Alcohol and Old Lace (TAGS Episode)

Episode Info

Alcohol and Old Lace

• S1.E17
• Filmed: 17
• Aired: 17
• Original Air Date: 1961/01/30
• Writer(s): Jack Elinson and Charles Stewart
• Director: Gene Reynolds

Plot Summary

Based on an idea from a Broadway play, Andy and Barney run down moonshiners with the help of the Morrison sisters, Jennifer and Clarabelle. After Opie describes their "flower-making machine" the lawmen realize that the Morrison sisters are themselves running a still and promptly destroy it.

Plot

Andy and Barney believe they have clamped the lid shut on moonshining in Mayberry after making arrests from tips provided by Mayberry's citizens, the Morrison Sisters. An inebriated Otis quickly convinces them otherwise and they set out to find and destroy the still that furnished Otis with his spirits.

Despite combing the entire county for the still, it's actually Opie who makes the big break in the case. While gathering flowers at the Morrison Sister's garden, he wanders into their hothouse and gets a glimpse of what he calls their "flower making machine."

Opie brings his bouquet of flowers to the courthouse to show Andy and to get a vase that doesn't "smell funny." As he's leaving Opie mentions the so-called machine and describes it to Andy and Barney.

Andy and Barney realize, much to the surprise of a now sober Otis, that what Opie described sounded more like a moonshine still than a flower making machine.

Although the Morrison Sisters claim they were selling their "elixer" only for special occasions and celebrations, it's clear they've not only been selling to anyone clever enough to come up with an occasion but were eliminating their competition by turning in other moonshiners.

Despite their lawlessness, Andy only has Barney destroy the still and does not arrest the elderly ladies. Barney takes his trusty ax and "POW POW POW!" - moonshining is dead in Mayberry for the time being.

Odd Facts Known by Few

• This is the first appearance of Jack Prince and the first of three characters he plays in six episodes of TAGS.

• Fancy Gap (an actual NC location near Mt. Airy, which is Andy's hometown) is mentioned as a possible location for a still site they're looking for. The real Fancy Gap was the childhood home of longtime Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer, who grew up there after his family left his birthplace of Mount Airy.

• Actress Gladys Hurlbut who played Clarabelle Morrison was a playwright in the 1930s and 1940s.

• The reference to "Panama Canal Day" is a salute to the episode’s namesake, the Broadway hit and 1944 Frank Capra film "Arsenic And Old Lace." The movie starred Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane. John Alexander plays Teddy Brewster, a crazed man who thinks he’s Theodore Roosevelt, who spends the story digging the "Panama Canal" in his aunt’s basement. In reality, he’s digging graves for their victims.

• This is the only episode in which Otis pays a $2 fine and serves jail time.

• This is the first episode in which we see Barney drunk.

• Ben Sewell is a Potato Farmer and lives on Townsil Flat, 1/2 a mile down Ash Road. Clarabelle described Ben as wearing blue overall, brown felt hat and a red plaid shirt.

• Opie's teacher's name in this episode is Miss Johnson.

• Andy considers deputizing Orville Monroe and Reverend Akin to help in the search for stills in the area because they are "non-drinkers".

• Mayberrian Lart Hansen pretends to be a Muslim and used the holiday of Muhammad's birthday to get the Morrison sisters to sell him moonshine.

• This is the first episode in which we see Barney drunk.

Notes

• The characters of Miss Clarabelle and Miss Jennifer Morrison bear an uncanny resemblance to Miss Mamie and Miss Emily Baldwin of "The Waltons,” including their character profiles, backstory, and sale of an alcoholic "elixir" (referred to as "The Recipe" in "The Waltons") that they naively believe to be harmless. Earl Hamner, who created "The Waltons,” had worked as a Staff Writer and Production Assistant for a variety of CBS projects in the 1960s including "The Twilight Zone,” but his involvement (or lack thereof) with "The Andy Griffith Show" is uncredited and unknown.

Quotes

Otis: "Do you know when National Sir Walter Raleigh Day is? Today is the day!"

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Opie: "Well they got a flower makin' machine!"

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Andy: "Well, I guess it's alright to have a little taste. After all, it is National Still Smashin' Day!"

Character List

• Andy Griffith - Andy Taylor
• Ronny Howard - Opie Taylor
• Don Knotts - Barney Fife
• Howard McNear - Floyd Lawson
• Hal Smith - Otis Campbell
• Charity Grace - Jennifer Morrison
• Gladys Hurlbut - Clarabelle Morrison
• Thom Carney - Rube Sloan
• Jack Prince - Ben Sewell