[2] As a frequent guest panelist on What's My Line?, Lewis's blindfold featured a sketched pair of glasses.

87 over on Amsterdam Avenue, where one gets a pretty good idea of true democracy," Lewis remarked in 1954.

I didn't know there was a Jewish problem until I had graduated from high school and was in college," where fraternities discriminated against him.

[7] In 1931, a 10-year-old Lewis made his debut on the local radio show "Dr. Posner's Kiddie Hour.

[8] He enrolled in the University of Michigan in 1938, where he was a member of Phi Sigma Delta (later merged into Zeta Beta Tau),[9] and graduated in 1941.

He was thinking of radio comedian F. Chase Taylor's character Colonel Lemuel Q. Stoopnagle, and "when I signed off, I declared 'This is Robert Q.

[15] Simon, Chayefsky, and Ace headed a CBS team of comedy writers that acted largely as "script doctors" for existing shows in need of fixing.

A review in the trade publication Variety called Lewis "a bright spot on the afternoon spectrum.

[18] Besides Lewis's many guest appearances on variety programs and game shows in the early years of TV, his favorite medium as host continued with radio, first for CBS and later as a disc jockey in Los Angeles.

's Waxworks, was devoted to playing old records, setting a pattern that later radio personalities such as Dr. Demento would follow.

The Robert Q. Lewis Show had a six-month run on CBS's Sunday night lineup from July 16, 1950 to January 7, 1951.

Similar to the concurrent Arthur Godfrey show, the Lewis program featured a company of regulars: singers Earl Wrightson, Lois Hunt, Jaye P. Morgan, and Jan Arden; dancer Don Liberto; announcer Lee Vines, and bandleader Ray Bloch.

[5] The show featured a celebrity panel trying to guess the identities of contestants who had famous names: Napoleon Bonaparte, Marilyn Monroe, Virginia Beach, etc.

At the end of the August 31, 1954 broadcast, Lewis frankly told his viewers that the show would not be back the following week, and he didn't know if it would be returning.

"My kind of show -- the informal, anything-goes daytime thing -- is in disrepute since filmed syndication took over [i.e., local stations filling afternoon hours with their own libraries of movies and TV episodes] and it's affected all of us -- [Arthur] Godfrey, [Garry] Moore.

Jackie Gleason invited "Robert Q. Lewis and His Gang" to take over his American Scene Magazine time slot while he was away.

[26] In January 1965 he was the substitute host of To Tell the Truth for four weeks, while moderator Bud Collyer was convalescing from a heart attack.

These emergency replacements became part of Lewis's comic monologue; he'd tell how he called his mother asking her to watch him on CBS, only to hear her say, "Oh?

He frequently revived old Tin Pan Alley tunes on his radio and TV shows, and in his very popular nightclub act.

In 1967, he recorded I'm Just Wild About Vaudeville for Atco—this collection of circa-1930 songs has Lewis cleverly imitating different singing styles of the day.

[27] Lewis's fondness for show-business nostalgia was well known within the industry, and in 1949 he was hired to narrate the "lighter side" segment of the feature-length March of Time documentary film The Golden Twenties.

He was too busy to pursue a movie career at the time because of his hectic radio, television, and nightclub schedule.

[28] Later in his career, Lewis acted in a few movies, notably An Affair to Remember (1957), Good Neighbor Sam (1964), Ski Party (1965), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967), Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972), and the TV movie The Law (1974), in which he played a dinner speaker at a lawyers' convention.

He also appeared on a number of television series, including Room for One More; The Hathaways; Branded; The Patty Duke Show; Ichabod and Me; Bewitched; Love, American Style; and Emergency!, among others.

A 1954 report syndicated by United Press International commented on his busy schedule that included recording sessions, nightclub dates, and telethons: "Now with 12 radio and TV shows a week, Lewis will no longer have time to be Godfrey's stand-in.

Comedian Orson Bean told entertainment historian Kliph Nesteroff an "inside show biz" joke that made the rounds: "There's the story about the guy who falls off a building, hits an awning as he's coming down, slides off the awning as a hay truck is driving by, and lands right in the hay.

Lewis wryly commented on his underemployment in a press release for one of his records: "With this recording Robert Q. Lewis adds a glorious new chapter to his long career as disc jockey, comedian, panel moderator, replacement, actor, and bartender.

"[31] Beginning in 1961, when his television work dried up temporarily, Lewis became a familiar face on the live-theater circuit.

"[32] Lewis starred in road-company versions of Broadway hits, including The Tunnel of Love, The Seven Year Itch, Bells Are Ringing, Cabaret, and The Odd Couple.

"[33] Robert Q. Lewis was a lifelong collector of paintings and sculptures, ranging from fine artworks to circus posters.