We Want to Know
Baby boomers grew up in the era of television comedy that we will never witness again. We had mountain folks living in California; an entire town in North Carolina where only one resident was married and he stayed drunk all the time. We also watched 7 people stranded on a deserted island live in luxury after their boat crashed. Those were the days.
We watched television for family entertainment, not to be indoctrinated with some kind of sublime message. It never crossed my mind that Barney wanted to change his gender when he dressed up as a bride when Ernest T. Bass came a courting. Barney probably looked better as a female but that is a discussion for another time.
Since the golden days of television from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s are in the rear-view mirror and deposited in our memory banks, NOW is the time to get some important questions answered from those great days. Feel free to expound on these intellectual questions.
One of the staples of our childhood was the Andy Griffith Show. The show took place in the fictional town of Mayberry. Many believe that it was patterned after Andy’s real hometown of Mt. Airy, North Carolina. Questions: Andy was a widower. What happened to his wife and what was her name? She was only referenced in one early episode. Think of EVERY character on the show: Andy, Barney, Aunt Bea, Clara, Gomer, Goober, Floyd, Helen, Thelma Lou and Opie. What did they all have in common? They were all SINGLE. The only known character that was married was Otis Campbell, the town drunk. Now THAT’s a sublime message right there.
We want to know: how Aunt Bea was, Andy’s aunt? Was Bea his mother’s sister? Or his dad’s sister? She would have been Opie’s Great aunt. Was her real name Beatrice? Since Goober was actually from Jasper, Alabama and Gomer was from Sylacauga, Alabama, when they joined the show, was there ever any indication that they grew up in Alabama?
Since the actress who played Thelma Lou recently died, there is only ONE remaining actor or actress from the show. You guessed it: Ron Howard who played Opie Taylor. Since my favorite musical genre is bluegrass, I loved the episodes that had the “Darlings” playing music. Do you know who actually played the music? It was the bluegrass band, the Dillards.
The Andy Griffith Show was one of the first that did “cross-advertising.” They partnered with Ford Motor Company. Every year, the show got a new Ford Fairlane for the police car. I am not sure about Barney’s motorcycle that had a sidecar attached to it.
Did you ever wonder who actually sold Jed Clampett the mansion in Beverly Hills? Did he just drive up with Granny, Jethroe and Ellie Mae in their jalopy and lay down millions in cash for the big house with the cement pond in the back? Following the same “single” theme, none of these four were married. How were Jed and Granny related? Who was Granny, Granny to? Was it Jed or Jethro and Ellie Mae? Who was Jethrine Bodine? Who was Pearl Bodine? Why did the Clampetts feud with the Drysdales? We want to know.
Here are some of the answers: Granny was actually Jed’s mother-in-law. Her deceased daughter, who had been married to Jed, was named Rose Ellen Moses and had a daughter named Ellie Mae. Granny’s real name on the show was Daisy Moses. Want to win a bet? Who was older in real life: the actress who played Granny (Irene Ryan) or the actress who played Ellie Mae (Donna Douglas)? Ellie Mae/Donna Douglas was actually older.
Pearl Bodine was Jed’s cousin and Jethro’s widowed Mother. She was the one who told the Clampett’s to gather everything and move to California after striking oil. Jethrine was Jethroe’s twin sister on the show. “She” was played by Max Baer, Jr. (Jethro) and dressed up like Little Bo Peep. By the way, the Clampett’s had a falling out with the Drysdale’s when Sonny stood Ellie Mae up when Granny suggested marriage. Jed, Granny and Jethro all got their shotguns to even things out.
According to many of Coach Bryant’s closest friends, his favorite show was Sanford and Son, starring Redd Foxx. Fred and his son, Lamont, had a junkyard on the show. Continuing with the “single” theme, what happened to Fred’s wife, Elizabeth? He was always faking a heart attack and grabbing his chest with one hand and proclaiming: “It’s the big one! I’m coming to join you Elizabeth.” There was never a picture of her. Was she pretty or did she look like her sister?
Of course, her sister was named Esther. Since Fred never went to church, Esther would show up with her church lady friends and try to help the “ole heathen” as she called him. In the show, Fred Sanford got by with humor about her looks that would get him fired immediately today. Here was a typical dialogue between the two:
Esther: “Who you calling ugly, Sucker?” Fred: “I’m calling you ugly. I could push your face in cookie dough and make gorilla cookies.” She said: “Watch it Sucka, you fish-eyed fool.” In the show, Fred had no filter and ridiculed Mexicans, Jews, Puerto Ricans and old white women.
In case you were wondering Redd Foxx was only 49 when he started as 65-year-old Fred Sanford. He had to wear a lot of makeup to make him look older and wore heavy shoes that made him walk like an older man. In the first year of the show, Fred’s other sister-in-law, Ethel, was always involved in the Sanford’s family squabbles. She was replaced by her sharp-tongued sister, Esther, on the show. And the “fish-eyed-fool” was never the same.
Want to make your kids think that you are ready for the old folk’s home? Tell them about the other classics: “Green Acres,” “Petticoat Junction,” Gilligan Island,” “Bewitched” and “Mr. Ed.”
Yes kids, we never asked how Wilbur found out that his horse could talk. Or that a pig named Arnold Ziffel lived with his “parents” near the town of Hooterville. A pig near Hooterville?
No one would ask questions about that storyline.