Morey had a rough start

Those of you who watch TV reruns will know the Dick Van Dyke show. One of the regulars on the program was co-writer Buddy Sorrell, who was portrayed by actor Morey Amsterdam, the biggest laugh-getter of the cast.

Amsterdam was born in Chicago to Jewish immigrants from Austria-Hungary. By 1924, he was working in a speakeasy owned by gangster Al Capone. Later, after he was caught in a gunfight (presumably involving gangsters), he moved to California. Who could blame him?