Aunt Bee, Counterfeiting Shill

[Hibi]

Andy Griffith is back on TVland! (early evening hours) One of the episodes last night had Aunt Bee acting as a receptionist for some counterfeiters who moved into town (LOL!) Even passed fake money around. Too funny!

[Hibi]

Well, Aunt Bee was never exactly worldly wise, so I can understand. I'm

glad to see some of the color episodes. They don't seem to show up too 

often. Right now the ones with Jack Burns as Warren are on. My favorite

was Howard Sprague and his never did cut the cord mother. Hilarious.

 

I think Andy has been on TVLand in the early morning for a while, but

that's too early for me.

 

 

 

They keep switching Andy around. Yes, the Mabel Albertson episodes as Howards mom were hilarious. I think my favorite Warren episode was when he thought he had esp and could foretell the future (to Andy and Helen's detriment).......

[Hibi]

Yep, if TVLand has the same schedule for more than one week, it's close

to being a miracle. The Warren episode you mentioned was on a night

or two ago. I remember reading that Andy Griffith said he felt bad about

Jack Burns. Burns didn't do anything wrong, it was just that Andy and

the producers felt the character didn't quite fit in as they thought he would,

so Burns was let go.

 

Mabel Albertson was an absolute hoot as Mrs. Sprague. I remember one

of her early appearances where she told Andrew that Howard had a job where

he needed to use his mind, not like Andy's job. Ouch.

 

(I got a kick out of that photo of Sarah Miles. She certainly was on the large

side. Sorry, I couldn't resist. Thought it might be "safer" to post it here. I can

imagine it didn't do well in the U.S. Lady Caroline Who?)

 

 

 

LOL. Yeah, Lady Caroline wasnt a historical figure most Americans would know. The title didnt help either. LAMB????

 

I've never seen the whole movie as the film played out quickly in the U.S. but would like to see that scene! It may have played on TCM but probably maybe once or twice at most.I'm sure that scene (among others got snipped for tv consumption......)

 

Yeah, Mabel Albertson played the same type of role on Bewitched around the same time. She must've been busy......

 

Yeah, I never knew why Jack Burns only played one season. He wasnt Barney, but who could be? I thought he was funny in his own way. They never had a deputy after that...........

[Dargo]

...I remember reading that Andy Griffith said he felt bad about

Jack Burns. Burns didn't do anything wrong, it was just that Andy and

the producers felt the character didn't quite fit in as they thought he would,

so Burns was let go.

 

 

Well, he always was better with Avery Schreiber, anyway.

 

(...HUH?!...yeah...HUH?!...yeah...HUH?!...YES HE WAS!!!)

[EugeniaH]

I laughed out loud when I read this thread title.  I should have known without having to search that this was Hibi's wit.

 

What hasn't been mentioned here (but I think it might be common knowledge with classic TV fans) is that Frances Bavier (Aunt Bee) wasn't a big fan of Andy Griffith's off the set.  She seems like she had a pretty Victorian character...  I wonder if she thought of Andy as Lonesome Rhodes (lol).

 

Does anyone else notice that in the color episodes the character Andy seems to be more 'cranky'?  Maybe it's just the ones I saw...  it just seemed that Andy was more mellow and good-natured in the episodes with Barney, and in the later installments he got ticked off at the others more often.  Maybe life just wasn't the same for him without ol' Barn.

[Dargo]

Well, don't forget Eugenia, that cute little Opie was becoming a teenager in those later color episodes, too.

 

(...and I think we ALL know how even the BEST of teenagers can drive you RIGHT up the freakin' wall sometimes, now don't WE???!!!) LOL

[EugeniaH]

Well, don't forget Eugenia, that cute little Opie was becoming a teenager in those later color episodes, too.

 

(...and I think we ALL know how even the BEST of teenagers can drive you RIGHT up the freakin' wall sometimes, now don't WE???!!!) LOL

 

Lol... Maybe in some undiscovered "lost" Andy Griffith episodes, Andy catches Opie with a stiletto in his pocket, and makin' out with chicks in the back alley... 

[EugeniaH]

Golly, Paw...

[speedracer5]

I haven't seen many of the color episodes.  It's not the same without Barney-- he's hilarious.  Gomer and Goober were so annoying.  I don't know why they were ever appointed fill-in deputies.  I think even Otis was a fill in deputy at some point.  Really Mayberry? The town drunk is a deputy?  I agree, Howard's mom was hilarious. 

 

My favorite episodes are the one where Aunt Bee keeps insisting on making her "kerosene cucumbers" for Andy and Barney. Andy and Barney don't want to eat her disgusting pickles anymore, so they buy store pickles and swap hers out with the good pickles.  They then give the gross pickles away to some unsuspecting motorists just passing through Mayberry-- including one unfortunate soul from Oregon! Aunt Bee sees the boys loving her pickles and decides to enter them in the county fair. Andy feels a tinge of guilt because Bee wouldn't be entering something she made.  He especially feels bad after talking to Miss Johnson who basically tells Andy how she lives and dies for the county fair pickle contest. Andy decides that they need to get Aunt Bee to make more pickles.  There is this hilarious montage (with individual theme songs for each of the boys) of Andy, Barney and Opie eating pickles.  Aunt Bee makes more pickles and enters them into the county fair-- where they obviously lose because they're awful.  Miss Johnson, of course, wins for the twelfth time in a row.  I love the end when Andy and Barney are eating breakfast.  Barney smells turpentine.  Andy figures out it's coming from the jelly dish on the table.  Barney says: "Don't tell me Aunt Bee's makin' marmalade now!"  What is wrong with Aunt Bee's food? Did it all go rancid?  This episode is hilarious and I hate pickles!

 

My other favorite is one of the color episodes.  Aunt Bee and Opie are both going away for the weekend.  Everyone is worried about Andy being home alone.  Because surely the sheriff of the town can't handle being alone all weekend-- he'll starve to death! Goober comes over to keep Andy company, much to Andy's dismay.  Howard calls to tell Andy that a meeting has been canceled.  Helen calls Andy to invite him over for dinner.  Goober makes spaghetti for dinner. Andy eats spaghetti.  Goober relays Howard's message to Andy that he was invited for dinner.  Andy surprises Howard with his arrival.  Howard's mom reheats dinner. They all eat spaghetti.  Andy gets home, Helen is on the phone, fuming that he isn't over for dinner. Goober admits his mistake. Andy threatens violence. Andy goes over to Helen's for dinner and eats spaghetti. The next day, Aunt Bee is home and offers to make Andy dinner. Spaghetti.

[Hibi]

Well, he always was better with Avery Schreiber, anyway.

 

(...HUH?!...yeah...HUH?!...yeah...HUH?!...YES HE WAS!!!)

 

 

LOL. You needed a few more HUHS in there......

[Hibi]

I laughed out loud when I read this thread title.  I should have known without having to search that this was Hibi's wit.

 

What hasn't been mentioned here (but I think it might be common knowledge with classic TV fans) is that Frances Bavier (Aunt Bee) wasn't a big fan of Andy Griffith's off the set.  She seems like she had a pretty Victorian character...  I wonder if she thought of Andy as Lonesome Rhodes (lol).

 

Does anyone else notice that in the color episodes the character Andy seems to be more 'cranky'?  Maybe it's just the ones I saw...  it just seemed that Andy was more mellow and good-natured in the episodes with Barney, and in the later installments he got ticked off at the others more often.  Maybe life just wasn't the same for him without ol' Barn.

 

 

LOL! Thank you, Eugenia. Nice to see you on the boards! I have heard Bavier was"difficult", but never any details about WHY or what that really meant (on the set, off the set, salary or what?). So she wasnt a Griffith fan? Strange, considering he was her meal ticket. I never noticed, but I think you are right about Andy being less mellow in the later episodes. Maybe he'd just lost patience with some of the, shall we say, mentally challenged locals???

 

Happy to provide the laugh!

[Hibi]

I think Burns lasted for about the first half of the 1965-66 season. You've probably heard this

one before--Don Knotts was under the impression that Andy was going to end the show after

five seasons, so he decided to go with the Universal picture deal. Then Andy decided to do the

show for some more years and Don was kind of stuck.

 

Yeah, who really needed a deputy in such a crime-free small town? Howard and Goober took

up the slack for the lack of a deputy.

 

I recall seeing some stills of Miles from that film wearing other revealing costumes. She was pretty

hot.

 

 

 

No, I hadnt heard that about Griffith wanting to quit. I just assumed Knotts left the show to make films (that career never took off and the show just wasnt the same without him)

 

Yes, Miles was hot in her younger days. I've seen some recent pics of her and she still looks pretty good. She must be in her 70s....

[Hibi]

Anybody ever notice that shirt that Opie wore all the time? It was

orange and green in a broad strip pattern. I knew Andy didn't

make a ton of money, but surely he could afford a couple of new

shirts.

 

Then he joined that rock band and everything became groovy. Hey

I really dig these groovy potato chips. Far out. Sadly Arnold

introduced Opie to those funny little cigarettes and that was the

beginning of the end.

 

 

LMREO!!!! Yes, Opie's plaid shirts. He must've had a whole closet full of them!

[Hibi]

Speed, the PICKLE episode was shown just last week! Priceless. The Spaghetti one is also hilarious. I feel as bloated as Andy whenever I watch that one..........

[Hibi]

I've read about it in a few different places so that adds a bit of credibility to it.

Andy changed his mind about ending the show, but Knotts had already

signed a picture deal, so......I've also read that yes Francis Bavier didn't get

along that well with Griffith. One theory is that she considered herself a "high

class" actress and that doing a TV show was a bit beneath her. Griffith said

that shortly before she died, Bavier called him and apologized for being difficult.

This one particular shirt seemed to show up in about every third episode and

it's hard to ignore.

 

I think Sarah was born in 1942 so she is in her seventies. Back in the day she

also had a reputation as something of a "naughty" girl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well at least Bavier made amends at the end. Didnt she win several Emmies? I'm sure it provided her with a nice nest egg. She didnt do anything else that was noteworthy.

 

Maybe they were trying to save some money on Opie's wardrobe (who cares what a kid wears anyway?) Just laundered the shirts. He was always in jeans. They sure didnt spend a lot of money on Aunt Bee's get ups! And Andy was mostly in uniform.

 

Yes, Sarah had a naughty reputation. Also kooky. Another English eccentric. Am sure she still is.........

[Hibi]

Like a lot of TV dads from the 1960s, Andy wasn't much of a cook.

You didn't expect him to serve up a seven course meal, but he even

had trouble making toast without burning it. I remember the spaghetti

episode where Goober got the phone messages all mixed up. I love

spaghetti, but I don't think I could handle three servings in one evening,

even if the sauce did include that "secret" ingredient--oregano. And

if looked like they were skimping on the sauce too. I like lots of sauce

and grated cheese. Yum.

 

 

LOL. Yeah, there were several episodes over the years when Andy tried to cook meals. They were always a disaster. I love a lot of cheese with my pasta too.

[Hibi]

I think she did win quite a few Emmys and it was a good gig for

an actress who probably didn't have a lot of choices. She was

wonderful in that role. She did later move to North Carolina (as

did Betty Lynn). Yep, Aunt Bee's dresses looked like they might

have been stolen from the Smithsonian.

 

Andy's lack of cooking skills gave the show a good plot point for

all the temporary girlfriends he had to come over and do the

cooking or to bring him meals.

 

Sarah was a free spirit and her timing was good.

 

 

Yeah, Bee's clothes were probably purchased off the rack (with maybe some alterations for size) She looked like she sampled a lot of her own cooking. Loved those shoes! She was perfect for the part. Probably was typecast after that and found parts hard to come by (tv had changed a lot by the time RFD went off the air and she probably wasnt interested in doing any let it all hang out type of tv show........)

 

Andy and cooking was easy writing and you're right it worked with several of his girlfriends over the years. Or when they wrote Aunt Bee out of the episode for some reason.

 

Agree. Sarah fit in well with the 60s/70s era. She left the industry for awhile claiming she was getting tired of playing the same parts all the time. But apparently that didnt work out or she needed the money and returned when she was older......I had read she had gotten back together with her former hubby, writer Robert Bolt (I think he has since died?)

[Hibi]

There was quite a lot of junk in that trunk. Maybe the best sounding word is stout.

I do remember some of those old lady dresses and shoes from my grandmothers,

though they were thinner than Beatrice. Yes, she wouldn't have fit into a Four's

Company scenario.

 

Last night they ran the episode where Bee thought she lost her antique pin and

Andy called the insurance man. Jack Dodson played the insurance man. He

thought Andy wanted to buy more insurance. When he found out Andy wanted to

file a claim, he almost had a break down. Yes, I guess I have a claim form here

somewhere.

 

She was typecast in the first part of her career. Wasn't Robert Bolt old enough

to be her father or grandfather? I should look up Sarah's Wiki article because

I haven't read anything about what she is up to now.

 

 

LOL. Yeah, Stout best describes Aunt Bee. She always had that upswept doo too. Guess it lifted her face. Yeah, I saw that pin episode the other night. I'd forgotten Jack Dodson played someone else before Howard (I think that was just for one episode) They must have liked him and added him later as Howard.

 

Yeah, Bolt must've been twice Sarah's age. They did have son. At least I think he was the father (cant remember).......

[EugeniaH]

Another odd piece of Andy Griffith trivia: I remember watching the first episode (or one of the earliest episodes) where Barney refers to Andy as his cousin.

 

Remember the ep where Opie kills a baby bird (or was it the mother bird) with a slingshot?  Ugh, it was really sad...

 

With Aunt Bee, I think there was also an episode where an old flame seems to want to rekindle a romance with her but in truth he only wanted money.  And yes (referring to a Speedracer's post a while back), I also remember the kerosene pickle episode!

[EugeniaH]

Here's Aunt Bee in her younger days, before the grandmotherly dresses and upswept do...

 

[Dargo]

 

Remember the ep where Opie kills a baby bird (or was it the mother bird) with a slingshot?  Ugh, it was really sad...

 

 

My wife's all-time favorite episode.

 

 

With Aunt Bee, I think there was also an episode where an old flame seems to want to rekindle a romance with her but in truth he only wanted money.  And yes (referring to a Speedracer's post a while back), I also remember the kerosene pickle episode! 

 

I think that was Stu Erwin in that role, wasn't it?

[EugeniaH]

I think that was Stu Erwin in that role, wasn't it?

 

It was Wallace Ford as Roger Hanover (I cheated and looked it up)

[Dargo]

It was Wallace Ford as Roger Hanover (I cheated and looked it up)

 

OH yeah, that's right. it was Wallace Ford. I think Stu Erwin was in the episode where everyone in Mayberry thinks he's dead but actually just left town for a while because he couldn't take his wife's..ahem.."stuff" anymore, right?

 

(...or am I wrong here again?)

[Hibi]

Here's Aunt Bee in her younger days, before the grandmotherly dresses and upswept do...

 

 

 

LOL. She still has a matronly look to her.......

[EugeniaH]

LOL. She still has a matronly look to her.......

 

I don't think she was any p i n u p in a GI's locker, no...

 

(The word p i n u p) was censored... funny, when I first posted and saw all the asterisks, it made my message look a lot worse in terms of choice of words!)