MovieChat Forums > The Andy Griffith Show (1960) Discussion > 1-10 Ellie For Council

1-10 Ellie For Council

posted 7 years ago by godewey (16472)
19 replies | jump to latest

Everybody is back in this episode with a few newbies

Ellie decides to run for council because there are no other women running.
Once again Andy and her get into an argument. He says women running for the
city council is silly. "OOOOoooOOO, did that bad tasting word come out of my mouth again"

It becomes the battle of the sexes. The men cut off their wives charge accounts and
the women stop cooking for the men. Andy and Opie eat "black" eggs.
They're not burnt, there just well done"

We also see Barney and Andy on a picnic at the same time. In their civies.
Who was watching the town ?
Barney was also with Hilda Mae. His newest lady. I only remember her in one other episode.

At the end Opie says "We did it pa, we beat them women"
This of course makes Andy feel bad and once again Andy learns a lesson.

The scene with Andy and Ellie arguing about no women running is funny.

There is also a montage of the women getting told they can't charge anything.
If I recall they do this a few times. Where they show short little snippets with no dialogue.

We also see more of the town people then we ever had before.
We see Clara and Sam again. This was Opie's first nanny who got married in episode 1.
We see Otis's wife for the first time. I believe it is later played by another actress.

Otis let's himself out of the cell for the first time.
There is one character who I recognized. His real name is Tom Jacobs.
His credit states -man with hat- in most of the episodes. He is in 64 episodes.
There is another character I recognized. His real name is Forrest Lewis. He played different
characters in 6 episodes.

Elinor Donahue wasn't even given a credit in this episode.
This was her 4th episode and was only given credit in her first episode.
I wonder why? Was this the reason she left ?

[–] jason88cubs (2346) 7 years ago

Pretty funny episode m, usually i hate these types of political social issue episodes but this was done right

[–] godewey (16472) 7 years ago

Agreed.

It had fun with itself. In this episode not only did Andy learn a lesson but all the men did.

Always better to get along rather than hitting her in the face with a leg of lamb.

[–] jason88cubs (2346) 7 years ago

I heard Elinor cuz Andy didn't want her anyone. He felt he was to old for her

[–] godewey (16472) 7 years ago

I could believe that. It was a little strange. He had a good 15 years on her it seemed.
She was fresh from college and he was all over her.

[–] [email protected] (5497) 7 years ago

Haven't seen this episode in a while, but I remember it as being a good one. Interesting that the writers borrowed from an ancient Greek play, namely Lysistrata. However in that play the women withheld more than their COOKING, if you get my meaning. Of course in 1960's TV they couldn't say it. I suppose the adults in the audience knew what "cooking" was a euphemism for.

As for Elinor Donahue leaving the show, I think it was mostly her decision. I have a cookbook she wrote, "In the Kitchen with Elinor Donahue." Between recipes, she talks about her career and her many acting roles. At the end of the first season on TAGS, she asked to be released from her contract. She had a lot of things going on in her personal life including her relationship with her future husband Harry Ackerman.

She only had the nicest things to say about the show and all her co-stars. I don't think there was any bitterness in her decision to leave the show.

[–] godewey (16472) 7 years ago

:audience knew what "cooking" was a euphemism for"
That's funny. Hard for me to picture anybody in Mayberry engaging in these activities.

Seemed like they really didn't utilize her. There were several episodes in a row that she wasn't even in.
Maybe some people were a little upset about the age difference.

I'm glad that it wasn't a bad break up. I've always like her.

[–] [email protected] (5497) 7 years ago

"Hard for me to picture anybody in Mayberry engaging in these activities"

Well WHERE do you think all those little "mayberries" came from? LOL

I saw Andy Griffith in an interview one time talking about all of his girlfriends on the show before he finally dated Helen Crump.

He said that the writers wanted to pair his character with someone, but he felt there was just no chemistry between Andy Taylor and any of the women chosen toplay his love interest.

He was a gentleman about it. He said that it was his fault that he didn't feel comfortable with the actresses he was supposed to court. He said they were all nice women and talented.

But he said, " It was just ME!" He just didn't feel that the chemistry was right...until Helen Crump came along that is!

[–] godewey (16472) 7 years ago

"little "mayberries" - That one got me going. Too funny.

Not anything against Aneta Corsaut, she is great and is not an unattractive person but some of the
girls they had him dating were really pretty.
I wonder if he was intimidated by them. Maybe he felt more comfortable dating somebody in his "league"
Hopefully this doesn't come across as sounding too bad.

[–] [email protected] (5497) 7 years ago

Interesting to put it that way because in some of the scripts maybe not Andy Griffith, but Andy Taylor WAS intimidated by some of the women he was paired with!

Remember when Barney and Thelma Lou fixed Andy up with her cousin Karen? Andy liked her until he found out that she was a champion shooter and she bested him in a skeet shooting contest. His male ego took a bruising. He finally had to admit he was being a jerk to Karen.

Nurse Peggy was someone Andy liked until he found out she came from a wealthy family and he was intimidated by her "fancy" background. Joanna Moore was quite a beauty too.

From what I read, Andy Griffith and Andy Corsaut dated offscreen. Maybe he felt more comfortable with an ON screen girlfriend with whom he was close to offscreen.

[–] godewey (16472) 7 years ago

That's a really good point.

It seems that Andy, for as smart as he was, never could quite figure out women.
It seems almost every woman he dated would end up yelling at him and teaching him a lesson.
He was always messing up something.

It does make sense, if they were dating he would be more comfortable.
It might also make it difficult if they had been fighting in real life.
That would be awkward.

[–] [email protected] (5497) 7 years ago

"if they had been fighting in real life" Well....Andy and Helen fought a lot on screen, lol, so maybe the writers were borrowing from their real lives!

Andy may have had his faults, but Helen went really overboard with her jealousy for no good reason. She also became angry with Andy a number of times without giving him the benefit of the doubt.

She once thought Andy had declared that they were getting married. She heard about it at a PTA meeting. It was actually all Barney's doing. He mistakenly thought Opie "wished it" and his wish would come true.

Without asking Andy what happened, she tore into him in anger.

For a sitcom, Andy really had some difficult, rocky relationships with women.
Makes me wonder what his late wife was like. The show never addressed it or gave any details about the late Mrs. Taylor. I fill in my own ideas about her. I picture her as someone Andy fell for in a "love at first sight" thing. He was swept away by her. They were soulmates and when she died, he felt he could never find that type of love again.

Maybe that could explain Andy's dating difficulties. No other woman could measure up in his eyes. Well...it would make a good fan fic!

[–] godewey (16472) 7 years ago

Very true, Helen did seem to become angry quite a few times.
She was very quick to jump to conclusions.

Opie's wish episode is one my top 10 favorites. Such a great episode.

"They were soulmates"

Well said. I will add that the love at first sight you mentioned happened when they were kids.
They just always knew.

[–] db20db (16206) 7 years ago

It seems there have been quite a few episodes featuring Helen's jealousy and it almost seems odd she was his longest running girlfriend except when one considers the subject must have been great fodder for the show's writers, much like Barney's idiocy.

In the episode Guest in the House, it was deliberately spotlighted when the Taylors hosted an attractive young woman who was a close family friend and who was nursing a broken heart. The viewer becomes immediately aware of what Helen's reaction will be when the two meet.

[–] godewey (16472) 7 years ago

For some reason the writers thought it worked.
They may have been onto something considering how long the series ran.

I remember that episode. I probably would have dropped Helen like a hot potato.

[–] db20db (16206) 7 years ago

This is reminiscent of a fairly recent episode, Aunt Bee the Crusader, where she rallies all her lady friends to oppose Andy in his support of a decision by the county to evict a local chicken farmer in order to create a much needed highway through his property. Never have I seen her so hostile to Andy as in this episode.

Barney was downright intimidated by the relentless, protesting women.

In the end, they wind up with egg on their faces when Andy discovers the farmer was hiding a huge moonshining operation on the property.

[–] godewey (16472) 7 years ago

I remember that episode and you're right. Aunt Bea was a little nasty. She has scolded him before but not like this episode.

If I remember correctly Barney was trying to tell the women to go and they were chanting "We will not go !
Barney ended up chanting right along with them. Doesn't he say something to the effect of
Thanks for the swell turn out and something about them being tired.
Then they turned on him. He went running back to Andy. That was a very funny scene.

[–] [email protected] (5497) 7 years ago

Yes, Barney was so funny in that last scene!

Aunt Bea was so mean to Andy. I could understand if it was an incident in their personal, home life, such as, "Andy pick up your jacket and shoes! You are so messy around the house."

But Aunt Bea went over the line, I thought. THIS was something Andy had to do professionally. He was sworn to uphold the LAW. The women could stage a peaceful protest, but Aunt Bea went over the line by making it a person argument. Andy was only doing his job.

What was he supposed to tell the Mayor and other officials of the county?

"My aunt scolded me for being so mean, so I can't enforce your law this time. Sorry guys."

[–] godewey (16472) 7 years ago

Just like db said, she was downright hostile. Totally out of character and you're right it was his job.

She scolded him in several episodes but non to this degree that I can think of.

I also wonder why she picked this particular man to defend. Was it because she wasn't alone ?
She had a whole "mob" with her.

"My aunt scolded me for being so mean"- Ha! That would have been funny.

[–] db20db (16206) 7 years ago

In the beginning of the episode, he buttered Aunt Bee up with a gift and Opie as well with a pet rooster and unloads his hard luck story on her. Andy saw through the facade immediately but she fell for it completely and the situation spiraled out of control from that point.