Keeper of the Flame (TAGS Episode)

Episode Info

Keeper of the Flame

• S2.E14
• Filmed: 46
• Aired: 46
• Original Air Date: 1962/01/08
• Writer(s): Jack Elinson and Charles Stewart
• Director: Bob Sweeney

Plot Summary

Opie is accepted as a member of a secret society called The Wildcats after he takes a sacred oath never to reveal the club secrets. Given the job of Keeper of the Flame, Opie is fingered as the guilty party when the barn that the club meets in burns to the ground. The fire was actually started by the barn's owner, farmer and moonshiner Jubal Foster. Not knowing this, Andy takes responsibility for the fire and is about to pay Foster for the value of the barn when Barney, having stumbled upon and unknowingly consumed some of Foster's moonshine, staggers out drunk.

Summary

The episode opens with Opie Taylor excitedly joining a secret boys' club known as "The Wildcats." As part of his initiation, he takes a sacred oath of secrecy and is appointed the "Keeper of the Flame," tasked with safeguarding and lighting the club's candle during their meetings. The boys hold these gatherings in an old barn owned by Jubal Foster, a grumpy local farmer who secretly operates a moonshine still on his property.

Jubal, frustrated by repeated trespassing, complains to Sheriff Andy Taylor about kids on his land and demands action. Andy, aware of Opie's involvement but viewing it as innocent play, downplays the issue. During one meeting, the boys light the candle but spot Jubal approaching and flee in a panic, with Opie grabbing the candle to extinguish and hide it. Jubal enters the barn to inspect his moonshine setup, lights a lamp for visibility, but clumsily knocks it over, igniting a fire. He quickly salvages his distilling equipment before the barn burns down completely.

At the fire scene, Jubal accuses the local children—specifically pointing to Opie—of causing the blaze, assuming their activities are to blame. Andy and Deputy Barney Fife investigate, promising a fair resolution. Back home, Aunt Bee discovers Opie's hidden candle and shows it to Andy, who begins to suspect his son's involvement. When questioned, Opie denies starting the fire but refuses to break his club oath by revealing details, leading to tension and Andy feeling disappointed in what he perceives as dishonesty. Believing Opie is responsible, Andy decides to take accountability as a parent and offers to compensate Jubal for the barn's value, estimated around $450. While negotiating at Jubal's property, Barney stumbles upon hidden jars of moonshine, samples them thinking they're harmless, and becomes heavily intoxicated. This tips Andy off to Jubal's illegal moonshining operation. Realizing the fire was likely caused by Jubal's own carelessness with the lamp near his volatile setup—and not by the boys—Andy arrests Jubal, clearing Opie and the other children of blame.

In the heartfelt resolution, Andy apologizes to Opie for doubting him and shares a story from his own childhood about being the "Keeper of the Flame" in a similar secret club. His father had advised switching to a safer flashlight to avoid risks, and Andy suggests the same to Opie, who agrees. This mends their relationship, emphasizing themes of trust, honesty, and learning from mistakes, while the club presumably continues more safely.

Odd Facts Known by Few

• The episode title is a reference to the political thriller Keeper of the Flame (1942), starring Katharine Hepburn covered by a reporter played by Spencer Tracy.

• Actor Everett Sloane (Jubal) wrote the words to "The Fishin' Hole", the opening and closing music to The Andy Griffith Show. The lyrics were never performed on the show. He also appeared in the movie "Citizen Kane".

• This marks Jubal Foster's only appearance in The Andy Griffith Show.

• The episode highlights a "moonshine problem" in Mayberry, referencing Jubal Foster's moonshining activities.

• Jubal Foster quotes a price of $450 to Andy for the cost to rebuild his barn. $450 in 1961 (when this episode was filmed) would be worth $4,862 as of 18 August 2025.

• The water tower and shed on Jubal Foster's farm are the very same structures that were the water tower and chicken coop on the Flint farm in "Ellie Saves a Female." The only difference is that in the first season, all camera angles were from the water tower side of the barn and in this second season episode all the camera angles were from the opposite end of the barn.

• When Jubal enters the barn and accidentally starts the fire, he runs out and hides some of the equipment in the shed outside. When he does this, there is a bench to the right of the shed door. However, after the fire, the bench is to the left of the shed door.

• When Jubal runs from the shed to the burning barn, the edge of the barn is clearly to the far left of the shed. However from the same vantage point when Andy and Barney drive up, what is rigged and shown as the standing charred barn now extends well beyond the right edge of the shed. This is evidenced by the fence behind and to the left of the shed being visible in both shots, when it should not be visible in the earlier shot because the barn would have obscured it.

• When Andy and Barney drive up the lane to Jubal Foster's farm and Jubal frantically stashes his moonshine jars in the shed, a cow munching hay stands directly behind Jubal as he stands by the shed door. As Andy and Barney exit the squad car, the cow instantly disappears from behind Jubal. There one second, gone the next.

• When Jubal runs from the shed to the burning barn, the edge of the barn is clearly to the far left of the shed. However from the same vantage point when Andy and Barney drive up, what is rigged and shown as the standing charred barn now extends well beyond the right edge of the shed. This is evidenced by the fence behind and to the left of the shed being visible in both shots, when it should not be visible in the earlier shot because the barn would have obscured it.

• The first of four times that Barney gets gassed.

• Just before Andy and Barney take Jubal Foster into custody and walk him to the squad car, the background changes in an improbable manner. Without the camera angle changing, the background behind Andy and Barney switches from the shed to the corner of the pasture fence, then back to the shed again.

• Actor Mark Rodney, one of the "Wildcats," was in the movies "Con Air" and "The Hunt For Red October"

Character List

• Andy Griffith - Andy Taylor
• Don Knotts - Barney Fife
• Ronny Howard - Opie Taylor
• Frances Bavier - Aunt Bee Taylor
• Everett Sloane - Jubal Foster
• Flip Mark - leader of wildcats
• Grace Lenard - Celia (voice-over)
• Robert Gallagher - John (voice-over)
• Terry Dickinson - wildcat
• Mark Rodney - wildcat