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01/24/2025

Today in Mayberry History - January 24. Happy National Peanut Butter Day! Believe it or not, there’s a separate National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day later in the year, but there were certainly references to peanut butter sandwiches other than the traditional PB&J. When Opie packed a sack lunch for George Foley’s trip to Texas, he packed a peanut butter and sardine sandwich and other basics like sweet pickles (presumably store-bought!), marshmallows, olives, and bubble gum. When Andy told him to make a few more since it would be a long trip, Opie said he was also making a peanut butter and baloney sandwich, a peanut butter and liverwurst sandwich, and one “with just peanut butter and peanut butter.”

01/23/2025

Today in Mayberry History - January 23. Happy National Pie Day (the official one as opposed to Pi Day on 3.14 where having pie is also encouraged)! There was lots of pie on TAGS! There was blueberry pie, rhubarb pie, apple pie, gooseberry pie, apple crumb pie, sweet potato pie, butterscotch pecan pie, lemon pie, banana cream chocolate pie, and let’s not forget possum pie and hoot owl pie! And those are just from the black-and-white episodes!

01/22/2025

Today in Mayberry History - January 22. “The Manicurist” aired for the first time on this date in 1962. Guest starring the beautiful Barbara “Definitely-Not-a-Boy” Eden, this episode has to have some of the funniest reaction shots of the entire series.

01/21/2025

Today in Mayberry History - January 21. One of Andy Griffith’s last performances was as “old Joe” in the 2007 film “Waitress,” which was released on this date in 2007. Joe was the gruff owner of Joe’s Pie Diner where Keri Russell’s character worked. Andy’s work was widely praised by critics who welcomed seeing him in a film again after a six-year absence.

01/19/2025

Today in Mayberry History - January 19. Jack Prince was born on this date in 1920. Jack appeared half a dozen times in “The Andy Griffith Show,” playing Rafe Hollister in three of those appearances. Rafe had a wonderful singing voice and performed in the Ladies League musicale. Jack also played the similar though non-singing characters of Ben Sewell and Luke Ranier. A trained vocalist, Jack appeared in three Broadway musicals: “Guys and Dolls” as Nicely Nicely (1950-1953), “Li’l Abner” as Marryin’ Sam (1956-1958), and “Destry Rides Again” as the lead character’s sidekick, Wash (1959-1960). In the latter musical, the lead character was Tom Destry played by Andy Griffith. Andy and Jack became friends. Andy wanted Jack to accept a larger role in “The Andy Griffith Show,” but Jack declined, choosing to concentrate on his successful singing career on the nightclub circuit at the time. Jack passed away in 1994.

01/18/2025

Today in Mayberry History - January 18. Happy National Winnie the Pooh Day! Celebrated today to commemorate A.A. Milne’s birthdate in 1882, it is of special interest to us thanks to actors who appeared in “The Andy Griffith Show” and gave voice to Pooh Bear. Sterling Holloway, the traveling peddler Bert Miller, was the original voice of the animated Pooh. Hal Smith, who played Otis, also gave voice to the bear in two movies and a TV show in the early ‘80s.

01/17/2025

Herb Ellis was born on this date in 1921. Herb played Bobby Fleet in the character’s second appearance. After Bobby was forcibly introduced to Jim Lindsey’s guitar wizardry (not just anyone can make an acoustic guitar sound like an electric guitar!), he was brought back to Mayberry by Andy to make things right between Bobby and Jim, who had become “too big for his britches.” Herb began his career in the late 1940s and collaborated with Jack Webb on an unsuccessful project called “Joe Friday, Room Five.” While Webb is credited as the creator, Herb worked with him to develop the concept and name of Webb’s series “Dragnet,” which began as a radio series in 1949. Herb played several police officers in the original “Dragnet” TV series (1952-1954) and also appeared in later TV movie (1969) and new series incarnations (1967 and ’70) of the police procedural. He died in 2018. “You better get to work. You got a set o’ threads and a little red car and three guitars to feed.”

01/16/2025

Today in Mayberry History - January 16. Jason Johnson was born on this date in 1907. He first appeared in a single black-and-white episode as a town council member trying to evict the unfortunate Frank Myers from his house. He later made four appearances in the color episodes, twice as Ben Weaver. His career lasted from 1949 until his death in 1977. He played in several low-budget science fiction films with titles such as “Invasion of the Saucer-Men” (1957) and on TV guest starred in many Western series, such as “Tales of Wells Fargo” (1958-1960), “Bonanza” (1960-1964), and “Gunsmoke” (1958-1965).

01/14/2025

Today in Mayberry History - January 14. The classic episode “Man in a Hurry” first aired on this date in 1963. Malcolm Tucker learned a lesson we all should pay attention to: Slow down and enjoy the little things. The episode also marked the first episode to be filmed which included Gomer Pyle, though it was not the first to be broadcast. (The episodes were not always shown in the order they were filmed.) By the way, the farm behind Gomer in the background was used to film “The Real McCoys.” The barn on that set was seen several times in “The Andy Griffith Show.” To learn the full story of Gomer’s first appearance, check out our book “Mayberry Firsts.” Link in profile.

01/13/2025

Today in Mayberry History-January 13. Marlene Willis was born on this date in 1942. She played the strikingly attractive Lucy Matthews, whom Ed Sawyer fell in love with just by reading the “Mayberry Gazette,” which he subscribed to. Debuting in the 1957 film “Rockabilly Baby,” Marlene only had eleven screen credits before retiring from acting in 1963. She appeared twice on both “The Loretta Young Show” (1960) and “Wagon Train” (1959-1960) but not as a recurring character. Marlene died tragically young at the age of 40 after a lengthy battle with breast cancer.

01/12/2025

Today in Mayberry History-January 12. Today is National Pharmacist Day! Everybody’s favorite “Pharmacy Gal” Ellie Walker was introduced on “The Andy Griffith Show” in “Ellie Comes to Town.” A recent graduate of Bernard University’s School of Pharmacy, she came to Mayberry to help her uncle Fred, the owner of Walker’s Drugstore. After Ellie left town, Franklyn Pharmacy opened around the corner from Walker’s old location. However, Walker’s was still in business in a different location since Opie and Karen Burgess discussed getting a soda there in Season 3. And we can’t forget the landmark case of “Wilson v. Thorpe’s Pharmacy,” in which Wilson won the right to buy arsenic despite the pharmacist’s concerns, bought the arsenic on Tuesday, May 4th, and was buried Friday, May 7th.

01/11/2025

Today in Mayberry History - January 11. Happy Birthday to Pat Colby, born on this date in 1935. In Season 1, Pat played Bill Matthews, who stood up for his sister when Ed Sawyers came to town as a mysterious stranger. In Season 3, he is Jimmy Morgan, who is wrongly accused of stealing from Wally’s Filling Station. Pat did not act extensively during his 14-year career. Among his appearances, he appeared twice on “The Danny Thomas Show” (1959) and had an uncredited role as a scientist in the Don Knotts film “The Reluctant Astronaut” (1967).

01/10/2025

Today in Mayberry History-January 10. Maggie Peterson Mancuso was born on this date in 1941. Maggie played Charlene Darling, who became Charlene Wash at the end of the first episode in which she appeared. In addition to her five appearances as Charlene in the series and in “Return to Mayberry,” she also appeared in the next-to-last color episode as Doris, a woman seeing Sam Jones. Maggie made her acting debut in her first Mayberry episode. Maggie also appeared in an episode of each of the spinoffs “Gomer Pyle-USMC” and “Mayberry R.F.D.” and played a recurring character in the 1960s sitcom “The Bill Dana Show.” This favorite of Mayberry fans everywhere passed away in 2022.

01/09/2025

Today in Mayberry History-January 9. Charles Myers was born on this date in 1939. Charles only acted four times, his debut being as a corporal assisting Sgt. Carter in the TAGS episode that served as a pilot for “Gomer Pyle-USMC.” His next two acting appearances were on the spinoff itself. The following year, Charles became an assistant director on Gomer’s show and served as such in 76 episodes from 1966 to 1969. After assistant directing TV shows, his first film to serve as assistant director was “American Graffiti,” starring Ron Howard. He served in that same role on many films, including “The Godfather: Part II” (1974), “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977), and “The Right Stuff” (1983). Charles died in 1995.

01/08/2025

Today in Mayberry History - January 8. The King of Rock and Roll was born on this date in 1935. While Elvis Presley was never specifically named on “The Andy Griffith Show,” he is obviously whom Andy was referring to when he asked Jim Lindsey, “How about that fella we see every now and then on television, shakin’ and screamin’? Sounds like somebody’s beatin’ his dog.” In 1955, Elvis appeared in live shows in which Andy was the headline attraction.

01/07/2025

Today in Mayberry History-January 7. “Barney and the Governor” first aired on this date in 1963. When Barney was egged on to write a ticket to a limousine parked in front of the post office, he was shocked to learn he had just written a ticket to a vehicle owned by the governor. The chauffeur was played by Rance Howard, Ron Howard’s father. At that point, producer Sheldon Leonard did not want it specified that Mayberry was in North Carolina leading to a rather interesting altered license plate on the limo.

01/06/2025

I should have posted this sooner, but this was in the local paper a couple of days after Christmas.

Author and lecturer Randy Turner will share about some of the shows and characters that shaped early television at a talk next month in Hamilton.

01/06/2025

Today in Mayberry History-January 6. Helen Kleeb was born on this date in 1907. In “The Andy Griffith Show” she played the wife of Jess Morgan, a farmer whom Andy arrested for moonshining. She came to pick Jess up when Andy let him out of jail for three days to bring in his crops on the promise he would return as soon as they were in, much to the consternation of the new mayor. Between 1952 and 1988 when she stopped acting regularly, Helen appeared in 132 films and TV series. Still, she is best known for playing Mamie Baldwin, one of the Baldwin sisters on the 1970s TV series “The Waltons” who sold their daddy’s “recipe” as opposed to the Morrison sisters on “The Andy Griffith Show” who sold their “elixir” for special occasions. Helen died in 2003.