When Archbishop Fulton Sheen is beatified on Sept. 24, it will put him one step closer to possibly becoming the first canonized saint ever to have appeared on a game show.
That isn’t how most people nowadays view the author, theologian, and radio and television broadcaster who in his prime was the most famous American Catholic.
But that’s how many Americans viewed him on Sunday, Oct. 21, 1956, when the then-bishop walked on the set of CBS’ What’s My Line? as a mystery guest. An estimated 11 million households watched the program live that night at 10:30 p.m. ET.
The popular game show, which still draws references 59 years after it went off the air, centered on the line of work of non-famous contestants, each of whom appeared before a panel of celebrities who tried to puzzle out what the person did for a living by asking yes-or-no questions. Contestants earned money for each question the panelists asked without correctly guessing the person’s occupation.
The show also featured at least one mystery guest who was well-known in America at the time (often an actor). In this segment, the panelists were supposed to guess not the line of work but the
