Today is a jolly holiday occasion — Dick Van Dyke’s 100th birthday. Hats off to one of the greatest entertainers of this or any century.
He is well known, of course, for his ’60s series The Dick Van Dyke Show, “Bye Bye Birdie,” and such cherished children’s films as “Mary Poppins” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” The Emmy, Tony and Grammy winner has written six books, including Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging. And while he could sing, dance and act, there was one thing he himself insists he was never any good at — hosting a late night talk show.
He had a chance to find out in 1959 when Jack Paar took two weeks off from hosting The Tonight Show and NBC slid Van Dyke behind the desk as guest host. I spoke with Van Dyke about this tryout in 2004 when he was before TV critics in Los Angeles at the semi-annual gathering of the Television Critics Association.
I recently stumbled over the interview (less gracefully than Van Dyke tripping over an ottoman) while digging through old cassette recordings while preparing to cover his 100th birthday. Typically modest and self-effacing, Van Dyke was his own harshest critic about the Tonight Show tryout.
“I bored myself to death,” he insisted. “I was so bad, I cannot tell you.”
Curiously, about a year later, a future talk show kingpin — Johnny Carson — was momentarily on Carl Reiner’s short list to star in what later became The Dick Van Dyke Show.
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There is more to the story and you can read it in the article I wrote for LateNighter. That is where they cover late night television better than anybody. Here is the link.
