# Andy Griffith Show Questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 13, 2004, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766 "2004-08-13T23:34:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/1 "2004-08-13T23:34:37Z")
So, right now I’m stuck without cable or satellite. One of the few shows I get is _ **The Andy Griffith Show** _. I’ve enjoyed watching the old shows, although Barney, Goober, Gomer, and Floyd irritate the fire out of me. I particularly like the episodes with the Darlings, the mountain family that comes down to the “big city” of Mayberry once in a while. Why would Helen Crump sit around for years waiting for Andy to propose? Do they ever get married? Is Opie short for something? Why doesn’t an All-American boy like Opie have a dog? I’ve been trying to decide if Howard Sprague is supposed to be the town’s token gay man, or is he straight? Why, when you know they have regular telephone capacity, does the courthouse still have a candlestick phone, and apparently a town operator, as well? Why in the world would Andy keep someone as totally incompetant at Barney Fife on the job? Can anyone answer these questions, or have any of their own? StG ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/2 "2004-08-14T00:14:55Z")
The real questions you need to ask are this: Why does Andy have a kid, but no wife? Clearly something happened to her… Why can’t Barney carry a loaded gun? He gets but one bullet, to keep in his pocket. Why is Barney the Deputy, is it for Andy to keep on eye on him? Suddenly it all makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/3 "2004-08-14T00:22:25Z")
Opie is just an old-fashioned rural name. I actually had a great-uncle with that moniker. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/4 "2004-08-14T01:03:19Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > Why would Helen Crump sit around for years waiting for Andy to propose? Cause she doesn’t want to wind up an Old Maid™, of course. What I can’t figure out is why Andy passed up cute little Ellie Walker for that pinched, hectoring, scold. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/5 "2004-08-14T01:28:31Z")
**koeeoaddi** - Ellie Walker (played by Eleanor Donohue) was beautiful. I can only guess that Andy was intimidated by a female pharmacist. A teacher is okay, sort of expected, but a pharmacist? That’s a women’s libber! **dwyr** - Really? And it wasn’t short for Obediah or something? **bouv** - Andy’s wife is dead. Barney was too incompetant to be allowed to carry a gun - he probably couldn’t breathe without some help from Andy. StG ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/6 "2004-08-14T01:35:49Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > **bouv** - Andy’s wife is dead. Barney was too incompetant to be allowed to carry a gun - he probably couldn’t breathe without some help from Andy. I think you’ve just been the victim of a three-part whoosh. ---
**Author:** ![ussentinel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ce7236/32.png) [@ussentinel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ussentinel)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/7 "2004-08-14T01:42:02Z")
A LOT of good questions. I’ll try to take a stab at it without checking any reference material, so I can’t make elaborate answers. - Andy & Helen eventually married; that much I do remember. I want to say though that this may have been on the first Mayberry R.F.D. episode. Andy & Helen just seemed to leave and they never came back. Why so long? I think keeping Andy single and making Helen jealous gave the writers a LOT of fodder. - I thought there was one episode that involved a LOT of dogs in it, though the details escape me. - Yeah, Howard made me wonder too. But he did propose to Millie who worked at the bakery and they were briefly engaged. Still, in one episode where Howard caught a legendary fish named Ol’ Sam, Howard offers to take Opie to Charlotte Aquarium so they can see it on display. I’d swear, you had to see the look of fear on Opie’s face, as if he thought Mr. Sprague was gonna pull the car over somewhere on the trip and and molest Opie in the woods. Sprague even tempts Opie by saying he’ll buy him a malt, too. Andy pushes him to go. It was a creepy moment in an otherwise good episode. - Andy kept Barney around because they were cousins. I think this was revealed in the first show and only mentioned once more. Barney eventually moved to Charlotte (Knotts left the show to do movies) and was replaced by the forgettable Warren, keeping the Mayberry Deputy incompetence intact. I thought that Andy’s sense of humor really got worse as the show went on and he smiled less and less in the later seasons. I think Andy’s boiling point came on an episode of Gomer Pyle, USMC when Opie ran away from home all the way from Mayberry, NC to California & hid on the Marine base. Boy, was Andy pissed when he came to fetch him. I suppose I would be too. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/8 "2004-08-14T01:59:39Z")
**Jeff Olsen** - Yep. “Gullible” is my middle name. **ussentinel** - I saw the Ol’ Sam ep. Yep, Opie didn’t want to go. Last night’s ep featured Andy not being able to take Helen to a dance. He basically arranges for Howard to take her, the intimation being that Howard was a “safe” date for Helen. It got me thinking. Especially since they show Howard living with his mother, reading poetry, etc. It seemed so stereotypical. The dog eps was Opie bringing one stray dog tot he courthouse. Barney fed it his sandwich and before you know it they have about 15 dogs in the courthouse just when they’re expecting an inspection. It turns out the inspector is a doglover so everything works out. StG ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/9 "2004-08-14T03:08:17Z")
StGermain nope, not short for anything that I know of. Now, we did have a lot of odd names in the family so I’m not saying it was common or anything. Just really rural. Great Uncle Opie had eight brothers whose names included Otis, Haskell, and Jethro. A nice bunch of fellows really. ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/10 "2004-08-14T03:37:37Z")
I always figured Opie’s first two initials were “O. P.” and that this got transformed into “Opie.” ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/11 "2004-08-14T04:02:29Z")
[Andy Griffith Show FAQ](http://www.zille.com/griffith/faq.asp) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/12 "2004-08-14T04:09:23Z")
OH BTW two thread questions answered by the above faq > [@](#): > > ## Q. What happened to Andy Taylor’s first wife (Opie’s mother)? A. All we were ever told is that she died and that was told us on the pilot for “The Andy Griffith Show” which appeared on “The Danny Thomas Show”. Opie’s pet turtle , Wilford, was stepped on and killed by “Mrs. Balford” out in front of the ice cream parlor and he wants Andy to arrest her for ‘murder’, give her a fair trial and “hang her.” Andy tries to help Opie deal with the loss by talking about how it was when Opie’s ‘ma’ died. Opie looks to Andy and says, “Who stepped on Ma?” That was the only time Andy’s first wife was mentioned. Besides the pilot, she is also mentioned in “Wedding Bells for Aunt Bee.” Opie asks Andy, “Did you and Ma have that kind of love?” Andy replies, “Yes, son, we did.” - Added by Paul Mulik([paulmulik@getonthe.net](mailto:paulmulik@getonthe.net)) > > Q. What was the origin of the name Opie? Was it short for something? > A. Jim Clark once told me that Opie Taylor was most likely named for Opie Cates, a prominent bandleader of the '40s or ‘50s whom Andy Griffith and Sheldon Leonard both admired. I have never figured out if Mr. Cates’ name was short for something else, or if it was really “O.P.” Opie Taylor did spell his name O-P-I-E. It can be seen on the love note he wrote to Miss Crump in “Opie Loves Helen”, and on the board he burned his name into in “Barney’s Sidecar.” --Paul Mulik([paulmulik@getonthe.net](mailto:paulmulik@getonthe.net)) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/13 "2004-08-14T06:13:49Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > …pinched, hectoring, scold. I’m gonna have to look up “hectoring”, but I’m pretty sure I have a new phrase to toss off around the old homestead! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/14 "2004-08-14T15:06:19Z")
Howard Sprague- TV’s first metrosexual! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/15 "2004-08-14T15:47:34Z")
> [@](#): > > Barney was too incompetant to be allowed to carry a gun - he probably couldn’t breathe without some help from Andy. Oh, great. Now I have this image of Andy and Barny standing in each others arms in the sheriff’s station, while Andy gives Barney “mouth to mouth”. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/16 "2004-08-14T16:39:53Z")
Howard Sprague – gay? Wow, I would have guessed Floyd… ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/17 "2004-08-15T03:07:45Z")
**Shoeless** - I can see Flyod as gay, but Howard is much more likely. I think **FriarTed’s** designation as TV’s first metrosexual is right on. StG ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/18 "2004-08-15T05:56:52Z")
Now that I think of it, Gomer and Goober didn’t go out with women much and spent a lot of time in that garage didn’t they? Has anyone noticed in the early shows, the ones made when Opie is very small, that Andy is rather buffoonish, but after the first season he is the straight man to Barney and the others. Part of it is because when he was introduced on the “Danny Thomas Show” he was playing a rather thickheaded hick sherrif. Later on he became the wise voice of reason on the show. Also there is a later episode (in color, without Barney Fife) in which Jack Nicholson appears as a defendant in a trial. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/19 "2004-08-15T13:02:55Z")
> [@syncrolecyne](#): > > Now that I think of it, Gomer and Goober didn’t go out with women much and spent a lot of time in that garage didn’t they? In regards to thier characters, I would think this most likely had everything to do with any available women’s decision and nothing to do with their sexual orientation. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/20 "2004-08-15T15:58:34Z")
> [@ussentinel](#): > > Barney eventually moved to Charlotte. Umm, Raleigh. Even Barney was smart enough to move there, instead of “that other place”. Which is one reason TV Land’s [Andy Griffith Show Statue](http://ranger.befunk.com/gallery/pullen/aah) is located in Raleigh’s Pullen Park. (Although Mount Airy, the prototype for Mayberry, might have been a more fitting location). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766.md?page=2)