Dick Van Dyke would take real naps in those twin beds on the set of The Dick Van Dyke Show
While Rob and Laura Petrie's twin beds weren't exactly an honest depiction of the typical American couple's bedroom, it's nice to know that they were good for something: Keeping Dick Van Dyke well-rested.
According to Mary Tyler Moore's memoir, After All, Van Dyke would sometimes use spare time in between shooting scenes on The Dick Van Dyke Show to take naps and typically did so in the comfort of the Petrie bedroom set.
She wrote, "Occasionally, Dick would opt for a nap on one of those twin beds instead of lunch." While it might seem strange at first, the way Moore describes it actually makes it seem downright relaxing.
Moore stated, "An empty cavernous soundstage can be a remarkably cozy place. Soundless but for the reassuring puttering in the prop room, which recalls the familiar presence of Mother or Grandma in the kitchen, it restored body and mind."
As comical as Rob and Laura's relationship was on the show, it seemed that Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke shared that same sort of amusement in their own friendship.
Moore wrote about her costar, and said, "The seemingly uncomplicated all-around good guy that is Dick Van Dyke is also a genius. Despite his lack of ego and paranoia, the usual requirements for cultivating genius, he produced, with no obvious effort, the most ingenious array of amusements."
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This also meant that the set of The Dick Van Dyke Show was also rife with pranks and laughter, and no one was safe from them. According to Moore, when Van Dyke did sneak away for a little mid-day nap, the rest of the cast and crew utilized it as a wonderful opportunity to scare the pants off of him.
She wrote, "Lunch house over, the rest of us would gather outside the stage, forming a twenty- or thirty-person posse, and tiptoe to the set, where we'd silently surround his sleeping form. And there we would wait, staring at him until sometimes five or ten minutes later when he would open his eyes and bolt upward with shock, his heart racing with fear and confusion at the sight of us. We loved that."
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