The Guitar Player [Andy Griffith Show]

The Guitar Player – The Andy Griffith Show season 1, Originally aired October 17, 1960

The Guitar Player – The Andy Griffith Show, season 1. A hometown guitar player auditions with a dance band in the Mayberry jail. With Sheriff Andy Taylor’s help.

Andy arrests Jim Lindsey, a talented young street musician. He tries to steer him to New York where he can make his music pay off. Jim declines, saying he’s not ready yet and Andy can’t convince him otherwise. When a tour band stops in Mayberry for lunch, Andy sees his chance and arrests both the band and Jim and his guitar. After some arguing and a little wisdom from Andy, Jim plays a song. Then a deal is made and Jim joins the band.

Cast of characters

• Andy Griffith (A Face in the Crowd, Matlock) … Andy Taylor
• Ron Howard (The Music Man) … Opie Taylor (as Ronny Howard)
• Don Knotts (The Incredible Mr. Limpet) … Barney Fife
• Frances Bavier (The Stooge, The Day the Earth Stood Still) … Aunt Bee Taylor
• James Best (Three on a Couch, The Killer Shrews) … Jim Lindsey
• Henry Slate (You’re in the Navy Now) … Bobby Fleet
• Jonathan Hole … Orville Monroe
• Dub Taylor (Back to the Future Part III) … Talbot – Postman
• Connie Van (The Red Skelton Hour) … Waitress

Songs

• New River Train, Written by Henry Whitter, Performed by Andy Griffith, James Best and Don Knotts
• Jingle Bells, Written by James Pierpont, Performed by Don Knotts
• The Fishin’ Hole, Written by Earle Hagen and Herbert W. Spencer, Performed by Earle Hagen
• My Dog Has Fleas, Traditional, Performed by Bobby Fleet and His Band With a Beat

Trivia

• The little boy with the dog pictured on the jail cell calendar is Ron Howard’s real-life younger brother, Clint.
• Andy mentions “That fella we see on television every now and then,” referring to Elvis Presley. In fact, Jim Lindsey is a spoof of that rock star.
• James Best returns as his Jim Lindsey character later this season in “The Guitar Player Returns”.
• Dub Taylor plays Talbot, the postman, in this episode. He also was in “The Shakiest Gun in the West” starring Don Knotts. He also plays the preacher that marries Dud and Charlene in A Mountain Wedding.