During its original five-season run (1961-66), "The Dick Van Dyke Show" could sometimes be quietly controversial.
It dared to cast black actors in roles that just as easily could have gone to whites. It featured a Jewish character -- comedy writer Buddy Sorrell (Morey Amsterdam) -- who, in one episode, celebrated a very belated Bar Mitzvah. It dared to suggest that women like comedy writer Sally Rogers (Rose Marie) could wield power. And in the legendary episode "That's My Boy??," which is a flashback to the birth of Richie Petrie, father Rob (Van Dyke), running on low blood sugar because he hasn't eaten, becomes convinced that he and wife Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) have brought home the wrong kid from the hospital. He believes it, that is, until the other couple, with a newborn that Rob suspects is theirs, visits their home --
"That's My Boy??" aired in the fall of 1963, following a summer of civil rights unrest that included riots in Birmingham, Alabama where protesters, mostly black, were dispersed by police officers wielding firehoses and German shepherds under the command of Chief "Bull" Connor. The episode wasn't exactly a ringing denunciation of what happened in Alabama, but the fact that it was produced at all -- and broadcast without any pushback -- is a minor miracle. (Television in the 1960s pretty much perfectly personifies the term "baby steps.")
Which brings us to episode 144, originally broadcast during the show's final season, on January 26, 1966. It's called "The Making of a Councilman" and it's the conclusion of a two-parter where Rob is encouraged, by local party officials, to run for the city council of New Rochelle.The first episode, "I Do Not Choose to Run," deals with Rob's doubts that he's qualified for the job -- and his suspicion that he's been approached only because of his wholesome good looks and his celebrity as head writer of "The Alan Brady Show." Laura tries to convince him otherwise, but Rob is on to something -- at campaign events and press conferences he gets more questions about show business than about local issues.
In "The Making of a Councilman," we're introduced to Rob's opponent -- Lincoln Goodheart, played by Wally Cox. On local issues, he is as knowledgeable as Rob is ignorant. He's also shorter, less good looking and more unassuming, which means that, despite his expertise, voters don't pay much attention to him. But in a joint interview with Lincoln about the route of a proposed parkway, Rob begins to realize how much he doesn't know about New Rochelle:
Rob: I feel that the west side parkway is the best. Right, the
west side parkway is short and the east side parkway is much longer. About
three miles longer and the west side would be cheaper.
Lincoln: I disagree ... there are many factors favoring the east side
route. For example, the land along that route is very sparsely populated and
therefore much more easily acquired. ... So even though the route may be longer, it could
be completed from anywhere from six months to a year sooner.
Rob: I didn't know that.
Lincoln: In the long run, that would result in a substantial saving.
Rob: I bet it would!
"Did you know," Rob asks Laura at one point, "that 'The Alan Brady Show' is number six in Argentina? ... Lincoln told me."But it isn't until the end of the episode that the really subversive thing happens.
Rob wins.
"The Dick Van Dyke Show" would come to a close in a few more months, and it's telling that Rob's council position never crops up on any more episodes.
That's probably just as well, because despite our love for Rob Petrie, you can't help but feel that New Rochelle is getting the short end of the stick -- and we're getting a cautionary tale about the potential for danger that occurs when celebrity mixes with politics.
