Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_11yf7ff in todayilearned
Van isn't a middle name, it's part of a Dutch surname. Dick is his first name, Van Dyke is his last name.
Reiner worked with Mel Brooks and a writers room full of future legends, including Neil Simon, on "Your Show of Shows" with Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca which ran from 1950-54.
Yeah, Dick Van Dyke was more of an acceptable leading man at the time and Reiner wrote himself as the Sid Caesar character, Alan Brady.
More than that. Reiner and Mel brooks watched a movie together every night until Reiner died.
There's a great interview with one of the writers on the Dick Van Dyke Show— of which there were three.
I'll link it if someone promises to watch it. It's fantastic, really some great stories about Reiner in there.
The one that comes to mind is one day a new studio executive came into the office, and he had been making waves firing staff, reworking complete teams— he was productions Voldemort— he came into the studio, put his legs up on the table and said
"Let me tell you what comedy means to me..."
And Reiner sat down next to him and put on an expression of deep listening, understanding, and reverence— this was all an act of course, then he got up, took the loafer off of the Executives foot and threw it out of the window; turned to the man and said— That's what comedy means to me.
That executive never came around ever again.
Absolutely hilarious.
Reiner is my favorite character in the Dick Van Dyke show.
Note: Ignore the intro, and the hosts:
I went to an honoring event for Mel Brooks at the Paley Center for Media in Los Angeles a few years back, and Reiner was hovering around at the reception. Then in the theatre he lovingly heckled Mel from the back of the room. You could tell just how close they were.
Back when the Friar's Club was still open on the West Coast, the old legends used to hang out including Sid Caesar and Milton Berle who'd show up now and then. I was a young nobody who snuck out of work to grab Thursday lunches and was grateful to catch a glimpse of these guys before they passed away. Caesar in particular was very gracious, always eager to impart some wisdom (usually about diet and exercise) to us young punks.
Reminds me of the Sid Caesar cab story as told by Brooks
"There's a great interview with one of the writers on the Dick Van Dyke Show— of which there were three."
They used a plethora of writers. Reiner himself wrote about a third. Bill Persky and Sam Denoff wrote a lot, and became the script consultants (finishers). Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson wrote a lot, and then the rest were spread out among others. Bill Idelson, who played Herman Glimpsher, wrote a few scripts.
Not exactly, from what I understand there were people they accepted scripts from, but we're not employed by the show.
You're probably talking about Reiner, and then Persky and Denoff who succeeded him as "Story Consultants." They would be the rewrite guys who would punch up a script and make sure the tone was consistent with the show in general. Persky and Denoff got bit roles in the last filmed episode, "The Gunslinger." Garry Marshall was also in the episode, along with at least one other.
Mel and Carl were not just frequent collaborators, but also lifelong best friends. Rob Reiner recalls much of his childhood watching his dad and "Uncle Mel" trying to write material and laughing their asses off at what they could come up with. It's one of the reasons he was inspired to get into directing. And he gave us The Princess Bride and This is Spinal Tap. Likewise Mel Brooks kids referred to Carl Reiner as "Uncle Carl."
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When Carl Reiner was informed that there was interest in rebooting the show, he told the producers, “It didn’t work. The show was cancelled.”
They told him, “Don’t worry about it. We’ll get a better actor to play you.”
The great Sheldon Leonard is the one who actually sat Reiner down and told him that he was the problem with the pilot. Leonard also saved the show after the low-rated first season by convincing sponsors to continue their funding.
IMO still the greatest sitcom of all time. 60 years old and it still makes me laugh.
the greats will always hold up
I Love Lucy
Mary Tyler Moore
Perry Mason
Twilight Zone
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Robbbbbbbbbbbbb!
I confused him with his son, Rob, and thought 'Damn! He's older than I thought!'
The colorized version of the title card in the Wikipedia article upsets me. Shows that originally aired in black & white should remain that way.
Just a few days ago I watched a documentary on Amazon about Rose Marie who played Sally—she really wanted the show to have one more season and do it in color. Her husband used to film rehearsals with a color home movie camera, so there is some silent footage of them on set (in casual clothes, hair in curlers, etc). None of the decor is the color you think it is! I highly recommend the Rose Marie documentary—her life is like an encyclopedia of 20th century entertainment.
Totally agree. At least it's identified as being colorized -- but it would be far better in b&w.
Carl Reiner wrote the original pilot, known as "Head of the Family" and named the main character Rob, after his son, Rob Reiner
A an old show that is still hilarious today. Stood the test of time because of great writing and cast.
Given the time I wonder how much it had to do having a network show with a Jewish man as the lead?
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Danny Thomas was a Lebanese Catholic (hence founding a hospital in the name of his favorite saint, St. Jude.) very much NOT Jewish.
Comment deleted. I don't know where I read it but I saw somewhere that says he was. My mistake!
Fair enough, so many early TV comedy guys were Jewish (like Jack Benny, Sid Caesar, etc)…somehow you picked the one who was not!
Not to mention that Danny Thomas pretty much bankrolled the DVD Show.
The Dick Van Dyke Show was bankrolled by it then network, NBC, but Sheldon Leonard, it's main producer used Danny Thomas' production company as its production service company.
Wait, they had DVD's back then?
;-)
Danny Thomas was Lebanese!
Sid Caesar was Jewish, and so was Milton Berle, and both had shows that had aired on TV before The Dick Van Dyke Show.
And I'm sure Molly Goldberg predates them all.
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Lots of people love some Dick!
Instead of Ritchie we coulda had Meathead
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I have just started watching this show in the last month or so and I love it. And Mary Tyler Moore was a fox!
interesting to watch these shows for changes in social attitudes. Like, everyone knows that Rob and Laura slept in separate beds, but how many people realize that "oops!" he accidentally married her, semi-illegally, when she was 17?
he look awfully good, been dating adrena ???😁
And then when NBC was going to do the Larry David Show, Larry told them "No, I've seen how that plays out, get someone young and handsome(?) to star in it" and that's how we got Seinfeld.
This is probably not true because I pulled this out of my ass.
Dick just wrecked his car. I thought he died years ago. Nope, I bet he’s done driving.
I hate the whole “The X Show starring X as Y” thing. The show should be named for its lead character, not its lead actor.
jamescookenotthatone OP t1_jd7b7tk wrote
I learned this from Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast,
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vZ2lsYmVydC1nb3R0ZnJpZWQ/episode/YjRmMTYyODQtZGQ2Ni0xMWViLTg5MGMtOTc1NDhlNGZlY2Ji?ep=14
Also,
Dyke appearantly never took a dancing lesson, just did what he was told by choreographers.
Dyke has had terrible arthritis since atleast when he was 40 and was expected to be in a wheelchair by the time he was 50. He just didn't.