![]() ![]() “Ben, I know the holidays don’t mean anything to you, but I certainly would feel mighty bad if I had to lock a feller up for Christmas.” Ben then parks his car in front of a fire plug, so Barney writes him a ticket. Andy knows his game and continues teaching him a lesson. Witnessing the joy bursting through the courthouse walls, Ben wants a piece of the yuletide glee, so he opts to steal a bench from the property hoping the sheriff will run him in. A confused and perturbed Ben tells Andy “A prisoner is for punishin’, not picnickin’!” Andy persists, bursting into a defiant rendition of “Deck the Halls” that puts the “troll” in “Troll the ancient yuletide carol,” as Ben skulks away and watches through the prison bars. Aunt Bee waltzes in with a giant turkey and other fixings, with Opie and Ellie in tow for what appears to be the cheeriest makeshift holiday party you could imagine, especially when there’s a family behind bars. Andy understands but feels his hands are tied when Ben says he’ll use his pull to complain to state officials that the sheriff was derelict of his duty.Īndy audibles and moves the party to the jailhouse, even inviting Sam’s wife and children to join their pappy in his cell. Ha!” Andy laments, “If that ain’t the meanest, orniest, low-downest man.” The hangdog-faced Sam then says he hates to think of his family spending Christmas without their pappy. I just made a batch to kind of merry up Christmas.” Barney interjects several times, “But it’s Christmas,” but Ben is unmoved. Andy takes a whiff of the evidence and says, “I’ll have to admit, it ain’t exactly sarsaparilla.” Sam tells Andy, “I wasn’t meanin’ to sell it, sheriff. The story kicks into gear when local Scrooge-like businessman Ben Weaver (Will Wright) drags Sam Muggins (best known as Bill Anderson on “Little House on the Prairie”) into the sheriff’s office and reports him for moonshinin’. Andy makes compares the jail to a school and declares the officers the teachers and their prisoners the students: “Everybody knows students get a vacation from school during Christmas!” The sheriff unlocks the cells and allows the men to be on their merry way, though warns that if they don’t return after the holiday the “truant officer” (Barney) will pick them up. When Aunt Bee insists Barney play the part of Santa Claus at the Christmas party, the deputy declines because he has to stand guard with the handful of prisoners they do have, some for disturbing the peace and other minor crimes. Barney then opens one from the Hubacher brothers from state prison: “I think it’s just wonderful that they’re all together at Christmas.” Andy says he prefers the card they got the previous year because it looked more “outdoorsy and Christmasy.” Barney says it’s because they were all working on the county road together.Įverybody deserves a vacation at Christmas “I like to open Christmas cards more than anything I know of,” the sheriff tells his deputy in one of the more relatable moments in the show’s history. RELATED: ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ inspires new film starring Alabama man Who doesn’t love getting a Christmas card?īarney walks into the jailhouse (do jailhouses normally decorate for Christmas?), takes off his winter coat and alerts Andy they received a handful of Christmas cards in the mail. ![]() (You can stream it on Amazon Prime Video now). Written by David Adler and directed by Bob Sweeney, it marked the only Christmas episode in the show’s 8-year run, if you can believe it.īrimming with spirit and enthusiasm, particularly from Griffith, this belongs on any decent list of the best holiday-themed episodes in television history, and here are the moments that make it one of the season’s best. ![]() Andy and Ellie’s tender duet of “Away in a Manger” still makes us yearn for the yuletide season. If you don’t well up when Weaver’s frosty exterior melts away as he hands out gifts to the children, then I just don’t know. Grumpy and desperately lonely, Weaver picks on the little guy to survive the holidays, behavior that just won’t fly in Mayberry on Christmas Eve. Will Wright’s first of three guest appearances as Ben Weaver (actor Will Wright as Mayberry’s area Scrooge) marks a high point in the entire series.
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