Dick and Mary still great together

[Sal]

I found this article about Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore in today's edition of the Toronto Sun. Fans of their show will love it! Pay close attention to their comments about today's sitcoms. It would be good advice for anyone to follow.


The Petrie dishes
TV's classiest couple reunite for The Gin Game
By BILL BRIOUX -- Toronto Sun

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- It was one of the sweetest things I'd ever seen on the press tour: Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore, arm in arm, together again.

The two TV icons, here Thursday to promote their PBS production of The Gin Game, posed for a photographer by a hotel window. They assumed a pose they struck 40 years ago on the classiest sitcom ever, The Dick Van Dyke Show.

It was the Christmas episode, where the gang from the Allan Brady Show -- Rob Petrie (Van Dyke), his wife Laura (Moore), Buddy & Sally (Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie) and producer Mel Cooley (Richard Deacon) -- went before the cameras to sing and dance.

Van Dyke was back in that moment Thursday. He put his arms around Moore's tiny waist and started singing, "I've got a house in Acapulco..." That was some other song from some other show, Moore began to correct, but even she can't talk and smile at the same time.

Gawd those two are in love.

"And the amazing thing is, we never had an affair," Moore blurted during the press conference.

It may not be too late. Van Dyke, who finally shaved off that droopy Diagnosis Murder moustache, looks decades younger than his 77 years. Moore, more carefully preserved, is a knockout at 65.

Both were married back then (she to former NBC Chairman Grant Tinker) and both are married now, but to different people.

Their sex appeal was always a big part of the show. Every red-blooded North American male wanted into Moore's Capri slacks. Rob and Laura Petrie may have had twin beds, but you knew she didn't just scream "Oh, Rob!" when things went wrong.

Back then, their age difference was almost a deal-breaker for Van Dyke. "The first thing I thought was, my God, she's gorgeous but she's awfully young," said Van Dyke. Moore was just 23 when the series began.

Van Dyke said he was amazed at how quickly she became a comedienne. Moore said she had the two best teachers in Van Dyke and series creator Carl Reiner.

The whole session was just one big love-in. Moore said she had the biggest crush on Van Dyke since seeing him in Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway. "When they told me I was going to be on his show and play his wife, I was beside myself," she says.

Besides the occasional reunion special, the two have not worked together until The Gin Game. Van Dyke had the idea years ago. He told Moore "someday we're going to be old enough to do this," and she said, "No we're not."

Now they are. In fact, Van Dyke is six years older than his character in the play. "I had to young up for the part," he joked.

Neither thinks much of the state of TV comedy today. Moore called them all copycat, although she is a Friends fan.

Both gagged at the mere mention of reality TV. Van Dyke dismissed it as the dumbing-down of America.

Asked later about The Osbournes, Van Dyke was equally stumped. "Is his brain fried or what?" said Van Dyke. "His wife is so articulate, he just can't seem to get it out. Is that just his personality?"

Ozzy would bite the head off a bat to be as spry as Van Dyke today. He still sings and dances some of his old Mary Poppins hits as part of a quartet that visits area children's hospitals. "All three of the other guys are in their 20s. Three guys and grandpa," he quipped.

His younger brother Jerry is living in Mexico. "I hardly ever hear from him," says Van Dyke. "He had both knees replaced at the same time. And I said, 'How are your knees doing?' and he said, 'They're the best part of me.'"

Even his oldest son Chris, 52, is retired and sailing around South America. "I said this is inverted. You're supposed to be working."

Moore and Van Dyke doubt there will ever be a Dick Van Dyke Show reunion, especially now that Amsterdam and Deacon are both gone. But you never know. Reiner is still working on an animated update on The Allan Brady Show that Van Dyke did a voiceover for. "If Carl's willing to go that far, then perhaps maybe it is time to revisit these people," he said. "I mean, we all want to know what's happening."


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[Kristen]

Originally posted by Sal
I found this article about Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore in today's edition of the Toronto Sun. Fans of their show will love it! Pay close attention to their comments about today's sitcoms. It would be good advice for anyone to follow.

for posting that, Sal! I hate to be a pain, but were there pics with it in the paper? And, if there were, could you scan them for me so I can see?

Thanks!

Kristen

[Leigh Ann]

Nice article about Dick and Mary. Just got through reading the whole thing.