Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. was mandatory viewing in our house. My dad was a Marine sergeant, so there was no missing it.
Like everyone else, I knew Gomer for the “Shazam!”, the “Goooolly!”, and the way he could drive Sergeant Carter absolutely crazy. That was the Gomer we expected every week.
What I didn’t expect was that voice.
The first time I remember hearing Jim Nabors really sing, everybody in our house stopped and paid attention. That huge baritone just didn’t seem possible coming from the same guy we knew as Gomer Pyle.
What I learned later is that television audiences had actually heard Nabors sing before Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. even premiered. He showed off that voice on The Andy Griffith Show in 1964, and by 1965 Columbia Records had released his first album, Shazam!
By 1967, the show was fully embracing Jim Nabors the singer, including his powerful performance of “The Impossible Dream.”
That contrast is what made him so memorable to me. One minute he was making us laugh, and the next he could stop the room with that voice.
I still remember everyone in our house listening — including my Marine-sergeant dad.
Do you remember the first time you heard Gomer Pyle sing?