Jim Nabors wanted to can the scene with him marching with the Marines, since a lot of those marching with him died in Vietnam. But a lot of parents of those deceased marines opposed saying that it was like a memorial to their dead sons. So, the parents won out.
@@jdsundstrom , Yeah, apparently, when the show first aired, the Marines in the opening scenes were all excited and proud that they were on tv and wrote to their folks and friends. When those Marines died, the parents thought it wouldn't be right for the producers of the show to just cut that scene out and replace it, as if those Marines never existed. So, a lot of parents wrote the studio opposing that the opening scenes be cut. That scene served like a film memorial to their dead children. I'll have to look for it, but one of the parents who opposed the cutting of the scene said that the scene reminded them of happier times when their son was still alive and whole.
Sunday, October 17, 2021--6:59 am CST Jim Nabors said it was hard for him to watch the introduction of "Gomer Pyle, USMC" because a lot of the Marines morching with he and Frank Sutton , were sent to Viet Nam and a lot of them never came home, a lot of them Marines that marching with Jim and Frank died in Viet Nam. Som Jim Nabors always said it was hard for him to watch the introduction of "Gomer Pyle, USMC. Now that Jim Nabors and Frank Sutton are no longer with us, it's hard to watch the series. Ronnie Schell (Duke Slater) is the only surviving cast member of "Gomer Pyle, USMC" . Terry Marvin ( Dallas, Texas, USA)
It’s so sad that the upcoming generation has no respect for the sacrifice our soldiers paid for our freedom and their service. God bless America and every single veteran! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Sorry but I must disagree about the young people. I know many teens who are considering joining the Service. My grandchildren included. I do pity them in many ways, the freedoms that my generation took for granted must do not have the opportunity to enjoy, like the drive in for example. However, literally since the time of Socrates the older generation has been shocked and dismayed. I have personally seen that attitude from the Greatest Generation toward the Baby Boomers. The Baby Boomers had the gall to criticize Gen X and now the younger ones are being criticized. Actually in many ways this is better than my own. Giving up spring break to build homes for the needy for example, I would never have even thought to do. So sorry. I did not mean to go on and on. Its is a topic that I do feel is very important. Stay safe folks.
I can defiantly see why the opening is one of the saddest scenes of the show as a result of many of the men going to Vietnam and many of them never came home. It’s quite sad to think about and I’m glad you talked about this Dave, keep up the great work!
I had a buddy who was a Marine. He said during his basic training there was one squad called the "Gomer Pyle Platoon." They were all guys that constantly messed up. They were given one last chance to make it as a Marine.
There are 3 actors who appear in all 5 seasons as the same character, Jim Nabors as Private 1st Class Gomer Pyle, appearing in all 150 episodes, Frank Sutton as Gunnery Sergeant Carter, appearing in 144 episodes, he missed just 6 episodes, and Forrest Compton as Lieutenant Colonel Edward Gray, appearing in just 41 episodes, debuting in Officer Candidate Gomer Pyle (he did appear in two other episodes as Captain Brinson, in They Shall Not Pass, and Sergeant of the Week, before taking the role of Lieutenant Gray).
For the US Marines that served during the Vietnam War it was hard for them to see their fellow Marines that had fallen marching by at the beginning of Gomer Pyle USMC. By the way I have heard that those soldiers that served during World War 2 cannot stand to watch Saving Private Ryan either, it had captured what they went through way too precisely.
I never watched gomer Pyle usmc Dave never watched it man I want to check it out sometime looks like a hilarious marine sitcom show man never knew about the saddest episode ever I agree with everything you said Dave i see now why this is the saddest episode ever I understand man thanks for sharing buddy this video 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
I knew one gentleman who served in the Marines in Vietnam and he could not under no circumstances talk about his in Country. He could talk about the scenery just not the battles he was in.
Very interesting Dave. I always thought those marines in the opening were in fact true marines the way they marched perfectly. I was also very thoughtless not appreciating until today the sadness that was underlying the time.
You and me both, Kevin. I never thought about it much until I started making videos here on RU-vid and then a number of people have brought it to my attention.
It’s correct name is Marine Recruit Depot, San Diego. Not recruiting. My dad was a DI at MCRD from 65-69 and was there while this show was being filmed. It’s very true a lot of those young men did not come home from Vietnam. I too did 21 years in the Marine Corps and truly dislike it when people can’t say names correctly especially about the Corps. I suggest you reach out to a member of the service you are getting ready to cover and make sure you have the facts and can pronounce the names being going on air. Semper Fidelis.
I was born in 77. Growing up, the Vietnam vet was always the badass in every movie/TV show. I had no idea about all they went through until I started reading history books and got older. I was fascinated with it in my teen years and wrote several papers in high school about that war and the disrespect the returning soldiers faced. I was lucky to know a Vietnam vet -- F-4 pilot my dad hung around with named Bruce. He was a pretty stern kinda guy, and as a kid I really didn't care for him. As I got older though, he was very cool with me. I get it... I could be an annoying kid. It wasn't until he passed and I saw his obituary that I learned about all he went through. He never talked about it. I understand now. I remember when WW2 vets growing up look like the Vietnam vets look now. Time is a very strange thing. I never thought about the intro to Gomer Pyle like that, Dave. I can't imagine turning on the TV and seeing the faces of soldiers I knew personally knew and were killed every time that show came on. It's a very intense thought. It certainly never crossed my mind, even watching reruns. It was a very goofy show, but that reality really hit hard. Thank you for doing this video.
I was 16 when the draft ended (PHEW!). Every grunt I knew that had served in Viet Nam was a bit 'teched', if not full out crazy. They call it PTSD today.
I'll never look at the opening credits of Gomer Pyle USMC the same way again. Now it will be in sadness that I view that . BTW. They wouldn't accept Frank Sutton in the Marines because he was color blind.
My dad was in USMC camp Pendleton in '65 and all the pictures and items my Dad had from those years looks just like in the TV show, It feels like part of my Dads history when I watch a Gomer episode.
I never gave much thought to the show and how realistic it was or wasn't when it was originally on TV mostly because I was still quite young when it first aired. Andy Griffith even made comments about his show not being realistic for the times( something like it represented the 1930's more than the 1960's) . I know my father had a hard time watching MASH because he was in the Korean War and he thought MASH really conveyed the atmosphere of that time and place( he was also wounded so he did spent time in a hospital in Korea). Looking back it is really heartbreaking to know that these were real young soldiers who were being trained for war. I cannot imagine the anguish that opening scene must have caused the soldiers and their families. Thanks this information Dave.
Thank You Dave, for this acknowledgement, as a veteran (non-combat) I have witnessed first hand, just how sensitive this issue can be for some soldiers/sailors. Thank You again, this means a lot to many.
I can understand the sadness regarding fallen soldiers but I sure never thought of the opening scene as disrespecting anyone. It’s a scene from a comedy and never commented on the Vietnam war
I've always enjoyed watching Gomer Pyle even though the show went against the grain at the time. It was just a comedy when the show started in 1964, America wasn't yet fighting in Vietnam. The conflict didn't start until November of 1965 even though America had war advisors since 1959 for South Vietnam. They never mentioned the war on the Gomer Pyle Show even though on one of episodes they had Hippies. On that episode the Hippies helped Gomer paint a military bus. Gomer painted painted the bus green on his side and the Hippies painted the bus on their side with Psychedelic designs. They were still highlighting The Counterculture Revolution of the 60's.
Just discovered your channel and a new subscriber. I love your content because I'm old enough to remember most all of the shows (Gomer Pyle included) that you discuss when they first premiered on TV. My father was a WW2 Army medic that saw much action including D-Day. Unlike many veterans that didn't like this show, my dad never missed an episode of both Gomer Pyle and also Hogan's Heroes. Whenever I watch either of those shows it always makes me think of my dad laughing at those shows.
Dave, I read that Jim Nabors never watched the show because many of those Marines he marched with never returned to the states alive, and that made him very sad! My older military brothers... *SIGH!*
I had three teen-aged foster brothers during the first eight years of my life. All three got drafted and went to Vietnam. One (Cecil Smith) was in the Navy and survived. The other two (Jerry Rose and Lee Elwood) were in the Marine Corps. Jerry survived. Lee died after only two weeks in-country. RIP Lee and all who made the ultimate sacrifice.Before they joined the military, I remember one day when Jerry was watching Sea Hunt on TV and the draft lottery announcement was made for that day. His birthdate was called so he had to go. It was quite dramatic.
I had heard about that of the opening sequence a few years ago. After I heard about that I never fast-forward the opening segment on DVD for respect. Such a great show.
Friday, October 21, 2022--6:26 pm CST Jim Nabors never liked seeing opening sequence, because a lot of the Marines that are marching with Frank and Jim are either dead or MIAS, Terry Marvin (Dallas, Texas, USA
I remember much discussion by Jim Nabors being sensitive to the Marines that were around him, and even though he may have been portrayed as bumbling, he wanted the bumbling to be focused on him as a character and not him as a Marine.
Yeah my grandfather didnt like Gomber Pyle and Hogans Hero due to memory of being in the war and even made fun of. Even MASH. These show great but war memories for him. Thanks for video
When I was a kid in the 60's watching these shows, although the subject of the fantasy of Gomer Pyle never came up, I had a similar experience with Hogan's Heroes. My grandmother knew several servicemen who were POW's in the Nazi camps. She said that while the show probably didn't intend to make light of the situation, she filled me in on the personal histories of these brave men and what they endured. It was a striking contrast.
Ah, I knew the minute you said it was one that "the viewers saw every week" that you were going to reference the opening title marching scene with all the Marines.
The only Vietnam movie that my uncle, who served in Vietnam, would avoid watching was Platoon. He would call all other Vietnam movies a joke or pure fiction, but he said Platoon was too realistic.
I saw Jim Nabors once at the Ala Moana Shopping Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. He smiled and said hello when I recognized him. I knew a few others that knew him over the years. He was the nicest guy❤️
I didn’t realize that. I had seen the opening so many times. But had no idea that Jim and Frank were marching with Marines who were going to Vietnam. Very sobering revelation. I remember the film Back To Bataan with John Wayne. There was a scene after the title sequence of actual American soldiers and Marines who survived the Death March when they were held by the Japanese during the 2nd World War. Many of these men were injured and some had lost an arm or a leg during the March or during their captivity. They were identified by name, rank and branch. The song California, Here We Come was heard as these men were walked free. Frank Sutton was in the film Town Without Pity, along with Kirk Douglas, Richard Jaeckel and Robert Blake. The song Town Without Pity , sung by Gene Pitney with music composed by Dmitri Tiomkin was heard in many ways throughout the film. But buoys the tension in the film. Check it out.
Everybody who was serving in the military in the 1960s not necessarily went to Vietnam. I know many of them that went to Korea, some of them went to Germany, those some of them even stayed stateside
One of the criticisms leveled at The Andy Griffith Show was the fact that you never see black characters in it. How can you set a show in a small southern town during the 60s and not have any people of color even in the background? Well this was answered during an interview by Andy Griffith when he said that doing something like that would have forced the show to address the issue of civil rights which would have turned off a large segment of their southern audience. The network was wise to omit this controversial topic by presenting Mayberry as an idyllic place free of strife.
Back in them days people where racist you know. Sad how people are really. We all bleed same color. Shows and movies in the past. Where totally different then from now shows
Very sad indeed. If you haven't seen this (civil rights origins) video already you may find it interesting: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yttJOAcW3ng.html
The '50s tv show __The Rifleman__ (starring Chuck Connors and Johnny Crawford) had Sammy Davis Jr as a guest star. The tv shows __Have Gun - Will Travel_ , __The Big Valley__, and __Bonanza__ had Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, American Indians as guest stars. __Gilligan's Island__ and __McHale's Navy__ had Asians, Pacific Islanders. In __McHale's Navy__, the crew of PT 73 had their own Japanese POW. The '60s tv show__The Green Hornet__ had Kato (Bruce Lee) as a co-star. And the '60s __Batman__ had Kato (Bruce Lee) as a guest star (BTW, Bruce Lee should've kicked Robin's a$$. There was no way their fisticuffs ended up a draw). The '60s tv show__Star Trek___ had an Asian (George Takei) and a black (Nichelle Nichols).
raymond kizer; In some small towns in rural Virginia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, the population is 90 to 95 percent white, so it's not a totally unrealistic depiction. Also, I've seen at least some black extras in a few crowd scenes of the later episodes.
To all who served in any branch of our Armed Forces, Thank You for your service! I always took this show for what it was meant to be... a lark, in the spirit of 'No Time For Sergeants'! (Which of course starred Mayberry's other most famous Son!) But I can certainly see how the light-humor could be lost on a great many! As Remarque said, 'Death is not an adventure, to those who have to face it every day'!
Jim Nabors mentioned how it was always difficult for him to watch the intro of the show, for that reason. He said he even got to know many of those troops...
Have you ever done a video where you compared the Andy Griffith show Gomer Pyle joins the Marines episode with the actual pilot of Gomer Pyle USMC? Almost seemed like two different shows.
Good information Dave. There are actually two different openings to the show. Season 1 opening is the one shown in your video. Seasons 2-5 were a bit different with longer closeups of Sgt. Carter chewing Gomer out, and the faces of the surrounding men are shown very clearly.
@@jdsundstrom Perhaps you saw in the season one opening, the flag has only 49 stars. So that part of the opening was filmed 4 to 5 years before the series began.
I know Jim Nabors moved on from there because he really thought he was getting too old to be a Marine pfc but more because most of the Marines were in combat and it was too hard to try to do a comedy show with almost every Marine overseas.
I have Season 1 of "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." on DVD. Ronnie "Duke Slater" Schell makes an audio commentary on one of the episodes, and makes a very similar citation as you have made, Dave. Those were actual Marine Corps recruits from the San Diego recruit depot used in the opening credits, and most of those young men did get sent to Vietnam, with many not returning alive and intact. The Marines initially were supportive of the show, and several other outdoor scenes were filmed on this base in its first season. But as "Gomer Pyle" gained popularity, the Marine Corps believed the show was counter productive to their image, and no longer cooperated with the production company. Of course, years later the U.S.M.C. embraced "Gomer Pyle" as having contributed much to their recruitment efforts, and even gave the character a promotion to Lance Corporal - no longer a lowly Private. At any rate, R.I.P. to these fallen men. Thank you for your service. #AllGaveSome #SomeGaveAll
You just changed my whole perspective this was mine blowing I guess I kind of knew it all along but you don’t really think about it thanks for pointing this out God bless our United States Marines
How about an exciting video on Ripcord (first-run syndicated: 1961-1963), which is still the best skydiving action and adventure series ever to be on the small screen and the most danger-packed show on television ever made by far, starred Larry Pennell (1928-2013) as the handsome, headstrong, youthful, colorful, audacious, intrepid and brave parachute hero Theodore (Ted) McKeever, with Ken Curtis (1916-1991) as his inseparable, level-headed older mentor and best buddy James (Jim) Buckley, now that tomorrow will commemorate sixty years of its TV debut or première?
One of my favorite shows was Homer Pyle I also enjoyed Sgt Carter/Frank Sutton both of them were exceptional actors very amusing and entertaining and especially Gomer also been on the Andy Griffith show posthumously 😁😁
Dave here's the headline A.P. Shreveport actor frank Sutton died here tonight before taking the stage he collapsed in his dressing room and died. June 28 1974
You have to learn to separate fantasy from reality it was a fun show to watch and I enjoyed watching it later on and we runs in the seventies and the 80s
I has heard what you were talking about was why the show ended. Jim didn't want to do it anymore. He felt he was too old and the show even though a fanstasy/comedy had become tone deaf to the reality of the time.
@@jdsundstrom ohh noooo! Not you! The using of that scene. The producers weren't respectful! NEVER YOUUUUUU! 🤗 I probably could have put that comma elsewhere!
One thing you do have to remember is back when this show was filmed, some people didn't even have cameras and almost no-one had video cameras , the families of some of the Marines in the scene may have been the only place they could have seen them in action, I know Jim Nabors said it was hard for him to watch , but I have heard that some of the families did not want it removed, I don't think it was disrespectful for the times
I always wondered about that watching the opening scene…as they’re marching, in my head I was picturing 20-30% of the Marines fading out of the scene as the batallón rolls on
I, along with others I personally know that have been in combat were not fans of Gomer Pyle, MASH and all the other comedy ridden TV shows. Yeah, people love MASH but a doctor that actually was a field surgeon in Korea told me they never got drunk like in MASH. Incoming wounded came in at all hours 24/7 they had to be prepared.
Catching this one way on the rebound. It's amazing how I never thought about that show versus real life. Of course I was 7 when it started and 12 when it finished, but still Vietnam and some things like the My Lai massacre had already been in the news. I guess it took M*A*S*H and a little hindsight to make people focus on both a show and reality at the same time. Peace.
Have you ever done a video on Roy Stuart who played Cpl Boyle on GOMER Pyle USMC and have you ever done videos on Elizabeth MacRae who played Lou Ann POOVIE on GOMER Pyle USMC And videos on Neil J Schwartz Who played BAG ZOMBROSKI on Happy Days and Skip Young who played Wally Plumstead on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet?
oh boy, oh boy. I've been looking forward to watching this and I'm happy to be here finally. mac and me This movie is infamously awful and sadly it brings down ET's overall quality just by its own existence but at least "Mac And Me" is disturbing. Mac And Me knows that it's bad and knows that it's a rip-off of family classic ET, but here's the thing folks. Mac And Me doesn't care at all what you think of it you will have nightmares trust me Where ET had moments of a beautiful friendship, Mac And Me had insensitive stereotypes. Where ET pulled at heart-strings and left viewers in tears, Mac And Me has a 8 minute horrifying dance sequence in a McDonald's restaurant. (by the way, the main character is in a wheelchair and forced to just watch as all his friends and Mac in a scary bear costume dancing and having a good time. How rude!) This movie is unwatchable, yes, there's no denying that. But you know when we get a unwatchable sci-fi movie, we also get a great MST3K episode🎥
Some of the other commenters have said that they considered it...but that some of the parents of the deceased soldiers wanted it to remain as a tribute to their fallen sons.
