TJ
01-14-2003, 10:37 PM
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/friday/features_e3e1662420ae522800d5.html
Hollywood --- This time, it was Mary Tyler Moore who practically tripped over a piece of furniture walking onstage. And Dick Van Dyke who reached out to help her when she smacked into a chair.
"We work so well together," Moore grinned after this seemingly unintentional homage to Rob Petrie's (Van Dyke's) memorable tumble over a hassock during the opening credits of "The Dick Van Dyke Show."
So what took 'em so long to do it again? Nearly 40 years after signing off as the most adorable married couple in New Rochelle, N.Y. --- if not all of TV history --- Moore and Van Dyke will finally act together again in "The Gin Game" on PBS in May. A bittersweet, two-person comedy about nursing home residents who play cards and become close, the play isn't the story of Rob and Laura Petrie grown old.
Apparently, though, it was the perfect reunion project. Van Dyke knew it the first time he saw the play 30 years ago.
"I said to Mary, 'Someday we're going to be old enough to do this,' " he said at a press conference.
"And I said, 'No we're not!' " Moore interrupted.
"And so I called her up last spring," Van Dyke cackled, "and said, 'Well, we're old enough.' "
The affection and ease between them is as obvious as the memories they cherish from the old "Van Dyke" show. That's why, Moore said, they wanted to work together again only on a rich character study --- not a stunt-casting or stroll down memory lane show.
"It should be special," she said. "We think 'The Gin Game' is special."
They may not play Rob and Laura, but there was realism to their act. Near the end of "The Gin Game," Van Dyke said, Moore had to slap him.
"She teed off on me and my glasses flew off," he sputtered while Moore roared. "And I said, 'You've been waiting 40 years to do that!' "
Hollywood --- This time, it was Mary Tyler Moore who practically tripped over a piece of furniture walking onstage. And Dick Van Dyke who reached out to help her when she smacked into a chair.
"We work so well together," Moore grinned after this seemingly unintentional homage to Rob Petrie's (Van Dyke's) memorable tumble over a hassock during the opening credits of "The Dick Van Dyke Show."
So what took 'em so long to do it again? Nearly 40 years after signing off as the most adorable married couple in New Rochelle, N.Y. --- if not all of TV history --- Moore and Van Dyke will finally act together again in "The Gin Game" on PBS in May. A bittersweet, two-person comedy about nursing home residents who play cards and become close, the play isn't the story of Rob and Laura Petrie grown old.
Apparently, though, it was the perfect reunion project. Van Dyke knew it the first time he saw the play 30 years ago.
"I said to Mary, 'Someday we're going to be old enough to do this,' " he said at a press conference.
"And I said, 'No we're not!' " Moore interrupted.
"And so I called her up last spring," Van Dyke cackled, "and said, 'Well, we're old enough.' "
The affection and ease between them is as obvious as the memories they cherish from the old "Van Dyke" show. That's why, Moore said, they wanted to work together again only on a rich character study --- not a stunt-casting or stroll down memory lane show.
"It should be special," she said. "We think 'The Gin Game' is special."
They may not play Rob and Laura, but there was realism to their act. Near the end of "The Gin Game," Van Dyke said, Moore had to slap him.
"She teed off on me and my glasses flew off," he sputtered while Moore roared. "And I said, 'You've been waiting 40 years to do that!' "