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Episode 2: The New Housekeeper · Nip It in the Bud!

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Down in Mayberry, things are just grand.
0:04
SPEAKER_00: It's the friendliest little podcast in the land.
0:09
SPEAKER_00: Nip it in the bud.
0:15
SPEAKER_01: Hi everybody.
0:16
SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to Nip It in the Bud, our Andy Griffith podcast.
0:21
SPEAKER_01: I'm Paul.
0:22
SPEAKER_01: And I'm Tim.
0:24
SPEAKER_01: And this week we have the very first episode, Tim, the new housekeeper.
0:31
SPEAKER_01: And it's the first one we got to see those opening credits of that became so iconic.
0:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
0:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I've been thinking about that, Paul.
0:41
SPEAKER_02: It's it's so interesting that there were so many firsts in this episode, starting with that, really.
0:50
SPEAKER_02: Um hearing the song, watching Andy and Opie walking down the little gravel road towards the creek.
0:58
SPEAKER_02: And uh yeah, it got me thinking about all of that.
1:02
SPEAKER_02: So I I know you told me you had heard a few things about that opening sequence.
1:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so Ronnie in his uh autobiography, the uh mentions that that they did this in Franklin Park in in Los Angeles, and uh I guess that because that water is um it's it's drinking water usage, there's a lot of rules and regulations.
1:32
SPEAKER_01: They have to have somebody there to monitor anything you throw in the water.
1:37
SPEAKER_01: So there was uh yeah, so um you can't and you only have three, had to be the rock had to be really clean, things like that.
1:46
SPEAKER_01: And you only have three shots at it uh at a time.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: And so on the first one, Ronnie um he didn't, it was a terrible throw, he didn't even come close.
1:58
SPEAKER_01: And so what they did was had him just hold his arm up in the air, and then one of the production crew actually is the one that threw the rock in the water because they didn't want to waste their tries, they didn't think have any confidence in him, and so for season one, it's not him throwing that rock.
2:22
SPEAKER_01: In future seasons it is, but in season one, it's not Ronnie Howard because he couldn't do it.
2:28
SPEAKER_02: No kidding.
2:29
SPEAKER_02: Wow, that's interesting.
2:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and especially hearing that now after all the talk during the episode about how Aunt B can't play baseball.
2:41
SPEAKER_02: Right.
2:42
SPEAKER_02: Apparently Opie probably couldn't either.
2:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I ever since I was a kid, I remember watching the credits and seeing that name Earl Hagen popping up on the credits uh for the music, and I never looked into it until just recently.
3:11
SPEAKER_02: It turned out a pretty interesting story.
3:14
SPEAKER_02: Uh, I mean he's an interesting guy, and he did a lot of theme songs.
3:18
SPEAKER_02: He did, of course, Andy Griffith's show, he did uh Dick Van Dyke's show, ISP, a bunch of others, and really was responsible for a lot of music in different shows and and every bit of music for the Andy Griffiths show.
3:37
SPEAKER_02: But uh yeah, when uh Sheldon Leonard approached him to do the uh Andy Griffiths show, uh which interestingly uh they had met through the Danny Thomas show the same way that the Andy Griffiths show got started.
3:53
SPEAKER_02: Uh Earl Hagen had done the theme song for that.
3:57
SPEAKER_02: But anyway, uh Earl spent some time, I guess, trying to come up with a song and really was struggling.
4:07
SPEAKER_02: Then woke up one morning, took a shower, and said to himself, you know, this this is a simple story about simple characters.
4:18
SPEAKER_02: Um and he just started whistling a tune that turned into this, and he uh went to Sheldon Leonard with it, and Sheldon thought, oh, that's that's great, we should we should do that.
4:31
SPEAKER_02: So Earl went to the recording studio, and he was he was the one who whistled the whole tune, and his son, interestingly, was maybe 10 or 11 years old, and he did all the finger snapping uh for the for the tune, too.
4:49
SPEAKER_02: So amazing.
4:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, it was uh it turned into a better story than I ever would have guessed.
4:56
SPEAKER_02: And just one more quick side note on that, Paul, that caught my attention was so funny.
5:02
SPEAKER_02: Um apparently when Ron Howard was a little older and is in high school, he played basketball, and I guess uh he was on the team, and uh people from uh the opposing team I guess would taunt him when he was shooting free throws by whistling the song.
5:23
SPEAKER_02: That's great.
5:24
SPEAKER_02: How would you like that?
5:25
SPEAKER_02: Trying to make some free throws that everybody's whistling.
5:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
5:34
SPEAKER_01: Such a great song.
5:36
SPEAKER_02: Too funny, yeah, yeah, great song.
5:39
SPEAKER_02: And and uh yeah, like you're saying before, it's the first time we actually heard the song because the uh pilot episode was part of the Danny Thomas show, so didn't have a a theme for this.
5:53
SPEAKER_02: Pretty cool.
5:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, very cool.
5:56
SPEAKER_01: And so this is uh the new housekeeper, and the opening scene we get to see another new regular, which is uh Barney.
6:07
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yeah, first the appearance of Barney didn't have a lot to do in that first scene, it was all about Opie.
6:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: So Andy's back to being Justice of the Peace, and there's a marriage going on, and it turns out that that's Rose, the housekeeper, and she's getting married.
6:34
SPEAKER_02: Oh, so good.
6:35
SPEAKER_02: Uh it's like Opie's got all the good lines in that opening scene where he doesn't want her to get married, and what she go off and run a won't want to marry this guy for anyway.
6:49
SPEAKER_02: And uh oh yeah, it it comes right when uh Andy is asking for anyone to speak now or forever hold their peace.
6:59
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
7:01
SPEAKER_01: And and uh Andy has to keep telling him to hush up.
7:05
SPEAKER_02: Right.
7:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and he won't.
7:09
SPEAKER_02: He keeps going on, and finally Barney has to put his hand over his mouth to keep it so they can finish the ceremony.
7:18
SPEAKER_02: Oh, such good stuff.
7:20
SPEAKER_01: We also hear that continuation, um, Andy's uh accent, uh which is uh you know really uh pronounced uh southern accent he used in the Danny Thomas show, and that carries over this first episode.
7:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
7:39
SPEAKER_02: You can you can definitely hear it, definitely get a sense for that's the character he's trying to portray.
7:47
SPEAKER_02: Uh but it but it does change over time.
7:50
SPEAKER_02: And right.
7:52
SPEAKER_02: And I I think you mentioned this last time about Andy being uh eventually evolving into more of the the straight man or the he's always the central character, but uh he's not the one there making all the jokes.
8:10
SPEAKER_02: And he has a a few more good lines, but you can start to see the side character, starting with Opie, having the chance to shine and add some good humor to the show.
8:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and we learn that um Aunt B's coming because Andy mentions her and says that she raised Andy.
8:35
SPEAKER_01: So we got a little bit of a backstory on his childhood.
8:39
SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
8:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and when she finally does get there, it sounded like she raised everybody in town.
8:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
8:51
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
8:52
SPEAKER_02: She was so grateful that uh Andy called her and asked her to come and help with Opie.
8:59
SPEAKER_02: So that that was, yeah, like you said, interesting backstory.
9:04
SPEAKER_02: And uh I don't know how what your feeling about it was, but I really liked the way they introduced the characters because you know, you're meeting Andy and Opie for the second time and uh Barney for the first time, uh Aunt B played another a different character in the pilot, and now she's Francis Bavier's playing the Aunt B character for the first time.
9:34
SPEAKER_02: And instead of like the manic way that you see a new TV show these days trying to introduce oh so many characters, um they kind of reveal a little bit here and there as the episode goes on, just to get a sense for what these folks might be like.
9:57
SPEAKER_02: But you're not overloaded.
9:59
SPEAKER_02: There's actually well a good story going that they don't feel like they have to interrupt that every 10 seconds with revealing something about one of the characters in the show.
10:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, you're a perfect example of that is Barney salutes Andy, Andy tells him he doesn't have to do that, and then Barney reveals that they're cousins.
10:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
10:24
SPEAKER_01: So kind of explains like you know who he is, and all in a very quick scene, you know, okay, that's that's who this guy is.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: Right.
10:35
SPEAKER_02: And he he wants to be reliable Barney Fi.
10:38
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
10:39
SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, just knowing what we've seen so many times of the other episodes, it's like, yeah, he's he always has some like little nickname for himself like that.
10:52
SPEAKER_02: He wants to be trustworthy Barney Fife, reliable Barney Fife, whatever it might be.
10:57
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, just it it doesn't take much to just reveal a little bit about a character.
11:03
SPEAKER_02: Oh, and did you pick up the part about uh Andy saying, Well, we're not in the army anymore?
11:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
11:10
SPEAKER_02: And I thought kind of a cool reference to when they were in a movie together.
11:15
SPEAKER_01: When no time for sergeants.
11:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sure.
11:19
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
11:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, without going into it.
11:22
SPEAKER_02: It's just like, yeah, give us a little little glimpse, but don't overdo it.
11:27
SPEAKER_01: And Opie um makes it clear that he's not gonna love Aunt B.
11:32
SPEAKER_01: He puts that out there so they know there's um you know gonna be a problem.
11:38
SPEAKER_02: Right.
11:39
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's great storytelling, right?
11:42
SPEAKER_02: Because you get into the conflict almost immediately.
11:46
SPEAKER_02: Uh, what's what's gonna be the rub in the episode?
11:49
SPEAKER_02: And and it's Opie's not happy that Rose is leaving the house and and he finds out that Aunt B's coming.
11:59
SPEAKER_02: So he he contrives all these ways to try to uh get around needing Aunt B.
12:07
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
12:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
12:10
SPEAKER_01: And then we kind of see that Opie's just trying to show he can he can be the housekeeper because we see him making breakfast.
12:20
SPEAKER_01: Or trying, I should say, try to make breakfast.
12:23
SPEAKER_02: Trying to make breakfast.
12:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was so hilarious.
12:26
SPEAKER_02: Uh he's got the he said, look, I poured the milk and did all this and that.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: Uh drop the grapefruit on the floor and cleans it.
12:36
SPEAKER_02: Flix it with a scrub brush.
12:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
12:40
SPEAKER_02: Just great little bits like that, you know, are so funny, but burnt the toast.
12:47
SPEAKER_02: The toast is like totally black.
12:50
SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
12:51
SPEAKER_01: And he said he cooked the eggs for 45 minutes.
12:55
SPEAKER_01: Imagine.
12:56
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
12:57
unknown: Yeah.
12:58
SPEAKER_02: And he makes some reference about, well, we could play tennis with him.
13:02
SPEAKER_02: Uh and so uh yeah, so that's like the first attempt uh Opie makes to to try and push Aunt B out of the picture, or not have Aunt B.
13:16
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and then he goes on from there to uh well, I mean, there's there's the scene right in the front room when Aunt B does come, right after uh they're in the Andy and Opie are in the kitchen, and uh Opie's acting all shy and everything after Andy tells him to love Aunt B as much as you or like Aunt B as much as you ever liked anybody.
13:43
SPEAKER_02: Um and then Opie volunteer says, Can I go take a bath now or something?
13:51
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
13:54
SPEAKER_01: And Aunt B wants uh Opie to give him a little sugar, give her a little sugar, I should say.
14:00
SPEAKER_03: Right.
14:01
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
14:02
SPEAKER_02: Oh that's yeah.
14:05
SPEAKER_02: He's like, well, okay, I guess I have to.
14:09
SPEAKER_02: But then right after he turns away, and yeah, that's when he wants to see if he can go take a bath.
14:15
SPEAKER_02: Or I was thinking about taking a bath.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and Aunt B, when she she arrives there in that front room, she she thanks, she really thanks Heaven because she says she now has a place, a place to go in in someone, something to do.
14:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was kind of a sad little moment there that you she you were getting uh her feelings out there.
14:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
14:46
SPEAKER_02: Uh you know, it was sad but also kind of heartwarming.
14:49
SPEAKER_02: It's like, wow, it really meant a lot for her to be able to come there.
14:54
SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah.
14:55
SPEAKER_02: It kind of didn't struggle for her, too, that uh Opie's very resistant to Aunt B, you know, from the get-go.
15:07
SPEAKER_01: Then we see her making her famous fried chicken.
15:12
SPEAKER_01: But Opie's not hungry.
15:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, imagine that.
15:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, kind of dumbfounded by the fact that Opie doesn't eat any of the fried chicken, and then he makes that little remark, well, Rose made it different.
15:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, made chicken different.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
15:32
SPEAKER_02: And you know, Aunt B kind of crestfallen about that.
15:37
SPEAKER_02: But then she says, Well, I'll go get some coffee, Andy, and then uh she leaves the room.
15:43
SPEAKER_01: And Andy sends Opie to his room.
15:47
unknown: Yeah.
15:48
SPEAKER_02: But not without Obi grabbing a handful of chicken and his plate to go up to his room.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that chicken must have been pretty good if uh he made sure he took some with him, and then we see him in the room.
16:04
SPEAKER_01: He ate it all.
16:06
SPEAKER_01: Right.
16:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he ate it all.
16:08
SPEAKER_02: He's finishing it up, and then he hears the uh Andy starting to open the door, and then he he gets up from his little chair there and turns around, and then they go through the whole thing about uh how um when Andy and Aunt B were downstairs, Andy says that uh we were looking around and couldn't find your plate anywhere.
16:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
16:35
SPEAKER_01: Andy does such a good job of always being kind of never being direct, you know.
16:41
SPEAKER_01: Kind of, you know, you get his point, but just the way he's saying it, yeah, the funniest thing happened.
16:47
SPEAKER_01: Uh your plates missing, and you know, wonder where it can go.
16:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they said, Oh, there it is.
16:55
SPEAKER_02: And Opie's like, oh yeah.
16:59
SPEAKER_01: But but it turns out that he has that bird, and the bird's really loves eating fried chicken.
17:10
SPEAKER_01: So he didn't take it for himself, he took it for well, I think what the bird's name's Dicky.
17:16
SPEAKER_02: Dicky is bird Dickie.
17:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
17:19
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and Dickie's this little tiny parakeet or something like that in the cage in the room there.
17:26
SPEAKER_02: And you know, it turns out to be uh uh key character a little bit later uh in the episode too, when uh uh I I forget what led into it, but uh Opie discovers Dickie is has flown away.
17:45
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
17:46
SPEAKER_02: And it's like I never leave the cage open, Paula.
17:51
SPEAKER_02: And uh that's when Aunt B uh realizes that oh I was cleaning the cage and maybe I didn't close the door close enough.
18:00
SPEAKER_02: And no, that's that's another chance for Opie to just say, oh no, Aunt B did it, you did it.
18:08
SPEAKER_02: Kind of she feels really bad about it.
18:12
SPEAKER_02: Oh so uh I mean more of the more of the tension, right?
18:17
SPEAKER_02: More of the the conflict is just oh, it's another reason for Opie to be he's not gonna like her, not gonna like her.
18:26
SPEAKER_02: Uh the recurring theme, I guess.
18:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: And then Aunt B overhears Opie saying his bedtime prayers, and he's saying prayers to God bless Rose, but doesn't mention Aunt B.
18:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
18:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he mentions everybody else.
18:44
SPEAKER_02: He mentions Barney Futt, his his bird Dicky.
18:50
SPEAKER_02: This is before Dicky's flown the coop, I guess, and and and then yeah, he gets to the end of that whole litany of uh people and animals like his dog and his lizard, and then he's just about to get in bed and they and then he looks like he remembered, and Aunt B's kind of looking in through the doorway, and she's like, Oh yeah, okay, he's he's probably gonna mention me, or that's what you expect to happen, right?
19:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you know that name Dickey must have been popular at that time because on the All in the Family, which did three pilots, one of the pilots for ABC, the uh the Goria's husband was named Dickie.
19:37
SPEAKER_01: And uh one of the pilots that wasn't picked up.
19:41
SPEAKER_01: So it's uh so interesting that this uh you know maybe they got influence from Opie's bird.
19:51
SPEAKER_02: Right.
19:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it could have been.
19:53
SPEAKER_02: Who knows?
19:54
SPEAKER_02: I mean, uh it's it's so interesting how if you ever look into it, how many of these people who were part of one show or part of another one and part of another one, there's uh often like family trees involved where uh uh there's kind of a lineage there.
20:16
SPEAKER_02: And and that uh not to just jump around wildly here, Paul, but uh again, that's where the Sheldon Leonard influence probably comes into play.
20:27
SPEAKER_01: Right.
20:29
SPEAKER_01: And and then we see Barney uh arresting a woman for jaywalking, which is always his uh you know, kind of pet peeve with law enforcement, is any anybody crossing the street uh like this, uh they're in for it.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: He wants the fingerprinter.
20:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he wants it.
20:53
SPEAKER_02: He's dragging her in with in handcuffs.
20:56
SPEAKER_02: He's got her handcuffed.
20:59
SPEAKER_02: You know, she's a little old woman with a cane.
21:03
SPEAKER_02: I think her name was Cheerio Meredith, which is a great name.
21:07
SPEAKER_02: Uh and she appears, I know, in a bunch of later episodes, but uh, of course, that's her first appearance.
21:17
SPEAKER_02: But uh again, it's more insight into the the psyche and the character of Barney Fife that he's he's not gonna let any little infractions go by the board.
21:28
SPEAKER_01: Right.
21:29
SPEAKER_01: And and um so this Emma, uh, when Andy w lets her go, Barney says that that Mayberry's gonna turn into a regular Sin town.
21:40
SPEAKER_01: That was such a great line.
21:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and and again, that's just like true to life, or uh you know, true Barney.
21:51
SPEAKER_02: If he goes from this little thing and he snowballs it in his head all the way to Mayberry turning it into a Sin town.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
22:01
SPEAKER_02: You know, just in a matter of moments.
22:03
SPEAKER_02: So you know that maybe that's that's gonna be the way Barney is kind of just flying off the handle into uh uh going a little too far, you might say.
22:17
SPEAKER_01: Kind of fits into our title of this podcast, Nip It in the Bud.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: You gotta stop these things right away.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right?
22:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
22:28
SPEAKER_02: Nip It in the bud.
22:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, oh my gosh.
22:32
SPEAKER_02: So I mean that was in some ways you would think, well, that was a little throwaway scene, and they probably could have cut that, but uh you know, for the purpose of getting to know that character a little better, uh it told you a whole lot in a very short time.
22:50
SPEAKER_01: For sure.
22:51
SPEAKER_01: And and then we have Opie uh asking Andy, uh he wants to run away from home, so he's kind of asking him about it if he can do it.
23:02
SPEAKER_02: Oh man, that had to be one of the best scenes of all time where uh Andy's gonna help him.
23:11
SPEAKER_02: Uh be well, yeah, they're laying on the bed and and Opie said he's got some thinking to do, and and Andy lays down on the bed next to him, or both kind of facing the head and uh saying, Well, what are you thinking about?
23:29
SPEAKER_02: Uh, about running away from home.
23:31
SPEAKER_02: And oh, well, you're doing it all wrong.
23:34
SPEAKER_02: You're not supposed to tell anybody, you're supposed to write a note first.
23:39
SPEAKER_02: And uh and that leads into Obi saying, But I don't know how to write.
23:44
SPEAKER_02: Right.
23:45
SPEAKER_02: So didn't you say something about that before um when we were talking about the pilot, that that was probably a true statement.
23:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because he couldn't read, and so his dad, Rance Howard, would do the table reads with I mean he was there with alongside, but but obviously Rance had to read the script when they and then he had the tough job of teaching those lines to his son, you know, not uh, you know, so he had everybody else just had to memorize their lines, uh, but Rance had uh kind of not only probably teach it, but get him to you know to say them in a convincing way.
24:32
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
24:33
SPEAKER_02: And I mean, what a fabulous little actor, Ronnie Happen.
24:39
SPEAKER_02: I mean, to be able to do all that, um and and be so believable.
24:46
SPEAKER_02: Uh so believable.
24:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, uh it was.
24:50
SPEAKER_02: But uh, I mean that whole scene just went on to where uh Andy sits down at Opie's little table and starts writing the note and he's uh it's like you're saying before about how he's kind of being indirect about him.
25:06
SPEAKER_02: He's not he's not trying to talk Opie out of it.
25:09
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
25:10
SPEAKER_02: But by helping him write the note, he uh kind of points out the fact how how does it start again?
25:18
SPEAKER_02: Um you know, dear Paw, I am gonna be running away from home and I'll never see you again.
25:28
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
25:29
SPEAKER_01: That's where Opie's starts getting upset.
25:32
SPEAKER_01: Opie hears that.
25:34
unknown: Right.
25:35
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't want him to write that.
25:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
25:38
SPEAKER_02: He's like, wait a minute.
25:40
SPEAKER_02: And then uh yeah, he goes on a little bit more.
25:44
SPEAKER_02: Uh Andy does, and and Opie comes over and starts crumbling up the paper because he doesn't he's not gonna play ball like that.
25:54
SPEAKER_02: He he said, I'll never see you again.
25:56
SPEAKER_02: Oh, no, I know, I gotta, I don't, we're not doing that.
26:02
SPEAKER_01: Right.
26:03
SPEAKER_01: Really upsets him and and uh good way they get him to you know get him the talked out of uh you know running away without telling them you're not allowed to run away.
26:14
SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
26:16
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
26:16
SPEAKER_02: That it was his own decision, not Andy telling him he couldn't, which you know he probably would have dug in his heels about.
26:25
SPEAKER_02: Uh but it was kind of a an interesting plot development, you might say, to go from where Opie's trying to uh uh push Aunt B or not need Aunt B by being the housekeeper himself to deciding, well, he's just not gonna deal with it at all.
26:45
SPEAKER_02: He's gonna run away from home.
26:48
SPEAKER_02: Um but I th was it in that conversation where uh Opie says something about how Aunt B, she can't do she can't play baseball, she can't uh fish, she can't hunt for frogs, she doesn't know how to do anything, and that's where you can see Andy kind of looking upwards.
27:11
SPEAKER_01: The wheels turning, yeah.
27:14
SPEAKER_02: You go, he's kind of blocked, and that's where you can kind of see going into the next couple of scenes where, yeah, well, we're gonna fix that.
27:24
SPEAKER_01: So apparently Rose was able to do all those things, so yeah, Aunt B's being measured against Rose here.
27:34
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's it's so great.
27:37
SPEAKER_02: So great that I mean the writing is just kind of amazing how how tight all of those things fit together.
27:47
SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, comparing to Rose.
27:49
SPEAKER_02: So, like the first thing you see Andy, first next thing you see Andy and Aunt B doing is playing baseball and or starting to play baseball, and that's just priceless.
28:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, oh gosh.
28:07
SPEAKER_02: And I mean it even starts off where Andy says, uh, well, we gotta get you up to speed on baseball, more or less.
28:17
SPEAKER_02: And he says, Oh, oh Andy, I know about baseball.
28:20
SPEAKER_02: What do you think I am?
28:21
SPEAKER_02: A ninny?
28:24
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, like you said, the whole time she's holding the bat or is he holding the bat and and she goes, What's that?
28:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
28:37
SPEAKER_01: That's the bat.
28:38
SPEAKER_01: And and Opie's watching this whole thing hid hiding behind the bushes.
28:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
28:43
SPEAKER_01: Just shaking his head in disgust.
28:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, making faces and shaking his head.
28:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's and that that was good acting too on Ron Howard's part, because yeah, just he's not saying anything, but you can just tell he's disgusted by the whole thing.
29:03
SPEAKER_02: She doesn't know how to play baseball.
29:06
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
29:07
SPEAKER_02: And then they from there into uh being out fishing.
29:13
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
29:14
SPEAKER_01: The three of them.
29:15
SPEAKER_01: And then and she is she's wearing that dress, and I mean she's not even dressed uh well for this outdoors adventures here.
29:24
SPEAKER_01: It had to be uncomfortable for her to be fishing in a dress.
29:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, so that I mean that's sort of the beginning of the sight gags there too.
29:36
SPEAKER_02: With yeah.
29:37
SPEAKER_02: She's on her chair, and Andy and Opie are standing up, and they've got their poles with their line in the water, and she's you can see her the end of her line is sticking out of the water, and there's a worm wriggling around on the end.
29:54
SPEAKER_02: And that's that's what Opie's complaining about is why is she fishing with her bait out of the water?
30:02
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
30:04
SPEAKER_01: Crazy.
30:04
SPEAKER_01: And wouldn't you uh wouldn't it be perfect that she's the only one that catches a fish that day?
30:12
unknown: Right.
30:14
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, and her whole reaction to well, you know, first there's the whole tucking on the line and and they're screaming well, Opie's yelling at her to reel it in, Auntie, reel it in.
30:28
SPEAKER_02: And she doesn't know what to do, and Auntie's Andy's saying what a good sportsman she is.
30:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
30:37
SPEAKER_02: Giving the chance.
30:40
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
30:44
SPEAKER_01: So just uh another thing that just doesn't work out that shows she failed at two things now.
30:53
unknown: Yeah.
30:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
30:55
SPEAKER_02: Oh, and the and the way she failed, you know, she just she sees the fish come out of the water and then she just screams and throws the um fishing pole up in the air and kind of runs off.
31:09
SPEAKER_02: Uh it was just it was just a priceless scene.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: I just love that bit.
31:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
31:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
31:18
SPEAKER_01: Then we end up back home, and that's where Dickie's got and run away, too.
31:25
SPEAKER_01: He did he might have overheard them writing the note, and he Dickie ran away when he left the cage open, apparently.
31:35
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
31:37
SPEAKER_02: And you know, so that's that's really kind of like the last nail in the coffin.
31:42
SPEAKER_02: Opie's concerned.
31:44
SPEAKER_01: Um he's crying and he's just so upset that she did it.
31:50
SPEAKER_01: He's really uh on her case.
31:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he is.
31:56
SPEAKER_02: Really, really after after that, and you think, well, that's that's pretty you know, the the concrete is start starting to set if it wasn't set already.
32:10
SPEAKER_02: But he's just dead set against her being there with them, and but then the tide turns unexpectedly at the end.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, when we we over we overhear her Opie's faking like he's like he's sleeping when Aunty comes in to um to see him in uh in the bedroom, and you can hear her telling Andy that she's gonna leave.
32:39
SPEAKER_01: And and that's what Opie wants.
32:41
SPEAKER_01: He seems pretty pleased about it.
32:44
SPEAKER_01: And um you know, Andy really is wants her to stay.
32:51
SPEAKER_01: But she just thinks it's best to leave.
32:56
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of sad that she's gone already.
32:59
SPEAKER_01: She only only two things she couldn't do the the baseball and the fishing.
33:06
SPEAKER_01: But she's gone already.
33:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
33:11
SPEAKER_02: And she said uh so the next time you see them is kind of looking down from Obi's bedroom window out to the driveway where the truck is parked out there and Andy's loading her suitcase, and you can see Aunt B's got a handkerchief in her hand, and she's kind of drying her eyes because uh she said, Well, you know, we we can't fool him, he's a smart little boy.
33:37
SPEAKER_02: Uh that she wasn't able to do those things that he wanted to do.
33:43
SPEAKER_02: But then Yeah.
33:47
SPEAKER_01: Because it him looking out that window while they're down there and she's getting ready to leave, like um, you know, you he there's really no indication at that point that that's gonna change.
34:00
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
34:01
SPEAKER_01: He's not making any effort to say goodbye.
34:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:06
SPEAKER_02: But then um they're as she's starting to get in the truck, the next thing you see is Opie running out there in his out to the truck, uh saying, Don't go, Aunt B.
34:22
SPEAKER_02: Uh and then he he explains it.
34:25
SPEAKER_02: Uh it's like, well, she can't or what's she what's he say?
34:30
SPEAKER_02: Something like she can't go, Pa.
34:33
SPEAKER_02: She's gonna ear.
34:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:36
SPEAKER_01: She can't do anything.
34:38
SPEAKER_01: She can't do anything.
34:40
SPEAKER_01: She can't she can't fish, she can't play ball.
34:44
SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, she needs Opie more than he needs her.
34:48
SPEAKER_01: Right.
34:49
SPEAKER_01: What'll happen to her?
34:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, what'll happen to her?
34:54
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
34:54
SPEAKER_02: That was the great one.
34:57
SPEAKER_01: What'll happen to her?
34:58
SPEAKER_02: She can't do anything.
35:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
35:02
SPEAKER_02: And that that's where uh everything turned.
35:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
35:08
SPEAKER_02: You realize you know, again, he figures it out.
35:12
SPEAKER_02: It wasn't some Andy saying, Well, she's gonna be here, so you better just get used to it.
35:18
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
35:19
SPEAKER_02: You know, she had made the decision she was gonna go back to where she had been.
35:24
SPEAKER_02: And uh, like you said, Andy was trying to convince her to stay, but yeah, it was in the end, it was Opie who who came to the rescue, sort of, and and got her before she left.
35:39
SPEAKER_02: And that was that was such a heartwarming scene.
35:42
SPEAKER_02: You you just had to feel good about all that.
35:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, definitely, definitely.
35:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh it was funny, but it was heartwarming because uh, you know, she's staying and she's you know, you because you feel for her because of what she had said, thanking heaven earlier about having somebody to need her and somewhere to go.
36:05
SPEAKER_01: And uh hate to see her leave, but you know, it's nice to see it all work out.
36:10
SPEAKER_01: Right.
36:11
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
36:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
36:13
SPEAKER_02: Uh just uh it's always been one of my all-time favorite episodes.
36:19
SPEAKER_02: Um uh partly because it was the first standalone episode, but like we were talking about last time, I didn't know the pilot even existed until about I don't know, ten or fifteen years ago when I got one of those DVD sets that had the pilot from the Danny Thomas show, uh, which just floored me.
36:44
SPEAKER_02: It's like I thought I had watched just about every Andy Griffith show episode there ever was.
36:51
SPEAKER_01: So Ronnie mentions in his uh book that you know Sheldon Leonard directed this episode, and he was not Sheldon didn't feel Ronnie was convincing at all in that turnaround because he had to go from being that against Amp to now wanting her to stay.
37:13
SPEAKER_01: And they did that, they had to reshoot that over and over because it just wasn't convincing enough.
37:20
SPEAKER_01: And Sheldon was under a lot of pressure to get this uh first episode done on time, and there were high expectations for it, and uh um so apparently he said to Rance, uh Opie's dad, yeah, I might just have to spank a performance out of him.
37:39
SPEAKER_01: And and Opie got really upset at that and afraid because anybody that's ever seen Sheldon Leonard acting, and if you think back to It's a Wonderful Life when he played the mean Nick bartender, he could be convincing too.
37:55
SPEAKER_01: And and uh Rance pulled um Opie aside and said, Listen, hey, uh nobody's ever gonna hurt you.
38:03
SPEAKER_01: You know, that's just a an expression.
38:05
SPEAKER_01: He's you know, and he's and and it's uh in real life, it seems like from Ronnie's telling of it, his dad was like like Andy in real life.
38:16
SPEAKER_01: You know, Rance explained things to him and treated him like an adult even when he was a little child.
38:23
SPEAKER_01: So um speaks very highly of um everybody, including Sheldon, that that he understood.
38:29
SPEAKER_01: You know, he was just saying, you know, he was just upset.
38:32
SPEAKER_01: But it turns around he gave the performance after that.
38:36
SPEAKER_01: So Sheldon knew what he was doing.
38:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the guy must have been a genius because yeah, he was he he just created so many shows and yeah, just uh just amazing.
38:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, amazing guy.
38:54
SPEAKER_02: And uh was uh interesting.
38:56
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you ran across this too, Paul, but um in just watching the episode and reading a couple things on IMDB and here and there, um I hadn't noticed it before, but the first episode of every season really focused on Opie.
39:18
SPEAKER_02: And uh some of the later season openers were ones like Opie the Birdman and Mr.
39:27
SPEAKER_02: McBee, which were also you know just top flight episodes, and I'm sure really kicked the season off well for the show.
39:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and and we see that which was really nice.
39:45
SPEAKER_01: And some you know, when this first started airing re repeats on television, I noticed some some of the uh they don't do it anymore, but there was a period of time, I don't know if you ever experienced this, where they just to save time would cut these what's coming next, which is kind of the final final little scene where in this case Andy and Auntie and O Peter on the porch and um Andy's playing the guitar, Aunty's crocheting, and and I guess they they cut some of those back and they don't do it anymore, but they used to cut those probably because they have nothing to do that that major with the overall story.
40:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm just assuming that, but uh and because you'd hate to see it just end with him saying Aunt Beds to stay, because I think that part on the porch is really nice.
40:46
SPEAKER_02: I agree, Paul, and uh you know, growing up I didn't know they were cutting those out because we never saw those uh typically at the end, but um whenever they might cut.
41:02
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, uh I totally agree that it really adds something to the story because now it's like Aunt B is a fixture there in the household.
41:14
SPEAKER_02: She's on the porch with Andy, Andy's got his guitar, he's singing a little bit, Opie comes out, and uh the important plot point that Dickie has come back.
41:26
SPEAKER_02: Right.
41:27
SPEAKER_02: How how big that was for Opie.
41:30
SPEAKER_02: Now everything's good, all is as it should be.
41:34
SPEAKER_01: And Andy lets him know it's probably because he wanted more of that fried chicken.
41:40
SPEAKER_01: Right.
41:43
SPEAKER_01: Just a real yeah, just a real subtle humor and feel good.
41:50
SPEAKER_01: Like it had it all.
41:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're so right.
41:54
SPEAKER_01: Showcased Andy's talent with uh you know singing and the guitar and and uh really nice.
42:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I mean you go away from the episode uh humming that tune to yourself.
42:10
SPEAKER_02: You get a pool, honey.
42:13
SPEAKER_02: I I better not start singing those songs you can carry with you all day.
42:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you can just feel good about it.
42:24
SPEAKER_01: You know, and another interesting thing that you mentioned about OP being a focus is that um a lot of that in that first season wasn't by accident because apparently on and he mentions this also in his book that a lot of the shows of the time had smart olive kids on them that that were a big part of the show.
42:47
SPEAKER_01: So he references Leave It to Beaver and how Beaver was always getting those lines where he was kind of you know, really kind of being a smart olick uh cute, but had a lot of biting lines.
43:01
SPEAKER_01: And Dennis the Menace was big then, and Dennis had and Danny Thomas's son on uh make room for daddy, he was the same kind of way, and um and you know, you notice in these early ones, like in this one and then the pilot, like Opie's kind of a at times like surprised at looking back because he's kind of a brat at times, too.
43:26
SPEAKER_01: Like, as much as he's lovable, he's also like he really was rough with Aunt B.
43:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and so he said he didn't find this out until the 1980s when he did a reunion uh episode of uh when there was a Return to Mayberry done show with and with all the casts reuniting.
43:48
SPEAKER_01: That Andy told him that in that first season, Rance, uh Opie's you know Ronnie's dead, pulled uh Andy aside and asked if he could.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: Talk to him and uh and Andy agreed.
44:02
SPEAKER_01: And he said, you know, you're gonna you could get a lot of laughs making him exactly like all of these other kids right now on TV saying these kind of smart Alecky lines.
44:15
SPEAKER_01: And he said, but Ronnie Ronnie's very talented and he was kind of pumping up, you know, Ronnie's abilities.
44:22
SPEAKER_01: He's like, he could play a lot of emotions and he could do a lot of things.
44:27
SPEAKER_01: And wouldn't it be interesting if the you know your son really adored his dad, really admired his dad instead of always kind of being a sarcastic kid?
44:41
SPEAKER_01: And uh and Andy agreed with them and talked to the writers, and they started changing Opie's character and making him less abrasive.
44:51
SPEAKER_01: And and Ronnie said that like just hearing that story he goes, that made him he speaks so highly of both uh his dad and Andy.
45:01
SPEAKER_01: He said, you know, Andy Griffith could have told Rance Howard, who are you to tell me?
45:07
SPEAKER_01: I'm the one that has a hit, you know, I was the one they hired to have a show.
45:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh they want me in this show.
45:15
SPEAKER_01: I'm the star.
45:16
SPEAKER_01: You don't tell me how to uh you know make it work.
45:21
SPEAKER_01: Uh but he he not only listened to them, but he agreed with them and then and and incorporated it.
45:28
SPEAKER_01: And he just said his admiration, and then his dad did that for him, that he didn't let it go the other way.
45:35
SPEAKER_01: And you know, and I do think it makes a difference because in these early ones, I just feel that uh like it's just maybe because we've seen it for you know all the way through, it's hard to watch OP be kind of not so nice.
45:52
SPEAKER_01: And uh and he's not especially during the the uh the way he talks to Aunt B.
45:58
SPEAKER_01: And even when Rose is trying to get married, he just keeps interrupting and and uh so yeah, it's another little interesting uh comment.
46:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, I I had no idea, but now that you pointed out Yeah, the the kids of that era and and I was even thinking of Richie from the Dickie Dick Van Dyke show.
46:22
SPEAKER_02: Yes was that kind of a bratty kind of kid.
46:27
SPEAKER_02: But uh yeah, I I think it it made the Andy Griffiths show so much better that he wasn't like that.
46:35
SPEAKER_02: He he did uh he did want to be a good kid for his dad and uh live up to his his dad's expectations of you know how he was supposed to act and do the right thing and so forth.
46:51
SPEAKER_02: Uh now that you mention it does seem like yeah, that would have really separated and and does in my mind now, uh the Andy Griffiths show and particularly Opie from the peers from the era, uh, like you mentioned.
47:09
SPEAKER_01: Did you really get that even a little bit from Barney that he admires Andy so much?
47:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think that that love of Andy kind of makes it, you know, you know, makes it the I think you know, the heartwarming part of the show.
47:27
SPEAKER_01: Good point, Paul.
47:29
SPEAKER_02: Uh totally agree.
47:31
SPEAKER_02: Totally agree.
47:32
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
47:33
SPEAKER_02: That's what a what a first episode, huh?
47:37
SPEAKER_02: That was fantastic, fantastic, and it yeah, and it does foreshadow so much that's yet to come.
47:45
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
47:46
SPEAKER_02: Can't wait to do the next one, man.
47:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, me too.
47:49
SPEAKER_01: Looking forward to episode two here, so we're moving right along.
47:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, episode two is the manhunt, I believe.
48:00
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so we get some law enforcement brought into this.
48:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
48:06
SPEAKER_01: And that'll give Barty some a lot of that right up his alley.
48:11
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure that'll be.
48:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I can't wait for that.
48:16
SPEAKER_02: Can't wait for that.
48:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
48:18
SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
48:19
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
48:20
SPEAKER_02: This has been tasted, Paul.
48:21
SPEAKER_02: Really enjoy it.
48:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks everybody for listening, and we'll uh we'll see you next week on Nip It in the Bud.
48:30
SPEAKER_00: Down in Mayberry, things are just grand.
48:35
SPEAKER_00: It's the friendliest little podcast in the land.
48:40
SPEAKER_00: Nip it in the bud.