Dick Van Dyke turns 100: Old friend Mel Brooks pays tribute

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0:23I'm leery and scared, but I'm also not too worried because I'm light on my feet. And if I see trouble, I can dodge away. I hope. I think so. Mel Brooks is about to turn 100 years old. his friend Dick Van Dyke already has. What it's like to look back on a century in showbiz.

0:56It's Wednesday, December 24th, and this is Here and Now Anytime from NPR and WBUR. I'm Chris Bentley. Merry Christmas Eve to you. This time of year, the past has a way of flooding back into view. Happy golden days of yore, and all that. That's not always easy to handle, because it inevitably comes with a reminder of what's been lost in the years since those days. Well, today we've got three conversations about entertainers and artists speaking across the decades. In a few minutes, we'll hear about a new concert documentary celebrating the legacy of songwriter John Prine. I think I was first really drawn to John with his kindness and his gentleness.

1:46Those were two of the things that I noticed very quickly about him. In other words, he didn't have a lot of sort of defenses up to the world. You know, he was just a kind, generous, open human being. And after that, we'll take a trip to an independent movie theater. That's marking 100 years in business. But first, another 100th birthday we marked this month. Legendary actor and comedian Dick Van Dyke logged a century on Earth on December 13th. Our own Robin Young has been waiting a long time to mark that occasion, and she got to, if not in the way that she planned. Robin went to LA a few weeks ago for an interview, And, well, we'll just hear what happened in this story from a few weeks ago when Robin went to meet one of her idols, Dick Van Dyke.

2:36Now, some of us know every word of his 1960 Broadway show Bye Bye Birdie, playing opposite Tito Rivera. Now my life is rosy Oh, we'll be happy, I know Since I've found my role Off to the creature we'll go The Dick Van Dyke Show We watched every episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, praying it would be the one where he falls over the ottoman. Has any man done more pratfalls?

3:09His chimney sweep in Mary Poppins, an absent-minded inventor in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, told us he was kind. I love Dick Van Dyke. So when his people invited me out to his house in Malibu last week to interview him ahead of his 100th birthday, I was over the moon, but when I got there, he was under the weather. We couldn't risk him getting worse, so I agreed. No interview. I was crushed. Oh, if only there was another 99-year-old beloved cultural icon who could talk to us about Dick Van Dyke. Oh, wait. Mel Brooks, are you there? Hello, Robin. I'm here. Thank you so much for being there. How are you?

3:53I'm okay, Robin. Good. So you start. Why do you love Dick Van Dyke? I love Dick Van Dyke because he was so good-natured, so sweet, original. I mean, you know, we'd meet at Norman Lear's house once a month, and we had sandwiches without crusts, like egg salad sandwiches and tuna fish, but no crust. But Dick would always pop up and say, I got a crust here. And he would, you know, he drove us crazy. Why is that so funny that you had sandwiches? It's funny because he always found something irregular and he pointed it out. Sweet as sugar. I just loved Dick Van Dyke. Also, we both loved Carl Reiner.

4:45And I always thought Carl Reiner was my best friend. And every time Dick would say, no, I think he's my best friend. And if you ask Carl, it was the one who called him. We both loved Carl Reiner an awful lot. Yeah. Well, you and Carl Reiner met on Sid Caesar's show of shows. You were writers. And you created the 2 ,000-year-old man. Yep, we did. I was sitting in the writer's room, and Carl walked in. And he sat down next to me. And out of the blue, Carl said, I understand that you're 2 ,000 years old. Can you verify that? something. He told Bob Costas that he got this idea because he was listening to a show called We the People, and they spoke as if they were talking to someone who had been, in this case, in Stalin's bathroom and overheard Stalin.

5:34For some reason, it took place in Stalin's bathroom. Right. Well, he came back to the writer's room, as you were saying, and he says, no, no, no, I'm going to do this with you. Let's just listen because we have Carl Reiner here. And I turned to Mel Brooks. I was sitting on a couch. He was here. And I did Dan Seymour's voice. Here's a man who was actually at the scene of the crucifixion. Isn't that true, sir? Oh, boy, he said. And from then on, I started to interview Mel for the next 10 years. Anytime we got bored, Mel, I knew, he had things he did like Jewish pirates. He did all kind of crazy characters, just entertain us.

6:14And now I had him forever. Oh. Yep. He did have you forever. I miss him, and so does Dick Van Dyke. I miss him as much as I do. We both loved... Carl Reiner was very important to both of us. He was so giving and loving and sweet and bright and played an important part in our lives. Yes, and Norman Lear died in 2023 at 101. Carl Reiner died in 2020 at 98. We're so sorry. Let's just hear a little more of his role in your life, talking about your hit record, 2 ,000-Year-Old Man. I asked Mel in the record, I said, when you lived in caves, did you have, he said, oh, yes, we all lived in caves. Everybody had a number on the cave.

6:57We're like little entities, a clan, a cave. I said, did you have a national anthem? Every cave had a national anthem. Oh, sure. I said, you remember your national anthem? I certainly do. I'll never forget. You don't forget a national anthem in a minute. Let me hear it, sir. Let them all go to hell, except Cave 7D.

7:19By the way, I mean, this brings us such joy. Is this kind of, you know, bittersweet for you, I think I'm hearing? It is. It is. It is bittersweet. He was so caring, so loving, and both Dick and I were very lucky to have Carl in our lives because he knew what to hit on, and he drew out the best comedy in both of us. Right. And for Dick, it was, of course, Carl Reiner created the Dick Van Dyke Show. Well, Carl was supposed to play that Rob Petrie, the writer, and the show wasn't selling. And then one of the producers said to Carl, don't worry about it. We'll get a good actor. And Carl said, well, what's the matter with me?

8:01You're not good enough. And so Carl helped finding the brilliant Dick Van Dyke. Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. Not bad. Not bad. Not bad. Pretty damn good. Yeah. Here's a scene where an Easter chick grew into a duck that lived in the kitchen sink. Rob, don't you think it's time we found him a new home? Shh, not in front of the D-U-C-K. It's not funny. That bird should be swimming in a lake, not in a sink. Oh, I know it, honey. It occurs to me that both you and Dick had some practice, maybe, at getting old. Maybe you with the 2 ,000-year-old man. But Dick Van Dyke, he played old men all the time.

8:43Yes, yes. True, true. Do you remember the Carol Burnett skit? This was on Van Dyke and Company. He played an ancient man who had just spent 37 years making one origami duck. And then in Tottles, that's funny there, right? In Tottles, the equally ancient Carol Burnett, who decides to rip apart the duck to read what's on the newspaper. Let's listen. I wish I hadn't done that.

9:17And there he punches her in the stomach. She goes flying, and they proceed to old people's slow fight. You know, she throws a right jab at his chin. They fall over. They collapse furniture. I remember. So great. So fabulous. So wonderful. Talk about his physicality. Yes, physically, he was a bit of a genius. He was dancing until a week ago. I mean, he could still do his soft shoe. He was a great song and dance man. And here he is on the verge of 100, still singing and dancing. It's amazing. He's amazing. At first blush, it doesn't make sense that you and Dick Van Dyke would be so close. Neil Simon, I think, is the one who said, standing next to you is like standing next to a grenade.

10:12Whereas, you know, Dick Van Dyke, he doesn't have any sharp elbows. He has no elbows. You know, when he dances, he's like a noodle. Very good, very good. No elbows. Very good. Thank you. Why do you think you and Dick, you're going to be 100 in June. Yeah, I'm in June. Yeah. He will be on Saturday. Why do you think? Do you think? Why? I don't know. Because the angel of death said, let's give this guy a break. He's such a sweetheart. You know? Well, what about you? Well, what about me? Well, I hide, you know. I'm never in one place for very long. I'm not looking for this guy to catch up with me.

10:50Yeah, yeah. Dick Van Dyke writes in this book, this very sweet book, A Hundred Rules for Living to 100. And he says, I don't care how long the memory of me, Dick Van Dyke. And he's very much with us, right? He just had a cold, right? Oh, yeah. And he says, I don't care how long the memory of me, Dick Van Dyke, lasts in the world. I care about the survival of what I've shared. You know, as long as children are proudly belting out supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, the most important part of me will be alive. Exactly. Well, wonderful. I'm glad you picked that out and remembered it. It's beautiful.

11:24Isn't it? Well, I'm just, you know, Mel Brooks, your body of work, oh my God. As you head into your 100th year, you feel pretty good about that? I feel, you know, I mean, I'm leery and scared, but I'm also not too worried because I'm light on my feet. And if I see trouble, I can dodge away. I hope. I think so. Dick Van Dyke said he would call Carl Reiner every time, you know, when he's like in his 90s. And he would come across an old Dick Van Dyke show. He'd call Carl. and they would just listen on the phone. They wouldn't say anything. They'd laugh and they'd watch together and listen. How beautiful.

12:08Well, I was just thinking that maybe now, it's you and Dick, you call each other, watch TV together. We do. You do. Once in a while, we do. And he's so delightful. He's so delicious to be with. I never met anybody who had a bad word to say about Dick Van Dyke. Dick Van Patten, yes, we would curse him. But never Dick Van Dyke. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mel. Bye-bye. You bet. Take care, Robin. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

12:4299-year-old Mel Brooks on his 99-year-old bestie, Dick Van Dyke, who turns 100 this Saturday. Now, this song, All My Love, was written by Coldplay's Chris Martin for Dick Van Dyke. The video is a glorious home movie. We'll have it at hereandnow.org. Meantime, from Mel, from me, from, I suspect, many of you, happy birthday, Dick Van Dyke, and thank you. You've got all my love.

13:15What is love? It's certainly the feeling of caring about the welfare and the life of the other person, as much as you care for yourself.

13:29Robin Young Head to hereinnow.org to watch the videos that she and Mel Brooks were laughing about. We'll put a link in the show notes, so check out the episode description to find that. And all that talk of Carl Reiner reminds me that conversation happened before the tragic death this month of Carl's son, Rob Reiner. What a month it has been. Well, speaking of Rob Reiner, Coming up next, we remember another master storyteller gone too soon. Songwriter John Prime died of COVID-19 during the early days of the pandemic. His songs continue to inspire countless musicians, and really just about anyone who hears them, for that matter.

14:12And a new documentary captures some of that. Peter O'Dowd has that conversation after the break.

14:53We'll be right back. health, your lifestyle, and your budget. And they work for you for free. Get the right life insurance for you and save more than 50 % at selectquote.com slash anytime. That's 50 % off at selectquote.com slash anytime. Old people just grow lonesome Waiting for someone to say hello and now John Prine was a songwriting hero to generations of musicians. But when he died from complications of COVID-19 in the earliest days of the pandemic, there was no safe way to publicly mourn such a profound loss. Two and a half years later, on October 10, 2022, some of the biggest stars in country music finally gathered at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville to celebrate his work.

15:50Here's Gillian Welch and David Rawlings performing Hello in There. It's been years since the kids have grown Life of their own Left us alone

16:11A new documentary about the magic of that two-day memorial concert captures the spirit of John Prine, a mail carrier turned poet who won five Grammys in his career, including a Lifetime Achievement Award. The film is called You Got Gold. Fiona Whelan-Prine is one of the producers. She's also John Prine's widow. Fiona, it's really good to speak with you. Welcome. Great to be here. Thank you. And John Prine died in early April 2020. This was really before anyone knew what was coming with the pandemic. I know this may be tough, but could you take us back to those early days of the pandemic and what that was like for you and your family?

16:51It just must have been total shock and confusion. Yeah, well, it was on my radar pretty early on because I had done some reading about it, even though there was not a whole lot out there. And I very quickly understood that John may be in danger if he were to contract the virus. I mean, he was healthy in that he was working and we were traveling and he had just had a hip replacement and was doing his PT. but you know years of different illnesses he'd had a cancer and obviously just having had surgery you know that would have left him compromised and so when i tested positive for the virus i was just thrown into a whole new level of fear really he was the type of person whose life that so many people under normal circumstances would have rushed to celebrate you know packed concerts and memorial services, but you couldn't do that in April of 2020.

17:49That must have been terrible. It was definitely a huge challenge. But looking back on that time, I think the whole world, it just seemed surreal. Like John's death and then the aftermath. We did manage to have a very strange small service where all 10 or 12 of us in his family gathered eight feet apart in a funeral home in downtown Nashville. And we tried to create something very small and generous for each one of us to just have that moment. And then we all went home our separate ways. And I remember walking to my car on my own and looking back and seeing my kids, my grown boys. And yeah, there were some hard moments and that was just the beginning of it.

18:40Well, it took more than two years, but in the end, you did have the celebration that you wanted to have. It would have been his 76th birthday in 2022. Let's hear a little bit from that event that you threw in Nashville, two nights of concerts. This is Valerie June and Nathaniel Rateliff singing In Spite of Ourselves. Well, he ain't got laid in a month of Sundays. I caught him once and he was sniffing my undies. He ain't too sharp, but he gets things done Drinks his beer like a oxygen Well, he's my baby, and I'm his honey I'm never gonna let him go I've heard that song a thousand times, and I still laugh when I hear it.

19:23That's the thing about your husband. He was so funny. Like, his songs could make you laugh and cry in the same verse. And then he could capture the most complex human emotions in the simplest possible way. How did he do that? He had a very wry, very quick sense of humor. He observed things around him in such minute detail. You know, we would go somewhere and later, maybe three or four days later, John would mention something from that event. I was like, I don't remember seeing that or hearing that, but he did. And so all of that went into his songwriting, into his art. You met and married later in life.

20:07Is that what drew you to him as a person? I think I was first really drawn to John with his kindness and his gentleness. Those were two of the things that I noticed very quickly about him. In other words, he didn't have a lot of sort of defenses up to the world. You know, he was just a kind, generous, open human being. and that really struck me for someone that was as successful as he was in his art and in his work. He was very approachable. Well, you know, that makes me think of this moment from the documentary because we do get to hear not only the music of John Prine and the stories about his life through the artists he inspired.

20:46This is Jason Isbell remembering what it was like to go on stage with someone he idolized. I have to admit that when I first met him, and this has been 15 years ago probably, I was so nervous the first time I got up on stage with John I had to get very drunk so I played my opening set and then I ran next door to a bar and I got very drunk so I come back out and sing a verse of Paradise with John at the end of the night but I overshot the mark and I was a little drunker than I wanted to be and so I messed up my verse and John laughed at me you know but he laughed on stage in a way that made you feel like this is okay you know he he just thinks it's hilarious that I was that nervous.

21:28What did John Prine make of his own talents? Like, did he believe that he was as good as everyone else said he was and believed him to be? You know, it's interesting listening to Jason, because that really is John. John didn't take himself seriously. I mean, he took life seriously, but he had a way of looking at the world, you know, almost like, well, we're just here for a little time, so let's just make the most of it and have fun. Let's talk about the great Bonnie Raitt. Bonnie and John Prine were friends almost their entire adult lives, and she had a really emotional tribute in this film. I knew from the first time I heard that Masterpiece album that I was going to sing Angel from Montgomery for the rest of my life.

22:14I've sung it with John so many times, and I thank him so much for the gift that this has been to every audience I've ever sung to. I love him so much and I know you will too Thank you John Can you talk about their relationship and the impact that they had on each other's careers? They had such a connection through music but also just as people I mean like you said they met when they were very young adults and so they had this lifelong friendship and I got to know Bonnie fairly early on in my relationship with John And, you know, it's to this day one of the relationships and friendships I most treasure.

22:57And I think she and John shared a lot of that same way of looking at the world with kindness, with generosity, and maybe with just a little nod to, you know, mortality in a sense. You know, we're only here for a short time. Let's make the most of it. Well, I think you might agree that her version of Angel from Montgomery is perhaps the definitive version of that song. Here she is at the concert along with Brandi Carlile. Make me an angel that flies from our gun rim. Make me a poster of an old rodeo. You know what strikes me is that not just Bonnie Raitt, but almost any artist who takes a John Pines song can make it entirely their own just by feeling it, by playing it.

23:49Do you notice that? And what is it like for you to see your husband's words performed by other people? You know, I will say that John regarded Bonnie's version of Angel as being the definitive version. He sang it every night in concert, and he always dedicated it to her. So he recognized that, yeah, she lived the song. And I think that's true of a lot of artists. You know what strikes me is that people sing John's songs. They don't change the words. They rarely change tempo or the melody in trying to make it their own song. It's still very much John's song, but they inhabit the song. And I think that's what makes these songs so unique and the performance is so unique.

24:33They're beautiful. They are. And there's so many of the artists that were performing at this concert that's depicted in the film. I've spoken with many of them over the years, and oftentimes John Prine's name would come up. and I wonder how it has been you know for you now five years on in the quiet moments maybe when you unexpectedly hear one of his songs on the radio or on a playlist at a shopping mall or wherever you may be like how are you grappling with his loss yeah it's interesting you know I work with his music all the time because I oversee his catalog and obviously through the record label but when I hear a song and I am not prepared for it it can be very jarring yeah it's uh To this day, it was a very, very difficult loss.

25:16But, you know, life is going on, and our kids are now older. They're all having children, and so life moves on, and this next generation are growing up with grandpa's songs. So, you know, it is the cycle of life, but there'll be nobody ever for me like John. Fiona Whelan-Prine is John Prine's widow, also the president of Oh Boy Records and producer of the new film You Got Gold, a celebration of John Prine. Fiona, thank you so much for sharing your memories with us. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Speaking of legacies, we'll leave you with this song, Paradise. And Daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County Down by the Green River where paradise lays Well, I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late to ask me Mr.

26:10Peabody's coal train has hauled it away The documentary You Got Gold is on tour to select theaters around the country through the spring. To find out if it's playing near you, go to yougotgoldmovie.com. And you know, a lot of those theaters that it's coming to are independent cinemas. Coming up, we've got a story about one indie theater that just turned 100 years old. Grab your popcorn, and we'll be right back. If you want to see the new Avatar movie in 3D, 4DX, IMAX, you're going to have to go to a big chain theater. That's all well and good. I'm a sucker for bombastic visual entertainment, and I actually like the Avatar series.

26:58Come at me. But there's something really special about independent movie theaters, which have been struggling since the pandemic. One in the Boston area, however, just celebrated its 100th birthday in November. And here and now is Thomas Danielian takes us there. The Capitol Movie Theater in Arlington, Massachusetts, is bustling with activity as 150 of us stream through the front door. The concession line gets longer as employees dig through the mountains of fresh popcorn and fill up gigantic soda cups. We make our way to Screen One, a redone Art Deco theatre with an off-white proscenium arch and columns with ribbons of blue and gold.