| John Charles Daly | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name: | John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly |
| Born: | February 20, 1914 |
| Died: | February 24, 1991 |
| Place of death: | Chevy Chase, Maryland |
| Occupation: | Host, Journalist, Radio Announcer |
| Years active: | 1948-1975 |
| Known for: | Hosting What's My Line? |
John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly (born February 20, 1914; died February 24, 1991) who's generally known as John Charles Daly or John Daly was an American journalist, game show host, and radio personality, who was probably best known as the original host of the classic, long-running, Goodson-Todman panel game What's My Line?. He was vice president of ABC during the 1950s. On December 22, 1960, he became the son-in-law of Chief Justice Earl Warren, upon marrying Virginia Warren.
Personal Life[]
The second of two brothers, Daly was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, where his American father worked as a geologist. After his father died of tropical fever, Daly's mother moved the family to Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Daly was an alumnus of Tilton School in Tilton, New Hampshire; he later served on its board of directors for many years and contributed to the construction or restoration of many buildings on campus. He did his post-secondary education at Boston College.
He married twice, first to Margaret Griswell Neal in January of 1937. The marriage resulted in sons John Neal Daly and John Charles Daly III and daughter Helene Fitzgerald Daly. It ended in divorce in April 1959 or 1960. On December 22, 1960. Daly married Virginia Warren, daughter of then Chief Justice Earl Warren, in San Francisco. They were married for over thirty years until he died in 1991. The marriage also yields three children, John Warren Daly, John Earl Jameson Daly, and Nina Elisabeth Daly. He died in Chevy Chase, Maryland, of cardiac arrest.
Career[]
Radio[]
Daly began his broadcasting career as a reporter for NBC radio, and then for WSJV (now WTOP) the local CBS Radio Network affiliate in Washington D.C., serving as CBS's White House correspondent.
Through covering the Roosevelt White House, Daly became known to the national CBS audience as the network's announcer for many of the president's speeches. In late 1941, Daly transferred to New York City, where he became the anchor of The World Today. During World War II, he covered the news in London as well as the North African and Italian fronts. Daly was a war correspondent in 1943 in Italy during Gen. George S. Patton's infamous "Slapping Incidents". After the war, he was a lead reporter on CBS Radio's news/entertainment program CBS is There (later known as You are There) which re-created the great events of history as if CBS correspondents were on the scene.
Famous Broadcasts[]
As a reporter for CBS, Daly was the voice of two historic announcements. He was the first national radio correspondent to deliver the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 (recordings of this announcement revealed a minor error, either a mistyping of the copy in haste or a misreading by Daly as he pronounced Oahu as if it were spelled "O-ha-u") and he was the first to relay the wire service report of the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on April 12, 1945, interrupting "Wilderness Road" to deliver the news. Both narrations have been used on historical record albums and radio and TV retrospectives.
Television[]
Daly's first foray into television was as a panelist on the game show Celebrity Time. This led to a job in 1950 as the host and moderator on a new panel show produced by Goodson-Todman, What's My Line? The show lasted 17 years with Daly hosting all but four episodes of the weekly series.
In 1954 to 1955, in addition to What's My Line?, Daly also hosted the final year of the NBC game show Who Said That?, in which celebrities tried to determine the speaker of quotations taken from recent news reports.
On What's My Line?, each panelist introduced the next line at the start of the show. Following the 1953 departure of panelist Hal Brock, Random House co-founder and humorist Bennett Cerf joined the panel. Upon Fred Allen's death in 1956, Cerf became the anchor panelist who would usually, but not always, introduce Daly. Cerf usually prefaced his introduction with a pun or joke which over time became a pun or joke at Daly's expense. Daly would then often fire back his retort. Cerf and Daly enjoyed a friendly feud from across the stage for the remainder of the history of the program. The mystery guest on the final CBS program (originally airing on September 3, 1967) was Daly himself. (Over the years, many people had suggested this to Daly, but he could never do it, as he was always the "emergency mystery guest" in case the scheduled guest did not show up for the live program. Despite a few close calls, this plan was never needed.)
According to executive producer Gil Fates, Daly was resistant to changes that would have appealed to a younger audience but might have diminished the show's dignity. For example, Daly usually referred to the panelists formally, (e.g. as "Mr. Cerf") The producers, Fates said, we're unable to challenge Daly for fear of losing him as the show's moderator. The series spawned a brief radio version in 1952 that was also hosted by Daly. The series also inspired a multitude of international versions and a syndicated U.S. revival in 1968 that Daly did not participate in.
Daly also did hosting duties on Who Said That?, It's News To Me, We Take Your World and Open Hearing and was a narrator on The Voice of Firestone starting in 1958.
Daly also had several television and movie guest appearances from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s, including an uncredited role in Bye Bye Birdie (as the reporter announcing the title character's induction into the Army) and as the narrator, in a mock documentary style, on the premiere episode of Green Acres.
In 1949, Daly starred in the short-lived CBS newspaper drama The Front Page. It was felt that his journalistic experience would give the series more authenticity.
During the 1950s, Daly became the vice president in charge of news, special events and public affairs, religious programs and sports for ABC and won three Peabody Awards. From 1953 to 1960, he anchored ABC news broadcasts and was the face of the network's news division, even though What's My Line? was then on CBS. At the time, this was a very rare instance of a television personality working on two different networks simultaneously (technically, Daly worked for Goodson-Todman Productions for "What's My Line?") His closing line on the ABC newscast was "Good night, and a good tomorrow!". Daly resigned from ABC on November 16, 1960. after the network preempted the first coverage to show Bugs Bunny cartoons and The Rifleman from 7:30 to 8:30 while CBS and NBC were covering returns from the Kennedy-Nixon presidential election and other major races.
Daly continued What's My Line? until 1967. In the 1962-1963 season, the program competed with Howard K. Smith's News and Comment program on ABC. A former CBS correspondent, Smith switched networks early in 1961, by which time Daly had already resigned from ABC. Smith's program ended, however, after a controversial broadcast, premature as it turned out, entitled "The Political Obituary of Richard M. Nixon".
In May 1967, during the final years of What's My Line?, it was announced that Daly would become the director of the Voice of America after the show ended. He assumed the position on September 20, 1967, but lasted only until June 6, 1968, when he resigned over a claim that Leonard H. Marks, his superior at the U.S. Information Agency, had been making personnel changes behind Daly's back.
Daly retreated from the public eye. He did not come back to host the syndicated version of What's My Line?, although he did co-host a 25th Anniversary program about the show along with What's My Line? panelist alumna Arlene Francis and the creator of the show, Mark Goodson, for ABC on May 28, 1975. He was a frequent forum moderator for the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute throughout the 1980s.
Daly's legacy at Tilton School[]
Daly's legacy lives on at Tilton School, his alma mater. There is an award named for him given to "persons who pursuit of excellence of commitment as a member of the school family resembles [sic] that of John Daly's involvement with Tilton: continuous and widely known expressions of support in word and deed, inspiring others to reach their goals that common experience dictates are impossible".
John Daly on NBC radio (MP3)[]
Daly's NBC Radio Network broadcasts are available free of charge at this wiki and simultaneously via MP3 at this wiki. Click below to listen via Windows Media Player.
John Charles Daly's grave pic[]
Shows hosted[]
It's News To Me (1951-1953)
What's My Line?
What's My Line? at 25