Episode 11- Dick Van Dyke and Fred MacMurray

"Nothing Succeeds Like Success"

   Anyone remember this line from the Harold Lloyd comedy, “MAD

WEDNESDAY”? There is truth to it.  I now had the writing credit

for the Special starring Danny Kaye and Lucille Ball and was set for a

staff job on Danny Kaye’s upcoming weekly variety series on CBS.

I was “the new kid on the block”;  I was in demand. It was the glorious

time in everyone’s career.

       Which reminds me of how the actor Jack Palance once described

the arc of an actor’s career:  1. Who’s Jack Palance?  2. Get me Jack

Palance.!  3. Get me A Jack Palance!  4. Who’s Jack Palance?

      I had progressed from ”Who is Ernie Chambers?” to “Get me Ernie

Chambers!” That’s how it still works today. I have a young friend who

recently had his first movie script optioned and now has TV

offers up the kazoo.

       The producer of the Writers Guild Show, for which I had written

Bob Newhart’s monologue, was Ed Hartmann, who was also the

producer of the long running sitcom, ”MY THREE SONS”, starring

Fred MacMurray.

         Fred was one of the first movie stars to agree to be in a TV series.

He played a widower raising three boys with the help of crusty Bill

Frawley who was succeeded later by just as crusty William Demarest.

The show ran for 12 years, 5 on ABC and 7 on CBS. The series filmed

36 episodes throughout the year. Fred, however, only came in for 30

days to shoot all his scenes, which were edited in later.

      Ed Hartmann, as the producer, took a chance on a kid who had never

written a situation comedy script. My script was filmed and aired and

was nominated for a Writers Guild Award.  That led to two more script

assignments for the series.

      Fred MacMurray was a deft, understated-- and underestimated—

comedian, though today he may be best remembered for dark roles in

“DOUBLE INDEMNITY”, “THE APARTMENT”, and “THE CAINE

MUTINY”.  He was a very unassuming guy, who never intended to

become an actor. He had been a musician. Playing as a bandleader in a

film, he was given a few lines and was “discovered”.

       I always loved his work. Many years later, Saul Ilson and I booked

Fred  as a guest on one of our Carol Channing Specials, “CAROL

CHANNING’S MAD ENGLISH TEA PARTY”.  Dressed in a World

War I army uniform, he sang a hit of the period,  “SISTER SUSIE’S

SEWING SHIRTS FOR SOLDIERS”.

      Fred was married to June Haver, who had been groomed by 20th to

be the next Betty Grable and left The Business briefly to become a nun. 

Years later she met and married Fred.

       One night at our house we got into a conversation with June about

their twin daughters who were attending Marymount, the west side

Catholic high school. I said it must be difficult raising two daughters in

Hollywood. June laughed it off, saying, “Honey, I just do my best

and Jesus does the rest.”

     My next big break was signing with a wonderful agent who became

a lifelong friend, George Shapiro of The William Morris office. George

was everything you would want in an agent-- smart, tireless, wired into

the marketplace and really dedicated to his clients.

        He got me hired to write the pilot for a CBS situation comedy,

“RUN, BUDDY, RUN”, starring Jack Sheldon, an actor more renowned

as one of our great jazz trumpet players.

     The show ran for one season and was produced by Leonard Stern, a

very talented comedy writer who had a reputation for being full of

himself, but he had a senses of humor about it. One day I passed

Leonard on the street and commented, “It’s a beautiful day!” Leonard

replied grandly, “You’re welcome.”

     Next, George Shapiro arranged a meeting for me with his uncle, Carl

Reiner, Creator and Producer of THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW”.

After its first season, the show had  been marked by the network for

cancellation, just as “SEINFELD” was years later. Fortunately,

wiser heads prevailed and the Van Dyke show went on to become one of 

TV’s comedy milestones and made Dick one of the entertainment

world’s most a durable stars.

       Carl started in TV as Sid Caesar’s master sketch partner. He was a

superb comedian, a fine actor, and an excellent director as well as the

brilliant straight man for Mel Brooks’s  “2,000 YEAR OLD MAN”.

       After the years with Sid, Carl created a situation comedy for himself

to star in. He wrote every script for the first full season. Carl was

advised by a colleague that the scripts were great, but he should not be

the star. Instead, they cast a newcomer  who had recently won a  Tony

Award on Broadway in “BYE, BYE, BIRDIE.”

      Carl could not run a show and write all the scripts as well. He farmed

out episodes to free lance writers. I was one of them. Working with Carl

was always a delight. He was a happy man who loved comedy and loved

writers. He wanted you to succeed.

       Searching for premises for an episode, Carl started every creative

meeting by asking us if anything funny had recently happened in our

life. Those incidents became episodes.

       Carl paired me with a writing partner, Jay Burton. (More about

comedy writers later.) Jay was a legendary gag writer. Every day, for his

morning workout before breakfast, Jay sat at his typewriter (Remember

those?) and wrote 10 jokes. That’s 3,650 jokes per year! One day I was

standing in front of Nat n’ Al’s deli in Beverly Hills-, where all the

comedy writers used to hang out. I was  talking to Jay when a bird shit

on his shoulder. Jay said.  “For the rich they sing.”

       Our best -remembered episode was “THE GREAT PETRIE

FORTUNE” in which Dick did a song and dance as his aged great uncle,

Hezekiah, made up to look pretty much as he does today.

         In later years, Saul Ilson and I booked Dick as a guest on

the premiere of one of our variety shows. The deal was, he would not get

paid for doing the show. In return,  we agreed to produce his next

Special and also not get paid. As far as I know, it is the only time such

an exchange was done between a performer and producers.

The Special was called, “DICK VAN DYKE MEETS BILL

COSBY”. It was a much happier time for Mr. Cosby. He had recently

come upon the scene and was a comedy sensation. The Special remains  

one of my favorites. It is the only one of my Specials I do not have a

video of—in case you happen to know anybody who has one.

       Working with good people like George Shapiro and Carl Reiner,  Ed

Hartmann and Fred MacMurray, and, of course, Herbie Baker showed

me that my bad experience with the producer of the Newhart show was

an anomaly. It is true that The Business is populated with plenty of

crazies, but there are also many decent, talented and generous people

who are a joy to work with.. You just have to find them and when you

do, never let them go!

NEXT: SID CAESAR AND MEL BROOKS

CATCHING UP:         READ THE POSTS YOU HAVE MISSED

    When you subscribe, you start receiving the latest post. This is Episode 11. To read all the Posts you may have missed,  go to

                 https://ercham.substack.com/archive