Summer Nose-talgia #25: The Incredible Mr. Don Knotts -- July 21, 1924 - Feb. 24, 2006

Don Knotts had the perfect face and body for comedy -- skinny, wide-eyed, expressive hands and voice just made for playing the high-strung characters he became famous for.  From his days honing his comic persona on The Steve Allen Show to his long-time reign as one of TV's funniest characters on The Andy Griffith Show and later on Three's Company, West Virginia-born Don Knotts never missed a comedy beat or failed to infuse his portrayals with humanity.

Especially Barney Fife.  Without Knotts' tremendous skill as an actor, Barney would have been just a nervous wanna-be with delusions of grandeur, a pipsqueak bully with a badge.  It was Knotts who allowed us to see Barney's vulnerabilities, and Andy Griffith who understood that playing straight man to Knotts would be the key to success for his new sitcom.  Sheriff Andy Taylor was Barney Fife's rock, and Fife knew it.  And America's TV viewers knew it, too.

So here's a little Don Knotts for you.  A brilliant comedian, a talented actor, a funny guy.


































As is written on Don Knotts' headstone, "He saw the poignancy in people's pride and pain and turned it into something hilarious and endearing" -- so true.

We fondly salute Don Knotts, born this day in 1924.

Andy Griffith, We Bid You Farewell

The Flaming Nose has been rather dormant lately (sorry!) as its writers have been traveling and working and otherwise buried in the minutia of life. But it would be terribly out of character for a classic TV blog to stay silent for the passing of one of the all time greatest TV (and film) characters, Andy Griffith. Born in Mt. Airy, North Carolina in 1926, Mr. Griffith died today on July 3rd at the age of 86. See this older Nose-Talgia post for a sense of how sad we are to mark his passing. Andy Griffith was an award winning actor best known for creating a lovely, gentle homage to small town America, (The Andy Griffith show), but also had immense talent as a singer-songwriter and serious dramatic actor (A Face in the Crowd). Andy Griffith could play a knee slapping country boy or a menacing Hollywood ladder climber with equal aplomb. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, after a lifetime career that included nominations for Emmy Awards (Andy Griffith Show), Grammy awards (1996 gospel album) and Tony Awards (No Time for Sergeants).

I was watching The Andy Griffith show just last week on TV Land, and was moved to tears by its simple message. In this particular episode, Barney (the unforgettable deputy played by Don Knotts) gave a slingshot to Opie (child actor turned great Director, Ron Howard). Opie accidentally shoots and kills a mother bird in his front yard. His attempts to make her fly again are so heart rending, I believe that The Andy Griffith show earned its stripes as the first "Dramedy" at that very moment. Opie is miserable until he decides to adopt the orphaned baby birds in order to make things right with nature. He raises them by hand in a cage and wonders if he could keep them as pets, but his wise Dad convinces him that they were meant for the air. Opie sets them free. "That cage sure looks empty now, doesn't it Paw?" he says. "Yeah, but don't the trees look full?", is Andy's lovely reply.

Our lives were full because of Andy Griffith's enduring work. Rest in peace, sir. I picture you at the fishing hole with your dear friend Don Knotts forever.

TV Land has just announced that they will feature a day long Andy Griffith Show marathon tomorrow on July 4th. Let's get it started a bit early on the Nose with this snip from the "Opie the Birdman" episode.

NOSE-talgia: The Lost ANDY GRIFFITH episode

Nose-Talgia Visits The Andy Griffith Show

I was going to write about a new one hour program on broadcast TV tonight, but I barely made it through the first 30 minutes. Rarely have I seen such top notch actors talk-talk-talk about nothing while the camera circled the characters endlessly like a doomed spy satellite orbiting the earth. After 20 minutes of program and 10 minutes of commercials where all the action, drama and plot development was in the advertising, I threw in the towel. Life is far too short to watch new programming that is so dull I have to read Entertainment Weekly while I'm watching just to feel entertained.

Instead, I shall feature a few words about The Andy Griffith Show as my first passionate post for our Nose-Talgia sub-blog. Andy, Opie, Barney and the whole gang still cavort in Mayberry on TV Land, and you can watch whole shows on demand on their website by clicking on either of the links above.

The small town antics of the citizens of Mayberry aired from 1960 through 1968. It was television's first "dramedy", a dreamy tone poem about a sheriff in the deep south who was so kind and reasonable (Andy Griffith), he never had to fire his gun; a deputy so wired and hysterical (Don Knotts as Barney Fife) he wasn't allowed to keep a bullet in his gun; and an adorable freckle faced, red haired kid (Ron Howard as Opie) who grew up to be a very fine award winning Hollywood director.

The Andy Griffith show leaned more towards sweetness than knee slappers, and half the time it didn't even seem to have a laugh track, which was unheard of for a comedy in the early 60's. Even so, Don Knotts won the Emmy five times for his jittery but endearing portrayal as Barney the hapless deputy. Many episodes took on serious topics; the loneliness of Aunt Bee when she felt she had worn out her welcome. The confusion of Opie when he wanted to write a history report about a battle with native Americans, but discovered there were two sides to every story. Who among us, in these times where it seems like society has run amok, wouldn't long for a town where Floyd the barber trims hair and Otis the town drunk lets himself in and out of jail each time he goes on a bender. A few notes of the whistled theme song (The Fishin' Hole" :Music by Earle Hagen) is better than a time machine for transporting a frazzled 21st century soul back to small town America before Peyton Place reminded us that even that milieu had its dark secrets.

Take of your shoes and set a spell. (Yeah, I know that line is from another 1960's comedy, but it works well here). The embedded video above has snippets from several episodes for your viewing pleasure.