The History of Andy Taylor (Before the Show)

A few hints were given here and there about the life the character of Andy Taylor led before the show started. Let's see if we can't sift through a few (although "history" never really meant much on the show as it was constantly changing).

In the first episode it is mentioned that Aunt Bee raised Andy (and being that Aunt Bee's last name is Taylor, one would think that she must be Andy's father's sister). Andy also spoke of his father a few times, mentioning that he would strike matches on the bottom of his daddy's shoe and how his father taken the title of "Keeper of the Flame" from him and made him the keeper of the flash light instead.

I believe that Andy's wife (Opie's mother) was mentioned once when discussing "that deep down kinda love" that they had for each other. I guess a lot of the fun of the show is in using your own imagination and filling in the blanks as you thought it might have been.

Why Was Andy's Hand Seriously Bandaged in Two Episodes?

The regular Andy Griffith Show watcher will remember that in two episodes of the show (#55 Aunt Bee, The Warden and #56 The County Nurse) that Andy had his hand bandaged up. The reason Andy Taylor's had was bandaged because of a hard time arresting "the Gordon Boys", now on the other hand Andy Griffith had his hand bandaged up because in a fit of rage, he punched a wall at home (not sure what made him mad though).

Being a police officer, it was easy for the writers to come up with an excuse for this, but one has to wonder, what could have made him mad enough to punch a wall?

The Andy Griffith-Don Knotts-Jim Nabors Show

In doing research for some posts for this page, I ran across a bit of information that I actually didn't know (there's not much I don't know about this show). Did you know that CBS ran a variety show (that only aired one time) in order to show off the many talents of their top 3 stars, Andy Griffith and Don Knotts from The Andy Griffith Show and Jim Nabors from Gomer Pyle USMC?

It was of course titled: The Andy Griffith, Don Knotts, and Jim Nabors Show. Below is a video of the beginning of that Variety Special, enjoy!

The Mayberry Squad Car

The Mayberry squad car was a Ford Galaxy. The cars were supplied free of charge by a local Ford dealership and whenever the newest model would come out it would be shipped to the studio and the old one would be shipped back to the dealership to be repainted and sold ( is it just me or don't you think they could have gotten more money for it, if they would have sold it as the "Mayberry squad car"?).

All together there were about 10 different Ford Galaxies used during the run of the show.

The Christmas Episode

The Andy Griffith Show only did one Christmas show in it's entire run. This is also one of the few episodes where you see the characters wearing coats, hats and gloves (seems it was always warm in Mayberry).It's also the show when we first meet that mean old man with a heart of gold, Ben Weaver.

To be honest, this wasn't one of my favorite episodes, but listening to Ellie and Andy sing "Away in a Manger" together was very easy on the ears, great harmony. Although it's not one of my favorites, it also doesn't quite feel like Christmas until I get to see this episode.

Hope everyone had a Merry and Blessed Christmas, more to come friends.

Return To Mayberry

The cast of the show reunited for a made for tv movie in 1986, entitled, Return To Mayberry. A few facts about this reunion that you might not know are; although the series and both spin-offs aired on CBS, Return To Mayberry aired on NBC. It was a HUGE ratings hit and cemented the reunion as one of the top ten tv movies of all time. To be honest, I wasn't a big fan of the movie itself, but have watched it several times because I enjoyed seeing the cast all together again.

One cast member that wasn't seen in the movie was Francis Bavier, who originally played Aunt Bee in the series. She was sick at the time and home bound. She considered doing the audio during the scene in which Andy visited the grave site of Aunt Bee, but decided against it. Another actress provided the voice of Aunt Bee (it's a shame that she couldn't take part in this historic movie).

(Ken Berry was set to reprise his role as Sam Jones, but at the time the movie was starting to be filmed, "Mama's Family" was filming as well.)

Did you know? (Floyd the Barber)

Howard McNear who played Floyd the barber suffered a severe stroke and had trouble standing. So in his final season with the show, he was always shown sitting or leaning against something? In my humble opinion Howard McNear was one of the top actors on the show, and didn't miss a beat even after his stroke.

Have You Noticed The Same Names Keep Popping Up?

If you are a fan of "The Andy Griffith Show" , you will recognize these name; Beasley and Frank Myers. There were many Beasley's on the show, such as Charlie Beasley, Lorrainne Beasley (one of the "candidates" in the episode "A Wife For Andy"), Andrew Beasley (Who used to date Emma Lars), Juanita Beasley (Barney's other girl from the diner), and Virginia Beasley who married Earlie Gilley. 

Even Goober and Floyd started out as Beasleys! That was all changed later for Goober, and when Howard McNear took over the role of Floyd, he became Floyd Lawson (we'll get into Floyds family another time, and that will make an interesting read, I promise). The reason that the name was used on the show is because of an "inside" joke on Andy Griffith's real-life cousin; Lorraine Beasley.

Just as the name "Beasley" was used as an inside joke, so was the name of Frank Myers (The old man that Andy was forced to evict from his home for not paying back taxes.) The real Frank Myers was the production manager of the show.

I really love how they had all of these inside jokes, makes the television show even more homey. More to come friends, stay tuned!

Did you know?

After Mayberry RFD was canceled, Andy Griffith decided to return to network television. In 1971 he played the mayor of a small southern town in the short lived comedy, The New Andy Griffith Show

Did You Know?

When the concept of the Andy Griffith Show was created by Sheldon Leonard and Make Room for Daddy star Danny Thomas,  Andy agreed to star in the show and ended up with a half-ownership. Andy had not been pursuing TV up to that point, but focusing on film roles in the wake of A Face in the Crowd, No Time For Sergeants and  Onionhead.

Welcome Andy Griffith Show Fans!

I have wanted to create this page for a very long time now, as I have been a huge fan of The Andy Griffith Show for many, many years. I really hope that this page grows with many followers and that we can have the fun of chatting about the show and learning things that we did not know from one another. I have a Facebook page that you can join, just add "The Andy Griffith Show Facts and Trivia" on Facebook and when I post something here, well, then you will be notified there. Easy right?

I can't tell you how excited I am to be starting this page and I hope you will enjoy it as well. There will be trivia questions, facts about the show that you might not have known, videos and so much more. So what do you say? Want to get started? Below is the opening scene of the pilot episode, enjoy!