The Andy Griffith Show(1960-1968)

[Skipper Duke]

Post from Andy Griffith Museum

#WednesdayWisdom life lessons from the "Deputy Otis" episode

Ralph Campbell, Otis's brother, makes a surprise visit to Mayberry. Otis, never expecting his brother and sister-in-law to visit, led them to believe that he works in the Mayberry sheriff's office. Otis tugs at Andy, Barney, and the viewers heartstrings when he talks about his family's comparison, "Ralph's gonna do real good. Ralph's gonna do fine. Why can't you be more like Ralph?" However, we find out Ralph also likes to get drunk on Saturday night and lock himself in jail, just like Otis. 

 

#lifelessons from #theandygriffithshow 

⭐Too much comparison leads to unhappiness and low self-esteem. 

⭐Sometimes you've got to have more faith. You never know how things are going to turn out.

⭐Don't walk to far while trying to keep it all sucked in. It ain't easy.

 

#bekind #BeEncouragedToday #friendshelpingfriends #loveyourneighbor 

#andygriffithshow #goodtv #lessonslearned

[Skipper Duke]

The Andy Griffith Show Fun Fact: George Lindsey(Goober Pyle)had one of his Goober caps bronzed.

[Skipper Duke]

(Season 4 The Haunted House)

Barney Fife:"Gomer!? Gomer!? Gome!? Andy! Andy! Gomer's gone! He was here one minute an' gone the next! Now do you believe me about this place!? Somethin' terrible happened to Gomer!"

[Skipper Duke]

(Season 4 The Haunted House)

Andy:"Oh he probably just stepped in a closet or somethin'." Barney:"Where you been!?" Gomer:"I must've stepped in a closet or somethin'." Andy:"See." Gomer:"It sure was a funny closet. I never would've found my way out again, if you hadn't gave me that push." Barney:"I didn't push you." Gomer:"Well, somebody or somethin' did."

[Skipper Duke]

(Season 5 Opie Loves Helen)

Barney Fife:"If you ask me, the old school system was better, when you grew up hating your teachers!"

[Skipper Duke]

Season 1 Ellie for Council

Andy has cooked breakfast for him Opie and the eggs got burned.

Aunt Bee:"Opie wouldn't you rather have breakfast with me?"

Opie:"No mam. I'm stickin' with the men. Even if it hurts my stomach!"

[Skipper Duke]

Andy Trivia: Season 1 starts with The New Housekeeper & ends with The Beauty Contest. T or F?

[Skipper Duke]

Andy is talking to Barney about walking Thelma Lou home. Opie is also present. Andy gets so caught up in hearing the juicy details, he forgets Opie is there, which Barney points out.

Andy Taylor:"Did you get a little kissy?"

Barney Fife:"Andy, the boy."

Andy Taylor:"Opie, why don't you run on outside an' play?"

Opie Taylor:"Are you tryin' to get rid of me Pa?"

Andy Taylor:"Well, yeah. I reckon so."

Opie Taylor:"Ok. I'll go. Gosh, you think I never heard about kissin' before."

[Skipper Duke]

Season 2 The County Nurse

Andy Taylor:"Rafe, this here is a thermometer."

Rafe Hollister:"I got one of those on my henhouse, only bigger."

Andy Taylor:"Rafe, this here is the thermometer fer people! It let's you know when you got a fever."

Rafe Hollister:"I know when I got a fever. I'm hot!"

Andy Taylor:"But Rafe, this here tells you how hot!"

Rafe Hollister:"I know how hot I am when I'm hot, danged hot!"

[Skipper Duke]

Season 2 Andy on Trial

Barney Fife:"You gotta understand. This is a small town, the Sheriff is more than just a Sheriff. He's a friend. An' the people in this town, they ain't got a better friend than Andy Taylor! As for Andy doin' his job, I'd like for you to take a look in the record book Mr. Jackson! Do you know there ain't ever been a major crime committed in this town, thanks to Sheriff Taylor? In fact, the only ruckus you'd ever have in Mayberry, is if you tried to remove him from office. Then you'd have a riot! You asked me if Andy runs a taut ship Mr. Milton. Well, no he don't! But, that's because of something that he's been tryin' to teach me ever since I started workin' for him, and that is, that when yer a lawman, and yer dealin' with people, you do a whole lot better if you go not so much by the book, but by the heart! I guess maybe that's to hard for some of you to understand. I don't know. That's all I got to say."

[RogerDuke]

Just finished watching Andy's English Valet. I noticed right away that the guest star was Iggins from Southern Comfurts....actor Bernard Fox. 

[Skipper Duke]

8 minutes ago, RogerDuke said:

Just finished watching Andy's English Valet. I noticed right away that the guest star was Iggins from Southern Comfurts....actor Bernard Fox. 

Roger yep he is!

[Skipper Duke]

 Season 3 Man in a Hurry

Malcolm Tucker:"Sheer idiocy! I can't believe this is happening to me! A public utility being tied up like this!You people are living in another world! Men are orbiting the Earth!International television has been developed! An' here, a whole town is standing still because 2 old women's feet fall asleep!"

[Skipper Duke]

"Happy 60th Anniversary to The Andy Griffith Show!

 

Today, October 3rd, marks 60 years since the iconic show premiered in 1960.

 

Join me in celebrating the timeless humor, wisdom, and charm of Mayberry's finest:

 

Sheriff Andy Taylor

Deputy Barney Fife

Opie Taylor

Aunt Bee

 

Share your favorite episodes, quotes, or memories!

 

Tag a friend who loves The Andy Griffith Show!

 

Let's keep the nostalgia alive!

 

#TheAndyGriffithShow #60thAnniversary #Mayberry #ClassicTV #HappyAnniversary"

[Skipper Duke]

From the Facebook page Anita's Analysis

On the final day of filming "The Andy Griffith Show" in 1968, the atmosphere on set was far from celebratory. Andy Griffith, usually composed and warm in front of the camera, quietly stepped away from the soundstage once the last scene wrapped. According to crew members who were present, he walked down the familiar corridor at Desilu Studios, turned a corner, and disappeared behind a row of trailers. Moments later, someone heard soft sobs. Griffith had broken down in private, overwhelmed by the weight of saying goodbye to a show that had defined nearly a decade of his life.

 

For eight seasons, he had played Sheriff Andy Taylor, the calm and wise father figure of Mayberry. But the relationships that developed behind the scenes had grown even deeper than those written into the scripts. Don Knotts, who portrayed the high-strung Barney Fife, had departed the show after five seasons, but he returned occasionally and maintained a close bond with Griffith. Ron Howard, who played Opie, later recalled how Griffith became a real-life mentor. Frances Bavier, George Lindsey, and the rest of the cast had become like extended family members. Griffith's emotional connection to them was rooted not in fiction, but in shared years of long working days, laughter between takes, and the rare honesty that can exist when people create something meaningful together.

 

The moment that triggered his tears was not a scene, but the silence that followed the final “cut.” The absence of movement on set, the way everyone slowly lowered their scripts and avoided eye contact, created an emotional vacuum. Jack Dodson, who played Howard Sprague, once shared that nobody wanted to be the first to speak. “It was as if Andy had given us the permission to feel, and then took it all with him when he walked off,” he said in a 1993 interview with "TV Guide."

 

That day, Griffith’s dressing room remained closed for nearly an hour. Only his longtime friend and manager Richard O. Linke approached, quietly placing a hand on the door but choosing not to knock. When Griffith finally returned to the stage, his eyes were red, but he carried himself with grace. Without saying much, he moved from one cast member to the next, hugging each tightly. According to Ron Howard, who was just 14 at the time, Griffith held him the longest. “He whispered, ‘You’re going to be alright. You’ve got it in you.’ That meant more than anything,” Howard shared years later in an interview with "Entertainment Weekly."

 

Griffith had been hesitant about ending the show, but he knew the chemistry was changing. Don Knotts had taken on film roles, Ron Howard was beginning to outgrow the Opie character, and the tone of television itself was shifting. In later years, he admitted in an interview with "The Charlotte Observer" that part of his breakdown stemmed from the fear that nothing else he did would carry the same heart. “I didn’t know if I’d ever get to feel that kind of honesty and warmth again, not just in front of a camera, but in life.”

 

After the wrap, the cast and crew gathered for a quiet dinner at a local studio-adjacent restaurant. There were no speeches, no formal farewells. Andy Griffith kept a handkerchief in his hand the entire evening. George Lindsey would later say, “I think he was still crying on the inside. We all were. But it was his pain that showed us how much it all meant.”

 

The next morning, Griffith did not return to the studio. He called Richard Linke from his home in Toluca Lake and asked him to collect the last few items from his dressing room. He could not face the space empty. That call, according to Linke, was the true end.

 

When a show gives people a home, ending it does not feel like closing a chapter, it feels like walking away from a town where every soul had mattered.