There's a new Dick Van Dyke documentary. He's not 100 until December 13, but the news item made it sound like it's any day now, and I basically wrote today's post before checking, so this is what we got.
Maybe it's a little premature. Still, he is 99, although spry as a normal 60 year old. The others are all gone- Laura and Sally and Buddy, Mel and Alan and (I guess) Marge, Jerry and Millie. His brother Stacy, too.
The Sandwich Guy is still around-
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| Jamie Farr |
but no one else outlived the Dancer. More power to doing things that are fun for a living.
One of the most cherished items in my humble video stash is the complete Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-66). It's the ultimate comfort TV; can be totally in the background for household chores, a (generally) happy sight/sound, lighting up its little box with uniquely comedic situations.
There are however, episodes I'll never watch. I don't want to step on the toes of any other hard-core DVD fans (the SNL skit about the Joey Bishop fans comes to mind). But really- it's like watching your parents' friends trying to act silly.
Sitcoms of the early 60s were still close enough to Vaudeville to throw in a little of the old soft-shoe-and-moxie.
(Oh my god, what did they do to his head? It's like half of a gigantic cheese wheel!)
And the Dick Van Dyke Show was a show about show biz. They even brought back a few Old Time Radio folks to play characters now and then.
And of course there was (wheep-boom!) Rose Marie, who was about as show-busy as they got!
The brief interaction of these two distinct periods- kick-in-the-slats vaudeville and buttoned-down entertainment television- created some historic moments of Cringe, as the artists struggled to adapt strategies that worked better on stage. This generally resulted in kind of half-baked "impromptu" song and dance routines that were silly without being particularly charming.
There is one Dick Van Dyke episode, however, that blows apart any restraint, a dive into full Holiday Season Cringe: the 1963 Christmas Show.
(I take it the apparatus on the right is supposed to represent a Fella.)
"Well, pa-rump-a-pum-PUM!", as motivational speaker Matt Foley would say.
"My tuba, my tuba, they love to hear my tuba! BRA-BRA, BRABRABRA!"
It's like watching your parents and the neighbors put on a talent show. For your friends.
There was also emotional awkwardness, usually involving Sally or Richie. For instance, Rob's uncle making a play for Sally was depicted in all its poignant embarrassingness.
(Although I will say, Denver Pyle is the guy who should have been playing Rob's Dad. Not only does he look like Rob and Stacy, he's a nut.
It would have filled out Rob's character like George's parents on Seinfeld. As it was, Rob had 3 dads, including a couple little bald guys.
As if.)
Finally, there were awkward episodes where they would, essentially, go off-character for the sake of the plot. Rob would inexplicably turn nit-picky or adopt an adolescent attitude about his marriage, thus, pathos. But the strength of the characters was in how they applied their innate good sense; they were pretty bright folks, and when the plot twist depended on one or both being childish, it never rang true.
On the good side, though, with all the intentional awkwardness, there were times when it kind of sparked and turned meta. Such as the show biz debut of Little Mel.
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| Shut up, Little Mel! |
And Fred Blassie
(5-times former world's heavyweight wrestling champeen, and sworn enemy of Pencilnecks everywhere), who gets curious about why Rob picked the hottest day of the summer to button up his collar all the way. (There's also some Cringe in this episode, when they launch a new dance sensation.)
(Not this part.)
Further fun may be found at the Internet Archive. At least for the time being.
