I recently received my copy of the new book by my buddy Vince Waldron, The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book: The Definitive History of Television's Most Enduring Comedy. I am enjoying it tremendously. I thought I knew everything there was to know about my favorite TV sitcom but there's stuff in there that has me going, a la Dick Martin, "I didn't know that." Since I am all too aware how fastidious Vince was about fact-checking every apostrophe, I have no doubt it is all true. He had access to just about everyone involved in the series and he no doubt made a fine nuisance of himself pestering them with questions. The result is a definitive volume on its subject that no one could improve upon.
Then again, I thought that about the previous version of this book and Vince managed to improve upon that so maybe he'll surprise me a few decades from now. Don't wait for that possible revision. Grab up this one even if you have the earlier book. Here's an Amazon link.
Want to know more right away? Vince will be the guest tomorrow on Stu's Show, the best talk program on Internet Radio. Your enthusiastic host Stu Shostak will welcome Vince and grill him mercilessly on the contents of this book…to be followed the week after by another episode of Stu's Show on The Dick Van Dyke Show. But tune in tomorrow to hear Vince. That show can be heard live (and for free) at 4 PM Pacific, which means 7 PM Eastern and other times in other time zones, at www.stusshow.com. After that, the whole two-hour extravaganza can be downloaded from that site for a paltry 99 cents. Such a deal.
As I've mentioned, we have a number of celebrations of The Dick Van Dyke Show and its participants coming up. On October 1, the American Cinematheque will be running three episodes at the Egyptian Theater and there'll be a Q-and-A of Carl Reiner and Dick Van Dyke hosted by Garry Marshall. (Vince will be there selling 'n' signing). This event is sold out but there may be a stand-by line in case any ticket holders die and cannot attend.
On October 13, the TV Academy will be honoring Carl Reiner and the dais will include Mel Brooks, Jon Cryer, Ann Morgan Guilbert, Bonnie Hunt, Rose Marie, Larry Matthews, Bill Persky, Rob Reiner, Paul Reiser, Eva Marie Saint, Garry Shandling and more. This event is also sold out and I'm told there's already a wait list that will more than cover any cancellations or dead ticket holders. There will, however, be a live webcast and I'll try and get info on that. (I won't be watching it on the 'net. I have tickets, he said in a gloating manner.)
Lastly, this is related: When The Dick Van Dyke Show came to a close, several of its stars conspired to make one of the oddest, scant-on-humor comedy films ever made…and they actually shot a lot of it on the same stage that had been used for The Dick Van Dyke Show. Morey Amsterdam produced and co-starred in Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title, a movie I wrote about here. This is not a good movie but it's filled with fun cameos and silly moments, and I think what always intrigued me about it was how utterly impossible it was to see. It never played Los Angeles. I don't think they even printed up posters for it. (The theater where I saw it in Pismo Beach had a hand-painted poster outside.)
Well, that has changed. Turner Classic Movies has run it a few times…and someone there was nice enough to run me off a DVD from their copy which I shared with Rose Marie and with Morey Amsterdam's son. And now you too can have your own DVD of Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title. It's a "DVD on Demand" from the MGM Archives collection…meaning that for $20, they'll run you off a DVD, doubtlessly using the same source material as the copy I got. Note that I am not recommending this movie…just telling you it's available for pre-orders. In a way, I'm disappointed. For years, the one notable thing about this movie was its unavailability…and now it's lost that.