On the left, right, and middle, Orson Bean
When I was growing up, I didn't know a lot about Orson Bean . I knew that he was a panelist on "To Tell the Truth" (along with Bill Cullen, Peggy Cass, and Kitty Carlisle, plus host Garry Moore), and that he went to Australia . I was a bit surprised when he popped up in an audiobook by Bob Edwards about Edward R. Murrow . And therein lies a story : CrankyCritic: We can joke about not being seen on the coasts, but you did get whacked by the infamous Hollywood Black List , too. Orson Bean : I was never bitter. I was horny for a Communist girl and she dragged me to some meetings and that's why I got blacklisted. Everybody in those days wanted to end the black list. I ran on a slate of AFTRA and was elected first VP of the New York Local. For my pains, they dug up this stuff about me and, I went from being the hot comic on the Ed Sullivan Show to not working for a year. However, I got a Broadway show. At the end of that year Ed Sullivan called me up, as he promised