Author Archives: Daniel de Visé

Don Knotts and the Bullet (Exclusive Guest Post by Author Daniel de Vise)

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Daniel de Visé

Did a Little Boy’s Toy Bullet Inspire the Most Famous Photograph of Barney Fife? Anyone familiar with the great Don Knotts and his best-known character, the over-caffeinated deputy to Sheriff Andy Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show, will recognize the … Continue reading →

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Emmy’s Greatest Sit-Com Sidekicks: The Legacy of Barney Fife (Exclusive Guest post by Author Daniel de Vise)

Posted on September 17, 2018 by Daniel de Visé

Emmy’s Greatest Sit-Com Sidekicks: The Legacy of Barney Fife In the five years that he portrayed Deputy Barney Fife, Don Knotts set the standard against which all future television sit-com sidekicks would be judged. Knotts won five Emmy awards for … Continue reading →

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Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest TV Shows”: Standing the test of time?

Posted on October 18, 2016 by Daniel de Visé

“Our list is guaranteed to start plenty of loud arguments” Tastes change. When Entertainment Weekly ranked the “100 Greatest CDs” (remember those?) in 1993, the resulting list included an entry from the musical artist Slayer – – no doubt a … Continue reading →

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Don Knotts: Three Fine Summer Flicks

Posted on July 20, 2016 by Daniel de Visé

Born July 21, 1924, Don Knotts…  Don Knotts played Barney Fife, the bumbling deputy on The Andy Griffith Show, so well and so memorably that the part would come to define the man. Don, who would have turned 92 today, … Continue reading →

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Citizen Knotts

Posted on May 25, 2016 by Daniel de Visé

Don Knotts and the Great Orson Welles… On television and in the movies, comedic actor Don Knotts generally played second banana, deputizing himself — literally or figuratively — to someone else. Off screen, the reality of his theatrical relationships was … Continue reading →

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Classic Movie Travels: Andy and Don Take Manhattan

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Daniel de Visé

Andy Griffith and Don Knotts: A Manhattan Walking Tour Though Andy Griffith and Don Knotts were creatures of Hollywood, best remembered as stars of The Andy Griffith Show, both men spent their formative years in New York. Don first journeyed … Continue reading →

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Opie, Cam and the Morality of Mayberry

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Daniel de Visé

Not Just a Story, but a Lesson…  Families sit down to watch The Andy Griffith Show expecting not just a story but a lesson. The best Griffith episodes teach something – – about family, or friendship, or loyalty, or living … Continue reading →

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Some Credit, Please, for Aunt Bee

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Daniel de Visé

Some Credit, Please, for Aunt Bee… A reader named Larry posed an interesting question by e-mail the other day: Why wasn’t Frances Bavier‘s name listed on the opening credits of The Andy Griffith Show? Why not, indeed? Frances was one … Continue reading →

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An Invitation to Mayberry

Posted on January 21, 2016 by Daniel de Visé

An Invitation to Mayberry… Woody Allen once said 80 percent of success is showing up. Had Art Spelman followed that advice half a century ago, it’s just possible we might be honoring him today as a celebrated alumnus of Mayberry. … Continue reading →

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My Fair Ernest T. Bass

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Daniel de Visé

  My Fair Ernest T. Bass The woman at the book signing sounded more dismayed than angry. Why, she asked, hadn’t I devoted a single sentence of Andy & Don to Ernest T. Bass? Ernest T. was the Tasmanian devil of … Continue reading →

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