Van Dyke at 99
Today is Dick Van Dyke's 99th birthday, which is not shabby by any standard. Oddly, he almost didn't make it, though not for health reasons. You may have read about the major wildfires in Malibu, and that's where he lives. I saw a story on the news where he talked about the personal distress he was in. It seems his guest host was on fire, and he went out to put it out, but had difficulty untangling the hose. Between the smoke and effort it took, he said he was so exhausted, he had to crawl to his car. A neighbor came by the check on him, helped as much as possible with the guest house, and drove him to safety. In the interview, he was back at home and looking rested and good.
I've only crossed paths with Dick Van Dyke once. It was several decades ago, when I worked at Universal Pictures, and we had a screening of a new movie he attended. It came during the period of his life that he's openly talked about, when he dealt with a drinking problem -- my recollection is that this came a bit after that, and was more in a recovery phase. He was fine, but seemed somewhat subdued, so I didn't want to intrude. The story isn't much more than that, but for me, it's enough. Though actually, it's even better, since I've kept that memory in mind when I've seen for the past 30 years or so how he turned that all around and has been so utterly outgoing and full of joy. (If you want much better stories, go to the website of my pal Mark Evanier, who's friendly with the follow for years and has written about him from time to time. Just do a search for Dick Van Dyke on the site here.)
I did see him on stage in Los Angeles in 1980 as 'Prof. Harold Hill' in The Music Man -- though that's another matter entirely. Not shockingly, he was very good. He played the part as a sort of "aw shucks," just one of the gang fellow, and conned his way into the town like that. He was a pure treat, though I'll acknowledge that the show works best for my taste when it's done as a fast-talking, big city outsider, because the contrast add conflict. That said, the production, which I think was only set for sure to have this L.A. run, was terrific and such a big hit it later went to Broadway, and as far as performance goes, he was a joy.
How much a joy? Well, I wrote about seeing the production back in 2013, and even found a video of the "Marian the Librarian" number, which I embedded. You can can more details about the show here -- but I'll make it easy for you to see what a joy he was by including the video below. (There's a moment at the 2:00 mark that's so smooth and endearing it's hard not to break into smile at -- and you can hear the audience laugh and applaud.) The video and sound quality isn't very good (though it improves), but...well, so what. It sure beats not having a record of this.
I'll add that I also saw him and Carol Burnett on stage in Los Angeles in the two-person comedy, Same Time, Next Year. They were great.
But back to the point of this all -- the video he made with Coldplay lead man Chris Martin has been making the rounds in an extended cut, which there's a good chance you've seen. The official, shorter music video got released today on his birthday. I'll post the long version below.
What many probably haven't seen, though, is the appearance Dick Van Dyke and Chris Martin made on Jimmy Kimmel's show last week. It was charming and entertaining, but what I liked most was how respectful Martin was of Van Dyke -- not only how he stands back when they enter, but also then waits in place to let the legend get his due. And when the older man stumbles a bit getting in the chair, Martin hurries over. His joy at working with Dick Van Dyke is palpable, and when he says it was the most fun he's had working, it's easy to believe, or at least that it's in the Top Five. Though the best is when he answers a question from Dick Van Dyke with a hilarious, honest and well-phrased answer. I'll only say it concerns ragtime music.
So, before we get to the music video, here first is that interview --
Comments