Since the early ‘60s, the world has known Dick Van Dyke for his starring role on his self-titled TV show and ultimately his entire canon of multimedia successes. “But before then,” said Atlanta television veteran Jeff Hullinger, “the story gets a little fuzzy, yet it’s an important and interesting part of Atlanta television history.”
In honor of Van Dyke’s birthday in December 2020, local TV stalwart Hullinger (best-known for lengthy stints at WAGA and 11Alive, in addition to his current residence at GPB), posted a lengthy homage on his personal Facebook page.
“I wrote a nice tribute to Dick and it garnered a considerable amount of interest, and now that his 98th is being celebrated, his history is even more relevant” he said recently. “The footsteps Dick Van Dyke originally made in Atlanta are sort of washed away by time these days, but I started looking into his story around here and it’s quite impressive. He pretty much kicked off his ascent right here on our own home turf.”
Credit: PUBLICITY PHOTO
Credit: PUBLICITY PHOTO
“The facts aren’t extremely well documented, but they’re quite enthralling,” Hullinger said. He added that after a number of cross-country slogs with fellow comedic actor Phil Erickson, touring as part of a song and dance duo called “Eric and Van - The Merry Mutes,” Van Dyke briefly decided to settle down in the Atlanta area.
“They finally brought their act to town in the early ‘50s and performed on a show for Channel 11, featuring a few original skits and musical numbers,” he said. The team was eventually booked for a lengthy run in the “Paradise Room” at the long-defunct Henry Grady Hotel on Peachtree Street.
“The Merry Mutes did a lot of lip-sync shows, which were popular in those days,” laughed Hullinger. “They’d pantomime to old records and then improvise skits around them. It wasn’t ‘Saturday Night Live,’ by any means, but it was charming, I’m sure.”
Van Dyke and his wife Margie bought a home off Ashford Road and lived there until the Mutes act split up. But by June 1955, Van Dyke and family had moved on to New York to begin his long journey with CBS. Erickson settled in Atlanta and opened the Wits’ End Cabaret Theatre, which ran for several decades in a club located at Fifth and Peachtree streets.
After he posted the heartfelt tribute, Hullinger said he received a slew of interesting comments. “There were so many little snippets of memories,” he said. “One that really caught my eye was from a person who said they’d attended church with him at Oglethorpe Presbyterian. ... Can you imagine an up-and-coming star in 2023, on that same Van Dyke-style trajectory toward greatness, actively attending church on a weekly basis over at Oglethorpe? He was totally of another generation, from another time. It just caught my attention about the inherent decency of the man and how grounded he was — well before he made those giant steps toward the big time.”
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