My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business: A Memoir (Dick Van Dyke)

Summary:
Dick Van Dyke was the star of the aptly named Dick Van Dyke Show, as well as Bye Bye Birdie (originating his role on Broadway, and then appearing in the movie years later), Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Diagnosis Murder, and a whole host of other incredible works. His whole schtick is to be some form of himself on the stage and/or screen, and do it in a funny way. This man is a Hollywood legend. This book is about his life.

Thoughts:
I. Love. Dick Van Dyke. Love him. I'm fairly convinced that he was my first celebrity crush, from the first instant I saw him singing and dancing in the streets of London for Mary Poppins. Reading this book, and getting into the man's head, was basically a dream come true. I don't care that he was born 57 years before me, and my eldest uncle wasn't even thought of yet, let alone my mother, let alone me. I love him. It was a joy to read the tale of his lucky life in his own words. He is exactly the type of person on the page as he is on the screen. He's a jokester, and family friendly. I can literally count on one hand the number of times he used a word harsher than "hell." (The number is, in fact, once. I kid you not.) He says in his book that his goal with the work he did was to make it something that he could watch with his children, and not get embarrassed. He succeeded, spectacularly. One thing that I found interesting was the response I got when I told people that I was reading Dick Van Dyke's memoir. It wasn't "Oh my God, I loved him in Mary Poppins!" or "He was great on The Dick Van Dyke Show!" The first responses from several people (all of whom were older than me) was, "You know he was an alcoholic, right?" How, on God's green earth, is THAT your first response when you hear the name Dick Van Dyke??? This man is a comic genius, who's got legs of rubber, and can sing and act. HOW is "alcoholic" the first thing you think of? And at the time I'd spoken to these particular people, I hadn't actually gotten to any bits of the book that mention his issues with alcohol, and I wasn't around in the 70's when he actually outted himself and said "I'm an alcoholic." So no, I didn't know that. And no, it doesn't affect my view of this incredible man. So shut up about it! (Yes, I realize I've now gone on about it myself, becoming a hypocrite. I apologize, and will get back to the review.) The book is all about the joy of the job for Dick Van Dyke. He loved doing what he was doing. He still does. He's still appearing on stage, in a barbershop group called the Vantastics. He refuses to stop. I hope to hell that when I get to be in my eighties, I still love what I do enough that I want to keep doing it. Dick Van Dyke is an awesome performer, and I loved reading about his love for his craft. If you have ever in your life enjoyed a performance by our guy Dick Van Dyke, I highly recommend reading this celebration of his work. It's fun, and it's joyful, and even in the sorrow of his life, (losing a granddaughter, his ex-wife, and his girlfriend, getting a divorce, dealing with his alcoholism, etc.) he finds some kind of happiness. This is the kind of person I aspire to be. This book made me smile with every page, and now I feel the need to not only find all of his old movies, but also watch the entirety of The Dick Van Dyke Show, as well as anything else I can find of his work. I love you, Mr. Van Dyke, and I thank you for sharing your life and your immense talent with us. Love, a very satisfied fan.

Book 39 of 40ish

Pages: 327 (I think... for once I don't have the book in hand!)
Genre: Non-fiction, autobiography
Grade: A+
Would I Recommend?: Look at this post compared to all the others I ever make. I think that'll tell you! :)
And with this, we bring in the new year. I'll keep up with the list of things I finished before the end of the year last year, and then I'll get into the books for the New Year! Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy New Year!