THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 26, 1994 TAG: 9410260045
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
IN A TELEPHONE interview that was conducted while she was having her hair done - you could hear the dryer running in the background - Kitty Carlisle Hart said she worked for years on TV game shows in the 1950s without getting a raise.
She earned $1,250 a week from the start to the end of her career on ``To Tell the Truth,'' ``I've Got a Secret'' and other shows produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. ``During those years, I'd call up Mark Goodson every once in a while and say, `Don't you think I deserve a raise? I haven't had one since I started with you.' He'd ask if I'd do the shows for nothing, and when I said yes, he'd say I didn't need a raise.''
Hart, former TV personality, former film actress (she played with the Marx Brothers in ``A Night at the Opera,'' former performer at the Metropolitan Opera and now chairwoman of the New York State Council on the Arts, is scheduled to appear Saturday at a regional symposium at Virginia Wesleyan College.
Hart is to deliver the keynote address at noon in the Boyd Dining Hall. The symposium has been scheduled to focus on the cultural activities in Hampton Roads that generate $274.9 million in this area in terms of jobs, taxes and overall spending.
The symposium begins at 9 a.m. The cost to register is $25. Call the Future of Hampton Roads (623-1988) or the Cultural Alliance of Greater Hampton Roads (440-6628) for details.
``I will tell them whatever they want to know about me except my age,'' said Hart from Manhattan. ``I've lied so often about my age that I've forgotten it myself. It's different on my passport, in `Who's Who' or wherever else you look it up. Say I'm ageless.'' The World Almanac says Hart is 79.
Her face, voice and style are familiar to the generation of Americans who grew up watching simple, durable game shows on black-and- white TV. The panelists on ``To Tell the Truth,'' hosted by Bud Collyer, and ``I've Got A Secret,'' hosted by Garry Moore, became instant celebrities.
There was Hart and Polly Bergen and Hy Gardner and Orson Bean and Peggy Cass and Henry Morgan and Betsy Palmer and Jayne Meadows. ``We were all friends with the producers, and whenever an idea for a new show came up, Mark Goodson would ask his friends to help out. We did.''
Hart was married to celebrated playwright Moss Hart. Thanks to game shows, she became better known than Hart, who did not sparkle on TV like his wife.
Hart hosted a game show on NBC in the 1950s, ``Answer Yes Or No,'' which only lasted three months.
Hart said it was a slightly naughty parlor game that couldn't be transported very well to the Puritanical TV of 40 years ago. ``It seems so long ago,'' Hart said of TV's golden age. ``We had good people who did television on a higher level than you see today.''
That was the past. Hart prefers to live in the present where her passion is to help raise money for the arts. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Kitty Carlisle Hart will speak at a symposium at Virginia Wesleyan
on Saturday.
by CNB