Alcohol and Old Lace (TAGS Episode)

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Episode Info

Alcohol and Old Lace

  • 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.

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.
  • Actress Gladys Hurlbut 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.

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