Movie Musings: Disney and More

Dick Van Dyke: The Clown Who Would Be King

Broadway, Television, Film, Radio: all mediums completely mastered by Dick Van Dyke. From when he first burst onto television as Rob Petrie in The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966) to starring as Burt the Chimney Sweep in Mary Poppins (1964) to showing off his dramatic side as Dr. Mark Sloan in Diagnosis Murder (1993-2001), his 61-year career in show business, cemented him as one of the most versatile, talented performers of all time.

Van Dyke made his Broadway debut in 1959 in a show called The Girls Against the Boys. During his run in the show, he heard they were holding auditions for a musical on Broadway entitled Bye Bye Birdie. The musical was to tell a story parodying the real-life drafting of Elvis Presley. At the time, Van Dyke had had no experience with dancing whatsoever, but he decided to go to auditions anyway in the hopes that he could get a small part in the show.

As soon he sang his audition song, he performed an impromptu soft-shoe dance move due to nervousness at the audition. As fate would have it, Gower Champion, who was to be the director/choreographer of the show, watched him perform both. As soon as Van Dyke was done, Champion came up to Van Dyke to tell him that he had the lead role of Albert F. Peterson in the musical of “Bye Bye Birdie.” Overwhelmed with astonishment, Van Dyke told Champion that he couldn’t dance at all. Champion replied “We’ll teach you.” “Bye Bye Birdie,” went on to win four Tony Awards, including Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Van Dyke.

In the midst of the first season of “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” Dick got asked to reprise his role as Albert F. Peterson for the film version of Bye Bye Birdie (1963). (Van Dyke’s co-star in “Birdie,” Paul Lynde, who portrayed Harry McAfee on Broadway, also reprised his role for the film) Although the film was a success, Van Dyke was displeased with the final cut of the film. He was disappointed that the film’s producer, Fred Kohlmar, cast Janet Leigh in the role of Rose DeLeon (Albert’s writing partner/girlfriend), instead of Chita Rivera who had originated the role on Broadway. And along with Leigh, and the rest of the adult cast members of “Birdie,” Van Dyke was all also disappointed in the final cut of the film, convinced that the director George Sidney had focused too much on Ann-Margret and not any of the rest of them throughout the film’s production.

On a more positive note, it was around this time that Walt Disney asked Dick Van Dyke if he were at all interested in taking the role of Bert the Chimney Sweep in his most ambitious movie-musical at the time, “Mary Poppins.” Van Dyke jumped at the chance. Disney gave him the part without even auditioning him. During the production of “Poppins,” Dick Van Dyke also found out about the greedy character of Mr. Dawes Sr. who was to be in the bank scene in the film and rob Michael Banks of his tuppence. Van Dyke asked Disney if he could play that role as well. Disney was skeptical about hiring him for that role on the spot, so he asked Van Dyke to audition for the part. When dressed in full costume and makeup for the audition, Van Dyke improvised a “stepping-down” routine of an old man trying to step off a curb without hurting himself, cracking up many of the crew members of “Poppins.” When Disney saw the test, he not only agreed to let Van Dyke have the role of Mr. Dawes Sr., but he told the crew to build a six-inch riser on the Bank set to accommodate the maneuver.

While “Poppins,” remains Van Dyke’s most popular film for the Walt Disney Studios, Van Dyke also made Lt. Robinson Crusoe, U.S.N. (1966) and Never a Dull Moment (1968) for Disney as well. The same year as “Dull Moment,” Van Dyke also made Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which reunited him with many of the same creative team behind “Poppins,” including the composer/lyricist team of Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, the choreographing team of Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood, and the orchestration conducting of Irwin Kostal. He also starred in the Touchstone film Dick Tracy (1990). In both “Crusoe,” and “Tracy,” Van Dyke was reunited with Arthur Malet who portrayed Mr. Dawes Jr. in “Poppins.” Malet also performed in an episode of “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”  

For ABC television, Van Dyke also appeared in episodes of The Golden Girls (1985-1992) and The Middle (2009-present), opposite brother Jerry Van Dyke. For the Disney Junior channel Dick Van Dyke lend his voice to an episode of the series Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (2006-present) as the pirate Captain Goof Beard, grandfather of Goofy. Van Dyke both narrated and appeared in the Disney documentary, Walt: The Man Behind the Myth (2001) and made a cameo in the Disney film Alexander and Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (2014). He is currently attached to play an unspecified role in Mary Poppins Returns (2018).