Andy Saves Barney's Morale

Season 1 > • < Episode 20 >

Air Date

February 20,1961

Director(s)

Bob Sweeney

Writer(s)

Frank Tarloff
(credited as David Adler)

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Mayberry on Record	Andy and the Gentleman Crook

Summary

When Sheriff Andy Taylor has to leave Mayberry for the day to testify in a court case held in Centerville, Deputy Barney Fife is left in charge of the sheriff's department - and he proceeds to arrest just about everyone in Mayberry!

Sequential Episode

20

Summary[]

When Sheriff Andy Taylor has to leave Mayberry for the day to testify in a court case held in Centerville, Deputy Barney Fife is left in charge of the sheriff's department - and he proceeds to arrest just about everyone in Mayberry!

Plot[]

It's Barney's big chance - his first opportunity to be sheriff. Andy must leave Mayberry for a few hours for a meeting, leaving Barney in charge as sheriff. Noticing how reluctant he is to leave him in charge, Barney assures Andy that he can trust him as acting sheriff and that all will be in order when he returns. Gaining confidence in Barney's promise, Andy departs.

S2E20 - Barney in Charge — Barney in Charge

Hours later, Andy returns to Mayberry to find things outside the Courthouse quiet and peaceful. He congratulates Barn on a seemingly job well done. Unbeknownst to him, however it's a completely different story inside the courthouse; Andy enters to find that Barney had arrested the entire population of Mayberry during the eight hours Andy was gone. Having not been sworn in as Justice of the Peace, Barney was unable to process anyone and had them stuffed everyone into the Mayberry's two cells, including the bank president, The Mayor, and even Opie and Aunt Bee. Ultimately, Andy dismisses all charges for various reasons and sends everyone on their way. The two now alone to themselves in the courthouse, Andy explains that while Barney may have technically had them all "by the book", going strictly by the book would only result in just about everyone in the world landing behind bars sooner or later. Nonetheless, he convinces Barney to keep his chin up because it was his first time being sheriff and he's learned a lot about what not to do. Barney agrees and decides to put the mess behind him.

In the following days, however, Barney finds that he has become the laughing stock of the entire town, being made fun of and picked at almost constantly. The toll on Barney's pride is considerable, which culminates his decision to quit the force. However, Andy, realizing that most people don't realize how their friendly picking is hurting Barney. After talking with Hilda Mae, Barney's date, Andy hatches a plan to save Barney's Morale; he tells everyone in town that he has no choice but to fire Barney because he can't have a deputy that nobody respects.

Andy catches Barney turning in his badge, gun, and bullet, ready to quit the force once and for all. Just in the nick of time, however, the townspeople gradually start filing back into the jail and arresting themselves in support of Barney. Mayor Pike, one of the self-arrestees, scolds Andy in the courthouse for letting go of a deputy that, while imperfect, allows all of Mayberry to sleep peacefully at night. Looking on at the massive support Mayberry has for him, Barney re-dawns his cap, gun, and bullet and begins ordering everyone back into the cells to serve their time.

Notes/Trivia[]

When the citizens are leaving the cells, Andy speaks to one woman and says "That's a nice dress Nellie.” This would be the initial appearance of the extra that came to be known as Nice Dress Nellie. She would appear in scores of shows over the next 7 years, but would never again be named or credited. Despite the scores of appearances, she would never utter a line, except perhaps in A Wife for Andy When one woman said, "I wonder what this is about," it may have been she who replied, "I wish I knew."
Andy mentions that half the town is in the jail, but Mayberry’s population ranges from 1,800 to 2,000.
This episode marked the first use of a flashback when Barney's girlfriend, Hilda Mae, recounted her date with Barney the night before.
This is the last appearance of Barney's girlfriend Hilda Mae.
On a variety of charges, Barney arrested some of the following folks: Harry, Miss Mary, Jud Fletcher, Mayor Pike, Tom, Miss Johnson, Franklin, Charlie, Nellie, Aunt Bee, Chester Jones, and Otis Campbell.
Jud Fletcher stated he was 74 years old in this episode. When this episode aired Burt Mustin (the actor who played Jud Fletcher) had actually just turned 77.
A count of the imprisoned citizens, Barney incarcerated 19 people.
This is the second (and last) episode where Hilda Mae is Barney's girlfriend.
This episode uses the title sequence from the first episode.
This episode was filmed somewhere in December 1960.

Goofs[]

When Andy was letting the folks out of jail, one of the maps on the wall behind Andy's desk is a map of Idaho hung upside down. Later on, in the show, the map is hung the right-side up.
Chester Jones appears in two places at the same time. First when Andy visits Jud and Chester, who are playing a game of checkers, to inform them that he is firing Barney. In the next scene, Andy has stopped in Floyd's Barbershop with the same news. Chester Jones is there and seems to be hearing the news for the first time.
In 8 hours, Barney walked and drove over 50 people to the police station. He would need to arrest or incrassate 6.5 Mayberry Citizens every hour. More than one arrest per hour! Also had time to conduct a sobriety test on Otis.

Music[]

Violations[]

Jud: Code 721-8 Disturbing the Peace. "I haven't had the strength to disturb the peace nigh on 30 years."
Aunt Bee: Code 421 Unlawful Assemblage and Inciting to Riot.
Mayor Pike: Code 438 Vagrancy and Loitering
Otis: Intoxication