Mayberry After Midnight (Full Version)

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Kerrlaw1 -> Mayberry After Midnight (8/6/2007 12:14:28 PM)

Mrs. Kerrlaw and I are watching the Andy Griffith shows in chronological order.

I plan to post a little about each episode as we watch.

Anyone who enjoys the show is invited to comment about the subject episode or the show in general.



Kerrlaw1 -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/6/2007 12:22:24 PM)

1. The New Housekeeper

A very heartwarming start to the series, it sets the tone for what is to follow. It also reminds me how talented and cute Ronny Howard was.

It was revealed that Barney and Andy are cousins, but I think that this was downplayed or eliminated altogether after the first year.

Plot Flaw: It is hard to believe that Aunt Bee raised Andy, but has never met his five year old son.

The ending where Opie asks Aunt Bee to stay: "She needs us" always touches me.



Kerrlaw1 -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/6/2007 12:40:35 PM)

2. The Manhunt

The state police try to leave Andy and Barney out of the hunt for an escaped convict, but Andy saves the day.

We get our first glimpse of Otis (who is in the church choir), and it is the first time that we see Barney fire his revolver acccidentally.

I believe the "escaped convict getting the upper hand on Barney and then Andy saves him" is repeated several times over the years.

There is also an appearance by Barney's mother, which is the only time I remember seeing her.



MellowYBird -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/6/2007 1:17:34 PM)

We enjoy the Andy Griffith shows and are in the middle of the 3rd season on DVD now. We started with the 1st season and will make our way through chronologically also.

I have a question:
What happened to Andy's wife, Opie's mother? Does it ever say or did I miss that somewhere?

~MYB~



Galilee -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/6/2007 1:36:25 PM)

In one early episode, Andy says to Opie that his (Opie's) Mom died "A long, long, time ago". I believe that is the only time she is mentioned, but I am not by any means an expert on the show so I could easily be wrong.



laura... -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/6/2007 1:49:34 PM)

My husband and I enjoy the Andy Griffith show. We've also had the pleasure of visiting Mt. Airy, North Carolina, Andy's hometown that he based Mayberry on. We both had our hair cut at Floyd's.



Hischild1994 -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/6/2007 4:04:32 PM)

I always liked this show. It's got some great morals in it.

I wonder what happened to Andy's parents and were he and Barney only children?

Did you notice in the first episode The New Housekeeper that the old housekeeper is the same lady who played Aunt Bea's friend Clara?



Kerrlaw1 -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/6/2007 4:40:20 PM)

The lady who played Rose (Mary Treen), shows up in other episodes (maybe as Clara), but the actress that I associate with Clara is Hope Summers.

If I remember right, Hope Summers started out as Bertha Johnson, then Clara Johnson, and finally Clara Edwards, but always the same character.

One of the neat things about the show is that some great character actors showed up in recurring, or completely different, roles.



Kerrlaw1 -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/6/2007 4:48:22 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Galilee

In one early episode, Andy says to Opie that his (Opie's) Mom died "A long, long, time ago". I believe that is the only time she is mentioned, but I am not by any means an expert on the show so I could easily be wrong.


I haven't mentioned the pilot episode of Andy Griffith, which was actually an episode of the Danny Thomas show Make Room For Daddy. In a plot that was used two or three times later, Andy arrests an important and/or rich person for speeding and deals with the indignant prisoner.

In the pilot Andy tells Opie that his mother died when he was a little baby. The mother is mentioned only a few times in the series.

The best part of the pilot was Frances Bavier (later Aunt Bee) playing a widow who had buried her husband in a rented suit and was still being charged monthly rent years later.



Qtman -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/6/2007 5:52:40 PM)

O.K. Kerrlaw if I post anywhere besides in SG this will be it. I have always been a fan of Andy and Barney.



Hischild1994 -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/6/2007 7:44:42 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Kerrlaw1

quote:

ORIGINAL: Galilee

In one early episode, Andy says to Opie that his (Opie's) Mom died "A long, long, time ago". I believe that is the only time she is mentioned, but I am not by any means an expert on the show so I could easily be wrong.


I haven't mentioned the pilot episode of Andy Griffith, which was actually an episode of the Danny Thomas show Make Room For Daddy. In a plot that was used two or three times later, Andy arrests an important and/or rich person for speeding and deals with the indignant prisoner.

In the pilot Andy tells Opie that his mother died when he was a little baby. The mother is mentioned only a few times in the series.

The best part of the pilot was Frances Bavier (later Aunt Bee) playing a widow who had buried her husband in a rented suit and was still being charged monthly rent years later.


I very vaguely remember seeing that episode. Interesting how many changes they make before putting shows on the air.



Kerrlaw1 -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/6/2007 11:22:54 PM)

3. The Guitar Player

A guitar prodigy, Jim Lindsay (played by James Best, who became famous as the Sheriff on The Dukes of Hazzard) needs a self confidence boost from Andy.

Why he needed confidence is a mystery, since he could make an acoustic guitar sound like an electric guitar and could play rhythm and lead at the same time.

Andy saves the day by arresting Bobby Fleet and His Band With a Beat and manuvering Jim into playing for Bobby, who hires him. Bobby Fleet is a recurring character, played by different people. One of the band is exceptionally talented, as he can get the sound of a full drum set out of two drumsticks and the jail cell bars.

The funniest part of the episode is the arguing between Barney and the postmaster over the wanted posters for their respective bulletin boards.



Kerrlaw1 -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/7/2007 9:01:50 AM)

4. Ellie Comes To Town

Andy gets introduced to his first love interest in the form of lady druggist Ellie Walker, who won't give poor old Emma her pills. (Emma has apparently moved to town from her house out by the lake, where she lived in The Manhunt.

My favorite part is where Barney looks up a case in a law book about a man to whom a druggist refused to sell arsenic because the man was dangerous. The man won his case by proving he was not dangerous on a Monday, and was buried on Friday.

The moral of this episode, which comes up often on the show, is that sometimes you have to bend the rules to do the right thing.



Hischild1994 -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/7/2007 9:15:31 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Kerrlaw1

4. Ellie Comes To Town

Andy gets introduced to his first love interest in the form of lady druggist Ellie Walker, who won't give poor old Emma her pills. (Emma has apparently moved to town from her house out by the lake, where she lived in The Manhunt.


I didn't know Ellie (Eleanor Donahue of Father Knows Best) was Andy's first love interest on the show. For some reason I thought Peggy was.

I wonder why we never find out what happened to Ellie or Peggy?



Kerrlaw1 -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/7/2007 11:37:25 AM)

I read once that the producers didn't want Andy to be too entangled in a love interest, as the real "marriage" was Andy and Barney.



morningmike -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/7/2007 12:09:32 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Kerrlaw1

1. The New Housekeeper

A very heartwarming start to the series, it sets the tone for what is to follow. It also reminds me how talented and cute Ronny Howard was.

It was revealed that Barney and Andy are cousins, but I think that this was downplayed or eliminated altogether after the first year.

Plot Flaw: It is hard to believe that Aunt Bee raised Andy, but has never met his five year old son.

The ending where Opie asks Aunt Bee to stay: "She needs us" always touches me.


I don't think the "cousin" angle was ever brought up again, if I'm not mistaken.

We all have our favorite episodes. But I find that my "favorites" change from time to time. One of my favorites is when Andy organizes a rummage sale to help Mr. Scoby and his family, who are about to be put out of their house by Ben Weaver. In fact, I like all the episodes where Ben Weaver shows up.

One of those includes an appearance by the actor Sterling Holloway, the man with the beautiful one-of-kind voice (he was the voice of Winnie the Pooh). He played a salesman who just wanted to stop those "ringing doorbells" but Ben Weaver had a problem with him operating a temporary stand.

What a great show. I was remarking to my youngest daughter the other day, as we were watching the episode where Opie gets the wrong report card (another favorite of mine) that these shows are roughly 45 years old. And they never will go out of style.

Mike



monamie -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/7/2007 2:01:58 PM)

There's one episode where three rough women are escaped convicts that they have to hunt down. One of the women is also Daphne in the Fun Girls episodes----and I LOVE those. We just watched one the other night. It was the one where Goober does his Cary Grant impersonation.

I have the Mayberry cookbook (I never can get Thelma Lou's cashew fudge to turn out right, for some reason) and it includes several interesting tidbits about the cast & crew. Howard Morris (Ernest T. Bass) was also one of the directors. Sheldon Leonard, executive producer, was the bartender on It's A Wonderful Life. Wasn't Johnny Paul Jason also Little Ricky on I Love Lucy?



colliefan -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/7/2007 2:39:47 PM)

At one of the downtown parks here in Raleigh there is a statue of Andy and Opie going to the "fishing hole." Barney's corner room at the YMCA is no more as the building is gone to urban renovation.



Hischild1994 -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/7/2007 4:10:28 PM)

I don't live to far from Danville, IN. If you're ever in that neck of the woods, you need to check out the Mayberry Cafe. Good food and they show all of the shows at random.

I think my favorite in Aunt Bea's Medicine Man or the Christmas episode. Too bad they only did one Christmas show.



Hischild1994 -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/7/2007 4:16:30 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Kerrlaw1

I read once that the producers didn't want Andy to be too entangled in a love interest, as the real "marriage" was Andy and Barney.


Oh my, what will we tell Helen and Thelma Lou? [sm=icon_smile_yikes.gif][sm=angelhalo.gif]



morningmike -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/7/2007 4:18:05 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: monamie

There's one episode where three rough women are escaped convicts that they have to hunt down. One of the women is also Daphne in the Fun Girls episodes----and I LOVE those. We just watched one the other night. It was the one where Goober does his Cary Grant impersonation.

I have the Mayberry cookbook (I never can get Thelma Lou's cashew fudge to turn out right, for some reason) and it includes several interesting tidbits about the cast & crew. Howard Morris (Ernest T. Bass) was also one of the directors. Sheldon Leonard, executive producer, was the bartender on It's A Wonderful Life. Wasn't Johnny Paul Jason also Little Ricky on I Love Lucy?


I love that escaped women convicts episode!

I'm not sure when in the series history, but at some point the actor playing Floyd Lawson was never seen standing up. I think he had some disorder that prevented him from standing.

You're right about Howard Morris. He directed several episodes, but appeared in only six. Seemed like more.

And of course, there's the marvelous musical group The Dillards, who portrayed the Darlings. I understand that some of them still perform at some reunion type events.

Mike



monamie -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/7/2007 4:21:35 PM)

Floyd had a stroke. I also think he didn't use one of his hands/arms after that.

Ooooo, the Darlings!!! My second favorite episode (the first one being Opie's Charity-----poor Horatio.....) is the one where Mr. Darling declares for Aunt Bea. That one cracks me up.



Hischild1994 -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/7/2007 4:22:28 PM)

"Floyd" had some sort of heart condition or a stroke, but still wanted to be on the show and they still wanted him. So, they made situations where he was always seated. Talk about showing Christian love..... To bad there isn't more dedication in the world like that.



morningmike -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/7/2007 4:30:10 PM)

That Christian love shown to Floyd is, I think, one of the reasons that the show remains so popular. It strikes a chord that is deep within all of us, and is one reason we all continue to watch the same episodes over and over, and never tire of them. TV stations that show Andy consistently get high ratings for that half hour.

On another note...there were several famous people who had roles on the show...Jack Nicholson comes to mind, as does Barbara Eden.

Mike



laura... -> RE: Mayberry After Midnight (8/7/2007 4:35:50 PM)

The real "Floyd", the barber in Mt. Airy who Andy based Floyd on, is in his 80's and is still cutting hair there. His name, of course, isn't "Floyd". He was telling us some about his life. When he was a baby he accidentally fell into the fire place and his head was burned. A few years ago, he slipped on ice on his back steps and broke a number of bones. He spent several months in the hospital not expected to live. He's back cutting hair though.



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