The host and the contestant-criminal
What's My Crime? is a television quiz show that Cruella de Vil's lazy and incompetent henchmen Jasper and Horace Badun watch in the living room of Hell Hall at evening in the 1961 Disney film One Hundred and One Dalmatians. Shown only once during the film, the contestant-criminal in handcuffs comes before a panel of various guessers attempting to guess their specific illegal activity. If celebrity panelists fail to guess the unusual crime correctly within ten questions, then the criminal wins a two-week vacation at a seaside resort "all expenses paid", but of course only after they finish serving time for their crimes.
Panel[]
- Inspector Graves: he always questions 1, 4, 7, 10;
- Miss Birdwell: she always questions 2, 5, 8;
- Mr. Simpkins: he always questions 3, 6, 9.
Contestant[]
The only known contestant is Mr. Percival Fauncewater, a burglar by trade and former acquaintance of Jasper and Horace, who refer to that stupid as "Old Meathead". His crime in this case was not revealed, but it wasn't robbery, homicide, or violation of a city ordinance.
Appearances[]
The Hundred and One Dalmatians[]
Jasper and Saul debate on how they could get on their favourite TV program being What's My Crime?, in which two ladies and two gentlemen, in faultless evening dress, had to guess the crime committed by a lady or gentleman in equally faultless evening dress, before realizing that the abduction and skinning of nearly a hundred puppies is a way that can get them on the show. So, for an hour in order to watch the latest episode of this must-see TV show, the two fail to notice that Dalmatians are escaping. In the closing of the book, they are arrested and are hoping to make an appearance on that popular reality show of the day sometime soon and have their 15 minutes of fame.
One Hundred and One Dalmatians[]
What's My Crime? first appears when Cruella de Vil is ordering Jasper and Horace to kill and skin the puppies, namely because the authorities are now scouring their area and will find them soon. She turns off the TV when they fail to acknowledge her and the two criminals inform her that the puppies aren't big enough for the amount of coats she wants. The Dalmatians watch the show as well, and they seem interested. Cruella tells them to settle for what they can get and leaves vowing to call the police if they fail to complete "the job" by morning. Horace and Jasper choose to finish watching their favorite show anyway, and they see their former acquaintance, Mr. Fauncewater, as a contestant for that specific episode, calling him "Old Meathead". Despite the panel of experts guessing wrong, Horace and Jasper seem to know what his crime was or most likely was. While the criminals watch the show, the puppies escape with help from Sergeant Tibbs and the panel manages to ask only three of the ten questions, the answer to all of which being "no", before the show's time expires at 19:58. The show then concludes with the host asking Mr. Fauncewater to come back next week at the same time then they can finish their game. The guard puts his hand on Mr. Fauncewater, preparing to bring him back to his cell as all convicted felons. After it ends, Jasper and Horace prepare to do their job, only to see Sergeant Tibbs escape with the last puppy.
Trivia[]
- The show is a parody of the classic game show What's My Line?, which ran on CBS from 1950 to 1967 and had the same premise, except with a panel of guests guessing a contestant's unusual occupation, rather than crime. Walt Disney himself appeared on the show as a mystery guest on a 1956 episode.
- The show's British host was modeled after character actor Paul Wexler, who was filmed for reference footage of the Quizmaster and Jasper Badun.
- Inspector Graves is the policeman of Scotland Yard in the Agatha Christie's novel The Moving Finger. He is of course also the police who investigated the puppies' kidnapping called by Roger Radcliffe when he answered the phone.
- Female panelist Miss Birdwell is voiced by Betty Lou Gerson, who also voiced Cruella in the film. The character shares a similar name with Ms. Birdwell from Kronk's New Groove.
Gallery[]
