Sadly Ken Berry passed away last week.... Also interesting... The boy who played "Mike" was Buddy Foster, brother to Jodie Foster....
Wow.....I did not know that. Sad news. He was one of those actors that never was huge but seemed to be a constant presence on TV.
It's been awhile since I seen the first episode, but I believe Aunt Bea was a major part of the plot of the first episode, in that she moved in with them and Opie was very resistant to having her come into their home... In short, she may not have been with them *pre-TV* series, but she was introduced in the first show...
Gomer was breaking several state laws at the time and let's not even bring up those "weekends off" he took in Mt Pilot
I think Andy and Ronnie Howard were pretty good together. When he explains to Opie what you do with your girlfriend (Thelma Lou). You go to the store with her while she tries on hats. Then you spend the day with her mother! Or those Shakespeare Cliffs Notes! Barney and Gomer were really good together too! Underrated, I'd say. The one where Gomer points the shot gun at Barney! Oh my! Hootie Hoo indeed! Citizen's arrest!
There was an episode late in Andy’s time on the show, before Ken Berry, when Helen tells Andy that Opie’s grades are not good enough for him to go to college at a state school. If he is going to go to college it will have to be at a more expensive private college. Andy agonizes over how he will not be able to afford the tuition at a private college and invests in a laundromat, which does not work out with his sheriff’s duties. So his income and assets were somewhat limited. There was an episode in which Barney was dying to be asked to join a men’s club in town, a sort of Rotary club but in Barney’s mind it meant you were part of the elite. Andy has no interest in it but went along with Barney to the unofficial interview at one of the club’s meetings. The members seemed to have money from their conversation. Barney tried to exaggerate about himself which they saw through and they did not offer him an invitation to join. Andy talked to the members about fishing. The members discussed their big expensive boats. Andy replied that he just fished in a little rowboat. They liked him and offered him a membership, which crushed Barney. That was another indication that Andy was not all that well off. There was another episode in which Aunt Bee started making fancy food at every dinner to impress someone, I can’t remember who. She made shrimp cocktail and things like that. Andy took her aside and scolded her, telling her that they could not afford to eat that way. To answer an earlier question on this thread, Otis was married and his wife appears in some episodes.
Yes, I distinctly remember that. Also in that first episode, Andy and Aunt Bee spoke in an exaggerated Southern way, or what Hollywood imagined at the time was a Southern way of talking. That was dropped after that first episode.
Yeah, I hear that too, but she would also use an informal vocabulary, down to earth and perhaps a bit southern. I recall her using the word "supp'r" quite a bit. But the accent you mention reminds me of WWII movies where supposed German characters spoke with an English accent as well.
They were (mostly) all single except for the drunk. I can't help but believe this must have been a running joke by the writers of the show. Even though Otis was the town drunk, he lived in a very nice house. His occupation was he glued chairs together. In the above video link is the episode where Otis was made a deputy when his brother (also a town drunk) came to visit. At about the 13 minute mark you can see inside of Otis's house and his wife. Floyd the barber had a son (who appears in one episode playing a sax for a shoes salesman who they thought was a talent scout) and a wife who is mentioned (Melba) but never seen. Yet in a later show, Floyd has a female pen pal he had been writing to that comes to visit Floyd, so either Floyd got a divorce or became a widower.
In those days you could make a nice living gluing chairs together!! Floyd’s barbershop looked like a nice place to hang out.
Barney rented a room from Ms Mindlebright and Gomer lived in the back of the fillin station. Barney and Gomer should have got a job where Otis worked. Helen and Thelma Lou lived in nice houses also, Helen a school teacher and I am not sure what Thelma Lou did. Not sure where Goober lived. Otis one time bought a car but got rid of it being afraid he would crash it when drunk.
I don't know about salaries, nor do I care but one thing for sure is Don Knott's stole that show. I think originally that Andy was to be the comic relief but Griffith was smart enough to recognize Knotts' talent and the roles were reversed. Good move.
I love the character Mrs. Brendelmight! "A. A guy comes into town. 2. He has no visible means of support. ...." Barney, you're gassed! I just saw the guy who played Mayor Pike in The Adventures of Mark Twain (Frederic March) playing a guy in the audience laughing his head off at one of Twain's famous monologues. (Loved Josephine Pike!) Trivia: Jackie Joseph was married for a while to Ken Berry. She played Ernest T Bass's love interest Romena (Rowena?). She and Howard Morris run off and play leap frog at the end of the episode. True love!
