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Barney Fife Handcuffs

21 visible archived posts · 21 preserved total · topic ID 1161

Just For Fun 02 Mar 2006

This started in another post, and might be lost.

What kind of handcuffs did Barney Fife carry?

Anonymous 02 Mar 2006

someone correct me if im wrong but im pretty sure they were they classic metal kids handcuff you can buy at any toy store

BFW 03 Mar 2006

I've had a lot of fun since reading this, watching those wonderful shows again, trying to get an answer.

I'm sure someone will be able to come up with this, chapter, verse and date. As best I have found, while there are many references to Barney's treasured bullet, the only mention of handcuffs I've found is when Andy told Opie:

"If I ever catch a certain little boy a' handcuffin' another little boy to a flagpole, he'll not only be a' plantin' spinach, he'll be a' eatin' it a' standin' up."

Perhaps we will never know the answer to this question, just now being asked. Don Knotts, the only one capable of giving a definitive answer, passed away just a few days ago.

Edward 03 Mar 2006

I can't ever remember Barney ever handcuffing anybody. His duty belt accessories look like Don Hume but I never knew what his cuffs were.

Paul Reardon 03 Mar 2006

I seem to recall one episode in which a pair of Towers was hanging on the wall to the right of right-hand cell; I could be wrong about this though. Perhaps Ernest T. made off with them.

Any John Wayne or Western fans? He definitely wore several handcuff models in the film "Stagecoach," John Ford's 1939 genre-defining and star making epic. I think I remember a set of Bottlenecks and a Lily Iron, but those are the only ones that I am halfway certain about. Anyone remember what the others might be? Oh well, this is a good excuse to see it again.

Paul

Mark Lyons 06 Mar 2006

Hi

They aired about 40 Andy Griffith episodes this weekend in Honor of Don Knotts death. My TIVO caught all of them and I watched an episode called "Andy's Vacation". While Andy took time off to go fishing, Gomer was deputized and he and Barney came upon a criminal that Andy previously tied to a tree. Gomer could be seen wearing a pair of cuffs on his duty belt, but it was too hard to figure out what model cuff they were. Probably an early model Peerless or a Taketa or a cuff with a narrow body like a Darley. They even cuffed him with hands behind him.
A very good episode made better with the appearance of handcuffs

mark
O--O

Mark Lyons 06 Mar 2006

I found another cuff in the episode called "A visit to Barney Fife". This one is a color episode and Barney moved from Mayberry to work in Raleigh as a detective. He handcuffs a subject that turns out to be the store manager. He messed up again. The cuffs of choice? Takedas!

mark
O--O

Franklin 10 Aug 2012

Ohh, a little old.

Barney has a set of handcuffs hanging out of his britches.

What kind are they?

Anonymous 10 Aug 2012

oops.

forgot the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJl54RXw ... ure=relmfu

Adam Bush 10 Aug 2012

#10

They look like Smith & Wesson model 90 to me, just a guess.

Mark Lyons 10 Aug 2012

#11

I watched the episode in the link above.
Yes, the cuffs seem to be a model 90 as the keyhole is off to one side.

An interesting thing happens as Barney resigns from the Sheriff Dept. He tuns in his gear including his bullet.
At 3:08 he still has the cuffs hanging from his pocket, but as Opie enters the office the cuffs dissapear as seen at 3:23.
The cuffs reappear as he drops them on the floor at 8:10.

Another great episode from a bygone era.

mark
O--O

Steve_Mollett 10 Aug 2012

#12

There was an episode where Barney accidentally confronts the bank president opening the door to the bank, thinking it's a break-in.
After he realizes his mistake, with locals laughing him to scorn, Gomer (#2 deputy) comes up with the comment, "Need the handcuffs now, Barn?"
The cuffs looked to be Takeda or a copy thereof.

grenchat 10 Aug 2012

#13

Great episode!

Yep, I must concur; the cuffs appear to be a spanking new pair of S&W model 90s. This at least jibes with the storyline since Barney seldom makes an arrest (at least not a legitimate one) in peaceful 1960 Mayberry, NC.

I do recall seeing an episode that featured an antique pair of cuffs, albeit briefly, though I don't recall the title at this time.

Jason

houdinisghost 12 Aug 2012

#14

Back in the Andy Griffith days, each studio had a selection of cuffs. Andy was shot on the Desilu lot which had been RKO. The prop men would try to get the right cuffs for the right period. Or at least ones that sort of looked right. I saw quite a lot of different cuffs and irons over the years--I worked on all the detective shows and Mel Shavelson's Houdini movie. All the cuffs I ever saw that came from the prop departments had been filed to open with a pull.

grenchat 18 Aug 2012

#15

Thanks for the behind the scenes production info. Your reference to Desilu brought back memories of a famous "I Love Lucy" skit that possibly employed the same set of bottlenecks that I saw briefly on "The Andy Griffith Show". I located excerpts from this episode and posted a link on The Restraint ChannelTM.

Jason

Larry 09 Sep 2012

#16

The Restraint Channel thing got me hankering to go look up a couple old episodes that had cuff skits in them. I used to see them all the time but two stuck out:

Dennis the Menace: Dennis ends up being stuck at the police station (waiting for a ride or to I.D. a perp and asks a cop to let him play with hiss cuffs. Next thing you know he has cuffed the officer's ankles together, and sure nuff' no one has the key. Mr. Wilson shows up and is furious to hear this, since the officer is a member of his bowling team and they have a tournament that evening. Think this was the first pair I ever saw up on on TV.

Dukes of Hazzard: incidental appearances often, but one was a full skit. Roscoe goes away to detective's convention and comes back with "samples", including truth serum and escape-proof handcuffs. Demonstrating them on Boss Hogg, he locks him to a drawer handle. Being a demo model, key is not included. In struggling with the desk drawer, Boss accidentally sits on the syringe. He then wanders around town carrying a desk drawer and confessing all his sins to passersby. 30+ years since I saw that but I had seen other cuffs at the time but I vaguely remember those not looking familiar.

Mark Lyons 13 Sep 2016

#17

One of my favorite TV shows is the Andy Griffith Show.
In almost every episode of the Andy Griffith Show, the jail is featured or at least seen.
Many times Barney gets locked in by accident or Otis makes his nightly sleep-overs and when this happens, we can see the key, actually 2 rings of keys hanging on the wall between cell 1 and 2.

I had always wondered if the lock and key were real or was it gaffed so that anything would operate the lock.
The bars seem very real and solid. When the door is slammed, the bars do not move at all which indicates that it is very heavy or anchored well. It is unusual to have an anchored or heavy sets on the stage as they move these set pieces around when using the sound stage for other TV shows.
The jail set in this show has corner brackets and rivets that seem very original to an actual jail door. Very close to the ones on a door that I have.
In an episode or two, I believe I saw the latch/bolt slide in and out of the door jamb when locked or unlocked.
When the door is slammed, the door stays put which indicated the latch is actually locking the door as the door never bounces back open as would be the case if the latch was not functional.

In the episode "Mayberry Goes Hollywood", the key gets dropped onto the floor and what I think is the only close-up of the key in the entire series, is shown to be a crude item made of some stock metal.
It does not look like a Stewart, Adams Rite, Pauly, Van Dorn, S&G or other manufactured key.

I now believe that the jail bars are real as well as the lock but the lock is gutted to allow easy exit.

If any of you are also fans and have watch this show with any frequency, you might also wonder about the bars in the back window in each cell.
In some episodes, people are shown in the ally behind the jail and they stand on a wooden crate to look inside the jail.
This is an impossibility because every one knows that the jail and Floyds Barbershop are next door to one another.
They share a wall.

It is all TV but I notice things like this.

Enjoy

Mark
O--O

Mark Lyons 13 Sep 2016

#18

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=yo ... ORM=VDFSRV

ChuckII 13 Sep 2016

#19

In at least 2 episodes, Barney slaps the cuffs on somebody.

The first (That l can remember) is when Otis is riding a cow, drunk (Otis is drunk, not the cow LOL), and Barney arrests and cuffs him.

The second is a color episode, when Andy visits Barney in Raleigh. It seems there had been a number of grocery store break-ins, and Barney cuffs the store owner, thinking he is the thief.

In a third episode, Barney and Gomer had been practicing cuff slapping. Barney is asking Andy for an extra key when Gomer reaches in a window to grab an apple next to Andy, and they are clearly cuffed together.

And yes, many times the inexpensive toy cuffs are featured if you can see them clear enough.

Mark Lyons 11 Oct 2016

#20

Just saw this episode described above. A couple of screen captures

mark
O--O

Larry 12 Oct 2016

#21

@other Larry: I remember the Dennis & Duke's episodes like they were yesterday. The only other Duke's episode I can remember with cuffs, sexy scene too, some bad guys and a bad girls came to town posing as cops. Toward the end, the bad girl runs into the Duke boys. At gunpoint, she gets out her cuffs and says something about "tools of the trade" and then cuffs the Dukes to the side mirrors of the General Lee, and then puts it in neutral on a small hill, allowing it to slowly roll toward a conveniently-placed pond.

I didn't own my first pair at the time, so I didn't recognize the model, other than it was definitely polished nickel in appearance. Even after watching as many reruns later as I could stand I never saw that episode again.

Also, I can't remember anyone ever mentioning the Alfred Hitchcock episode that focused on an authentic Oregon Boot. I don't want to spoil it but the Boot and the key for the Boot are both critical to the plot/outcome. I saw that one as a kid and found the Oregon Boot to be quite bizarre and sinister and it made me a bit paranoid about all things restraint-related for some time afterward.