Starring: Ron Howard, Don Knotts, Andy Griffith, Frances Bavier
Three Wishes for Opie - S5-E14
Revealing mistake: Barney, convinced he can foretell the future, is in the darkened jailhouse, seated between Goober and Floyd at a table. Goober strikes a match and lights a lamp which is directly in front of Barney. The immediate illumination obviously comes from a studio light because the men's shadows on the wall are to the far left of the men, instead of directly behind them.
The Taylors in Hollywood - S6-E8
Revealing mistake: While Andy, Aunt Bee, and Opie are at the Hollywood studio watching a scene being filmed, when Andy mistakenly stands up and interrupts the filming we can see the wall and shelves behind the director, and it should look familiar because it's the wall and shelves from Floyd's shop in Mayberry.
Opie's Group - S8-E9
Andy: Clara, sometimes a parent can't see what he should do, and sometimes it takes a person from the outside to show him. And I'd like to thank you.
Clara: Groovy.
My Fair Ernest T. Bass - S4-E17
Trivia: At different points during this episode both Barney and Andy make the exact same comment, "If you wrote this into a play nobody'd believe it." This episode is based on My Fair Lady, which in turn is based on Pygmalion.
Question: Beginning with the "Convicts at Large" episode in season 3, full width window boxes appear at the bottom of both front windows on the inside of the Sheriff's Office. Prior to this episode, they did not exist. Window boxes are often used to display decorative plants but I don't see any plants. And if they were supposed to partially block the background, the blinds were long enough to accomplish that. I find it hard to believe that the producers would spend additional money (for material and labor) for something that seems to serve no purpose. So why were they added?
Answer: As noted in the previous answers, in real life, things like this provided wind and/or rain deflection, and also maintained a bit of privacy when blinds were raised somewhat. The interior courthouse set was located in the studio, so the "outside" Main Street didn't exist. I believe these things were added to the courthouse windows for practicality, to avoid some crew movement being visible on the opposite side of those windows. These are not "window boxes" to hold anything, as they're actually bottomless; we can see the Venetian blind's long pull cords under them. They're made of plywood and simple to build, so the "material and labor" was inexpensive. Similar variations made of different materials are in other movies/shows. In 1957's "12 Angry Men," textured chicken wire glass panels are in the jury room windows, and in "Jesse Stone: Night Passage" another type is in Jesse's office windows.
Answer: I suspect these were common, as to block the wind from blowing the blinds and papers on the desk.
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Answer: Those "boxes" are valences that used to be very common, before air conditioning. They allow for windows to be open during rain storms. They permit air circulation, without letting the rain in.