Distaff side

After my posts on Bill Cullen and Henry Morgan, I better attend to the female panelists on I've Got a Secret. After all, I don't want to be accused of sexism. (All right, I don't really care about that.)

Following a shakedown cruise of several months, the show settled on four women as regular panelists through its long 1952-67 run: Faye Emerson, Jayne Meadows, Bess Myerson and Betsy Palmer. The first three are certainly interesting, with some personal ups and downs beyond that little game show. But I was always a Betsy Palmer fan. She was the half-spacey, half-shrewd blonde girl next door, though she was a lot better-looking than most next-door blondes. (Okay, accuse me of sexism.)

Born Patricia Betsy Hrunek in East Chicago, Indiana, Betsy toiled as a modestly successful actress until her big break on IGAS in 1958. She replaced Faye Emerson, who left the show for a Broadway role, and quickly caught on with the established cast members. She clicked as the appealing semi-ingenue foil to the more worldly-wise panelists, though (like others) she had a few problems with Henry Morgan. The show had some fun with Betsy in this segment, where she memorably meets her employer, Mark Goodson.

After I've Got a Secret her career ran mostly downhill until Friday the 13th came along. She only took the Mrs. Voorhees role for some badly needed money. Her honest opinion of the flick: "What a piece of shit! Nobody is ever going to see this piece of crap."

Later Betsy mellowed in her attitude towards the cut-'em-up series. She's also returned now and then to her IGAS roots. She appeared with Steve Allen on the Oxygen version and hosted an I've Got a Secret Christmas marathon on GSN.