Aunt Bee's Big Moment - S8-E23
Revealing mistake: In the close-up shot of Aunt Bee in the airplane as she starts the roll for her solo flight, as she passes out of frame you can see the inside door latch hardware, revealing that the door has been left open or removed for the shot.
Revealing mistake: At about 1:15 into the show, as they walk past the train station ticket window, you can see daylight between the wall of the ticket window and the rest of the building, showing it's just a prop building. It's fixed the next time they walk past it.
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 ★