A list of extras for a 50th anniversary set of "The Phil Silvers Show" lists almost 20 extras, one of them being a commentary by Dick Van Dyke. Was he a guest star?

Pat

Nope. Probably just a friend.

Steve

I don't remember the exact ep, but I think he was a guest star.

Interesting...

Pat

Per a post at the home theater forum, he was a guest star. Supposedly this was his TV debut.

Wow, I didn't know that... So Phil "made" Dick Van Dyke, so to speak.

Pat

...was under contract to CBS, and working in New York. He appeared on TWO episodes of "THE PHIL SILVERS SHOW" in 1957 (one as a "hick" baseball player Bilko tried to sell to the N.Y. Yankees, the other as a "knowledge expert" that Bilko tried to exploit on a big money TV quiz show), and was very good, indeed!

interesting, I never knew that! I always thought Rob Petrie was his first TV role!

...Dick Van Dyke's first regular network TV appearance was as host of CBS' early morning rival to "TODAY", "THE MORNING SHOW", in the fall of 1955 [at 7am(et), just before "CAPTAIN KANGAROO"], which was very brief (as Will Rogers, Jr. took over in early '56 as host of the somewhat tweaked "GOOD MORNING!" show). Van Dyke was also host of the network's 1956 summer replacement series, "CBS CARTOON THEATER" (which showed the "Terrytoons" library and Dick "talking" to Heckle & Jeckle, Mighty Mouse, etc. inbetween the cartoons and commerical breaks). When his CBS contract ended in 1958, he hosted a daytime game & home economics show on ABC called "MOTHER'S DAY" (also brief), and a prime-time comedy game show called "LAUGH LINE" on NBC in 1959 (short-lived). And Dick handled some hosting chores on an ABC Radio series called "FLAIR!", around 1960. And then came "Bye Bye Birdie" on Broadway.....and the rest is history!

thanx for all the info; I never knew all that!!