Barry Van Dyke Books

In the five-year network TV life of "THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW", which encompassed 158 total episodes, this particular installment -- "All About Eavesdropping" -- is one of my all-time favorites.

This episode was filmed at the tail-end of Season #2 of the series (on April 9, 1963). It was the "head start" episode for Season 3, and was aired on Wednesday, October 23, 1963. It was co-written (impeccably) by Sheldon Keller and Howard Merrill. "Eavesdropping" was directed by Stanley Cherry.

The program, filmed in black-and-white (as were all Van Dyke Show eps.), begins in the living room of Rob and Laura Petrie of 148 Bonnie Meadow Road in New Rochelle, New York. The Petrie couple is getting ready to attend a casual dinner party at the home of their next-door neighbors (Jerry and Millie Helper).

As Rob waits for Laura to finish getting dressed ("a quarter of a minute" is when Laura says she's going to be ready), he accidentally turns on his son Ritchie's toy intercom, which has been hooked up to the Helper's house next door.

What Rob and Laura hear next is too tantalizing to miss (even though they know darn well they shouldn't be "eavesdropping" on their neighbors, hence the episode's title).

After hearing a few not-so-kind words from Millie and Jerry (regarding "Avocado & Peanut Butter Dip" and "Albert Schweitzer"), the Petries aren't too thrilled with the idea of now having to go to their neighbors' party (which will also be attended by Rob's co-workers from "The Alan Brady Show", Buddy Sorrell and Sally Rogers).

But the Petries decide it's too late to back out of their party invitation, so they elect to head next door (sans the bottle of wine they were originally planning on taking with them). What occurs next is classic TV situation comedy if there ever was any.

The scenes that take place at Jerry and Millie's house are always worth a replay when this episode is fired up in the DVD player, especially the hilarious "Charades" game. The comic timing of the excellent Van Dyke Show cast excels in just about every episode of this wonderful and timeless television series....and "Eavesdropping" is certainly no exception to that rule.

Dick Van Dyke (Rob), Mary Tyler Moore (Laura), Morey Amsterdam (Buddy), Rose Marie (Sally), Jerry Paris (Jerry), and Ann Morgan Guilbert (Millie) are the actors who make up this perfect cast, and each one has a "naturalness" and "real" quality to their acting that always makes each episode of this 1960s TV show worthy of additional praise.

Carl Reiner created "The Dick Van Dyke Show", and also wrote and produced many of the episodes during the five seasons it was on the air on CBS-TV (from 1961 to 1966). And Reiner's "real" touch shines through in very nearly each program in the series.

For example, the situations and dialogue written for "Eavesdropping" are entirely "real", in my opinion. Two people accidentally hear some things they shouldn't have heard and react in perfectly-natural, real, and believable ways.

The episode then plays out to its logical and "real"-like conclusion, with the two couples patching up their disagreement at the end of these 25 well-scripted minutes of fun, comedy, anger, and apologies (and that terrific Charades game). :)

"All About Eavesdropping" is available on DVD by way of Image Entertainment's picture-perfect second-season 5-Disc boxed collection of "The Dick Van Dyke Show", which hit store shelves in late October of 2003, and has been a highly-revisited DVD set for this writer ever since.

So, if you ever wanted to "eavesdrop" on a neighbor, take my advice and watch this flawless episode of "The Dick Van Dyke Show". You'll get an earful. And quite a few belly-laughs, to boot.

FAVORITE "EAVESDROPPING" QUOTES:

"You know what that is? That's malicious accusory!" -- Rob

"Boy, I haven't had laughs like this since the St. Valentine's Day Massacre." -- Buddy

"You mean you didn't give 'em the house?" -- Buddy

"I got it!! -- On The Street Where You Live!!" -- Rob

"Pearl Harbor? Stab in the back??" -- Sally

"Boy, this isn't Charades...this is a new game...World War Three." -- Buddy

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ADDENDUM......

MY "TOP 10" FAVORITE EPISODES OF "THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW":

1.) "All About Eavesdropping"
2.) "Harrison B. Harding Of Camp Crowder, Mo."
3.) "The Curious Thing About Women"
4.) "My Husband Is A Check-Grabber"
5.) "Empress Carlotta's Necklace"
6.) "Never Bathe On Saturday"
7.) "A Nice, Friendly Game Of Cards"
8.) "Punch Thy Neighbor"
9.) "Ray Murdock's X-Ray"
10.) "The Sick Boy And The Sitter"

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THE ULTIMATE DICK VAN DYKE RECOMMENDATION:

"THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW: THE COMPLETE SERIES" (All 5 Seasons on DVD-Video).

The above-linked Amazon webpage includes my own full product review (very full), with many episode highlights. Any true-blue Van Dyke Show fan who doesn't own all five seasons of the series on DVD-Video should have his or her head examined by Dr. Phil Nevins (Rob Petrie's psychiatrist). :)

I don't think it's a coincidence that Rob and Laura Petrie (Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore) bore a fleeting resemblance to the then-reigning couple of Camelot, President John F. Kennedy and his fashion-forward wife Jackie, when the classic sitcom debuted in 1961. The youthful appeal of the Petries broke the mold established by previous depictions of married couples simply because they looked like they were actually having sex. It also helped that the show was created by Carl Reiner, a veteran comedy writer of Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows alongside Mel Brooks and Woody Allen. This experience was the inspiration for the setting of Van Dyke's show, which in turn was populated by one of TV's best casts.

The premise was simple - Rob Petrie was the head comedy writer for "The Alan Brady Show", a popular comedy-variety series based in Manhattan. Rob worked with two other writers, Borscht Belt comic Buddy Sorrell (Morey Amsterdam) and man-hungry Sally Rogers (Rose Marie), under the constant glare of producer Mel Cooley (Richard Deacon), who happens to be the reviled brother-in-law of the show's star. At home in suburban New Rochelle is Rob's pretty wife Laura, a former USO dancer, and their son Richie (Larry Mathews), along with their next-door neighbors, dentist Jerry Helper (Jerry Paris) and his wife Millie (Ann Morgan Guilbert). Unlike previous shows that focused on either the workplace or home life, The Dick Van Dyke Show gave equal attention to both aspects of Petrie's world and often creatively synthesized both. Reiner occasionally played Brady, who was initially just heard and shown from the back.

A total of 158 episodes were produced over five seasons, and all are available individually for download on Amazon Unbox Video Downloads. Several are memorable, but I have two particular favorites that I downloaded to great satisfaction. Written by Sheldon Keller and Howard Merrill, the first is "All About Eavesdropping" (Season Two, Episode 33) in which Rob and Laura overhear some catty comments Jerry and Millie make about them. The complication is that the Petries hear the remarks over Richie's toy intercom unbeknownst to the Helpers. The Petries' seething anger is played to coordinated perfection by Van Dyke and Moore, who showcase their passive-aggressiveness in a hysterical game of charades ("Malicious accusory!").

Written by Bill Persky and Sam Denoff, the second is the classic "Coast-to-Coast Big Mouth" (Season Five, Episode One), in which Laura blurts out on a nationally televised game show that Alan Brady is bald, a revelation that could cost Rob his job. Moore never had a better showcase for her unique talent of simultaneously crying and talking under duress. She and Reiner are hilarious in the scene where she tries to apologize to Brady in front of a line of styrofoam heads each with one of Brady's cast-off toupees. As Brady angrily asks Laura what he should do with the toupees, her response is classic - "There must be some needy bald people?". If you're like me, a baby boomer who has seen every episode at least a dozen times, the flexibility to download favorite episodes is a great breakthrough. This is indeed classic television, and the quality of the video downloads is first-rate on my PC.

A rollicking retelling of the classic Brer Rabbit stories. In this adaptation of the Joel Chandler Harris stories, children and their lucky parents can watch the wily Brer Rabbit outsmart time and time again his predatory neighbors and prove that brains really are better than brawn. The difficult dialect of the Chandler Harris originals has been updated and simplified for modern readers, and these beautiful volumes (there are three books in the series) are brilliantly illustrated by award-winning artist Barry Moser. This book is a must-have; I can't imagine why it isn't a best-seller.

A rollicking retelling of the classic Brer Rabbit stories. In this adaptation of the Joel Chandler Harris stories, children and their lucky parents can watch the wily Brer Rabbit outsmart time and time again his predatory neighbors and prove that brains really are better than brawn. The difficult dialect of the Chandler Harris originals has been updated and simplified for modern readers, and these beautiful volumes (there are three books in the series) are brilliantly illustrated by award-winning artist Barry Moser. This book is a must-have; I can't imagine why it isn't a best-seller.

Having read aloud this series (Jump, Jump on Over, and Jump Again) six or seven years ago to my (then) Kindergarten and second grade children, I asked them recently "what were your favorite books when you were little?" And this book series came up as hands-down "read-aloud" winner. I remember that they were a joy to read aloud, and the children laughed and laughed. They were so sad when the last book was finished that I ended up buying and reading them Julius Lester's book as well. Beyond that, the stories are culturally important literature. Parents can feel good knowing that children are being exposed to a uniquely American folktale series.

Five favorite narratives from the Uncle Remus series have been released in a stunning edition, Jump! The Adventures of Brer Rabbit.

Vigorously whimsical illustrations by master wood engraver Barry Moser decorate the folio size sheets. Happily for all Brer Rabbit continues to outwit Brer Fox, and Brer Terrapin again winds up the winner. Earmarked for all ages.

The Other Wise Man is a great story. This version, shortened to tell to children, was the right length for my purpose. I read the story aloud at our family Christmas gathering and it touched everyone's heart, young and old. The tale describes a fourth wise man who is delayed because he helped people in need on his way to see the newborn King. He feels sadness that he failed to bring his gifts to the Christ child, but is assured in the end that God noticed his kindness to those he met. A great story, beautifully illustrated.
There was one flaw: the cover on this book was mounted backwards! I would not have wanted to use it as a gift for this reason, but it suited my purpose well and I sent it on to my grandson out of state who missed the family party.
I heartily recommend the book for children or adults. It gives an excellent parable of the way our response to others is actually a response to Christ.

The Other Wise Man was written in the 1890's but is just as beautiful today as it was then.

Let the buyer beware; this is a children's book, a retelling of story in short, childrens form.

My English teacher read this to my class in Grade 12, and I remember crying in class. Very touching story which reminds us of the meaning of Christmas. I have purchased this for the children and adults in my life so many times that I have run out of copies. I guess that Amazon doesn't mind that...

This is not the story that Henry Van Dyke wrote. It is a retelling of his story by another person. The description does not state this fact.