BEFORE: The original plan was to watch the Mel Brooks documentary right before this one, and that way about 9 or 10 people would carry over. But then my plans changed and a portion of the chain had to be flipped around, so originally I was going to link from "When We Went MAD!" to the Molly Ivins doc, but then that bad link meant I had to flip around a 9-movie section, but today I'm back where I always intended to be, we're linking back up with the original, non-flipped plan.
Dick Van Dyke was born in MISSOURI in 1925. This was very considerate of him to be born there, because it's a state that I have not profiled yet in this year's 50 Doc Block countdown's ongoing feature, "Get to Know a State".
Date admitted to the U.S.: Some say it was admitted on August 10, 1921. Others admit nothing, except that it's the 24th state.
Claim to fame: I dunno, Branson? That giant Gateway arch? Or probably just baseball and BBQ?
Nickname: The "Show Me" state. Bunch of exhibitionists and peeping Toms, most likely
State Motto: "Salus populi suprema lex esto", which is Latin for something. I'm tired.
State Flower: White hawthorn
State Bird: Eastern bluebird. In the Central U.S.? Wouldn't it then be the Central Bluebird?
State Fish: Channel catfish
State Mammal: Missouri mule
State Instrument: Fiddle
State Food: Ice cream. What, no BBQ?
State Tree: Flowering Dogwood
Notable Sports Teams: It's the Pennsylvania of the Midwest, I'm betting there are two of everything, like I know they have two baseball teams, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals. Or are they in Kansas? It's very confusing, isn't it? Huh, they only have one NFL team, the Chiefs. I think the St. Louis team moved somewhere else? And just one NHL team, the St. Louis Blues. Go figure. Basketball is apparently not allowed.
Fun Facts: "Show Me" is not even the official nickname of Missouri, there is NO official one. Some of the others include the Cave State, the Ozark State, the Iron Mountain State, the Lead State, the Mother of the West, and "that state with the giant arch thing that serves no purpose and is, I don't know, a gateway to something but I don't know what". Hey, what about "we're always in the middle of something" because they're in the middle of the country, and over the years the state has been right in the middle over slavery, the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, and then segregation and civil rights issues, I'll bet. A bunch of musicians also come from Missouri, like Chuck Berry, Tina Turner, Josephine Baker, Sheryl Crow, Michael McDonald, rappers Nelly, Chingy and Akon, and most recently Chappell Roan - along with like a zillion country singers, but you know, that's not really music in my book.
I have NOT been to Missouri, not ever. But since they have TWO distinct BBQ cities and styles, I would be down if we ever do a BBQ Crawl #4. Hey, North Carolina has two BBQ styles, and at least one of them is good. Now how do I convince my wife we need to drive across Missouri someday, like besides the Gateway Arch what is there to even DO there? Anyway, I'm holding at 22 visited out of 31, I might have peaked.
Conan O'Brien carries over from "Raise Hell: The Life & Times of Molly Ivins".
THE PLOT: Celebrating the life and career of legendary actor Dick Van Dyke, known for his iconic roles in "Mary Poppins", "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and his classic CBS sitcom. He has delighted audiences on screen and stage for eight decades.
AFTER: I was kind of born at the right time to be a Dick Van Dyke fan - my mother made SURE that I saw both "Mary Poppins" and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" as a small boy, so I could learn to appreciate the classics. Now, "Mary Poppins" was released four years before I was born, but there were repeat screenings or classic movies shown at the local library or something, because this was still years before VHS was a thing and LONG before DVDs. So I must have seen a revival showing or a re-release or something. I was born the same year as "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"'s release, so same deal, I was probably shown both when I was 6 or 7.
I want to thank the makers of this documentary for not including any footage of the terrifying "Child Snatcher" character, because I might have been triggered. I was terribly scared of this character as a child, an evil person who could smell where children are and was trying to capture them for some reason - I don't remember the reason but it could not have been good. I guess the upside maybe is that I learned to be very afraid of child snatchers and other predators, only later I found out there are people like that, and they're harder to spot, but they likewise need to be avoided. Yes, this was a character created by Roald Dahl, even though he did NOT write the book this movie was based on, he did work on the screenplay.
I think with all of the ups and downs presented here in Dick Van Dyke's career, and considering I kind of came in at a high point, I think I'm going to declare him one of the rare profiled subjects, like Fred Rogers, found to be free from the condition known as "Artist Brain". First off, he just seems really humble, like across the board. Kind, generous, very funny, a great dancer and singer, and very very funny. Sexy, too, if you believe all of his female co-stars from over the years. But he did go through a divorce and alcoholism and it took a few years for him to become an overnight success with his eponymous TV show. Even that wasn't really a super smash hit when it aired, but like "I Love Lucy" it got syndicated and reruns ran for DECADES and that's really how you become a household name.
Well, that and "Diagnosis: Murder", because in this third act he served on a procedural, all the older stars at the time were doing it - Andy Griffith, Angela Lansbury and umm, Gary Sinise. Part comedy, part drama and part crime show, that's what the old folks want to watch on CBS - the formula still holds true today with Kathy Bates taking over as the new "Matlock". And then for his unbelievable career resurgence at the age of 98+, he did a run on "Days of Our Lives", appeared on "The Masked Singer" and made a video for Coldplay. Oh, and he reprised his role of the very old banker, Mr. Dawes, in "Mary Poppins Returns", only he didn't need as much old-person make-up this time. OK, that's enough dancing, let's get you to bed, grandpa.
There's a whole middle act in this man's life that kind of got skipped here, and I'm talking about movies like "What a Way to Go!", "Divorce American Style", "Fitzwilly", "Some Kind of a Nut", and "Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N." - I mean, he worked in a lot of movies in the 1960's, but this doc would have you believe he didn't do a damn thing between "Mary Poppins" and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", which is not true. That's only true in MY childhood because those were the only Van Dyke movies I was allowed to watch! But let's not forget that he also starred in the Broadway musical "Bye Bye Birdie", and then carried over to the movie version, only he and Paul Lynde were in both.
Sure, we don't have three hours to discuss every little thing he did in his career, but I don't think we should skip over an entire decade just to fit everything in. Just saying. Sure, "The Dick Van Dyke Show" was a significant TV milestone, I just don't think it's the be-all and end-all of his career, which was much more varied than I ever realized. I mean, just listen to the interviews here with all of the comedians he inspired, many of them copied his style of physical comedy - Martin Short and Jim Carrey, for example. Sure, every teenager who bought that Velvet Underground record started a band, but every young awkward kid who watched "The Dick Van Dyke Show" got into prop comedy.
Directed by John Scheinfeld (director of "What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?")
Also starring Julie Andrews (last seen in "Blake Edwards: A Love Story in 24 Frames"), Jim Carrey (ditto), Emily Blunt (last seen in "Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story"), Pat Boone (last seen in "Paul Anka: His Way"), Carol Burnett (last seen in "Dear Ms.: A Revolution in Print"), Ted Danson (last seen in "Big Miracle"), Eric Deggans, Karen Dotrice (last seen in "Walt: The Man Behind the Myth"), Colin Firth (last seen in "ABBA: Super Troupe"), Larry Mathews, Steve Martin (last seen in "Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!"), Lin-Manuel Miranda (last seen in "When We Went MAD!"), Victoria Rowell (last seen in "Eve's Bayou"), Martin Short (last seen in "Lorne"),
with archive footage of Dick Van Dyke (last seen in "Being Mary Tyler Moore"), Morey Amsterdam (ditto), Richard Deacon (ditto), Rose Marie (ditto), Desi Arnaz (last seen in "Pee-Wee as Himself"), Bea Arthur (also last seen in "Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!"), Sid Caesar (ditto), Dick Cavett (ditto), Anthony Hopkins (ditto), Buster Keaton (ditto), Jimmy Kimmel (ditto), Harvey Korman (ditto), Groucho Marx (ditto), Carl Reiner (ditto), Scott Baio (last seen in "Pamela: A Love Story"), Lucille Ball (last seen in "Being Eddie"), Warren Beatty (last seen in "Madonna: Goddess of Pop"), Ken Berry, Gower Champion, Tim Conway (last seen in "A Disturbance in the Force"), James Cromwell (last seen in "Species II"), Walter Cronkite (last seen in "Cheech & Chong's Last Movie"), Ed Sullivan (ditto), Richard Dawson (last seen in "The Running Man"), Sam Denoff, Walt Disney (last seen in "The Electric State"), Charles Durning (last seen in "I Am Burt Reynolds"), Buddy Ebsen (also last seen in "When We Went MAD!"), Phil Erickson, Matthew Garber, Andy Griffith (last seen in "Lucy and Desi"), Adrian Hall, Oliver Hardy (also last seen in "Blake Edwards: A Love Story in 24 Frames"), Stan Laurel (ditto), Rob Marshall (ditto), Sally Ann Howes, John F. Kennedy (last seen in "Devo"), Martin Luther King Jr. (last seen in "Roberta"), Hope Lange, Angela Lansbury (last seen in "Call Me Kate"), Sheldon Leonard, Chris Martin (last seen in "Music by John Williams"), Mary Tyler Moore (also last seen in "Dear Ms.: A Revolution in Print"), Emily Mortimer (last seen in "Jay Kelly"), Bill Persky, John Rich, Heather Ripley, Chita Rivera (last seen in "Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple"), Arlene Silver, Fred Silverman, Danny Thomas, David Tomlinson, Ben Whishaw (last heard in "Paddington in Peru")
and narration by Fred Applegate
RATING: 6 out of 10 daily workout sessions - thank God that he believes that his longevity is due to his positive outlook, because that means I don't have to exercise like him.
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