MEAN MR. MUSTARD, I’m happy to report that you’ve finally been vindicated! Your observations about Dick Van Dyke have now been confirmed. I admit I was a little skeptical at first. Since sitcoms are not my specialty, I was hoping to find a DVD set of the show at a bargain price in order to check out your claim.
First, I found a single DVD that contained 6 random episodes of the show, but none of them even showed Dick wearing a belt! Then, a few weeks ago, I lucked out and found a DVD set of the Complete Season 2 at a thrift store.
Since you’re more familiar with The Dick Van Dyke Show than I am, you’re undoubtedly aware that Dick is hardly ever shown wearing a belt (either on-center or off-center). In the majority of the episodes, Dick wears a suit coat or a sports coat with one button fastened which effectively hides any belt that he might be wearing. And even when he’s wearing his coat unbuttoned, he’s often wearing a vest or a sweater underneath his coat which would cover up any belt. Sometimes he wears a sweater by itself which would hide his belt. And then, a few times, he’s even wearing beltless slacks!
Now for the evidence from Season 2 which comes from 2 episodes. In the episode titled “The Two Faces of Rob”, check between the timings 14:27 and 15:30. Dick is wearing a very narrow black belt with the buckle on his left side. At times, his coat hides the buckle, but because no buckle is seen at the center position, you know he’s wearing it off-center.
The other episode is titled “The Cat Burglar”. Here the viewing is even better. At 13:50, Dick makes a complete 360-degree turn in the kitchen so you can view his entire belt. And at 15:00, you get an excellent closeup frontal view. This episode leaves no doubt how Dick liked to wear his belt.
A viewer checking out Season 2 might think I had overlooked one “off-center belt buckle sighting” in the episode titled “Somebody Has To Play Cleopatra”. In this episode, the character Harry Rogers (played by actor Bob Crane of Hogan’s Heroes fame) seems to be wearing his belt buckle to the side. So what’s the problem? I see the buckle, but I don’t see the belt, unless it’s an identical color match to his slacks, which I doubt. Although I see what looks like a belt between the buckle and the keeper, I don’t see a belt at the center position. This makes me suspect that the buckle and keeper and the short segment of belt in between are actually part of the slacks. Perhaps, there is someone reading this, who is more familiar with 1950s and early 1960s clothing styles than I am, who can confirm whether slacks were ever made that way.
In Season 2, I found only 2 episodes where Dick wears a belt with the buckle in the center position, but they are special cases. They are both “flashback” episodes when Dick was in the Army courting Laura. Dick is shown wearing a khaki Army uniform (quite authentically, I might add, having been in the Army myself). Dick has on the standard Army cotton web belt, and he wears its metal buckle in the center position. One of those episodes is titled “The Attempted Marriage”.
I can honestly state that, with the notable exception when Dick was wearing a US Army uniform, I’ve never actually seen Dick wear his belt buckle in the center (at least in Season 2). So I wonder whether Dick may have been one of those guys who had a decided preference for wearing his belt buckle off-center? Perhaps, I should turn Mean Mr. Mustard’s question around on its head and ask “Has any viewer seen an episode where Dick is shown wearing his belt buckle in the center position, with the exception of when he’s wearing an Army uniform?”
Because it may be a long time before I luck out again and find another season of the Dick Van Dyke Show on DVD at a thrift store, perhaps another viewer can report any relevant observations from viewing other seasons.
I’ll explain how I was able to find what I did very quickly without spending the time to watch every episode. Put a disk in your player and pick the option to “Play All Episodes”. Once the disk starts playing, switch to a “Fast Forward” speed. If you see Dick wearing a buttoned-up coat, you can be pretty sure you’re not going to see his belt. So continue playing the disk at high speed. If you see that his coat is unbuttoned, then Pause and check whether he’s wearing a vest or sweater underneath his coat which would hide his belt. If not, then play at normal speed to check for a visible belt. Otherwise, resume playing at high speed.
Anyway, thanks to you, Mean Mr. Mustard, I’ve added the Dick Van Dyke Show to my list of TV programs where an actor wears his belt buckle off-center. It makes the 4th sitcom on my list, the other three being Leave It To Beaver, Ozzie and Harriet, and The Monkees. All the other shows on my list are dramas, mostly Westerns.
Not only would it provide something sturdy to hang all your employer-required equipment on, but also maybe your employer will get the hint. The only disadvantage to wearing a Sam Browne belt is that you’re likely to be mistaken for a security guard rather than a store manager.