Banjo-Playing Deputy (TAGS Episode)

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Episode Info

Banjo-Playing Deputy

  • Filmed: 159
  • Aired: 159
  • Original Air Date: 1965/05/03
  • Writer(s): Bob Ross
  • Director: Coby Ruskin

Plot Summary

Andy, struggling to find work for Jerry Miller, a one-man band who has lost his job with a traveling carnival, hires him as a part-time deputy. After realizing he's too incompetent to fill Barney's shoes, he decides to let him go. Before he can give Jerry the bad news, the musician-turned-lawman busts some of his former pals who were responsible for a string of purse snatchings.

Odd Facts Known by Few

  • This was the last black-and-white episode.
  • This was an "audition" episode for Jerry Van Dyke to replace Don Knotts. He was offered the part, but turned it down when he was offered the part of Dave Crabtree in "My Mother, The Car".
  • Actress Hope Summers plays the role of "Miss Bedlow" in this episode. She normally plays "Clara Edwards".
  • Actor Lee Van Cleef was missing the last joint of his middle finger. He actually lost it while building a playhouse for his daughter, although there were rumors that it happened in a road accident or a bar fight.
  • Actor Tom Steele waqs best known as a stuntman form the 1930s to the 1980s.

Character List

  • Andy Griffith - Andy Taylor
  • Ronny Howard - Opie Taylor
  • Frances Bavier - Aunt Bee Taylor
  • Howard McNear - Floyd Lawson
  • Jerry Van Dyke - Jerry Miller
  • Herbie Faye - manager
  • Sylvia Lewis - Flossie the Dancer
  • Hope Summers - Miss Bedloe
  • Mary Lansing - Miss Roundtree
  • Jean Inness - woman
  • Robert Carricart - Frankie
  • Lee Van Cleef - Skip
  • Tom Steele - 1st character
  • Bill Catching - 2nd character