to a local newspaper that he had bought prizes in a pawnshop across from the station, WTVJ, but the shop was closed before he could retrieve them for the show. Block also complained how the incident was reported by the Miami News columnist, Jack W. Roberts, including that he had described Block as a "former What's My Line? panelist." Block said he was better known as a producer and comedy writer. Block continued to write, having a story published in the Saturday Evening Post, "Hal Block's Inventions". In February 1957, Block was found guilty of drunk driving in Miami Beach, Florida, and for not having a valid driver's license. At the trial the arresting officer said Block, who had been staggering, refused to take a Drunkometer test (the original breathalyzer), was belligerent and told the officer he would regret arresting him because he was "a big man". By 1960 it was reported Block had moved into the investment business, but hoped to eventually return to television. Personal life During his early writing days, Block was friends with fellow comedy writers Bill Morrow, a Jack Benny writer, and Don Quinn, who wrote for Fibber McGee and Molly. During Block's years in radio and television, newspaper columns had linked him romantically to several actresses and singers including Nanette Fabray, Dorothea Pinto, and Joan Judson. Plans for marriage were reported between Block and Mitzi Green, and then later Kay Mallah, a showgirl. Green had been a childhood star and in 1941 was attempting to make a comeback at age twenty-one. Block, along with Herb Baker, was writing a Broadway show for her. When Block and Green split, he began seeing Dorothea Pinto, a chorus girl. Pinto once made some news while she was working at the Diamond Horseshoe nightclub in New York by punching one of the club's investors. Pinto appeared as a showgirl in Follow the Girls, which Block wrote. Block once explained he preferred being a bachelor because "wives were too expensive." Death On April 22, 1981, Block was seriously burned from a fire in his Chicago apartment. Block died in Edgewater Hospital, Chicago, on June 16, 1981, as a result of his injuries. He was survived by two sisters. Legacy Block remains a controversial figure in television history, denounced by some, while praised by others. Journalist Earl Wilson had once dubbed Block "a radio genius" and Bob Hope called Block