Sheriff
Andy Taylor [played
by Andy Griffith], to new Mayberry manicurist Ellen Brown [played by Barbara Eden]: “Nature's been
good to you. I mean real, real, real good. I—I can't remember when I've seen
nature spend as much time on any one person.”— The
Andy Griffith Show, Season 2, Episode 16, “The Manicurist,” original air date Jan.
22, 1962, teleplay by Charles Stewart and Jack Elinson, directed by Bob Sweeney
When I have turned on the evening news after my
commute home from work, the acrimony and inertia of the political scene
invariably, to borrow a phrase from pitching legend Satchel Paige, “angries up
the blood.” Frequently, in search of relief, I have sought out The Andy Griffith Show on MeTV. Though I hardly ever caught the show in its original Sixties
run or even in reruns in the subsequent half century, I now take refuge in its
many pleasures.
One unexpected delight of
the series a few minutes ago was discovering a star in embryo: Barbara Eden,
in a guest appearance, before she shot to fame a few years later in I Dream of Jeannie.
In this episode, Ms.
Eden, who—I am still trying to wrap my brain around this concept!—celebrates
her 88th birthday today, played an out-of-town manicurist in flight
from her no-good fiancé. She spots a sign promoting Mayberry’s “friendly”
reputation and promptly decides to get off the bus and stay.
In no time, she finds how
friendly the locals can be. In reality, the friendly ones are only half the
population—the menfolk—and the correct word to describe their attitude in the
orbit of this lissome young blonde is not “friendly” but “goofy.” (To my way of
thinking, Deputy Barney Fyfe may be the goofiest guy—but contrary to what you may
think, it’s by no means a runaway contest.)
Meanwhile, the women of
Mayberry are highly annoyed by the inordinate attention their menfolk are
paying Ellen Brown, and they express their disapproval in all sorts of
not-very-subtle ways. Once again, the unenviable task of keeping order falls to
Sheriff Andy, who must explain to the young woman why it might be best for all
concerned if she left town.
Andy segues into that
unpleasant chore with the above quote, nervously, even circuitously. But
there’s another way to say those words—with that syrup-on-waffles smile that
eventually won the heart of son Opie’s teacher, Helen Crump.
But back to Ms. Eden…In
this episode, she was already, in a sense, molding the fantasy figure who would
keep popping out of the bottle to astronaut Tony Nelson on I Dream of Jeannie.
Tony would find her so lovely, so close but painfully unavailable, and so disruptive through most of the five-season run of
the Sidney Sheldon-created sitcom, and so, obviously, did the confused but
happy men of Mayberry, for an all-too-short time.
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