A couple of Barney Fife fans who put down $8,000 to erect a statue of Barney Fife (played by Mick Jagger lookalike Don Knotts) in downtown Mount Airy, NC (the model for Mayberry) received a letter from CBS attorneys telling them to halt the project.
[CBS attorney] Mallory Levitt explained to [would-be statue erector Tom] Hellebrand and the Mount Airy News that although Paramount/CBS owned the rights to the character of Barney Fife, the group didn't have the authority to give permission for a likeness of Don Knotts."That right belongs to the Knotts estate," she said.
Levitt told Hellebrand she contacted the actor's estate and business associates of Andy Griffith, and none wanted to go through with the project.
The project website, donknottsstatue.com, has a note about the cancellation of the project: "The tears on our pillows bespeak the pain that is in our hearts." The project leaders will be selling a full-size replica of a Mayberry Squad car and a golf cart made to look like a squad car on eBay to recoup their expenses.
