The Andy Griffith Show: Season 1/ Episode 29: Quiet Sam: May 1, 1961: 5 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS:

Barney walks out onto the street after getting a hair cut from Floyd- out on the sidewalk Floyd is getting Barney’s sides straight- when Barney sees a truck parked near a fire hydrant. Barney gets all excited- is it too close to the fire hydrant- no it’s not close enough for Barney to write out a citation. But the fellow who owns the truck- a quiet man named Sam Becker- grabs Barney’s attention. Sam comes out of the grocery store and Barney attempts to strike a conversation with Sam- Sam isn’t interested in talking and drives off as Barney tries to continue the conversation standing at the door window of the truck. Andy comes along and Barney shares his suspicions of Sam Becker. Earlier Barney had told Floyd that Becker had shifty eyes and he knew he was hiding something. Now he tells Andy that he has the look of a criminal ‘ narrow chin, eyes close together, slack jaw, prominent overbite– to which Andy replies ‘You know who that sounds like- you Barney’- While Barney is overexcited as usual- Andy just thinks Sam Becker is quiet and shy- and has no concerns that ‘something is up’ with him.

Andy is back at home with Aunt Bee and Opie. There is a storm coming- Barney shows up at the door- he has a coat on.and he tells Andy he has been studying up on the Becker Case-doing research on him. Again Andy sees no reason for concern but agrees to go out to Becker’s farm with Barney to check on things. They see Becker out in the field on his tractor- planting. Barney feels its odd Becker out at night- maybe he’s planting marijuana! Then we see Becker jump off his tractor and dash into the house. Barney again is over excited about the prospects-something is going on. Andy has a plan- they should drive back into town- Barney should make his usual rounds and Andy should make some coffee.

They get back to the jail and while Barney makes his rounds- Andy calms Otis down- the thunderstorm has Otis all worked up- and Andy has to reassure him its just a thunderstorm. Andy gets a call from Becker- he needs him out at the farm. When Barney gets back to the jail and Otis tells him where Andy has gone- Barney flips out of course thinking the worst. Barney calls in Floyd and forms a posse to go out to the farm. Barney is frantic. He knows something is going on.

Andy calls from Becker’s- Becker’s wife Lilly is having a baby- that is why Becker has been acting so distracted and odd lately- but before Andy can tell Barney that- Becker rushes over and hangs the phone up- Barney takes this as- Andy was calling me for help and Becker caught him doing that- and who knows what kind of trouble Andy is in- so Barney heads out to the Becker farm.

Barney gets out there and makes a racket trying to open the door. When Becker opens the door Barney comes flying in- and runs across the room into the dresser. The situation is explained to Barney- Quiet Sam Becker is all the sudden chatting away- at first Barney seems a little disappointed but then relaxes a bit and gets into a conversation with Andy as Becker goes in to see his wife. When Andy tells Barney that the doctor is out of town and he will deliver the baby- Barney gets excited again- ‘you can’t do that’- Andy tells him although he is scared to death- he can do it.

Becker is nervous and keeps telling Andy that Lilly is ready- and its always a false alarm. To get Becker relaxed they start talking and Barney mentions he served in the Army- Becker in Korea. They start telling war stories- meanwhile Andy quietly got up and went in and delivered the baby. Andy brings the baby out- it’s a baby boy. Andy and Barney step outside- Andy says he ‘needs a smoke.’ As they stand on the porch- with Andy puffing away- they hear a noise- it’s Floyd with a big rock and two other older men with guns- Barney is embarrassed and has to tell Andy about his posse. Becker comes out- turns out the baby boy is named- Andy.

In the final segment- there is music outside- its now daylight and about 15 or so people are out there- with a bluegrass band- and Andy leading the way singing ‘They’ll Be Coming Around The Mountain.’

• This is a blue print episode for the rest of the series- excitable imaginative Barney- calm and steady Andy- and Floyd and Otis as the somewhat crazy but harmless town people.
• The band at the end- we don’t get a great shot of- there are so many people in the scene but its the band we will know as the Darling brothers.
• Barney we find out during World War II he says he did his part to ‘whip the dreaded hun’- he served at Staten Island as a librarian.
• Otis mentions his wife- in a few episodes he will be a widower- his wife’s name is Melba– not that they mention his wife’s passing at any point in the series.
• Sam’s son Andy weighs in at 8 pounds 9 ounces.
• In the street scene at the start of the episode- signs in the grocery store-Oranges 3 for 25cents, Potatoes are 10 for 49 cents and Carrots are a quarter for 3 bundles.
• Barney mentions Ellie but she does not appear in the episode. Her time in the show- as season one is coming to an end- is about up.

CAST

Andy Griffith- Sheriff Andy Taylor

Don Knotts- Deputy Barney Fife

Rony Howard- Opie Taylor

Frances Bavier- Aunt Bee Taylor

Howard McNear- Floyd Lawson

Hal Smith- Otis Campbell

William Schallert- Sam Becker

Clarence White, Eric White, Roland White , Billy Ray Latham- The Country Boys

Directed by Bob Sweeney

Written by Jim Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum