Mayberry Days: The Andy Griffith show

For those of us of a certain age, there are so many great memories in “The Andy Griffith Show”: The calm sheriff. His skittish deputy. His young son. The goofy filling station attendant and his goofier brother. That great whistled theme song.

“The Andy Griffith Show” debuted on CBS on Oct. 3, 1960 — 65 years ago Friday.

A Master of Rural-Flavored Humor

Andy Griffith, a native of Mount Airy, North Carolina, graduated in 1949 with a degree in music from the University of North Carolina. He launched a career as a comedian with a 1953 hit recording called “What It Was, Was Football.”

Griffith’s next big breakthrough was with another country bumpkin role in “No Time For Sergeants” on TV and on Broadway in 1955. The latter earned him a Tony Award nomination. In 1958, he reprised his role and also worked with Don Knotts for the first time.

Griffith played his first dramatic role in the critically acclaimed “A Face in the Crowd” but found the work draining. He swore he’d never put himself through that again and went out of his way to seek comedic roles.

Griffith formed a partnership with show biz veteran Sheldon Leonard, who had been a regular on Jack Benny’s radio and TV shows and who was a producer of “The Danny Thomas Show.” Leonard would go on to produce “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “I Spy.”Leonard created a “back-door pilot” for Griffith on “The Danny Thomas Show,” in which Thomas is stopped for a traffic violation in a small town in the South. The officer who stops him is also the Justice of the Peace ... and the mayor ... and the editor of the town’s newspaper.

Griffith’s performance helped sell what became “The Andy Griffith Show” to CBS. Griffith and Leonard hired Knotts to play the overly nervous deputy who carries only one bullet for his gun — in his pocket.

Six-year-old Ron Howard was hired to play Griffith’s son, Opie. Howard would go on to star in the 1970s sitcom “Happy Days” and would become a noted film director.

Griffith began “The Andy Griffith Show” in his slightly goofy, country bumpkin persona. But before long, he realized it was Knotts who was getting the bigger laughs. “My God,” Griffith said. “I just realized that I'm the straight man.”

Griffith toned down his performance to become the voice of calm and reason among the citizens of Mayberry, North Carolina. He never won an Emmy for his work, but Knotts would win five and Frances Bavier — who played the sheriff’s Aunt Bee — won one.

Griffith decided after eight seasons to move on to other projects. Eager to keep his series alive, CBS was careful to have Griffith’s goodbyes overlap with the introduction of Ken Berry as the star of “Mayberry R.F.D.”

Small-Town Life in north Carolina... Filmed In Hollywood

The show was filmed at Desilu Studios in Hollywood with exteriors filmed on the old RKO Studio lot in Culver City. Andy’s house was next to Aunt Pittypat’s house from “Gone With the Wind.” Nearby were the quonset huts used on “Hogan’s Heroes.” The fishing hole seen in the opening credits was shot in Franklin Canyon Park at Beverly Hills.

Originally, Opie was meant to be a typical sitcom kid who makes fun of his dad. Ron Howard’s father pointed out the value in a TV son who looks up to his father. In a number of early episodes, Opie looks off-camera as he’s speaking. Howard couldn’t read when the series began, so his parents fed him his lines from off-camera.

Griffith and Knotts signed on for five seasons on CBS. Knotts had made a big name for himself on the show, so he had no trouble pulling down a multi-picture deal with Universal. Griffith, meanwhile, decided to extend the show for another three seasons. Knotts was obligated to honor his contract, but he returned for five more guest appearances.

Jerry Van Dyke was considered as a replacement for Knotts. Van Dyke appears — wearing a deputy’s uniform — in one episode of Season 5. But he was also offered the lead role in the sitcom “My Mother the Car.” Ultimately, Van Dyke took that offer but later complained he had made a big mistake by not joining “The Andy Griffith Show.”

Elinor Donahue played Andy’s girlfriend but left after Season 1. In a Season 3 episode, Opie complains about a new teacher, “Old Lady Crump.” Andy investigates and discovers Helen Crump — played by Anita Corsaut — was not so old. Her role was expanded to become Andy’s girlfriend and — in the first episode of “Mayberry R.F.D.” in 1968 — Andy’s wife.

When the series began, the map hanging on the wall behind Andy’s desk showed the border between California and Nevada. Then it was swapped out for a map of western Montana. In episode 16 of Season 1, it was changed to a map of Idaho — but, for reasons no one quite understood, was hung upside-down. At some point, it changed to a city map of Cincinnati.

Previously, Howard McNear — who played Floyd the Barber — had played Doc Adams on the radio version of “Gunsmoke.” In 1963, McNear suffered a stroke that left most of the left side of his body paralyzed. He returned to the show a year and a half later, but was usually shown leaning on a counter or sitting on a bench outside his barber shop.

In a Season 4 episode, Opie accidentally kills a mother bird with his new slingshot. He’s heartbroken when he can hear baby birds calling for their mother. He begins feeding them and Andy moves them into a cage. After Opie releases the birds to fly away, he sadly notes that the cage looks awfully empty. Andy replies: “But don’t the trees seem nice and full?”