These days, I’m gaffawing way too often. The nose snorts I laid to rest in junior high are making a comeback. My lack of control and increasing social disfunction is the fault of the cast and writers of the The Dick Van Dyke Show.
This classic sit com debuted in 1961. I was in kindergarten that year, so my recollections of the show’s premier season are a bit fuzzy. My memories are more of the syndicated reruns we watched with Dad after school, before Mom came home from school. The show’s physical comedy and slapstick tickled my funny bone, and the humor in Carl Reiner’s razor sharp writing, which went over my head, made Dad laugh until the tears streamed down his face.
For the past few weeks, I have enjoyed watching the Season One DVD with adult sensibilities. The writing is crisp and for the most part, not dated. Dick Van Dyke as Rob Petrie and Mary Tyler Moore as his wife Laura play off one another skillfully. Scenes that allow them to show off their dancing and singing talents are regularly written into the script. And, it’s refreshing to see their characters navigate their relationship and remain in love despite their shortcomings and foiables.
When the supporting characters (Morey Amsterdam as Buddy Sorrell, Rose Marie as Sally Rogers and Richard Deacon as Mel Cooley) enter the mix, they start me snickering without saying a word just like when I was a kid. Trained on the vaudeville stage, Amsterdam and Rogers faces and body language are hilarious. But the concept of a show within a show (Rob Petrie is the head writer for the fictional Alan Brady Show, with Buddy and Sally as his co-workers) makes much more sense to me now than in my younger days. Reiner uses clever writing to exploit the device to full advantage.
If you’re caught up in the sixties retro fashion craze, their wardrobes (especially Moore’s), house decoration, and furnishings will be flashback eye candy. Even better, Van Dyke and Moore are living eye candy. With their extensive dance backgrounds, they move with breathtaking grace. Van Dyke’s ability to do physical sight gags is astounding and lightening quick.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to finish the first season of The Dick Van Dyke Show before it was due back at the library. I’m looking forward to checking it out again after reading the Wikipedia and the Museum of Broadcast Communication entries about the show. Apparently, Carl Reiner use of the show to parallel the Kennedy’s Camelot years in the White House and to spoof current events went right over my little head in the early 1960s.
But not any more. Armed with the background provided at the two sites, watching the rest of Season One will be more fun than before. Sure hope the library has Seasons Two, Three, Four, and Five, also!
