Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging

by Dick Van Dyke

Overview

Show-business legend Dick Van Dyke is living proof that life does get better the longer you live it. Who better to offer instruction, advice, and humor than someone who's entering his ninth decade with a jaunty two-step? Van Dyke isn't just a born song-and-dance man; his irrepressible belief in embracing the moment and unleashing his inner child has proved to be the ultimate elixir of youth. When he was injured during the filming of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, his doctor warned him he'd be using a walker within seven years, but Dick performed a soft shoe right there and never looked back.

In Keep Moving, Dick Van Dyke offers his own playful anecdotes and advice, as well as insights from his brother, actor Jerry Van Dyke; his friend and creator of The Dick Van Dyke Show, Carl Reiner; and other spirited friends and family. Whether he's describing the pleasure he takes in his habitual visits to the grocery store; how he met his late-in-life-love Arlene; or how he sprung back, livelier than ever, from a near-death experience, Dick's optimistic outlook is an invigorating tonic for anyone who needs a reminder that life should be lived with enthusiasm despite what the calendar says.

"You don't have to act your age. You don't even have to feel it. And if it does attempt to elbow its way into your life, you do not have to pay attention. If I am out shopping and hear music playing in a store, I start to dance. If I want to sing, I sing. I read books and get excited about new ideas. I enjoy myself. I don't think about the way I am supposed to act at my age - or at any age. As far as I know, there is no manual for old age. There is no test you have to pass. There is no way you have to behave. There is no such thing as 'age appropriate.'

When people ask my secret to staying youthful at an age when getting up and down from your chair on your own is considered an accomplishment, you know what I tell them? 'Keep moving.'"

- Dick Van Dyke

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781602862975
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	10/13/2015
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	264
Sales rank:	355,720
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Dick Van Dyke, the star of Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and The Dick Van Dyke Show, has received five Emmy awards, a Tony, and a Grammy. In 2013, he received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. He is also the New York Times bestselling author of My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business. He lives in Malibu, California.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Playing with House Money 1

The Kid Stays in the Game 16

Oh Brother, How Old Art Thou? (Or How Do You Know When You're Old?) 17

That Old Senility 28

Mr. Vandy Dances Again 29

Dancing with Your Inner Child-A Workout for Older People 39

Enjoy the Ride (For my friend Bob Palmer) 53

Rewriting the Rules 63

Letters to the Editor 71

Old Things-and What Really Matters 73

A Separate Plot 87

I Was Supposed to Go First 89

A Tribute to Old Friends (circa 2008) 100

Sit or Get Off the Pot Roast 101

What Do You Talk About with Her 109

Surprises 121

Love in the Afternoon 130

Old Dogs, New Tricks 131

Why Write it Down? 141

Other Tips and Truths about Old Age 143

Good Health without Drugs … Sort Of 147

Ninety Years-A Report Card 157

Let's Hear It for Neighborliness 177

The Dreams of an Old Man 179

Wiping the Slate Clean 190

A Conversation with Carl 193

The Thing That Lasts 206

A Life Achievement Award 207

Acknowledgments 217

Index 221

Editorial Reviews

“Dick Van Dyke has been in our collective consciousness a very long time, from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Mary Poppins, to Diagnosis: Murder and The Dick Van Dyke Show. What's the secret to staying young? The popular movie and television stars [says] it's about attitude and staying active…and has a new book to prove it.” – NPR Weekend Edition

“In this follow-up to his memoir, My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business (2011), song-and-dance man Van Dyke relishes his approaching 90th birthday and shares some tips for readers on reaching and enjoying that venerable age…this is determinedly upbeat stuff.” – Kirkus Reviews

“Multitalented…[Dick Van Dyke] shares his vast store of knowledge in a memoir that offers tips and truths about…[how to] make living an achievement.” – The Sacramento Bee

From the Publisher

2015-08-17
In this follow-up to his memoir, My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business (2011), song-and-dance man Van Dyke relishes his approaching 90th birthday and shares some tips for readers on reaching and enjoying that venerable age. Best known for Bye Bye Birdie, Mary Poppins, and the Dick Van Dyke Show, the still-energetic actor, aided here by Gold (co-author, with Billy Ray Cyrus: Hillbilly Heart, 2013, etc.), presents not so much a memoir as a collection of sprightly, scattered essays, a few poems, some correspondence with a TV reviewer, one raunchy limerick, and a fair number of platitudinous to-do and not-to-do lists. One chapter, featuring his report card rating of significant events since his birth in 1925, results in some odd juxtapositions: Van Dyke seeing Al Jolson in a "talkie" in 1930 (The Jazz Singer) is followed by the election of Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 ("The country…needed a leader, someone to believe in, and FDR was the man"). Both years receive an A. Van Dyke's boyhood, marriages, career, bout with alcoholism, health problems: all touched upon but not explored, for this is determinedly upbeat stuff. If the secrets to a long life are good genes and a good attitude, the author appears to have been blessed with both, plus the important factor of good luck. Some celebrity name-dropping is inevitable in a showbiz memoir, but here it is fairly low-key. A late chapter featuring a conversation with longtime friend Carl Reiner would have been a fitting way to wrap up this offering on aging well, but unfortunately, Van Dyke cannot resist concluding this account by tacking on more forgettable platitudes. Those with fond memories of the author's wholesome movies and TV shows may take pleasure in this dose of good cheer; others not so much.

Kirkus Reviews