The Andy Griffith Show

Barney Fife, Realtor - S5-E16

Character mistake: Barney claims he would be losing $3478 on the real estate deal not going through. Considering the houses only were selling for that amount or less there is no way he was making that amount of money on 5% commission.

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Suggested correction: I have no idea where you got the idea the houses were being sold for less than $4K. In the beginning Barney says Andy could get $24,000 for his house and $27,500 for the Williams' house (which is also how he got the figure that Andy can get into the Williams' house for $3,500, that's not the price of the house). Those 2 houses alone are $51,500 and 5% would be $2575, and he was losing out on 2 more houses.

Bishop73

That has bothered me forever! I thought the house Andy was thinking of buying was 3500 not 35000! Now the amount of commission makes sense although 35000 is LOT for a house in North Carolina in the early 60's! Thank you for clearing that up.

Just watched that episode and yes, you are correct on the math. But my problem is, new houses in this era were around $8000 - $8500 new, so these older houses would have been worth nowhere near $24-$27k.

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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.

Super Grover

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Trivia: In Walker's Drugstore, among all the magazines by the wall there's a TV Guide magazine (from Oct 9, 1954) on the shelf, and on its cover is Lucille Ball the co-owner of Desilu Productions - which produced TAGS, and also filmed at Desilu Studios.

Super Grover

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Convicts-at-Large - S3-E11

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: 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.

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.

Super Grover

Answer: I suspect these were common, as to block the wind from blowing the blinds and papers on the desk.

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