A Don Knotts fish tale premiered at Morgantown’s Warner Theatre in 1964.
Sixty years ago last night, the Don Knotts film The Incredible Mr. Limpet had its regional premiere at the Warner Theatre in Morgantown. It was Knotts’ first lead role in a feature film, shot and released with Warner Bros. while he was still playing Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show.
Based on the 1942 novel Mr. Limpet by Theodore Pratt, The Incredible Mr. Limpet is set in early World War II. Milquetoast bookkeeper Henry Limpet would love to join the U.S. Navy, but he’s been rated 4-F—unfit for service. What he secretly wants most is to become a fish and, on a trip to Coney Island, he falls in the water and gets his wish. Limpet the fish helps the Navy sink Nazi U-Boats, forcing the Germans to deal with the Allies’ new secret weapon. The film is partially animated, and it’s all in good campy fun.
The Warner Theatre made a “whoop-de-doo” of the release, as expressed in a front-page story in The Dominion-News on the day of the premiere. The mayor and several city council members were to attend, as well as university officials and members of the Chamber of Commerce. Although Knotts himself was unable to be there, his mother, Elsie, was the guest of honor for a “simple but colorful” ceremony.
Limpet premiered nationwide a week later. It was Warner Bros.’ last animated film and received mixed reviews at the time, but apparently impressed film executives: Following Limpet, Knotts signed a five-film contract with Universal Pictures, resulting in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), The Reluctant Astronaut (1967), The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968), The Love God? (1969) and How to Frame a Figg (1971). And it was still making a splash decades later—according to IMDB, Stephen Hillenburg studied the film’s backgrounds for Spongebob Squarepants.
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