Frances Bavier was indeed alive when the reunion movie was made. However, she refused to see or speak to her former castmates after her retirement in 1970. She wouldn’t even answer the door when Andy Griffith and Ron Howard tried to visit her. She absolutely turned down Griffith’s pleas for her to appear in the reunion movie.
Here and here are two biographies of Bavier that go into her life after retirement. She seems to have become a crazy cat lady (no offense to our own CCL).
It’s been almost 35 years and I can still walk up to my best friend from high school, even after not seeing him for 10 years, and crack him up by saying:
“How do you do, Mrs. Wiley”
That was the greatest televison show ever. I’ll bet it holds up much better than Seinfeld will.
For me the line “I ain’t no creach-ter!” still gets me, or his line “reckon who that could be?” in the same episode. My friend Stef will periodically, in the middle of a mall or on a road trip and without warning, suddently go
“Ole Aunt Miriah, jump in the fire. Fire too hot, jump in the pot. Pot too black, jump in the crack. Crack too high, jump in the sky. Sky too blue, jump in canoe. Canoe too shallow, jump in the tallow. Tallow too soft, jump in the loft. Loft too rotten, jump in the cotton. Cotton so white she stayed there all night!”
and I can’t regain it. I don’t know exactly what it was that made that show so funny (before Barney left- never regained it afterwards), but when it worked it was magic.
I like that one, but the one that does it for me is There is a Time , which was written by the Dillards and featured on at least one episode of ANDY GRIFFITH (“I do b’lieve that’s about the pertiest song I ever heard…”)
Trivia question: was that really Charlene (Maggie Peterson ) singing in that song? I got a copy of it before the fall of Napster (God rest it’s pirating soul) but would love to own a copy on CD.
Probably the single favorite episode of many - it certainly is for me. My favorite line in the ep comes from Barney, after Ernest T. comes bounding down Andy’s stairs, vaults over the bannister and flops in a chair: “Oh, he’s a regular Count of Monte Christo!”
w/re the Darlings -
Old Man Darling: Let’s play “Don’t beat your grandma with a big ol’ stick”.
From a fanzine, these are the songs the Darlins mentioned but never played:
“Tearing’ Up Your Old Clothes for Rags”
“Wet Shoes in the Sunset”
“Tow Sack Full of Love”
“Keep Your Money in Your Shoes and It Won’t Get Wet”
“Don’t Beat Your Grandma With a Big Ol’ Stick”
“Dirty Me, Dirty Me, I’m Disgusted with Myself”
“Will you Love Me When I’m Old and Ugly”
I think Eminem did a cut of “Tow Sack Full of Love” (only he renamed it “Mama Was a Bitch”).
It was a very musical show, and most or all of the cast were musically gifted. I understand that between takes they would sing gospel songs a cappella for fun.
The Dillards song played on the show but not yet mentioned in this thread is “Ebo Walker.”
sorry when barney left the show wasnt the same or as good
otis was on the brady bunch as the kartoon king…a kids show and bobby was on it in an ice cream eating contest…bobby lost…he was also on it as santa claus in the christmas episode where mrs brady lost her voice and cindy asks him for her moms voice back