BARNEY FIFE

'Bernard "Barney" Fife'^[1] was the fictional deputy sheriff in the American TV sitcom ''The Andy Griffith Show''. He was played by comic actor Don Knotts.

Contents

Overview

Memorable moments

Famous quotes

Trivia

References

External links

Overview

Don Knotts had previously co-starred on the "Steve Allen Show", along with Tom Poston, Pat Harrington Jr., and Louis Nye - which is where a frantic, twitching "man on the street" character was first introduced. He created Deputy Barney Fife in the same fashion, as a hyper-kinetic but comically inept counterpart to Mayberry's practical and composed Sheriff Andy Taylor. Sometimes considered a blowhard with delusions of grandeur, Barney fancies himself an expert on firearms, etymology, women, child rearing, singing, and self defense. Conversely, Andy knows that Barney's false bravado is a smokescreen for his insecurities and low self confidence.
Barney is often overly analytical and alarmist about benign situations, such as the modest Mayberry crime scene. He takes a minor infraction, blows it out of proportion, and then concocts an elaborate plan (sometimes involving inept civilians, like Otis Campbell or Gomer Pyle) to resolve it. This only inflicts mass chaos for Andy to quell. Despite his failings, Barney is passionate about law enforcement, regularly spouting off penal codes and ordinances to thugs and jaywalkers alike.
An emotional powderkeg, Barney easily projects panic, despair, fear or other extreme reactions. He has what he describes as a "low sugar blood level". He is smug and self-confident until a real-life situation surfaces, wherein he becomes flustered. Outwardly "a man of the world", Barney is truly naïve and easily duped. Though constantly warned by Andy, he falls for countless scams. This gullibility is evident in an episode ("Barney's First Car") where he is conned into buying a lemon from a crafty old widow.
A gossip and gadfly, Barney is known for blabbing both personal and police secrets (such as seeing Andy examining women's rings at the jewlery store, the locale and time of a stakeout, or an armored car full of gold coming through the town). This often makes him appear as a petty halfwit, though at heart he is a caring, amiable soul. Despite a knack for exasperating the townsfolk, Barney is fondly embraced by most of them.
One major comedic source is Barney's lack of ability with a firearm. After numerous misfires (usually a Colt "Official Police" model .38 caliber revolver), Andy restricts Barney to carrying only a single bullet in his breast pocket, "in case of an emergency,". The bullet always seems to find its way back into the pistol where predictably it is accidentally discharged, sometimes when Barney is demonstrating his famous "fast draw." There is a running gag with Barney's firearm safety seminars: He would enumerate a litany of precautions, then return his pistol to its holster whereupon it would invariably fire into the floor. Andy, a silent witness, would then hold out his hand, and a humiliated Barney would yet again have to hand over his gun. Another variation of this gag would be when Barney opens the cylinder of his pistol, puts a bullet in it, and then when he closes the cylinder, discharges the firearm.
In one episode, Barney finds a poem written about him in graffiti on the side of a wall. It said:



"There once was a deputy called Fife,

Who carried a gun and a knife.

The gun was all dusty,

And his knife was all rusty,

Because he never caught a crook in his life."


He blamed Andy's son Opie (Ron Howard) for the incident but he later found out Opie could not write yet-—a true example of his overzealousness.
Early in the series, Andy and Barney comment that they are cousins, but the family connection is lost after the first few episodes. Since Barney was single (not married to Andy's kin) and demonstrated no blood ties to Andy's family, one may deduce that Barney is a cousin in-law via Andy's late wife. Several episodes indicate that Barney is not directly related to the Taylors. On "Aunt Bee's Invisible Boyfriend", Barney tells Andy, "If she (Aunt Bee) were my aunt, I'd wanna investigate this fella". Yet in another installment, "Cousin Virgil", Andy is introduced to Barney's backward cousin, who is obviously not related to the sheriff. In one porch dialogue, Barney speaks to Andy about buying his folks a septic tank for their anniversary. Andy does not refer to them as aunt and uncle. On several occasions, Aunt Bee reminded Andy that, "he's YOUR friend" (suggesting no blood kin to either Taylor). Genetics aside, the two are best friends, having grown up together in Mayberry. It was mentioned a few times that they had the same teacher in elementary school, and that they both graduated from Mayberry Union High together.
When he's not patrolling the streets of Mayberry, Barney spends his free time dating a local girl named Thelma Lou (Betty Lynn). Thelma Lou is Barney's main girlfriend throughout the show, although he also dates other women, in particular, a Bluebird Diner waitress named Juanita, who is never seen but is often mentioned. Barney takes up residence in different places including the Raleigh YMCA and Mrs. Mendelbright's boarding house. When not on duty, he is usually seen in a fedora and a "salt-and-pepper" suit. Although the deputy enjoys singing, he has a "tin ear". Nearly being barred from singing engagements was a dilemma for Barney, and is highlighted by several episodes, most notably, "Barney and the Choir" and "The Song Festers". He does, however, serenade Juanita over the office phone, without complaints.
Some continuity slip-ups can be expected, as the series had several writers. An illustration of this is with the various middle names given for both Barney and Andy. In the episode "Class Reunion", Barney's middle name is Milton, though at other times he is called "Bernard P. Fife". In another episode, where he believes he is the descendant of Nathan Tibbs, a Mayberry Revolutionary hero, he says his name is "Barney 'Tibbs' Fife." Andy jokingly says, "I thought your middle name was Oliver." A similar problem exist with Andy's middle name which was given as Jackson on his own show (when his high school photo was shown), but his newborn son's name was given as Andrew Samuel Taylor Jr. on "Mayberry RFD" (during a christening).
Like Andy, who was stationed in France, Barney served in World War II, although he was a file clerk who never left the United States (he stated that "me and this other fella ran the PX library" on Staten Island). Barney was nevertheless proud of his war record: "I did my part to lick the dreaded Hun," he boasted on one occasion. Ironically, Barney later acquired knowledge of military discipline from Herman Hopfleisch, a retired German soldier who served in World War I and eventually took up residence in Mayberry. "[He] may have been on the wrong team back in '18," Barney admitted, "but he's a heck of a soldier!"
Barney Fife appeared on ''The Andy Griffith Show'' from the show's beginning in 1960 until 1965, when Knotts left the show to pursue a career in feature films. It is explained that Barney Fife had left Mayberry to take a job as a detective in Raleigh. Knotts reprised the character in guest appearances each season until ''The Andy Griffith Show'' left the air in 1968. Barney was also on the inaugural "Mayberry RFD" episode, in which Andy and Helen marry. Andy Griffith struggles to keep a straight face as driveling "best man" Barney seemingly objects to the union and then fumbles to find Helen's ring. Nearly two decades would pass before the character is reprised in the reunion film ''Return to Mayberry'' in 1986, by which time Fife has moved back, become acting sheriff, and was running for sheriff himself.
Calling a police officer or authority figure "Barney Fife" has become an American slang term for gross ineptitude or overzealousness. (This was done recently in the Scott Peterson case, where the defendant's mother referred to the local police captain as "Barney Fife").

Memorable moments

★ Barney locks up the entire town because he was "going by the book". {A similar episode occurs on Gilligan's Island!}

★ Feeling Andy is putting off getting married, Barney lines up a group of likely candidates. Andy finds Helen Crump (Aneta Corsaut) as a likely date, but Barney refuses after he finds out she cannot cook.

★ Barney sets up a "posse" to protect the sheriff after hearing a former criminal wants to settle the score with him. {At the end the only ones Barney and his posse capture are themselves!}

★ Barney disguises himself as a conman to get information from another prisoner, he locks himself in the jail cell and helps the prisoner escape.

★ Barney constantly wears his uniform after a man tells him he will beat him up if he sees Barney in public without his uniform.

★ Barney makes the Mayberry Jail like a city jail, as two big-city prisoners do time at "the Rock".

★ Barney gives Gomer a ticket for making a u-turn. Afterwards, Barney himself makes a u-turn, and Gomer runs after him yelling "Citizen's arrest, citizen's arrest!" The two begin to argue, and Andy comes out and settles it by making Barney give himself a ticket.

★ As Andy's best man, Barney seemingly objects to Andy and Helen's marriage, then fumbles to find the wedding ring on the first "Mayberry RFD" episode in 1968. Barney also joins the newlyweds on their honeymoon.

Famous quotes

★ "Nip it in the bud!"

★ ''"Heartaches!"''

★ "Nip it! Nip it! Nip it!"

★ "Tick a lock!"

★ (Referring to Ernest T. Bass) "He's a ''nut''!"

★ (Someone seeing him perform an unusual action) "What's the matter? Haven't you ever seen a man (action being performed) before?"

★ "You know what they say about a man that puts off getting married? They say he starts getting irritable, yep. That's what they say."

★ "Now men, I have just one thing to say, this isn't gonna be kid's stuff, and you'll be on your own and there will be no mollycoddling."

★ "That badge means something! Don't disgrace it!"

★ "It is definitely no fun when that iron door clangs shut on you" (when Barney teaches Opie and his friends about the law).

★ "The kindness of mercy is not strained; it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven."

★ "Floyd, if you would keep your mind outta Washington, and stick to your barbering, I might get a better haircut. Now what did you do with my sideburns?"

★ (Paying Floyd) "Here, go buy a barber book!"

★ "Hablae usted espanoly?"

★ "Now men I have just one thing to say: just to start to ignore any grief later on. Here at 'the Rock', we have two distinct rules: Number one, ''obey all rules''! Second, do not write on the walls. ..as it takes a lot of work. ..to erase writing. ..off of walls."

★ "All right, All right, All right! Of course you smell gas. What do you think this car runs on, coal?!"

★ (Referring to Floyd) "See what I mean?, he's blind as an owl!"

★ "All right, ''shakedown''!"

★ "You're real funny, you know that? We ought to book you on one of those excursion lines." (there are various versions of this theme, after Andy has gently poked fun at Barney).

Trivia

★ Barney and Thelma Lou finally marry in the 1986 movie, "Return To Mayberry".

★ Because of his bumbling behaviors and (initial) resemblance to Don Knotts, the security guard(s) in the video game ''Half-Life'' was nicknamed "Barney." Later, "Barney" would gain a last name (Barney Calhoun), his own spin-off game ('') and a key role in ''Half-Life 2''.

★ An unnamed but unmistakably cartoon version of Deputy Fife are in a couple of cartoon crossovers: in an episode of ''The New Scooby-Doo Movies''; on an episode of ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles''; and in an episode of "Toby Danger" from the cartoon series ''Freakazoid!''.

★ The security system inside of Clank in the video game '' is a parody of Barney Fife.

References

1. In "A Plaque for Mayberry" episode, Andy states that Barney's middle name is Oliver. In later episodes Barney refers to himself as Barney "P." Fife and in the episode ''Class Reunion'' the Mayberry Union High yearbook lists Barney's name as Bernard Milton Fife.

External links

★ Remembering Mayberry

★ BarneyFife.com

★ The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club