Here's a bunch of people at a small dinner gathering to celebrate Rose Marie's ninety-somethingth birthday back in 2013. The lady at the lower left is Arlene Silver, otherwise known as Mrs. Dick Van Dyke. The gent next to her is Mr. Dick Van Dyke. The lady next to him is Rose Marie. The two folks at the end of the table are Jeanine Kasun and Stu Shostak (another married couple) and then you have me and at lower right is Laraine Newman. But this post is about Mr. Van Dyke and maybe Arlene, too. Arlene has taken such good care of this man that today, he is 99 years old…and in darn good shape for 99.
Dick Van Dyke has been my favorite performer since…well, since I first saw The Dick Van Dyke Show, I suppose. This post isn't about me so I won't go into detail as to how important that show and he were to my life and the career (if you can call it that) I now have. He is also one of those too-rare exceptions to the rule that you should never meet your heroes. He has never disappointed me in any way if you don't count the fact that I wish there had been a sixth season of The Dick Van Dyke Show. And a seventh and an eighth and so on…
The whole world is wishing him a Happy 99 today and very relieved that after his recent brush with those fires in Malibu, he and Arlene and their pets and home are all marked safe. He is just a wonderful man and they're a wonderful couple and lemme tell you what happened at the end of that dinner for Rose.
Dick and I went out to give our parking tickets to the valet to get his car and Laraine's (she drove us) and as we were waiting, two women who were also waiting for a car were suddenly staring at Dick with one of those "Oh, he's someone famous" look. It took a moment for them to recognize who he was and, I think, also to accept the concept that he really and truly was who they thought he was. One said, "Oh, if you're who I think you are, I've always loved you." The other one agreed and Dick gave them both that great smile of his and said, "Well then, I hope I am who you're thinking of because I could use all the love I can get."
Their car arrived and as she tipped the valet, the first one told Dick, "I think you've already got more than anyone else." The other lady said, "Everyone adores you…everyone" and I just stood there thinking, "They're both right." Then as they drove off, clearly delighted with that little exchange, I asked Dick, "How often do you get that?" He replied, "I get it a lot and I'm always very grateful. Hell, I'm grateful when people recognize me and don't tell me how much they didn't like my accent in Mary Poppins."