‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’…Rare Shots & Interesting Facts

‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’…Rare Shots & Interesting Facts

Until last week, the bedroom scene photo was the only one I had ever seen of this show in production. In that one, you can see director Jerry Paris just behind Dick in his famous red sweater.

The show was shot at Desilu Studios and in this new photo from the audience area, we get a good look at the homebase set. This was the last major primetime series to have its entire run filmed in black and white. The show was due to be shot in color after the 5th year, but that never happened because of the cast and producers decision to end the show after 5 years.

Sally Rogers was the first woman on an American television show to portray a solely independent woman. Before that, women were mostly cast as housewives. The character of Sally Rogers was inspired by Lucille Kallen, who wrote for ‘Your Show of Shows’ and Selma Diamond who wrote for ‘Caesar’s Hour’.

The show’s production company was called Calvada Productions. The name came from the names of all of the key persons involved in production: Carl Reiner, Sheldon Leonard, Dick Van Dyke and Danny Thomas. In one program, co-producer, Leonard played a character called “Big Max Calvada”.

The series originally was to focus on Rob at the office with Sally Rogers as the lead female character and Laura as a minor one. The character of Laura became so popular that Mary Tyler Moore became the lead female character and more of the focus of the show shifted to the relationship between Rob and Laura. Many times situations at the office were still focused on Rob and Laura. This put a strain on the relationship between Rose Marie and Mary Tyler Moore, and while the two ladies got along well, they never became close friends.

Morey Amsterdam and Richard Deacon (Mel) were actually close friends. According to Deacon, many of the best insults Buddy hurled at Mel were worked out when the two went out for drinks after work. During Richard Deacon’s first season as Mel Cooley, he was also finishing up the last season as Fred Rutherford on ‘Leave It to Beaver’.

Final fact…did you know Johnny Carson was a runner-up for the role of Rob Petrie? Enjoy and share!

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