561     March 30, 1964 (Taped March 28)
Bill, Betsy, Henry, Bess

Ted Wells from Upstate New York: “I am a glass blower…I’m going to make a drinking glass out of your handkerchief”                 
Wells is a glass blower for the Corning Glass Works in Corning, New York.  Corning is such a familiar name in specialty glass and ceramics that they deliberately did not identify it as Wells’ hometown.  The handkerchief is made of beta yarn fiberglass, and is melted down on stage during the questioning by representatives of Owens Corning, a different but related company specializing in fiberglass.  Wells then blows the glass while Garry explains the steps in the process in a fascinating three minute demonstration.   


Peter Best from West Darby, Lancashire, England: “I left my job two years ago…I was one of The Beatles”                 
It’s apparently a day for hiding hometowns, since saying he was from Liverpool (West Darby is a suburb) would have been too much of a clue.  While the show suggests that he left the group voluntarily, the truth is that he was fired.  Best played drums for The Beatles from 1960 until 1962, when he was dismissed from the group at the cusp of their fame.    The reasons given for his dismissal are varied, and depend often on who’s telling the story, but years later all parties would agree that the firing should have been handled better, and it remains an unpleasant stain on Beatles history.  Best was inconsolable in the weeks that followed, but slowly came around to media appearances like this one and his place in history as one of many to claim the title of “The Fifth Beatle.”  Here, he is also promoting his own group, Pete Best and the All-Stars.  After being out of the music business for decades, today Best tours the world with his Pete Best Band.                   


The show collected questions from the studio audience for special guest Bette Davis.  The panel tries to answer the question the way they think Davis would answer, and Davis then confirms or denies their answers.  Lucille Ball would play a similar game next year ( E597 ).  Davis is treated like royalty and is praised for her honesty and forthrightness, but while she’s perfectly happy to reveal her age (56), she denies having a feud with Joan Crawford after they appeared together in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962).  Their lifelong feud following that film was the stuff of legend.

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