Happy 100th Birthday to Dick Van Dyke

There are many people (most certainly every generation since Generation X) who have never known life without Dick Van Dyke. He has brought joy to people of all age for literally decades. Indeed, he is the consummate performer. He can act. He can do comedy. He can sing. He can dance. And he has appeared in many beloved projects, from The Dick Van Dyke Show to Mary Poppins (1964) to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968). Dick Van Dyke was born 100 years ago today, on December 13, 2025, in West Plains, Missouri. His younger brother, the late Jerry Van Dyke, was born in 1931.

Arguably, Dick Van Dyke's entertainment career began when he was still serving in the latter days of World War II. He served as a radio announcer before being transferred to Special Services. He entertained troops throughout the United States. Following his service he worked as a DJ at WDAN in Danville, Illinois. He toured with pantomime performer Phil Erickson as part of a comedy team, Eric & Van--the Merry Mutes. Eventually, they settled in Atlanta, where they performed on television. Eventually, Dick Van Dyke went to work at television station WDSU-TV in New Orleans, where he was the emcee of a comedy program. It was in 1954 that he first appeared on a network television program, the talent show Chance of a Lifetime on DuMont. He eventually signed a seven year contract with CBS. He worked on one of their early CBS news and talk morning show simply called The Morning Show. In November 1959, he made his debut on Broadway in The Girls Against the Boys. It was in 1960 that he starred as Albert Peterson in Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway. For the musical, he won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

From stardom on Broadway, Dick Van Dyke went to stardom on television. It was in 1961 that The Dick Van Dyke Show debuted. While the series performed poorly in its first season, it was critically acclaimed even then and was nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy for John Rich and won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy for Carl Reiner. With its second season, it rose to no. 9 in the Nielsen ratings for the year and remained high in the ratings for the rest of the run. It turned Dick Van Dyke, as well as co-star Mary Tyler Moore, into superstars. The Sixties would see Dick Van Dyke become a very busy man.

I have to think it was from his work in the Sixties that many, if not most people, know Dick Van Dyke. When I was a kid, there were reruns of The Dick Van Dyke Show on every day. During the Sixties, he reprised his role as Albert in the movie version of Bye Bye, Birdie (1963), played Bert in Mary Poppins (1964), the title character in Fitzwilly (1967), and Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968). I remember watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) more than once on television in the Seventies. It made its television debut on CBS on Thursday, November 23, Thanksgiving night. Bye Bye Birdie (1963) had aired on network television in the mid-Sixties, but was still airing on local stations in the Seventies. I also remember watching the comedy Cold Turkey (1971) on television in the Seventies. 

Dick Van Dyke didn't do much in the way of movies in the Seventies, but he did appear quite a bit on television. From 1971 to 1974, he had another sitcom simply called The New Dick Van Dyke Show. He later had a short-lived variety show, Van Dyke and Company. He guest starred on such shows as Columbo, The Carol Burnett Show, and Supertrain. It was in 1981 that I finally got to see Mary Poppins (1964). It aired on CBS as a special movie presentation on November 22 of that year. If it seems odd that it took me that long to see it, consider that my family did not go to the movies and I was too young to go to the movies by myself when it was re-released in 1973. And in the Seventies, home video was not much of a thing. It would not be released on VHS until 1980.

The Eighties saw Dick Van Dyke guest star on such shows as American Playhouse, Matlock, Airwolf, and Highway to Heaven. He had a short-lived sticom, The Van Dyke Show, with his son Barry Van Dyke. The Nineties would see Dick Van Dyke find success in a television series again with Diagnosis:e Murder, which ran for eight seasons. His son Barry Van Dyke played his son on the show, a police detective whose doctor father insists on solving mysteries. In the Naughts, he appeared in a series of mystery movies on the Hallmark Channel called Murder 101. Of course, Dick Van Dyke also appeared in the Night att the Museum movies and made guest appearances on television.

Of course, through all of this, much of Dick Van Dyke's earlier works have remained widely available. Generations of fans have been introduced to Mr. Van Dyke through Mary Poppins (1964) and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968). Even some of his more obscure films remain available. Fitzwilly (1967) airs on TCM every December, and is available on streaming. Many of his other movies also can be found on streaming, including  Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. (1966), Divorce American Style (1967), Never a Dull Moment (1968), and others can be seen on streaming services. And, of course, not only is The Dick Van Dyke Show on streaming, but it can be seen on such broadcast venues as MeTV, Catchy Comedy, and UP Faith and Family. 

As to why Dick Van Dyke has been so successful, it comes down to what I said earlier. He has a talent for acting, comedy, singing, and dancing. He is truly a quadruple threat. Actually, he could be called a quintuple threat when you consider the fact that he has written six books! More than anything else, Dick Van Dyke has a talent for bringing joy to people. I believe it is impossible not to see Dick Van Dyke and not find oneself smiling. Indeed, I have never heard anything bad about Dick Van Dyke. Every instance I have heard of someone having met him, they recount as very nice he is. We are truly lucky to still have Dick Van Dyke with us at 100 years of age. 

Downtown Bedford Falls

I grew up on a farm, but as a kid I always wanted to live downtown. Since childhood I have always been fascinated by the downtown areas of small towns and even cities, the sort that were dying out even as I was growing up. Of course, this has also led to a fascination with the downtowns of fictional small towns, such as Central City on Dobie Gillis,  Mayberry on The Andy Griffith Show, and Stars Hollow on Gilmore Girls. One fictional town whose downtown I have long been fascinated with is Bedford Falls in the classic movie It's a Wonderful Life (1946).

Downtown Bedford Falls was actually a set at thee RKO movie ranch in Encino. Genesse Street, the main street in Bedford Falls that cuts through its downtown, utilised portions of an earlier set called "Modern Street" at the ranch. Modern Street itself had been built for the fictional Oklahoma town of Osage in the Cimarron (1931), and was among the sets that won Max Rée the Oscar for Best Art Direction. Modern Street was also used on such films as Alice Adams (1935), Wells Fargo (1937), and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), among others. Genesse Street in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) was particularly impressive. It was 300 yards long and boasted over 30 stores. 

In many ways, downtown Bedford Falls is as much a character in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) as George Bailey or Mr. Potter. Unquestionably, certain businesses play a central role in the film. This is certainly true of the Baily Brothers Building & Loan, the business founded by George's father and his Uncle Billy, and the business that keeps George from leaving Bedford Falls. Also central to the film is Gower's Drug Store, where George worked as a boy, owned by George's friend Mr. Gower. As the other financial institution in town, the bank also plays an important role in the film.

Of course, the Bailey Brothers Building & Loan, Gower's Drug Store, and the bank are not the only businesses downtown. In one scene George makes reference to the department store, and I have to think this is the Emporium that is prominently seen in some scenes, given "emporium" literally means a large store that sells a variety of merchandise. There is also the Bijou Theatre, seen prominently in the film's climax, the Tiptop Cafe, the town newspaper, (the Bedford Falls Sentinel), World Luggage and Sports Shop, a Western Union office, and an American Airlines office. As if that wasn't enough, downtown Bedford Falls also boasted an antique store, a bakery, a barber shop, a beauty shop, a bicycle shop, a bowling alley, a candy store, a florist, the Bedford Falls garage (seen prominently at the beginning), a grocery,  a hardware store, a hotel, a music store, pool hall,  a tailor, and  a toy store. Not all of Bedford Falls's businesses are located downtown. The bar Martini's is located on Bridge Street, near the town's canal. The town also boasts a railroad depot that figures prominently in the movie.

As an adult I live right off the downtown of my hometown. Like the downtown of Bedford Falls, it also boasted many businesses in its heyday, from two grocery stores to  a movie theatre. Sadly, it is a shadow of what it once was, with next to nothing in the way of stores. The downtowns of the sort seen in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) largely seem to be a thing of the past, something that makes movies like It's a Wonderful Life (1946), featuring a prosperous downtown, all the more poignant for those of us who loved the downtowns of old. 

The 70th Anniversary of Saturday Morning Cartoons

It was 70 years ago today that Mighty Mouse Playhouse, an anthology of animated theatrical shorts starring Mighty Mouse and other Terrytoons characters, debuted on CBS. It was very first Saturday morning cartoon, and it would not be the last. The success of Mighty Mouse Playhouse would lead to yet more animated cartoons on the American broadcast networks on Saturday morning, some made specifically for television (for more details on Saturday morning cartoons, read my post on the 60th anniversary of Mighty Mouse Playhouse from ten years ago). By 1963, the Saturday morning cartoon block as we know it would be established. For decades, cartoons would fill Saturday mornings on American broadcast network television. Indeed, one of my definitions of Generation X is that it is the first generation that never knew a childhood without Saturday morning cartoons.

For better or worse, the Saturday morning cartoon would go the way of the dinosaurs eventually. In the Eighties, cable television increasingly offered competition to the broadcast networks on Saturday mornings. It was in 1992 that NBC did away with Saturday morning cartoons entirely in favour of a Saturday edition of The Today Show and a programming block they called "TNBC," a programming block meant to appeal to teenagers. While CBS continued to show cartoons on Saturday mornings, they cut back on the programming block in 1997 with a Saturday edition of CBS News. In 2004, ABC added a Saturday edition of Good Morning, America. Saturday morning cartoons as a programming block came to an end in 2014, when The CW replaced their block of cartoons with live-action, educational programming.

Of course, Saturday morning cartoons would change and evolve over time. In the early days, Saturday mornings on the American broadcast networks were a mixture of anthologies of animated theatrical shorts (Mighty Mouse Playhouse, The Bugs Bunny Show), reruns of primetime animated shows (The Jetsons, The Bullwinkle Show), and a few cartoons made specifically for television (The Ruff and Reddy Show). The debut of The New Adventures of Superman, Space Ghost and Dino Boy, and other superhero cartoons in 1966 would see American broadcast network television on Saturday mornings dominated by superheros cartoons for a time. A moral panic over television violence would see the superhero cartoons replaced by comedy cartoons. A subset of these cartoons, in which music played a role (such as The Archie Show), would be common Saturday morning from 1968 with the debut of The Banana Splits and The Archie Show well into the Seventies. By the late Seventies, action/adventure cartoons (such as Tarzan) would make a comeback, so that the Eighties into the Nineties would be more of a mixture of genres.

Even though I can pretty much watch cartoons any time I want through cable television, DVDs, and streaming, I do miss Saturday morning cartoons. The fact that you could only watch these cartoons on Saturday morning made them special. In 1973, there was not much in the way of home media, and nothing in the way of streaming apps. Indeed, I know from others that most kids in the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties had their own Saturday morning rituals. Even though they might want to sleep in on any other day, on Saturday morning they would get up as soon as the cartoons began airing (7 AM in the Central Time zone) and eat breakfast as the cartoons aired. In households with multiple kids, it might vary as to how it was decided which cartoons to watch. In some, it was the eldest child who controlled the television set. Others functioned more democratically. At their peak in the Seventies, Saturday morning cartoons generally took up all of Saturday morning. On CBS during the 1972-1973 season, the cartoons started at 7:00 AM Central and did not end until 12:30 PM Central. 

Like many in my generation, I have fond memories of Saturday morning cartoons and I enjoyed them a good deal growing up. Even as a young adult, I might tune into a few cartoons as I was eating breakfast and possibly recovering from a hangover. At a time when there wasn't a whole of programing for kids during the week, Saturday morning cartoons gave kids something to watch for several hours.

A Pictorial Tribute to Sammy Davis Jr. on His Centennial

It was 100 years ago that Sammy Davis Jr. was born in New York City. He was born into show business. His father was stage performer Sammy Davis Sr.  and his mother was tap dancer Elvera Sanchez. Sammy Davis Jr. was a little boy when he joined his father on stage. He would later become part of the Will Mastin Trio with his father and Will Mastin. 

Sammy Davis Jr. at age 9 as part of the Will Mastin Trio with his father and Will Mastin.

Chita Rivera and Sammy Davis Jr. The two of them appeared on Broadway in Mr. Wonderful in 1956. It got bad notices from critics, but proved to be a hit.

Sammy Davis Jr. and Dorothy Dandrige from Porgy and Bess (1959). Although the movie proved highly successful, it has not been seen for years. Samuel Goldwyn had only the rights for 15 years, after which it could only be shown with the permission of the estates of George and Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. The Gershwin estate has consistently denied permission for its exhibition.

Sammy Davis Jr. was a friend of Frank Sinatra and hence very much a part of the Rat Pack. Here he is in the movie Ocean's 11 (1960). Sammy Davis Jr. made other films beyond Ocean's 11 (1960) with his fellow Rat Pack members, including Sergeants 3 (1962) and Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964).

Sammy Davis Jr. guest starred on several television shows through the years. He appeared on The Rifleman twice. Here he is in the episode "The Most Amazing Man."

Sammy Davis Jr. briefly had his own variety show, which aired on NBC from January 7, 1966, to April 15, 1966. It was historic as one of the earliest shows to be hosted by an African American. 

Although Sammy Davis Jr.'s movie career in the Seventies wasn't what it was in the Sixties, he continued to appear on television. In 1973 he appeared in a TV movie, Poor Devil, that was an unsold pilot. Here he is with Jack Klugman.

Sammy Davis's last appearance was in the 1990 TV movie The Kid Who Loved Christmas. It aired on December 19, 1990, in syndication, around seven months after Sammy Davis Jr.'s death on May 16, 1990 from throat cancer. He left behind a considerable legacy. As a singer he had multiple hit records, including "HeyThere," "What Kind of Fool Am I," "I've Gotta Be Me," and "The Candy Man." His appearances in both film and television would pave the way for other black performers. His fame continues to this day.