Andy Griffith Show Memories : Episode #1 - The New Housekeeper

The New Housekeeper

Overview

Andy's housekeeper and Opie's surrogate mother, Rose, gets married and moves away. Andy recruits his Aunt Bee to take her place. This sequence of events does not set well with Opie, who immediately rejects Aunt Bee.

Episode Number: 1 Season Number: 1

First Aired: October 3, 1960

Writers: Jack Elinson, Charles Stewart

Director: Sheldon Leonard

Cast/Crew/Guest Stars

• Andy Griffith (Andy Taylor)
• Ron Howard (Opie Taylor)
• Frances Bavier (Aunt Bee Taylor)
• Don Knotts (Barney Fife)
• Cheerio Meredith (Emma Brand)
• Frank Ferguson (Wilbur Pines)
• Mary Treen (Rose)

Episode Summary

The episode commences with Andy acting not as Sheriff, but as Justice of Peace. He is performing the marriage ceremony for Rose, his housekeeper. Despite some rather creative protests from Opie, the two are married and Rose is off to her new life. Andy then asks his Aunt Bee, who apparently raised him, to come and take Rose's place. Opie misses Rose and does not like this idea at all. Andy makes several efforts to warm Opie up to Aunt Bee, but Opie is unimpressed. He is convinced that Aunt Bee could never raise him because she lacks the essential skills of any housekeeper - abilities such as playing baseball, hunting frogs, or fishing. When Aunt Bee finally gives up and decides it would be better to move on, Opie overhears and has a sudden change of heart. He figures that Aunt Bee must stay so that he can teach her the essentials of life because she needs him.

Notes/Trivia

• This is the first appearance of Don Knotts in the series. Andy Griffith, Ron Howard, and Francis Bavier all appeared in the pilot episode on "The Danny Thomas Show," although Francis Bavier played a widower and not Aunt Bee.
• This is also the first of 3 times that the relationship between Barney and Andy is alluded to - Barney calls Andy "Cousin Andy."
• Opie mentions his dog, Gulliver. As a boy, Ron Howard had a dog named Gulliver.
• About 15 minutes into this episode, when Andy is up in Opie's room for the second time, the shadow of a boom microphone comes into view on the wall near the upper right corner of the picture. After a couple of seconds, it moves up out of view. Then, as Andy lays across the bed to talk with his son, the shadow reappears. It follows him and settles mostly out of the picture on the right. When Andy gets up from the bed, the whole shadow appears again from the right and follows him for several seconds. The shadow travels left across the wall, is lost in the shadow of the open doorway, then reappears and crosses the top edge of the open door. It then reverses and drops down to settle on the right side of the door at the edge of the picture.
• Opie's bird, Dickie, returned at the end of the episode. In a commercial written for sponsor Sanka Coffee, Andy tells Opie that he thinks the bird came back for some biscuits and gravy and some good Sanka coffee.The series was filmed entirely in Hollywood, at Desilu Productions on the former RKO Pictures lot. Mayberry exteriors were shot on the former Selznick International Pictures lot, later known as Forty Acres. The rural fishing hole that opened each episode was Franklin Canyon Lake, just north of Beverly Hills. Franklin Canyon was also the site of the show's Myers Lake and other outdoor locales.
• The whistled theme song, "The Fishin' Hole" was composed by Earle Hagen (the music coordinator and famous whistler of the show) and Herbert Spencer, with unsung lyrics by Everett Sloane. Hagen also wrote the music for the series.

Memorable Quote: (Opie, explaining to Andy why he changed his mind and wants Aunt Bee to stay) - "If she goes, what'll happen to her? She can't do anything...play ball, catch fish or frogs. She'll be helpless! That's why she's gotta stay, so I can teach them to her!"