# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/41 "2011-08-10T03:58:28Z")
Trivia: Andy and Helen not only married but had a baby, Andy, Jr.- he was never seen but he was mentioned on an episode of _Mayberry RFD_. What bothered me most about the candlestick phone was that in the movie _Return to Mayberry_- made and set in 1986 ([opening](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgCWL7VlPas))- they _still had it_! I grew up in an area that made Mayberry look like Charlotte and even we had push button phones and were off party lines and operator assistance long before 1986. In that movie Otis had kicked the hooch but Howard was still, not surprisingly, single. (Howard Sprague had two afterlife appearances: he (the character and the actor) was on an episode of _It’s Garry Shandling’s Show_ and sorta kinda an episode of _St. Elsewhere_; in the latter, a hospital exec played by Jack Dodson in a recurring role has surgery and while delirious begins talking about Opie and Floyd and haircuts.) Ron Howard did a great “Opie’s Back” sketch on SNL back in the '80s, though I can’t google it up. Among other things it addressed long before Funny or Die [why come there ain’t no black people in Mayberry](http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/4670044835/why-come-there-aint-no-black-people-in-mayberry-from-sebastianfilms). ---
**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 10, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/42 "2011-08-10T04:16:42Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > and Maggie Walker, who played the daughter, later played the girlfriend of Eb on Green Acres. [Maggie Peterson](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=%22maggie+peterson%22+%22charlene+darling%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=) (Mancuso). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/43 "2011-08-10T05:46:12Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Ron Howard did a great “Opie’s Back” sketch on SNL back in the '80s, though I can’t google it up. Among other things it addressed long before Funny or Die [why come there ain’t no black people in Mayberry](http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/4670044835/why-come-there-aint-no-black-people-in-mayberry-from-sebastianfilms). Actually there was a black family in Mayberry, the Bartons. But they weren’t in _The Andy Griffith Show_; they were in the spin-off _Mayberry RFD_ which was set in the town of Mayberry after Sheriff Andy Taylor moved to Raleigh. Which is sort of sinister - it appears the reason there hadn’t been any black people living in Mayberry before was because Sheriff Andy was preventing it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/44 "2011-08-10T05:54:29Z")
Of course the real reason is because Mayberry was based on Griffith’s hometown Mount Airy, North Carolina. And Mount Airy is a town up in the Appalachians and it really didn’t have a black population. As for the colorful characters that live in Mayberry, you can consider who Mount Airy’s other famous residents were besides Griffith: [Chang and Eng Bunker](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang_and_Eng_Bunker). ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/45 "2011-08-10T08:01:38Z")
Here’s a website showing blacks in Mayberry. As you can see, beyond the Bartons, there were some black extras in crowd shots and backgrounds: [http://www.bookguy.com/Mayberry/BlacksInMayberry.htm](http://www.bookguy.com/Mayberry/BlacksInMayberry.htm) > [@Dr. Rieux](#): > > Why is the Sheriff’s office in Mayberry instead of the county seat (IIRC, Mount Pilot)? The county is called Mayberry County, which suggests that the county seat may be Mayberry, even though Mount Pilot has the bigger population and is more developed. > [@kunilou](#): > > Whatever Andy’s actual title, it was made clear in the early episodes that he and the mayor didn’t get along too well. Obviously, the mayor couldn’t fire Andy, so I guess he had to have some sort of elected position. The position was elected. There was an episode (Episode 148: Barney Runs for Sheriff), where Barney runs against Andy for the position. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/46 "2011-08-10T15:36:11Z")
I liked Barney Fife, but it’s too frustrating watching him be inept. Same sort of thing with Gilligan’s Island, but that is more tolerable. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/47 "2011-08-10T16:13:14Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > I think the only recurring character in Black and White Mayberry that was married was Otis. Andy, Helen, Ellie, Floyd, Barney, Thelma Lou, Aunt Bee, Clara, Gomer, Goober, Ernest T. Bass, Briscoe Darling, (ok Charlene got married). Naturally, this appeared to me as a challenge. Mayor Stoner was definitely married - Andy had to give up his favorite fishing pole to get this beautiful blue housecoat Aunt Bee wanted and which Mayor Stoner had bought for his wife. You make an excellent point, though. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/48 "2011-08-10T16:33:54Z")
Thelma Lou or Helen? ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/49 "2011-08-10T16:56:19Z")
> [@PolycarpeRose](#): > > Thelma Lou or Helen? Bah! Who cares? The **real** question is [Skippy or Daphne](http://mayberry.wikia.com/wiki/The_Fun_Girls_(character))? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/50 "2011-08-10T18:23:38Z")
> [@Bri2k](#): > > I always assumed Andy was the town sheriff. It’s quite common in the U.S. for many towns to have their own sheriff or marshall which is disticnt from a county sheriff. I can’t find any reference to a “town sheriff” anywhere in the United States. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/51 "2011-08-10T18:25:03Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > The county I grew up in ([Yell County, Arkansas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yell_County,_Arkansas)), has two county seats, Dardanelle and Danville. I’m sure there are others. So far as I can tell, this is unique to Yell County, Arkansas. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/52 "2011-08-10T18:57:47Z")
No way, man…according to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_seat) . ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/53 "2011-08-10T19:07:13Z")
Okay, 1 percent of U.S. counties have two county seats, and a third of those are in Arkansas and another third are in Mississippi. I still don’t see any that have two sheriffs. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/54 "2011-08-10T19:13:47Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > So far as I can tell, this is unique to Yell County, Arkansas. A lot of counties that don’t have two seats have courthouse annexes in other cities. Example: Baldwin County is a huge coastal county in Alabama with its seat in a town called Bay Minette. When the county was founded Bay Minette was it’s largest city; now it has a population of around 8,000 while tourism and retirees have exploded the populations of the beach areas (which had year round residents of a few hundred in the early 20th century but now have year rounds in the tens of thousands and seasonals in the hundreds of thousands) while the community of Fairhope has become very prosperous and the spillover from Mobile/Mobile County has created numerous suburbs, some of which are a 50 mile drive from Bay Minette, but at the same time Bay Minette did not want to relinquish the benefits of being the county seat. Instead, they built smaller courthouses in two other cities. They are satellites but they do everything the main courthouse does: titles, taxes, even court. Also they’re rarely called “courthouse annex” by residents but just “the courthouse”. I’ve known other counties that do likewise, and it’s usually when the county seat is a long way away from some of the outlying cities. Not sure when it started (my guess would be it dates back to at least when the railroads totally changed access to cities), but could be that Mayberry’s a satellite to Mt. Pilot. Off topic, but isn’t Yell County where Mattie’s from in _True Grit_? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/55 "2011-08-10T19:15:37Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > but could be that Mayberry’s a satellite to Mt. Pilot. Again, that wouldn’t explain why Andy’s a full sheriff instead of just a high-ranking sheriff’s deputy. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/56 "2011-08-10T19:21:05Z")
It’s pretty clear to me that Mayberry is a fictional _substitute_ for Mount Airy and is the county seat of its own county and it doesn’t really make any sense to try to fit it into the actual geography of North Carolina. I just noticed that there’s a town near the real Mount Airy called “Pilot Mountain.” There’s our Mount Pilot. Only in real life, Pilot Mountain is much smaller than Mount Airy; whereas, in the show, Mount Pilot seems to be bigger than Mayberry. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/57 "2011-08-10T19:21:39Z")
> [@PolycarpeRose](#): > > Thelma Lou or Helen? Helen, because she helped Steven in _The Blob_. . ---
**Author:** ![Mewl\_Dear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mewl\_Dear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mewl_Dear)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/58 "2011-08-10T20:09:51Z")
> [@whitetho](#): > > Maybe they can place this one atop amother statue, to save space. Hilarious typo from the last 2004 post. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/59 "2011-08-10T21:58:27Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I can’t find any reference to a “town sheriff” anywhere in the United States. Andy’s powers and duties fit nicely with those of a constable or town marshal. “Marshal” sounds too western-y and the folks of Mayberry wouldn’t be comfortable with a high-falutin’ title like “constable.” So “sheriff” it is. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766/60 "2011-08-10T22:18:35Z")
I’d ask again, do we know that Mount Pilot and not Mayberry is the county seat? Or are people assuming it is because it’s the larger town? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-questions/259766.md?page=4)