Ellie Comes to Town – The Andy Griffith Show season 1, Originally aired October 24, 1960
Ellie Comes to Town – ElIie Walker, a pretty young graduate pharmacist, moves to Mayberry to help her uncle out in the local drugstore.
In Ellie Comes to Town, new pharmacist Ellie Walker comes to town to help out her ailing uncle. Her first meeting with Sheriff Andy doesn’t go well. Andy and Opie come to the drugstore, to do some shopping. But, Walker’s drugstore is closed, for some reason. So, the Sheriff uses his passkey to open the door. They start doing their shopping, intending to leave money on the counter. Then Ellie comes in, and sees “intruders”. She calls the police, and Deputy Barney Fife comes in! Soon, the situation’s explained, and they all share a laugh over it.
Later, it’s not a laughing matter. Ellie incurs the wrath of Emma Brand, and the rest of the town. She refuses to sell Emma her pills without a prescription. Emma, a hypochondriac, takes to her sickbed and milks it for all it’s worth. And everyone blames Ellie for Emma’s condition.
Later, Ellie relents and Emma survives …. But with an upset stomach from eating all the food her friends and neighbors brought over. In a closing bit,, Ellie and Andy have a short talk, about not always following the letter of the law. And she talks Andy into destroying a parking ticket on a car, for the same reason. Then Ellie gets into her car and drives away, ending the episode.
Cast of characters
- Andy Griffith (A Face in the Crowd, Matlock) … Andy Taylor
- Ron Howard (The Music Man) … Opie Taylor
- Don Knotts (The Incredible Mr. Limpet) … Barney Fife
- Frances Bavier (The Stooge, The Day the Earth Stood Still) … Aunt Bee Taylor
- Elinor Donahue (Dear God, Father Knows Best) … Ellie Walker
- Cheerio Meredith … Emma Brand
Trivia
- Andy Griffith was uncomfortable with the casting of Elinor Donahue partly because of their age difference. Also, he didn’t think television audiences would accept her as a love interest after playing Betty Anderson on Father Knows Best. In the end, she felt uncomfortable with the role. She left after the first season.
- This is the first of several times that Don Knotts performs his routine of forgetting passages he claims to know verbatim. On the other hand, throughout the series he officiously, but precisely quotes chapter and verse from the rules and regulations of the law.
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