Stranger in Town (TAGS Episode)

Episode Info

Stranger in Town

• S1.E12
• Filmed: 10
• Aired: 12
• Original Air Date: 1960/12/26
• Writer(s): Arthur Stander
• Director: Don Weis

Plot Summary

Ed Sawyer, a mysterious stranger, arrives in Mayberry and puts the entire town on edge when he displays an eerie familiarity with the town's people, places, and things. Andy finally confronts Sawyer and learns that he is neither a foreign spy nor a spook, but only a man without a home.

Plot

When a stranger gets off the bus from New York City, the folks in Mayberry are naturally curious. When he strolls into the barbershop - calling everyone by name and knowing things that no stranger should know - their suspicions go into overdrive because nobody knows who he is.

The stranger, who's name is Ed Sawyer, has knowledge of the goings-on in Mayberry that is uncanny.

Soon, as a result, he's accused of being everything from a foreign spy to a space alien. His friendly attempts to fit in and settle down are coldly rejected by the residents of Mayberry. Andy seems to be the only one in town unwilling to judge Ed until he knows the facts.

After a particularly curious encounter between Ed and Lucy Matthews, the woman he loves but whom he's never even met, Ed asks Andy for help. He explains how Mayberry came to be his "hometown", revealing that he's a loner with no family and no real home. While in the army, Ed befriended Joe Larson from Mayberry (son of Pete and Edie Larson) and loved the stories Joe told about "back home" so much that he began to take the town newspaper and tell folks that he was from Mayberry.

As Andy is calling the town's newspaper to share Ed's story, Ed is confronted by an angry crowd who want to run him out of town. Andy steps in and begings telling Ed's story to the mob and delivering a stern lecture about how to treat people who may appear to be a little different. Hearing how their "friendly" town caused a total stranger to embrace Mayberry as "his hometown," the citizens backs down and warmly welcomes their new neighbor to Mayberry.

Odd Facts Known by Few

• This is the first episode in which Floyd the barber appears and he is played by Walter Baldwin rather than the more familiar Howard McNear. Floyd's last name is neither mentioned nor shown. "Floyd's BARBER SHOP" is painted in the lower left corner of the front window of his shop.
• Inside Floyd's barbershop, about 3:20 into this episode, when two men look out the front window the glass is divided into four panes. The next shot, from outside, shows the men looking thru a single large pane of glass. The next shot is again from inside the shop and shows the divided glass once more. About 15:45, shot from outside, when Andy and Barney exit the shop and pass by on the sidewalk, the window is divided into four panes again.
• The entrance to the beauty shop next door is inside the barbershop. This door disappears later in the series. Later, Monroe's Funeral Parlor and TV Repair shop is located next to the barbershop.

• As Floyd takes a nap in his barber chair Andy reads a story in the newspaper about Old Man Joe MacKnight celebrating his 103rd birthday.

• Jason (Mayberry Hotel reservations clerk) attempts to give Ed Sawyer room 209 but Ed swiftly declines that room because "that's the room Wilbur Hennessy got drunk in and fell out the window". Ed requests room 216 because it's been freshly painted green (although green is not Ed's favorite color).

• The calendar inside the Mayberry Hotel appears to show October 1960.

• The gas station in this episode is owned by George Sapperly. It is insinuated that Ed buys the gas station at the end of the show but this is Ed Sawyer's one and only show appearance so it is unknown if this gas station is the same as "Walley's filling station".

• At the end of the episode, when Andy opens the door to Floyd's so Ed Sawyer can get a haircut, you can see a large spotlight used to light the scene reflected on the barber shop door's window.

• When Andy walks into the barbershop while Barney's complaining to Floyd about his sideburns, viewers can see the white T-shaped mark on the floor. Viewers can also see the chalk marks where Andy's standing. These are the actor's "mark" placed on the floor showing them where to stand while filming the scene.

• When Ed Sawyer walks in the courthouse, if you look closely, a crew member's hand is visible outside the courthouse catching the door handle to ensure the door closes.

• Andy, Barney and Opie are the only regulars to appear in this episode. The supporting cast is played entirely by actors who either played a different character later in the series or never appeared again.

Notes

• When Ed Sawyer arrives he first goes to Floyd's barbershop. Ed asks Floyd about his Rheumatism since it "usually acts up this time of year".

• As Ed leaves the barbershop he runs into Mrs. Buntley, who is just stepping out of Mayberry's Dry Cleaning and Pressing Shop. Mrs. Buntley has her twins (Robert and William) in a stroller. Ed distinguishes the twins apart because William has a little mole on his right ear.

• Ed Sawyer reveals that Lucy Matthews is the valedictorian of her class, blue is her favorite color, she loves to dance, she loves hot fudge sundaes and she's a Capricorn.

• Bill Matthews, the guy who starts a fight with Ed (i.e. Lucy's brother), is played by Pat Colby, who returns as Jimmy Morgan in The Great Filling Station Robbery (1963)".

Character List

• Andy Griffith - Andy Taylor
• Ronny Howard - Opie Taylor
• Don Knotts - Barney Fife
• Phil Chambers - Jason
• Walter Baldwin - Floyd "the first"
• William Lanteau - Ed Sawyer
• George Dunn - Pete
• Marlene Willis - Lucy Matthews
• Sara Seegar - Mrs. Buntley
• Pat Colby - Bill Matthews
• William Erwin - George Sapperly