Thread Resurrection (For A Sad Reason :frowning.............
"Jackie Brew-Brew" has died at age 71. Lennie Weinrib, who played the hilarious "Brew-Brew" in the Season-One Dick Van Dyke episode "Buddy, Can You Spare A Job?", passed away on June 28th, 2006, in Chile (where he had been living for the last several years).
"It was a remarkable performance {Lennie's role in the "Can You Spare A Job?" Van Dyke episode}, all the more so because the show filmed at 7:00 on a Friday evening and Lennie was hired at 2:00 that afternoon. The role of the insult comic was written for (and rehearsed all week by) Shecky Greene who somehow ran afoul of the law and had to go off with some nice policemen. Suddenly, producer Carl Reiner found himself without the guest star in the episode they were filming that evening — a nice cause for panic — but he knew what to do: Call Lennie. And Lennie came in, learned the role and played it to perfection."
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I had not known that Shecky Greene was slated to play "Brew-Brew". Perhaps that info is in one of the Van Dyke books I have; but I don't recall seeing it.
Interestingly (for me personally), the "Brew-Brew" episode aired the day before I was born. (And either the article above is incorrect about the show being filmed on a "Friday", or the info on the DVD-Video boxed set is wrong re. the film date for that one, which says 09/19/1961, which was a Tuesday, not a Friday; but, that doesn't matter very much.)
Goodbye, Jackie "Brew-Brew" Brewster. You'll live on in reruns....always.
The show filmed on Tuesday nights, so the 19th is correct.
That is a real loss about Lennie Weinrib. VERY talented guy. My personal favorite appearance of his on TDVDS was in the 4th Season episode "The Impractical Joke" where he leads Rob (at Buddy's insistence) through a very funny gag phone call.
Lennie was a very talented actor who made the most of his limited Van Dyke appearances. He was also in one of my personal favorite episodes which I think was named the "Sam Pomerantz Scandals" (could be wrong on the title; doing it from memory). It's the one where the gang goes for a retreat and and puts on a show culminating in a wonderful tribute to Laurel and Hardy.
I was thinking those were the air dates. No wonder I couldn't find the show from the day my sister was born, Sept. 12, 1965. I think I remember reading that date in the box set and thinking "there's one my parents missed the first time".
Well, Scott, the Image Ent. DVDs list both the airdates and the film dates. So you can take your pick.
I always like to point out to Van Dyke Show fans the rather intriguing "coincidence" re. the show's film date for the pilot episode ("The Sick Boy And The Sitter") -- January 20, 1961, which was the very day John F. Kennedy was sworn into office as President. (And Rob & Laura were sort of known as TV's answer to the "First Couple" in a JFK/Jackie kind of fashion.)
Kind of interesting that both of those "administrations" began on the very same day.
DICK VAN DYKE SHOW BLOOPER REEL...................
The following link includes approx. 5 minutes of Dick Van Dyke Show bloopers and outtakes from Season #1 of the series.
Almost all of these outtakes (save one) also reside on a 24-minute VHS videotape (of the unauthorized variety I might add) produced in 1993 by "American Video, Inc." entitled "The Cutting Room Floor; Volume 1". (I was lucky enough to secure a copy of that tape in 1998.)
Take note of one particular curious short clip in here...it's from a scene that did not air at all and features Marty Ingels and some unknown actress whom I don't recognize.
If anyone recognizes that "mystery scene", or the "rats and mice" girl in the clip, please speak up; because I don't recognize that scene from any Van Dyke program. Somebody at another forum said the girl we see in the clip is Yvonne Craig. (Beats me though.) ~shrugs~
What a perfect extra bonus inclusion a reel like this would have made on one of the five Image Entertainment sets of the Van Dyke series. But, alas, Carl Reiner would not permit such an inclusion of outtake/blooper material. :frowning:
There is one instance of foul language heard here (that's the one item not on the VHS tape of these outtakes btw), with Mel Cooley offering up a neat little expletive.
Some funny stuff here, which serves as an additional reminder at just how much fun this group of actors was obviously having when they got together to film this soon-to-be-classic TV sitcom every week. (And this is just the first season too.) ........
David, that clip is not from TDVDS. It is from the premiere episode of I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, and that is indeed Yvonne Craig. Somewhere over the years, that must have been edited into that blooper reel.
And thanks for posting that! That was terrific to see!
I had my doubts that it was a DvDS scene....but it does have Marty Ingels in it (who appeared in two first-year DvDS eps.).
It would have helped me if I had ever seen that "Fenster" show before in my lifetime; which I have not.
Anyway, thanks for clearing up the mystery. (Only took 38 minutes to clear up, too. Not bad. HTFers come through again.)
I have now noted that Ted Rich served as editor on the "Dickens/Fenster" series. Wonder if he's related to Van Dyke director John Rich? Perhaps they shared outtakes at some point.
In the longer 24-minute "Cutting Room Floor" tape of DvDS bloopers, there's a nifty add-on scene from the Season-Five ep. "Long Night's Journey Into Day", with a different epilogue filmed than what we find in the final cut of the show. In the outtake version, Millie asks Rob to sing the 'Marine's Hymn' to help her fall asleep....and then Rob & Laura march out of the bedroom like soldiers as Rob gives a spirited and animated rendition of the requested song.
Another portion of the tape shows Rose Marie dancing on the set with director John Rich. (They were dancing "The Jitterbug", and they both can cut a pretty mean rug too, I'll tell ya.)
Ever since I was lucky enough to get S.1 for only $20.00 I made it my goal to do so for the rest of the seasons, though I've had to wait a long time to do so. I just recently purchased S.2 and can't express how entertaining the episodes were from this season! It seemed that every one of them was a jewel and I thought it was funny the other night on the PBS special "Pioneers of Television: Sitcoms" whenever they would show a clip from TDVDS it was always from Season 2 episode.
I also really liked the Easter Eggs of pretty much Kent Cigarette ads...even more so cause now we have proof that Rob Petrie was a warlock as we see him zap up a carton of cigs and a lit one LOL
Anway, Mr. Von Pein, thank you so much for guiding me to the DVDS with your awesome reviews! I would've never bought them otherwise.
Now I just gotta get S.4 and I'll have the whole series
And S.4 is another darn good season too, including these classic entries: "The Case Of The Pillow", "Never Bathe On Saturday", "The Ghost Of A. Chantz", "4-And-A-Half", "Pink Pills And Purple Parents", and "The Impractical Joke."
[Click on the image below, which by the way is a picture that was drawn by Dick Van Dyke himself, to find out what a complete loon I am when it comes to TDvDS. ]
Hopefully some of you caught the recent PBS Pioneers of TV specials. One was on sitcoms and had quite a bit of DVD content plus two other faves: the Andy Griffith Show and the Honeymooners.