Andy changed a bit. In the beginning Andy, while basically honest, was not above doing something like bending the rules till the almost broke, if it was for a good cause.
Now this is not to say Andy was dishonest, but he had “devilish moments,” he didn’t have later on. Andy also had the stereotypical male prejudices, like “a woman pharmacist,” like that was horrible. By the time the series ended, Andy was straight up, alway do the right thing, never bend the rules, totally reasonable, too good to be true.
I think this is one reason why people prefer the B&W episodes (OK along with Don Knotts), because Andy had faults. They weren’t huge but he was more human
I had forgotten about the black football player. That was cool. But it was so lame that Opie thought playing the piano was “prissy”. Afterall, he payed his friend to do his practicing for him (or they traded something)–and the friend fooled Aunt Bea, at least for awhile. Didn’t the football player do some riff on Rosie Greer and knitting?
Actually, Opie didn’t think playing piano was prissy, he wanted the lessons very much. It’s just that his piano practicing time conflicted with his football practicing time and he was forced to make a choice. At least until the former NFL player demonstrated that it was possible to be proficient at more than one thing, making everyone realize that the piano practice could easily be scheduled at a different time.
Just as a note, there aren’t many black people in western North Carolina. Mount Airy, the city that Andy Griffith was born in and the place he based Mayberry on, is 85% white, and Surry County as a whole is 94% white.
That was Gail Davis, who had a television show in the 1950’s called Annie Oakley.
In real life Gail Davis, grew up with guns, she did a lot of shooting for recreation and sport, and Gail Davis actually really was a crack shot, and in real life, Gail Davis could easily outshoot Andy Griffith.
In other words, Gail Davis was not “acting” in that episode on the Andy Griffith show.
I just watched that one last night. That was a great episode.
Barney: Men, we have two rules here at the rock. Rule one is that you must obey all rules. Rule two is, no writing on the walls. When you write on walls, it is hard to clean off.
Great stuff
The two I’ve seen with Ernest T. Bass drive me crazy this way as well. I know that old Ang’ just wants to keep the peace, but how many windows can a man throw a rock through and how many times can he hold Barney, Andy, and others at gunpoint before he gets some real jail time?
Still, it strikes me as funny that the two talents they decided to give the black guy were music and athletics. Maybe they could have made him a barbecue master as well.
