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.
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
