Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion

Year 18, Day 215 - 8/3/26 - Movie #5,393 - SQC DOC BLOCK FILM #32

BEFORE: OK, tonight's film was another last-minute addition to bring my Doc Block total up to the very round number of fifty - I honestly don't know much about Mr. Mackie or fashion in general, but remember, I'm here to learn, so teach me, HBO Max!

I'm also quite stuck for a U.S. state to profile today in conjunction with the film - Bob Mackie is a California guy, born in Monterey Park and went to City College in Pasadena, but I've done California already. The film also shows him attending the Met Gala in NYC, but I covered New York, too. And he designed outfits for showgirls in Las Vegas - well, guess what, I profiled Nevada, too. I wish I'd known that the doc shows him visiting his great-grandchildren in Idaho, I could have saved Idaho for tonight instead of comically linking it to "When We Went MAD!" 

I was thinking about Rhode Island, it's a pretty fashionable state, plus I think Taylor Swift has a house in Newport, and she shows up in this doc - by now she probably has a house in every state so that's ultimately a bit meaningless. I'm just going to Google Bob Mackie with the name of the seven random states and pick the one where the most meaningful or random result emerges. Ah, here we go, the Canady Creative Arts Center at West Virginia University has hosted theatrical productions of "The Cher Show" which features his Tony Award-winning costume designs. That's definitely an odd but perhaps meaningful (to somebody) result. So tonight's "Get to Know a State" feature will be on WEST VIRGINIA. 

Date admitted to the U.S.: June 20, 1863 (35th state)

Claim to fame: Probably that John Denver song about "Country Roads"

Nickname: Mountain state, or "Mountain Mama" if you like that song

State Motto: "Montani semper liberi" which is Latin for "Mountaineers Are Always Free", well, they may not always be free but they're a heck of a bargain.

State Flower: Rhododendron 

State Bird: Cardinal

State Fish: Brook Trout

State Mammal: Black bear

State Insect: Honey bee

State Firearm: Harpers Ferry M1819 Hall Rifle. I am not joking.

State Rock: Bituminous coal

State Tree: Sugar maple

Notable Sports Teams: Nope. Just the WVU Mountaineers and some minor-league teams.

Fun Facts: In the 17th century, the territory was the site of the Beaver Wars, which was not as sexy or funny as it sounds. It was a conflict between Native American tribes, I guess over beaver pelts? The original attempt to create a state there, due to social conditions being very different from the eastern part of Virginia, would have created a stated named "Westsylvania", I guess because it would have taken a chunk out of Pennsylvania, too. Anyway the first attempt didn't work so I guess they waited 100 years and tried again. In the late 18th century, saltpeter miners found a bunch of animal bones in some caves and they turned out to be from a prehistoric sloth, which eventually became known as Jefferson's three-toed sloth and was later declared the official state fossil in 2008. Yeah, tell me these people don't know how to have fun!

Carol Burnett carries over from "Starring Dick Van Dyke"

AFTER: Bob Mackie, a six-decade costume designer, received a Lifetime Achievement award and a Tony nomination for The Cher Show. His unique, unfiltered style has been showcased in this new documentary. 

There's a big focus here on two TV shows from the 1970's, which Bob Mackie did all of the costuming for - one is "The Carol Burnett Show" and you don't really think of Carol Burnett as a fashion icon, maybe, but Bob Mackie sure tried to make her into one!  She did wear a number of gowns on the show, I think I remember she was always dressed very well when she took questions from the audience. But Mackie also did ALL of the costumes in ALL of the skits on that show, not just the famous "Gone With the Wind" parody of Scarlett O'Hara turning her drapes into a gown - on Burnett's show Scarlett left in the gigantic curtain rod, and it's one of the best sight gags in TV history, and this doc certainly will not let us forget about that. 

But he also worked on "The Sonny & Cher Show", remember that variety TV was very big back then, and when the famous couple split Cher kept that show going in her own name for a couple of years. And of course Cher had to have a new outfit for every show, the more colorful the better, getting more outrageous as the show went on. So if you add up all the years, he created about 17,000 costumes for the entire cast of "The Carol Burnett Show", and then for Cher's shows probably another 20,000 at least. Nothing for Sonny Bono, though, because nobody gave a shit about what HE was wearing. They probably said, "Umm, just bring something from home, Sonny..."

That got Mackie a gig on two episodes of "The Love Boat", playing himself. Well, geez, it's all gravy after that, isn't it? I mean, you know you've made it when you get to go on a pretend cruise to Puerto Vallarta without ever leaving a Hollywood soundstage. PLUS you get to be in the montage at the start of the show, before Ted Lange did his famous "double finger-guns salute". If you know, you know. 

But it turns out Mackie had a longer and more varied career than all that - he worked on the iconic dress Marilyn Monroe wore when she serenaded John F. Kennedy at MSG, he designed costumes for the Supremes and the Temptations, and Oscar-nominated for "Lady Sings the Blues", starring Diana Ross. The burlesque shows "Hallelujah Hollywood" and "Jubilee" in Las Vegas featured his designs, and I think so did the infamous "Star Wars" holiday special. And yet he still found work after that. All the crazy outfits that Cher ever wore to the Oscars - yes, even THAT one - and evening gowns for Whitney Houston, too. Special weeks on "Wheel of Fortune" when Vanna got the glam-up, and special outfits for Barbie dolls, too. 

The really funny thing seems to be that Bob Mackie gowns were once considered to be so over-the-top that they were almost too wild, too crazy - and now with what we're seeing at the Met gala each year, by comparison those old designs by Mackie are quaint or tame. Society as a whole went crazy after social media started, with everyone famous trying to out-do the other, and some people went so beyond with it they ended up light years past where Mackie started. Does that make sense? Anyway, this film shows Mackie attending the Met gala (or approaching it, at least, I'm not sure if he ever got there and was allowed in...) and also getting a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and I have to also wonder if they've always been on his side over the years, or if they came around over time. 

Then there's that trip to Idaho to see his great-grandchildren. Yes, the very gay Bob Mackie, whose business and life partner was costume designer Ray Aghayan, was once married to a woman named Lulu Porter, an actress and singer, and they had a son, Robert Gordon Mackie, who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1993, following drug use. Bob and Lulu had divorced in 1963, but remained close friends, they grieved their son together, then learned years later their son had a daughter before he died, and so they now share a granddaughter and some great-grandchildren. It's a perfectly normal thing unless you want to make it seem weird. If Bob Mackie wants to be a late-life grandparent that's certainly within his rights. 

Mackie is also a character in "The Cher Show", a jukebox musical that has THREE actresses performing as Cher in different stages of her life. They rejected the title I suggested, which was "Cher and Cher Alike" - I get it, not everybody loves puns as much as I do. Still, it's a problem that Cher was given so much screen time here, she basically hijacked this documentary and made it all about herself. Did somebody forget whose name is in the TITLE of this film? Sure, I get that if you get the chance to interview Cher, you interview Cher, but this was really supposed to be all about the OUTFITS she wore, not her personal vendetta against The Academy.

Directed by Matthew Miele (director of "Always at the Carlyle")

Also starring Bob Mackie (last seen in "A Disturbance in the Force"), Gregg Barnes, Michael Berresse, Cher (last seen in "Child Star"), Miley Cyrus (ditto), Tom Ford, Mitzi Gaynor (last seen in "Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It"), Bill Greening, Jenelle Hamilton, Steven Kolb, Vicki Lawrence (last heard in "The Fox and the Hound 2"), Fern Mallis, Joe McFate, Booth Moore, Martin Nolan, Mel Ottenberg, Bernadette Peters (last heard in "Being Mary Tyler Moore"), Pink (last seen in "Thanks for Sharing"), Lulu Porter, Zac Posen, Law Roach, Hal Rubenstein, RuPaul (last seen in "Diana Ross: Supreme Sensation"), George Schlatter (last heard in "Sid & Judy"), Jeffrey Seller, Jan Strimple, Flody Suarez

with archive footage of Fred Astaire (last seen in "When We Went MAD!"), Candice Bergen (ditto), Lucille Ball (also carrying over from "Starring Dick Van Dyke"), Tim Conway (ditto), Beyonce (also last seen in "Diana Ross: Supreme Sensation"), Bette Davis (ditto), Chaz Bono, Sonny Bono (last seen in "Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer"), James Caan (last seen in "Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!"), Liza Minnelli (ditto), Diahann Carroll (also last seen in "Being Eddie"), Terry Crews (ditto), Whitney Houston (ditto), Gene Kelly (ditto), Prince (ditto), Carol Channing (last seen in "Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything"), Farrah Fawcett (ditto), Bette Midler (ditto), Brooke Shields (ditto), Taylor Swift (ditto), Joan Collins (last seen in "Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie"), Marlene Dietrich, Sam Elliott (last seen in "Draft Day"), Sally Field (last seen in "Tom Hanks: The Nomad"), Jane Fonda (last seen in "The Luckiest Man in America"), Judy Garland (last seen in "Mister Rogers: It's You I Like"), Whoopi Goldberg (ditto), Lillian Gish (last seen in "Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold"), Betty Grable (last seen in "Follow the Fleet"), Fred Grandy (last seen in "Devo"), Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (ditto), Bernie Kopell (ditto), Sean Hayes (last seen in "Sr."), Rita Hayworth (last seen in "They'll Love Me When I'm Dead"), John Michael Higgins (last seen in "Big Miracle"), Michael Jackson (last seen in "Cheech & Chong's Last Movie"), Elton John (ditto), Diana Ross (ditto), Andy Kaufman (last seen in "Lorne"), John F. Kennedy (also carrying over from "Starring Dick Van Dyke"), Harvey Korman (ditto), Steve Martin (ditto), Heidi Klum, Ted Lange, Jared Leto (last seen in "Haunted Mansion"), Carole Lombard, Jennifer Lopez (last seen in "Atlas"), Jane Lynch (last seen in "A.C.O.D."), Gavin MacLeod (also last seen in "Being Mary Tyler Moore"), Ann-Margret (also last seen in "A Disturbance in the Force"), Raquel Welch (ditto), Jill Whelan (ditto), Eric McCormack (last seen in "Remembering Gene Wilder"), Michael McKean (last seen in "Love to Love You, Donna Summer"), Debra Messing (last seen in "The Alto Knights"), Carmen Miranda, Marilyn Monroe (last seen in "My Mom Jayne"), Jack Nicholson (also last seen in "When We Went MAD!"), Gwyneth Paltrow (last seen in "Marty Supreme"), Ginger Rogers (last seen in "Moonage Daydream"), Tina Turner (ditto), Meryl Streep (last seen in "ABBA: Super Troupe"), Barbra Streisand (last seen in "Earth, Wind & Fire"), Anya Taylor-Joy (last seen in "Dune: Part Two"), Zendaya (ditto), Diana Vreeland, Vera Wang, 

RATING: 5 out of 10 musical performers who have worn his designs in concert (from Elton John and Tina Turner to Miley Cyrus and P!nk)

Starring Dick Van Dyke

Year 18, Day 214 - 8/2/26 - Movie #5,392 - SQC DOC BLOCK FILM #31

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.