Andy Griffith Show Memories : Episode #11 - Christmas Story

Christmas Story

Overview

A modern-day Scrooge, store owner Ben Weaver, tries to cause trouble on Christmas Eve.

Episode Number: 11 Season Number: 1

First Aired: December 19, 1960

Writer: David Adler

Director: Bob Sweeney

Cast/Crew/Guest Stars

• Andy Griffith (Andy Taylor)
• Ron Howard (Opie Taylor)
• Frances Bavier (Aunt Bee Taylor)
• Don Knotts (Barney Fife)
• Elinor Donahue (Ellie Walker)
• Sam Edwards (Jim Muggins)
• Joy Ellison (Ethie Muggins)
• Margaret Kerry (Bess Muggins)
• Kelly Flynn (Billy Muggins)
• Will Wright (Ben Weaver)

Episode Summary

On Christmas Eve, department store owner Ben Weaver insists Andy jail moonshiner Jim Muggins. Reluctantly, Andy complies with Weaver's request. But in order to keep the family together for Christmas, he also incarcerates Jim's wife and his two young children since they all had knowledge of Jim's moonshining. With the Muggins family in jail, Andy, Barney, Aunt Bee, Opie, and Ellie prepare a Christmas feast with all the trimmings and bring in a Christmas tree to decorate. Looking in through the window, Ben Weaver is touched with the Christmas spirit and tries to get himself arrested in order to join the celebration. Andy only arrests Ben, however, after he dumps a garbage can in the alley. Together, the men appear at the door of the jail with a suitcase full of wrapped gifts from Ben's store. Ben is welcomed and regaled with food and drink. Weaver falls asleep in one of the jail cells after finishing the jug of Jim's moonshine.

Notes/Trivia

• This show is notable being the only Christmas episode in The Andy Griffith Show complete series.
• Featured is actress Margaret Kerry, the model for Tinkerbell in Walt Disney's 1953 animated feature film, Peter Pan.
• This is the first appearance of shrewd and Scrooge-like businessman Ben Weaver.
• Barney's portrayal of an underfed Santa is memorable.
• Barney gets a Christmas card from Hilda May, an early girlfriend before he and Thelma Lou became more of a steady couple. Andy gives him a hard time because Hilda May calls him "barney Parney Poo."
• Barney and Andy have to search for a bad Christmas bulb because this was back in the days when one light knocked out all the others.
• The Christmas song "Away In The Manger" was sung.
• 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.

More From Mayberry

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Also see:

Episode #1 - The New Housekeeper

Episode #2 - The Manhunt

Episode #3 - The Guitar Player

Episode #4 - Ellie Comes to Town

Episode #5 - Irresistible Andy

Episode #6 - Runaway Kid

Episode #7 - Andy the Matchmaker

Episode #8 - Opie's Charity

Episode #9 - A Feud is a Feud

Episode #10 - Ellie for Council