The Andy Griffith Show: Season 1-Episode 28: Andy Forecloses. April 24, 1961. 4 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS.

The episode opens with Barney trying to keep his citation pad away from Andy- the reason turns out- he has the phone number of the new waitress at the Junction Cafe- Juanita and doesn’t want Andy to know. When Andy sees the number Barney claims there are a lot of rough customers out at the cafe and he likes to make a trouble check. Juanita is to be mentioned in a number of episodes- but is never seen in the series. Doesn’t Barney have a new girlfriend in Thelma Lou anyway? Barney is a player.

Ben Weaver -the owner of Weaver’s Department Store comes in- the richest man in town- we haven’t seen Ben since the Christmas episode… anyway Ben comes in and wants Andy to foreclose on the Scobey family who hasn’t paid up this month- they owe it turns out $52.50. Andy goes out to visit and Lester Scobey has been trying to come up with the money doing odd jobs- and his wife Helen has been doing some sewing etc but they can’t come up with the money. Back at the jail Andy and Barney come up with the $52.50 to pay Ben. When Ben walks in he won’t accept it- he wants all the money the Scobey’s owe- it says in the agreement if they miss a payment- he can ask for the entire sum owed which is $780. Andy tells Ben the Scobey’s don’t have that kind of money- Ben doesn’t care. He wants the property so he can build a warehouse.

Andy stalls and stalls- he comes up with the idea of a rummage sale. Opie as in the last episode only has a brief appearance- coming in with broken stuff to donate. They have the rummage sale- the jail is filled with stuff folks have donated- and people are in there looking over stuff- when Ben Weaver comes in all nasty. Andy had taken Lester Scobey’s glasses- that way Lester couldn’t read the foreclosure notice- a way Andy was stalling the process. Ben informs Andy that he read Ben the foreclosure notice and he has 24 hours to remove the Scobey’s.

Andy hatches a new plan- to out nasty the nasty Ben. They are out at the Scobey’s- and Andy is even out doing Ben in acting as if he’s throwing the Scobey’s out of their home. He is so nasty even Ben thinks he’s going to far- and eventually backs down when he sees the hardship he will be putting the family through.

In the final segment- Andy and Ben are going fishing- and Andy says let’s invite Lester Scobey- Ben doesn’t want Lester to go. Turns out the reason is- Ben hired Lester to work at the department store-and he’s too valuable to take away to go fishing. When they leave- Barney gets on the phone to Juanita- and as Andy sneaks back into the jail behind him- is singing ‘Juanita’ to Juanita- and Andy joins in- which of course gets Barney to flip out on Andy due to his embarrassment.

• After an episode where Andy back tracked to the hick talking Andy- we are back to the Andy that pretty much becomes the Andy for the rest of the series. While Barney usually carries any episode he’s in- in this one it’s Andy- and he does it not by trying to be the funny man but the smart, wise and caring Andy.
• In the rummage sale- actor Jack Prince appears- he has played bootleggers -most recently as Luke Ranier- and in the future as Rafe Hollister. In this episode he isn’t named in his brief appearance.
• The Scobey’s daughter Mary Scobey is played by Joy Elinson- who earlier had played Opie’s girlfriend Mary Wiggins in The Beauty Contest.
• Will Wright who plays Ben Weaver- this is the second of three episodes where he appears as Ben.

CAST-

Andy Griffith- Sheriff Andy Taylor

Don Knotts- Deputy Barney Fife

Rony Howard- Opie Taylor

Frances Bavier- Aunt Bee Taylor

Hope Summers- Bertha

Will Wright- Ben Weaver

Sam Edwards- Lester Scobey

Margaret Kerry- Helen Scobey

Joy Elinson- Mary Scobey

Bob McQuain- Bill

Jack Prince- rummage sale customer

Directed by Bob Sweeney

Written by Ben Greshman and Leo Solomon