Mayberry 101 by Neal Brower

Author:Neal Brower
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: North Carolina/History
ISBN: 9780895874436
Publisher: Blair
Published: 1998-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Andy and Opie’s Pal

EPISODE #110

FIRST BROADCAST ON JANUARY 13, 1964

WRITTEN BY HARVEY BULLOCK

DIRECTED BY RICHARD CRENNA

DAVID A. BAILEY GUEST STARS AS TREY BOWDEN

“This script is the simple tale of a boy who feels his father shares too much affection with another boy.”

Harvey Bullock

“Andy and Opie’s Pal” begins with Opie walking down the street. He is dressed in a football jersey and carries a football. When Opie passes a boy sitting in a front yard, he stops and asks if the boy is “new around here.” When the boy answers, “Uh-huh,” Opie tells the boy that his football is “a genuine, full-size, regulation football they played with at a state college game.” The boy shows little interest. When Opie asks, “You want to be friends,” the boy answers, “OK.” When Opie says his father is the sheriff, the boy immediately becomes interested.

At the courthouse, Barney is taking a complaint from Gomer by telephone. When Barney hangs up, he tells Andy that Gomer has just come from Pierson’s Sweet Shop and is “all riled up again.” It seems that the sweet shop is running a giveaway contest. If you purchase a peppermint that has a pink center, you get a free peppermint. If you get a green center, you win a flashlight. On Thursday Gomer bought ten lucky peppermints, all with white centers. Today, he bought twelve more; again all had white centers. Barney says that Gomer is not saying he expects to get a green center right away, but he does think he should have had at least one pink center out of the twenty-two peppermints he bought. Andy responds that he can’t believe that Jesse Pierson would ever “run a fixed peppermint box.”

“The idea for Pierson’s Sweet Shop peppermint contest grew out of my early addiction to gambling,” says writer Harvey Bullock. “The neighborhood store kept a box of chocolate mints on the counter for sale at a penny a piece. After you bought one, you immediately bit it in half and checked the color of the filling. Most of the centers were white, but every once in awhile you’d hit it big and bite into a colored center. If it was pink, you won a free mint. But if it was green, hold tight, you won a flashlight!

“I don’t recall ever seeing a flashlight awarded, but I did see some pinks—enough to keep me coming back for more. It was exciting, the lure of something for nothing and the admiration of your gang who somehow thought winning a free peppermint was huge proof of masculinity. To have Gomer claim that Pierson runs a fixed peppermint box seemed funny, juxtaposing a gambling term on a most insignificant item.”

As the episode continues, Opie enters the courthouse accompanied by his “brand-new friend,” Trey Bowden. Opie introduces Trey to Andy and Barney.

Opie explains that Trey is his nickname. His real name is Frederick Bowden the third. Opie says, “Since he’s the third, that’s why they call him Trey.”

“The new boy in Mayberry, Frederick Bowden III, a.

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