The Andy Griffith Show --- Its Phones and Show Discussion

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Season 3, Episode 3, titled "Floyd, the Gay Deceiver" saw Floyd in a predicament. He was writing letters to a woman, his pen pal, and she was going to show up in Mayberry to visit him. Problem was, Floyd portrayed himself as having money and a big house. Andy secured a home whose owners were out of town, Aunt Bea played the maid, Andy played his son and the woman in her large white car showed up. I'm not going to give anymore away but it did show that Floyd was interested in women and the character he played was made up just as Don Knotts made up Barney Fife. Both Floyd and Barney were so good in playing their over the top characters that Andy would crack up and cover his mouth to keep from laughing at their antics. That was not fake laughter on Andy's part, he really enjoyed the characters created and played by those two guys. The word gay in the 60s had only one meaning and it was not that - could have been "Floyd, the lighthearted and carefree liar"

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Season 3, Episode 3, titled "Floyd, the Gay Deceiver" saw Floyd in a predicament. He was writing letters to a woman, his pen pal, and she was going to show up in Mayberry to visit him. Problem was, Floyd portrayed himself as having money and a big house. Andy secured a home whose owners were out of town, Aunt Bea played the maid, Andy played his son and the woman in her large white car showed up. I'm not going to give anymore away but it did show that Floyd was interested in women and the character he played was made up just as Don Knotts made up Barney Fife. Both Floyd and Barney were so good in playing their over the top characters that Andy would crack up and cover his mouth to keep from laughing at their antics. That was not fake laughter on Andy's part, he really enjoyed the characters created and played by those two guys. The word gay in the 60s had only one meaning and it was not that - could have been "Floyd, the lighthearted and carefree liar"

Believe it or not, I watched that very episode today, and the only one I saw today at that!

Floyd was one of my favorites from the show! Anybody notice how his character got more ditsy as time went on?

[Greg G.]

Here's an interesting photo of a non-phone related subject on The Andy Griffith Show.

This is the Mayberry set from a bird's eye view. You can see the Courthouse, Church, the Hotel, Barbershop, etc, but you can obviously see that they're all facades! The church is nothing more than an empty hull backed with a few two by fours, as well as every other building in town! There was also a busy highway right next to the set, so the unnecessary traffic sounds you occasionally hear in an outside scene of the show aren't always just added in sounds, that was real traffic a couple hundred feet from the set!

This site has a lot of interesting pictures from behind-the-scenes on TAGS and pictures of Desilu 40 acres, where 'Mayberry' was built, as well as many other older shows!

http://www.retroweb.com

I went to retroweb.com where I found a link to the new book "Andy & Don", I just pre-ordered it from Amazon! 

http://www.metv.com/stories/andy-and-don-andy-griffith-show-book-excerpt

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Somethings new. A very good close up of the manual black 500 in Andy's living room. Somewhat of a ratty phone, it seems.

And, Barney is seen talking on a two piece in the Hotel Lobby, a phone that has a dial blank. It appears to not be the same phone seen in Andy's kitchen.

From Season 5, Episode 22 ("If I had a quarter million . . . ") at 18:30 and 18:50 respectively. Makes sense, Barney was calling Andy.

Thought we had all the phones covered but then the hotel phone appears.

[HarrySmith]

Are we sure it is a 500? The outer ring kinda looks like a 5302 dial ring with the numbers & letters buffed out and a dial blank added to the center.

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Are we sure it is a 500? The outer ring kinda looks like a 5302 dial ring with the numbers & letters buffed out and a dial blank added to the center.

Well, first of all, the 5302 has a stouter appearance from the front; a taller front cowl that is lower and more streamlined on the 500, which this doesn't seem to have. 2nd, film crews usually either sprayed glossy props with a flat clear lacquer, or lightly dusted them with talcum powder so the stage lights didn't reflect off them as much. This was probably unevenly coated in some kind of powder.

[wds]

It's funny you mentioned the dull finish on the phones.  I was watching a black & white movie just yesterday, and couldn't help but fixate on the phones.  I thought they were 500's, but they didn't look right.  They had a dull appearance to them that I hadn't seen before.  A little later in the movie I could tell they were 500's, but that dull finish just wasn't right.  Everything else in the picture seemed normal - seems odd they would go to all the trouble of dulling the finish on a prop as small as the phone. 

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That living room phone is for sale right now on eBay in a 5 day auction with one bid at $22 plus shipping.   

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Western-Electric-Bell-System-Telephone-Black-No-Dial-F-1-Original-Cords-/111835464186

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. . .2nd, film crews usually either sprayed glossy props with a flat clear lacquer, or lightly dusted them with talcum powder so the stage lights didn't reflect off them as much. This was probably unevenly coated in some kind of powder.

Lacquer may have been used but it was permanent. What we use on stage in live theater is hairspray, on anything reflecting stage lights into the audience. Metals or anything with a shiny surface and that includes mirror, especially hang held. The hairspray is easily removed should the prop be "borrowed" or needed to be returned to original condition. But, in the end, yes, they could have used anything to dull a surface.

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Was watching Season 1, Episode 20 and about 18 minutes into the show, I spotted this great view of the upside down Idaho map hanging on the wall in the Sheriff's office. The left shot is a screen capture, the center is the screen capture rotated 180 degrees and the right is a map of Idaho from another source. In other episodes, this map can be seen against the back wall next to the filing cabinets, unless they have two such maps in the office.

From the look on Barney's face, it may be that he just spotted the prop map . . .

[Babybearjs]

An upsidedown map of Idaho..... I'll have to watch closer next time.... never knew....