" (1906) from the George M Cohen musical of the same name.  The show debuted on Broadway in 1906, not 1902 as stated in the secret.  Aside from a brief revival in 1912, it has not been staged on Broadway since.  A television version appeared in 1959 as an episode of the cultural series Omnibus (1952-1961).   It starred Larry Blyden as "Kid Burns," the role played by Moore in the original.  Though not well-remembered today, Moore was a major Broadway star in comedies of the 1920s and 1930s.  He also appeared in dozens of films.

This episode has not been reviewed.  Details come from alternate sources, including thumbnail descriptions of the episodes from GSN documentation and Gil Fates' handwritten notes.  Secrets here are based on the Gil Fates notes and are believed to be accurate.

PREVIOUS NEXT