I haven't used that logo here since 2017 and don't you think it's about time? The International House of Pancakes up on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood closed its doors on New Year's Day — and as it was usually a 24-hour diner, those doors that had not closed much since the place opened in…well, that's a good question. The online articles give various dates ranging back as far as to say "over sixty years."
I think that's about right. Online sources tell me that the first IHOP opened in Burbank in 1958, followed by one in Panorama City and another in Baldwin Hills. I believe the one in Hollywood was open by the summer of 1961 because that's when the following story began. Reading about the closure made me think about it…
The Dick Van Dyke Show had not yet debuted on television but its earliest episodes were then being filmed. An episode was coming up which would be mostly a flashback to when Rob Petrie (Dick) met the woman who would be his wife, Laura (Mary Tyler Moore). For it, they'd need an actor to play Rob's army buddy who showrunner Carl Reiner had named Sol Pomeroy. One evening Reiner and the show's Executive Producer Sheldon Leonard, went to see a play that featured an actor they were considering for the role. After the play, they went to that IHOP for a late supper.
A completely-unknown actor-comic named Marty Ingels was at that IHOP when they walked in. Ingels — who at that point in his life had appeared in practically nothing — was there because his current girl friend was a waitress at that IHOP. He was sitting there drinking coffee, waiting for her shift to end so they could go home together.
When he saw Leonard and Reiner walk in, he instantly recognized them. He also knew about the show they were doing because he'd been scouring every inch of the Hollywood trade papers, Hollywood Reporter and Variety, looking for anything that could lead him to be cast in anything. So what did he do? He went to his lady friend and talked her into letting him dress in a waiter uniform and serve Mr. Leonard and Mr. Reiner.
And so Marty Ingels waited on their table and managed to be funny enough that Leonard and Reiner decided to bring him in for an audition…and yes, he he won the role of Sol Pomeroy. That was for Show #5 — "Oh, How We Met the Night That We Danced," which was filmed on July 18, 1961. Three months later, they had Ingels back and on October 17, they filmed "Sol and the Sponsor" in which he appeared again as Sol Pomeroy.
The first Sol Pomeroy episode turned out great. The second one didn't. Reiner and Leonard decided to bury it at the end of the season. They also decided it was the last time they'd hire Marty Ingels…and his performance in that second episode was only part of the reason.
Mr. Ingels had, to put it mildly, come on too strong. I once asked Rose Marie about it and she said, "He came in, acting like he was now a regular on the series and pitching ideas for his next appearance and the one after that and the one after that…" He was also doing a massive publicity putsch, giving press interviews about his new job.
(Years later, I had a not-dissimilar experience when I worked on the TV series, Welcome Back, Kotter. An actor who had one line in one episode — one line! — talked his way into a local Christmas parade where he rode in an open convertible with a banner on it proclaiming him as one of the stars of Welcome Back, Kotter.)
"And then," Rose said as we talked about Marty Ingels, "there was the matter of the coffee cart."
Ingels had gone to a carpenter and at great expense, had a gift made for the entire cast — a decorative cart that could be wheeled onto the stage and hold the large coffee urn that otherwise resided on a table, there for the benefit of anyone needing a cup of joe. The rack had handpainted coffee mugs each bearing the name of one of the stars of the show: Dick, Mary, Rose, Morey, Richard, Carl, etc. And of course, there was one for Marty.
It made everyone uncomfortable. Everything about Marty was making everyone uncomfortable.
His debut in Show #5 aired on October 31, and Ingels, blithely unaware he had filmed his last Dick Van Dyke Show, took out full-page ads in those Hollywood trade papers showing him with Dick. Worth mentioning for reasons that will become obvious in the next paragraph is that the following week, Show #6 featured character actor Allan Melvin as a man named Harrison B. Harding who was another army buddy of Rob's.
"Sol and the Sponsor" didn't air until April 11 of the following year where it was Show #29 of the thirty Dick Van Dyke Shows made for that first season. By then, Marty Ingels had probably figured out he was no longer part of the series. And if he didn't know it then, he sure knew it by Show #17 of the second season. It was another flashback to Rob's army days and in it, his best pal was Sam Pomerantz (Sam, not Sol and Pomerantz, not Pomeroy) and he was played by Allan Melvin.
And then less than two months later in Show #24, Sam Pomerantz was back again…only this time, he was played by Henry Calvin. Melvin returned for two episodes as Sol Pomerantz (Sol, not Sam) in Season Five and he also played a few other roles on the series.
Ingels might not have been too upset about losing the job because by the time The Dick Van Dyke Show was filming its second season, he was filming the first season of I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, a show on which he was a co-star and in every episode. It only lasted one season and in his autobiography, Ingels admitted that by the end of filming, most of the cast and crew steered clear of him, in part because at Christmas time, he came on too strong, showering them with expensive gifts.
His career went up and down thereafter and reportedly, he would occasionally go back to that IHOP on Santa Monica Boulevard. He'd sit there eating pancakes and wondering how it had all been like a roller coaster since the night there when he pretended to be a waiter serving Sheldon Leonard and Carl Reiner. That's the story I couldn't help thinking about when I read that the place had closed.
My thanks to good buddy Vince Waldron, author of the highly-recommended volume, The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book, for helping me get some of the facts straight.