RIP: JIM NABORS

Jim Nabors, who gave popular culture its most enduring image of a wide-eyed, good-natured if none too bright hayseed in a character whose very name – Gomer Pyle – would become synonymous with lovable rube, died Thursday in Hawaii. He was 87.

Nabors’ husband, Stan Cadwallader, confirmed the death to the Associated Press, noting that the actor had been in failing health for a year, with his immune system diminished by a liver transplant 20 years ago. Cadwallader was at his side, at their home in Hawaii, when Nabors died.

With catchphrases “Shazam!” and “Gollllly!” (the latter drawn out to four or five lilting syllables), Nabors debuted his downhome, gas station attendant character in 1962 on The Andy Griffith Show, where the slow-going, dim-witted Gomer was a constant irritation to Don Knotts’ officious, high-strung Deputy Barney Fife.

The Gomer character, and Nabors’ odd-couple chemistry with Knotts, proved so popular with audiences that he was given his own spin-off series in 1964. Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C, co-starring Frank Sutton as his ever-yelling drill sergeant Vince Carter (“I can’t heeearrrr youuu!”) ran until 1969 on CBS. (The Gomer character was replaced on Andy Griffith with cousin Goober Pyle, played by George Lindsey in a Jughead-style cap).

Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.was an instant smash when it debuted in September 1964. The series finished No. 3 among all primetime shows that season with a 30.7 rating –- ahead of Andy Griffith – and was No. 2 behind Bonanza for the following 1965-66 season. The series slipped in the ratings after its move from Fridays to Wednesdays for the 1966-67 season, but CBS returned Gomer Pyle to Fridays the following season and it ranked No. 3 and No. 2 in primetime during the next two seasons.

Nabors got his start as a cabaret act at Santa Monica’s The Horn, appearing in a musical comedy routine that included his performance as a Gomer-like character. He was noticed by Andy Griffith and hired for a one-episode appearance as Mayberry’s gas station attendant.

Nabors’ comic persona, with his natural Alabama accent stretched to a near-cartoon drawl, evaporated when switched gears to sing, utilizing a baritone that sounded both formal and trained, a dichotomy used to great effect as far back as the Griffith show.

His 1966 LP Jim Nabors Sings with All Your Heart, made the Billboard Top 25 and went gold. He charted a dozen albums through 1972 and though he never matched that initial chart success two more were half-million-sellers. One of those was Jim Nabors’ Christmas Album, which topped the holiday albums chart in 1967 and again two years later.

His singing made him a frequent guest of variety shows in the 1960s and ’70s, including The Johnny Cash Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Dean Martin Show, The Flip Wilson and, most notably, The Carol Burnett Show, where his appearance on each season premiere became an annual tradition. He hosted his own variety show, The Jim Nabors Hour, from 1969-71.

Nabors even became a Indianapolis 500 tradition with his rendition of Back Home Again in Indiana performed during the race’s opening ceremonies since 1972. He would do this every year until 2014.

On the big screen, Nabors made appearances in a string of moving starring friend Burt Reynolds, including The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Stroker Ace and Cannonball Run II...

FIVE UNUSUAL THINGS ABOUT DON KNOTTS

The lovable Don Knotts passed away from lung cancer in 2006 with his best buddy and co-star,Andy Griffith, by his side. The actor was best known for his role as Barney Fife in “The Andy Griffith Show,” but he has also given his talents in other projects as well such as Disney’s “The Apple Dumpling Game” and of course, the fun-loving landlord in the 1980’s comedy, “Three’s Company.” No matter what role he took on, Don Knotts always made us laugh. He had a way about him that was unique and a pleasure to watch. Here are five things that you may not have known about this lovable funny man.

1. His Real Name is Jesse

We all know him as Don Knotts, but his real name is actually Jesse Donald Knotts. That was how he was known to his close friends and family. He was born in Morgantown, W. Va. and seemed to love comedy when he was quite young.

2. He started out as a Ventriloquist

In his early days growing up, Knotts decided to try out ventriloquism and seemed to be quite good at it. His wooden companion’s name was Danny. However, he didn’t make a long career out of it as he loved comedy so much that he ended up doing that instead. We are so glad that he did.

3. He Was a Ladies Man

You wouldn’t think that Don Knotts would be a chick magnet but it seems that he was quite a ladies man, according to his daughter, Karen Knotts. Even though he was married three times during his full life, his daughter says that he wowed the ladies in between those marriages.

4. He and Andy Griffith Used to Add Their Own Lines

Some of the classic quips back and forth between Sheriff Andy Taylor and his deputy, Barney Fife, were quite natural. The pair got together to add in their own lines into the show and it worked perfectly. Comedy and humor seemed to come so natural to them that their talent showed on screen.

5. His Legacy Lives On

The legacy of Don Knotts is still going strong thanks to his daughter. Karen Knotts has taken to the road to share some of her special memories of her dad. The intimate show is called “Tied Up in Knotts” as she reminisces about her childhood and also growing up with the beloved actors of “The Andy Griffith Show."

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FAMOUS SECOND BANANAS OF TV

Behind most great television hosts is a second banana to not only bring comic relief, but also make the star look good. I decided to look up some great stars that I considered to be talented funny people during the golden age of the medium. Some second bananas who have brightened late-night TV include:

Ed McMahon (1923-2009): Paired with Johnny Carson during his full run on "Tonight," 1962 to 1992. Made "H-e-e-e-e-e-ere's Johnny!" an indelible catch phrase. He was probably one of the most famous second bananas in television history. Carson depicted McMahon as a bumbling alcoholic, when it was later discovered that Johnny had the secret problems with addiction. There was no one better than Ed.

Dagmar (1921-2001): Bombshell who became a household name in the early 1950s on "Broadway Open House"; her dumb blonde act became so popular she received 2,000 fan letters a week. The show was hosted by Jerry Lester and Morey Amsterdam, later of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" fame. She was famous for making a record with Frank Sinatra, which is considered Sinatra's worst recording, "Mama Will Bark" in 1952.

Louis Nye (1913-2005), Don Knotts (1924-2006), Tom Poston (1921-2007): On "Tonight" and his later talk shows, Steve Allen established a cadre of talented comics instead of a single sidekick. Knotts was the nervous nebbish, Nye the suave, overconfident guy bellowing, "Hi-ho, Steverino!" and Poston a man so unnerved by the camera that he couldn't remember who he was. Knotts and Poston had long careers in televion and movies, but it was unfortunate that Nye never really became a big star.

Hugh Downs (born 1921): Worked as Jack Paar's second banana on "Tonight" from 1957 until Paar's departure in 1962. I always forget Downs had that role. I remember him mostly from his long stint on 20/20. Once famously kept the show running single-handedly after the mercurial Paar stormed off the air in mid-show in a dispute with the network.

Regis Philbin (born 1931): Bantered with Joey Bishop for two years in the late 1960s on ABC's answer to Carson, "The Joey Bishop Show." It was Philbin's first prominent TV role, and he recalled it as "my introduction to the highly competitive late-night show world." Philbin is now cited in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most broadcast hours logged by a TV personality - breaking the record held by another former second-banana, Hugh Downs. Sadly Philbin left his famous morning talk show in November of 2011.

Arthur Treacher (1894-1975): Merv Griffin's announcer and sidekick, who would introduce "Meeeer-vin!" An English-born actor, he typically played the quintessential butler/valet in movies, including several with Shirley Temple. He also had a fish-and-chips chain named after him. I actually know Treacher more from his movies and maybe restaurant than his role as a second banana. The network said that Treacher was too old to be Merv Griffin's sidekick, but Griffin fought for him, and Treacher served in that role as second banana from 1965 to 1970.

MOVIE REVIEW: NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS

I was a young movie fan when I first saw No Time For Sergeants. I grew up a rereuns of The Andy Griffith Show, and at the time I thought Griffith was one of the best actors out there. Griffith's performance as Will Stockdale reminds me a lot of Gomer Pyple, which would be a spinoff from Griffith's show in the 1960s.

No Time For Sergeants is a 1958 American comedy film directed by Mervyn LeRoy starring Andy Griffith and featuring Myron McCormick, Don Knotts and most of the original Broadway cast. Warner Brothers contract player Nick Adams joined the cast as Stockdale's fellow military draftee Benjamin B. Whitledge, as did Murray Hamilton as Irving S. Blanchard. The film is based on a play inspired by the original novel.

Will Stockdale is a backward, backwoods rube from Georgia who may or may not be smarter than he looks. Accused by the government of being a draft dodger, it turns out that Stockdale's draft notices have been hidden from him by his father, who doesn't want the boy to leave home and be ridiculed.

Wrongfully shackled by handcuffs, Stockdale joins a group of new U.S. Air Force draftees being transported to basic training. They include the obnoxious bully Irving S. Blanchard, who having undergone ROTC training, volunteers to be in charge. (Stockdale hears that Irving had ROTC and thinks it's a disease.)

They report to boot camp, where Stockdale and his equally dim, but smarter friend, Ben Whitledge, begin the struggle to join the infantry (In real life, the Air Force does not have an infantry.).

Stockdale is incredibly strong and can drink any man under the table, but beyond that he is a hayseed who makes one idiotic mistake after another. He proceeds to make life miserable for the man in charge, Sergeant King, who is approaching retirement and likes his barracks to be quiet and calm. In exasperation, the sergeant places the country bumpkin on full-time washroom duty. Stockdale believes his new position of "P.L.O." (Permanent Latrine Orderly) to be a promotion.

The happy-go-lucky Stockdale feels that King must be "the best dang sergeant in whole dang Air Force." The totally unhappy Whitledge wants no part of it, lamenting that the rank of "Airman" is "like something from a funny book." Ben wants to be assigned to the infantry instead. He says, "In the War Between the States, it was the infantry that did the fighting," which is understandable, airplanes not having been invented yet.

A company inspection takes a surprising turn when Stockdale's immaculately clean latrine is what impresses King's superiors most. King gets into hot water, however, when Stockdale opens his big mouth and reveals that the sergeant kept him on bathroom duty on a permanent basis while also neglecting to have the recruit complete all the required military exams and paper work.

Rushing him through testing, King bribes Stockdale by promising to give him his wristwatch if he can pass. Stockdale flummoxes and frustrates the various officers who make him take a manual dexterity test (conducted by Don Knotts), a psychiatric test, and an eye exam, amazingly managing to get by after driving them all crazy. Stockdale gets the wristwatch as a reward.

Blanchard tells King to get three passes to go to a local bar, "The Purple Grotto" where Sgt. King and Pvt. Blanchard try to get Stockdale drunk in order to make him look bad and King look good. He admits he has never drank...store bought liquor. King and Blanchard are inebriated, but Will is still sober. Stockdale says the only alcohol he previously had was what his father made with corn, grain and kerosene. Blanchard buys Lighter Fluid from a cigarette girl. Mixing gin and bourbon with kerosene ... Will drinks it and says "it's familiar." Then a drunken Army infantryman walks by and a barroom brawl begins. Stockdale leaves behind a fighting Blanchard and King; as he walks past the Air Police, he tells them that upstairs is the bar.

The colonel and captain later inspect the latrine and barracks. Will has mechanically rigged all the toilet seats to open simultaneously in a "salute". While Blanchard is arrested and detained by the Air Police, M/Sgt. King is found filthy in a torn uniform, later in the latrine, and is summarily reduced to private rank, while Whitledge was blamed for King's appearance and is also placed in disgraced status. As King goes back to his office dejected, he admits to Stockdale that he and Blanchard had been trying to trick Stockdale to get him out of the way so that King would not look bad, but their effort backfired. King also admits he had grown to like Stockdale and became his reluctant and inadvertent mentor to success in the Air Force.

The story ends with Stockdale and Whitledge (who now has disdain for Stockdale for ruining his image in front of the captain back in the barracks) flying to Denver in an obsolete B-25 medium bomber. Stockdale's assignment is tail gunner on the bomber. After putting the plane on Autopilot, the lazy pilots fall asleep, and the airplane soon becomes lost at night over what the navigator thinks is the Gulf of Mexico. They really are flying over Nevada Test Site|Yucca Flats, Nevada during an A-bomb test called "Operation Prometheus". The radio operator on the plane was left behind at the base, so Stockdale and Whitledge must radio to obtain their real position, however, the radio is inoperatable. Stockdale remembers that back home in Georgia, his father would spit into the radio and smack it to make it work. Stockdale repeats the method, and the radio works. Military radiomen on the ground, confused by Stockdale's folksy, clownish speech, frantically rouse a general from his sleep to confirm that Stockdale is not a prankster, and to give Stockdale emergency flying instructions. Meanwhile, a fire breaks out in the aft of the plane. The Air Force and Army are put on full alert. Stockdale and Whitledge bail out of the plane just before it crashes, and are declared dead by the promoted-back-to-Sgt. King. During an Air Medal ceremony honoring them as fallen heroes, they reappear, and the Air Force has to cover up that the pair are alive to avoid an international public humiliation.

Stockdale suggests both he and Ben (who finally forgives Stockdale for his unintentionally innocent flaws, as he thought he and Stockdale were to be executed for being deserters, inadvertently faking their deaths and for perpetrating a public fraud at the ceremony) be transferred to become infantrymen. An agreement is reached by two former West Point classmates, General Vernon I. Pollard, USA and General Eugene Bush, USAF, who also heartily approve of Stockdale's last request—to have Sgt. King transferred with them to the infantry.

The movie, which is shown on TCM from time to time, is a just good old clean old funny comedy. It's a great movie to watch on a rainy Sunday or a lazy Saturday afternoon. The movie made the careers of Andy Griffith and Don Knotts, and No Time For Sergeants is one of the movies that Hollywood can not or do not make anymore...

MY RATING: 8 OUT OF 10

WHERE ARE THEY NOW: CHARLES LANE

You may not know the name Charles Lane, but you definitely know the face. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s he was in hundreds of movies and in the 1960s and 1970s he moved on to television. Despite have mostly small roles, he had a great prescence. One of the roles I remember him most in was his appearance on "The Andy Griffith Show".

Lane appeared in many Frank Capra films, including You Can't Take It With You(1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946). He was a favored supporting actor of Lucille Ball, who often used him as a no-nonsense authority figure and comedic foe of her scatterbrained TV character on her TV series I Love Lucy, The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour and The Lucy Show.

Lane was born Charles Gerstle Levison in San Francisco, California, to Alice G. and Jacob B. Levison and was, prior to his death, one of the last remaining survivors of the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. In 1932 Lane married Ruth Covell and they remained together for 70 years until her death in 2002. They had a son named Tom and a daughter named Alice.

In 1990, Lane at age 85, was rushed to hospital after having difficulty breathing. A doctor asked if he was still smoking, and Lane replied that he had kicked the habit 45 minutes earlier. He never smoked again.

Despite his stern, hard-hearted demeanor in films and television, friends and acquaintances seem to unanimously describe Lane as a warm, funny and kind person. On January 26, 2007, Lane celebrated his 102nd birthday. A documentary about his life and career, entitled You Know the Face, is currently in production. He continued to live in the Brentwood home he bought with Ruth for $46,000 in 1964 until his death. In the end, his son Tom Lane, said he was talking with his father at 9 p.m. on the evening of Monday, July 9, 2007,"He was lying in bed with his eyes real wide open. Then he closed his eyes and stopped breathing." Charles Lane was 102. Lane was not the only person in his family to have a long life - his mother Alice died in her San Francisco home in 1973 aged 100...