Ernest Borgnine, Andy Griffith & Memories

Note, July 30, 2017: Tough to believe they've been gone for five years... 


Actor Andy Griffith died recently at the age of 86, followed just days later by fellow actor Ernest Borgnine, who was 95. Borgnine was born in the United States of Italian heritage, and in fact, he lived in Italy for a time as a child, before his family returned to America. Andy Griffith was born and raised in North Carolina.

The deaths of these two much respected actors took me back in time, well back in time in the one case, to the early to mid 1960s when I devotedly watched "McHale's Navy." If you lived through that time and watched the show, I'm certain you haven't forgotten the antics of the crew of PT-73, led by Borgnine as the boat's commander. The series, which aired on ABC, lasted a number of years and it made stars of both Tim Conway* and Joe Flynn. Conway played the PT-73's bungling ensign, Charles Parker, and Flynn played Captain Wallace Binghamtom, the base commander and a man who wanted to move up in rank, but whose own ineptness and bad luck** held him back. The series was set during World War Two, mainly in the Pacific, where the Japanese were the enemy, but during the last year or two, the series shifted to the Mediterranean and Italy, where the Germans were the enemy.*** The basic story line was, McHale's PT boat crew was top notch, but they spent much of their time plotting how to make money and throw parties. They even had an escaped Japanese POW, named "Fuji," helping with the chores around their base. Binghamton was obsessed with wanting to catch McHale and crew at their games and have them thrown into prison; something he could never succeed in doing. Borgnine's role in the show turned out to be less important than his name, since he was a well known actor (an Academy Award winner in 1955), which gave the network a marketing point. Once the public caught onto "McHale's Navy," it was Conway and Flynn, not Borgnine, who stole the show. The show's success led to two full length movies being made, including one without Borgnine,**** who had other commitments during the filming, as I remember, which only demonstrated that Borgnine's McHale character had become secondary to the Parker and Binghamton roles. Nevertheless, over the years, when I have seen Ernest Borgnine or heard his name, "McHale's Navy" and those times in the 1960s come to mind. At that time my friends and I thought we had it tough going to school or enduring the heat of the baseball field, but those times were easy compared to later.

I was not much of an "Andy Griffith Show" kid, although I certainly was well aware of the popular show. In fact, and it has been a long time, but I don't recall any of my close friends mentioning watching the show regularly, as many of us did with "McHale's Navy." In the mid 1980s, however, Andy Griffith starred in popular "Matlock," initially on NBC.*****  The idea of the show was about an aging southern defense attorney who typically proved the innocence of his clients in the final courtroom scenes of each episode, often by some obscure finding that pointed to the real culprit. Griffith was just great in the role and the duration of the series from 1986 until 1995 is a testimony to his outstanding portrayal of Ben Matlock, decked out in his seersucker suit. While more of a drama, the show used humorous scenes, including occasionally with former "Andy Griffith Show" mate Don Knotts.

All episodes of both "McHale's Navy" and "Matlock" are available on DVD, although "Matlock" episodes are still shown on television. I can't say for certain, but I don't believe "McHale's Navy" is shown on television any longer.

* Tim Conway is from suburban Cleveland, and his name is actually Thomas/Tom, but he changed it to Tim for show business, as there was already a "Tom Conway." Joe Flynn was from nearby Youngstown.

** Whenever he overcame his own bungling, fate seemed to turn things against him, prompting him to look heavenwards and say, "Somebody up there has got to hate me." Flynn also was known for saying a frustrated, "I could just scream!"

*** No political correctness in those times, as World War Two's horrors were still too fresh in the minds of many Americans. In the television series, the Japanese were referred to as "Nips," taken from the Japanese word for Japan, "Nippon," and the Germans were usually called "Krauts," obviously after the common German dish, sauerkraut.

**** "McHale's Navy Joins The Air Force" is absolutely hilarious. If you have never seen this movie, please do so. Tim Conway's "Parker" is a scream, as he is mistaken for the son of a top Air Force general, and his scenes in the women's barracks and as the navigator of a transport plane will have you laughing well beyond the duration of the movie. Flynn too continues his excellent portrayal as Captain Binghamton.  

***** The show later switched to CBS and then to ABC, before leaving the air as a first run series in 1995.

WORD HISTORY:
Navy-This word goes back to Indo European "nau," which meant "boat." This gave its Latin offspring "navis," which meant "ship, boat," and then "navia," which meant "fleet of ships." Old French, a Latin-based language, inherited a form of the word as "navie." English borrowed the word from French in the 1300s, but it wasn't until the 1500s that the modern meaning developed of "collective military ships and vessels of a country."