Mack & Myer for Hire on DVD Kid's TV Commercials Route 66 season 1 on DVD Carol Burnett Show on DVD 1950's Saturday Morning Shows Match Game on DVD Mr Peabody on DVD Fractured Fairy Tales on DVD
TV Shows on DVD/ / / / / TV Blog/ / / / / Punk Book/ / / Holiday Specials on DVD / / / / / / Classic Commercials

 

Mickey Deems Interview
By Rob Craig

Mickey Deems in Mack & myer for HireIn 1963, Trans-Lux Television of Norwalk, Connecticut, produced a series of live-action comedy films entitled MACK & MYER FOR HIRE.

The films centered around two bumbling yet lovable handymen, who shared an office/loft in Manhattan. They try and fail countless times to make a living, and more often than not end up making things worse, while helping others they hadn't even counted on. Although they always screw up, somehow, things usually end up right.

Mickey Deems photoThese remarkable ten-minute films hearken back to the classic two-reel comedies of the 1930's and 1940's, and owe a great deal to the works of Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, and Harold Lloyd. Astute physical comedy balances with clever visual and verbal buffoonery to make a classic comedic stew.

Joey Faye photoThe stars of Mack & Myer were Mickey Deems and Joey Faye, two comedy veterans with a long and glorious history in show business, from vaudeville to the big bands.

The creator of Mack & Myer was Mickey Deems, a true keeper of the old-school flame of classic comedy. We were fortunate to bump into Mr. Deems on the Internet. Mickey, who is alive and well and living in California, was kind enough to share with us some of his memories of this wonderful forgotten comedy series.

Mickey Deems in Mack & myer for HireTVParty: Could you give us a little background on your beginnings in show business?

Mickey Deems: I started in show business as a musician; a drummer and arranger. But I did so much clowning around, soon I began to take comedy seriously. After World War II, I continued doing comedy, and left music behind.

Mickey DeemsTVP: There was a prolific drummer in the 1950's named Barrett Deems, who worked with the Louis Armstrong Band, among others. This wasn't you, was it?

MD: No. I am not Barrett Deems, but I knew him. Often while talking to someone, they would ask this question. When I said no, I wasn't Barrett, they would reply, "I thought not. You look so healthy." It seems that Barrett was a big drinker!

TVP: In 1962, you and Joey Faye played together on Broadway, in the Sid Caesar show LITTLE ME. According to the Playbill, you played five roles!

MD: Wrong! I played SEVEN roles in LITTLE ME, and was Sid's understudy. One night, Sid passed out during his first scene and I replaced him. So, that is an 8th character I played. 7 of mine and 7 of Sid's. It's a long story...

TVP: You were also in a very popular Off-Broadway production of Cole Porter's ANYTHING GOES, considered by many to be the definitive version of this great musical.

MD: ANYTHING GOES is my favorite show. I did it with Hal Linden, before he was BARNEY MILLER. Also, as the show was written in 1934, the gags were a little out-dated for 1963! I asked Linsey and Crouse if I might rewrite the comedy scenes. They said O.K., so I rewrote them. I am happy they worked as well as they did.

TVP: How did the MACK & MYER project come about? MD: The MACK & MYER project was the idea of Trans-Lux Television, including the title. They originally pictured a "kiddie show", but I put the kibosh on that. TVP: How was producer Sandy Howard to work with?

MD: Sandy Howard was a good guy but a lousy producer. He wanted to do TWO episodes a day, which would have been impossible! He finally settled for one a day. That is, one whole episode, most of which I wrote, A DAY!

TVP: The credits say "Comedy supervised by Mickey Deems", and there are no writing credits. Can we assume that you wrote all the shows?

MD: We did 202 MACK & MYERS, 90% of which I wrote and "directed". But I did not want the director credit.

TVP: What was the production schedule like?

MD: We got up at 5 A.M., and drove out to Hempstead, N.Y., where the show was shot. It was a really old studio, and very cheap. As our budget was almost nonexistent, this was fine with Sandy Howard.

TVP: Physical comedy can be very exhausting. What kind of pace did you set for yourselves? What about rehearsals?

MD: There were no rehearsals except for the camera setups. Joey and I would talk out the script I had written while in the make-up chair, and take it from there.

TVP: You and Joey Faye worked so well together; had you worked together often?

MD: I had known Joey for about 20 years before MACK & MYER. It was Joey that Trans-Lux first hired for the show. He then recommended me for his buddy.

TVP: What are your personal favorite MACK & MYER episodes?

MD: My favorite episodes are difficult to name, as the titles were often changed. Some of my favorites are episodes we shot during one week when our budget was so low, they couldn't hire guest actors, so Joey and I (with the help of a great make-up artist and wardrobe guy) had to play ALL THE PARTS!

TVP: Your comedy definitely falls into the tradition of Laurel and Hardy, Abbott & Costello, Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, and even a touch of Olsen and Johnson! Who would you consider your greatest influences?

Mickey DeemsMD: All of the above. And Stan Laurel, whom I was blessed to know, gave me hundreds of physical gags over the telephone.

TVP: MACK & MYER looks like it was filmed "live", with a two-camera setup, like a situation comedy. Is this correct?

MD: Yes, it was a two camera setup.

Mickey Deems in Mack & myer for HireTVP: Many of the MACK & MYER episodes feature you and Myer riding around the countryside in a motorcycle with sidecar. Did you actually learn to ride this contraption?

MD: I never learned how to drive it, but I did anyway!

TVP: How were the MACK & MYER films received? Did you do any guest appearances to promote the show?

Mickey DeemsMD: The show was very well received. For a short time, it was one of the top shows in Japan. The only Promo Joey and I did was a comedy bit in front of Macy's Department Store, during the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

TVP: MACK & MYER ran extensively in the New York metropolitan area. Do you recall how widespread the show was syndicated. International as well?

Mack & Myer For HireMD: Oh, yes. I still get fan letters from Germany and Japan, so I guess they are STILL running there!

TVP: You worked with Joey Faye and Sandy Howard on another project, a 1964 comedy called DIARY OF A BACHELOR. Any memories on this?

MD: I remember DIARY OF A BACHELOR quite well. It was Dom DeLouise's first film. And a great cast of character actors, who I knew quite well.

Mickey Deems ShowTVP: Although the syndication prints of MACK & MYER don't have it, I somehow recall a sung "theme song" for M&M: "Mack and Myer are for Hire, Myer is a dirty liar, etc." Do you recall this?

MD: There were no lyrics to the MACK & MYER theme. In fact, I believe it was a "stock song" that was in the public domain.

TVP: Do you own a collection of the MACK & MYER films? Any chance we will see them released on home video?

Mickey Deems photoMD: I have several episodes of MACK & MYER but really don't watch them much. They are too familiar. I hope they will be revived someday. I would take it as a compliment.

TVP: Vintage TV fans love the MACK & MYER films. What do you think of the cult revival of MACK & MYER FOR HIRE?

MD: I would have to be a liar to say that I don't take this as a compliment. The MACK & MYER following is a great surprise to me, but a happy one.

TVP: Thank you for your time, and for the great comedy!

MD: Be well.

Mickey Deems in TV's Mack & myer for Hire

 

 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON MICKEY DEEMS

Mack & Myer for Hire on DVD
Now on DVD!


Mickey Deems CD

"Thanks for the great interview with Mickey Deems. I saw him live in Merrillville, Indiana in a salute to Burlesque, which starred Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Mickey Deems, and Joey Foreman. It was a high energy show, and Deems got quite a bit of applause as he filled in the parts that Howard Morris and Carl Reiner did with Sid.

"I also have some episodes of 'Mack and Meyer for Hire.' They really are very well done. Joey Faye kept mentioning Floogle Street, a reference to his most famous burlesque sketch."

- Randy Farb

 

Your Classic TV Blog!

Classic Commercials on DVDTV Commercials on DVD

Classic Commercials on DVDDoris Day Christmas Shows on DVD


Magic Garden on DVDZoom on DVD

TV on DVD
Holiday Specials on DVD
TV Commercials on DVD
TV Shows on BLU-RAY

Classic Commercials on DVDTV Commercials on DVD

Little Rascals on DVD

Time Tunnel on DVD Peabody & Sherman cartoons on DVD

  Good Times Season 5 on DVD

Wild Retro T-Shirts on Sale!



Local Kid Shows / Movie Stars on TV / Saturday Morning Shows / Video Vault / TV Goodbyes / Fabulous Fifties / Unseen Scenes / Game Shows / Requested Forgotten TV Shows / The Super Sixties / More Modern TV Shows / The New * * Shows / 1980's Wrestling / TV Blog

TVparty is Classic TV on the internet!
Classic TV on the Internet!

TV's Embarrassing Moments / Action Shows of the Sixties / TVparty Mysteries and Scandals / Variety Shows of the 1970s / The Eighties / The Laugh Track / 1970's Hit Shows / Response to TVparty / Search the Site / Add Your Comments

REQUESTED CLASSIC
TV SHOWS!

The Virginian / Men From Shilo
The Girl with Something Extra
My World And Welcome To It
Nanny & The Professor
The Smith Family
Shazam!
The Sixth Sense
Camp Runamuck
Run Buddy Run
Pistols N Petticoats
The Young Rebels / Lawyers
The Texas Wheelers
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
My Living Doll / Favorite Martian
The Pruitts of Southhampton
Captain Nice & Mr. Terrific
The Ugliest Girl In Town
The Beverly Hillbillies
Saturday Night Live
Shindig! & Hullabaloo
The Mothers-in-Law
Then Came Bronson
Holmes and Yo-Yo

James Garner as Nichols
Playboy After Dark
A Touch of Grace
Blue Coronet
Second Hundred Years
The New People
McKeever and the Colonel
The Rockford Files
My Mother The Car
Get Christy Love
The Magician
The Persuaders
It's About Time
Reverend Ike
Family Affair
The Gong Show
He and She
Hootenanny
Honey West
Amanda's
Way Out
Bearcats
Quark
Shaft
Hank

Requested Forgotten television Shows!
Classic TV Commercials / 1950's TV / 1960's TV / Punk Book / / 1970's TV / Groucho vs William F Buckley / / TV Games / Honey Boo Boo / Lucy Shows / Classic Cars / John Wayne / Gene Roddenberry / Rockford Files / Sea Hunt / Superman on DVD / Toy Gun Ads / Flip Wilson Show / Big Blue Marble / Monty Hall / Carrascolendas / Mr. Dressup / Major Mudd / Chief Halftown / Baby Daphne / Sheriff John / Winchell & Mahoney / Fireball X-L5 / Mr. Wizard / Captain Noah / Thanksgiving Day Specials / Disney's First Christmas Special / Saturday Morning Cartoons / The Magic Garden / Amahl & the Night Visitors / Holiday Toy Commercials / Lucy & Desi's Last Christmas Show / Joey Heatherton / Fat Albert / The Virginian / Bewitched / Death of John Wayne / 1974 Saturday Mornings / Chuck McCann / Rudolph Collectables / Shrimpenstein / Local Popeye Shows / New Treasure Hunt / 1966 ABC TV Shows / 1967 TV Shows / 1968 TV Shows / Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes & Baby Doll / Fridays / TV Moms / Red Skelton / Star Wars / KISS / Lancelot Link / Saturday Morning Cartoons / The Magic Garden / Wonder Woman / Classic Comic Books / Andy Griffith / Cher / TV Shows on DVD / Outtakes & Bloopers / 1967 TV Shows / Romper Room / ABC Movie of the Week / The Goldbergs / Daws Butler Commercials / Saturday Morning Commercials / Captain Kangaroo / Chicago Local Kiddie Shows / Boston Local TV / Philly Local TV / NYC Local Kid Shows / Amos 'n' Andy / Electric Company / Bette Davis / Judy Garland / Christmas Specials / Redd Foxx / Good Times / Sitcom Houses / What's Happening! / Winky Dink & You / big brotherSonny & Cher / Smothers Brothers / Commercial Icons of the 1960s / Soupy Sales / The Carpenters / Route 66 / Bozo / The Carpenters Christmas Specials / Local Kid Shows / Death of TV's Superman / Wonderama / Sesame Street / Bob Hope Specials / Little Rascals / 1980's Retro Gay T-Shirts / 1980's TV Wrestling / Fess Parker / Howdy Doody / TV Blog / Lost In Space / Pinky Lee / 1980's LA Punk Rock / Alex Toth Book / TV Terrorists / Irwin Allen / The Untouchables / Carol Burnett Show / Batman TV Show / Green Hornet / Today Show History / Our Gang / Doris Day Show / 1970's Commercials For Women / Bill Cosby in the 1970s / The Golddiggers / Lola Falana / 1970s TV Shows / David Bowie on TV / Hudson Brothers / Jackie Gleason / Hollywood Squares / Match Game / Bob Keeshan / Gumby / The Flip Wilson Show / Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour / The Bobby Darin Show / The Richard Pryor Show / George Burns / Celebrity Commercials / Rudolph / Movie Posters & More! 

Match Game on DVD Classic Commercials on DVD Mary Tyler Moore Show on DVD He Man on DVD

Book About Greensboro

Playboy After Dark DVD
Looking for classic TV on DVD?/See below: