No Marriages in Mayberry....really?

 OK...confession...I'm from a small town in North Carolina...and like Mr. Griffith...I'm a UNC Alum

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The Andy Griffith Show (TAGS) ran from Feb 15, 1960, until April 1, 1968, and it introduced us to the town of Mayberry North Carolina, and its host of interesting characters.  Almost anyone who has actually watched the show knows there were many married people in good ole Mayberry. Three of the people we know were widowed, Andy, Clara Edwards/Johnson. I also acknowledge that none of the main characters were currently married. However, there were plenty of people in the town of Mayberry that were married.  While the meme mentions Otis the town drunk, exactly how many episodes did Rita appear out of 249 episodes?  (Answer 3).  Reality Check, in a television show production each character is paid,  even those stand-in in crowd scenes would have to be paid and it’s just cheaper to have characters === on paper only and just mentioned in the script.  Two characters that were often mentioned or had interaction with the main characters were Sarah the Telephone Operator and Juanita the waitress such characters were left to your imagination.

Now mind you in the episode "A wife for Andy"  good old Barney invites all the eligible single ladies to Andy's how...and there are a bunch.... but there are lots of married people in Mayberry too.

Now let’s think about all those families that were not seen, as the Taylors sat on their porch, or couples where only one of the pair was seen but the other was mentioned. Obviously, they were married.   

Let's review MARRIED PEOPLE IN MAYBERRY

• Did you know Floyd the barber was married...we saw his son Randall in the episode 'Those Gossipin' Men' with the shoe salesman, and his son Norman was mentioned...his wife named was Melba. But there was only that one appearance.
• You remember Anabelle Silby who said her husband Tom was dead..but he came back to Mayberry after he stopped drinking ..yea it came back to you. (Opie's Charity)
• Remember the Romeo and Juliet episode where two feuding families  (Wakefield-Carter) had two off-springs that wanted to be married.  Yes, they showed the fathers…but the offspring didn’t birth themselves. Also, they did get married..which would make them a married couple. TAGS reference material list their mothers as deceased.
• You have to ponder if Mayberry was a town of single fathers because there were lots of kids...I mean Opie did have friends, and classmates in one of two instances we got to see their fathers. like Arnold Bailey
• There was only one episode that was set at Christmas time and there was a whole family (Sam and Bess Muggins) in the episode and that family appeared in another episode with Ben Weaver. Are you starting to remember!
• Recall the stranger who came to town and knew everything about everybody and called Mayberry ‘his hometown’ and wanted to date Lucy Matthews and her brothers got mad at him.  You think that brother and sister stayed in the house by themselves…
• I think Mayor Pike mentioned his wife in one episode (about how bad she sang opera)…but we did see his daughters in the beauty contest for Ms Mayberry and in 'Mayberry goes Hollywood'  You think just maybe he was married.
• Mayor Stoner was married to Mabel…remember the episode with the bed jacket that Andy traded his fishing rod Eagle Eye Annie for.    
  
• Perhaps you remember the bickering couple ( Fred and Jennie Boone ) who were great with everybody else.
  
• Remember the weird acting farmer Sam Becker, whose baby Andy delivered ..obviously married (wife name was Lily). We never saw her.
• Remember the episode where Luke put shoes on a cow…remember they were at Tate Fletcher’s house…Tate was married to Cornelia. (we saw her)
• Remember when Ellie Walker wanted to run for city council and the Husband vs wife fights
• Remember when Barney quit his job to sell vacuums, and all those housewives were at home.  Typical for that TV era.  You think those ladies were all single.
• Remember when Barney wanted to go into real estate (Barney Fife, Realtor) remember those couples .. like the Sims (they showed the husband and wife), and the Williams
• Remember Rafe Hollister .. who made a few appearances… his Martha wife was in one episode.
• Remember the Darlings… Remember when Charlene got married to Dud Wash?
  
• The guy that owned the Emmitt's Fix-It shop...he was matter to Martha.
• Remember the Moonshiner Jess Morgan that Andy let out of jail early over Mayor Stoner's Objection... his wife came to pick him up.
• Other married Characters
• Arthur Tarbox and wife are moving out of town because people talk about other people too much. Mrs. Tarbox is prematurely gray.-(Opie and the Spoiled Kid)
• The Bellfasts (The Rumor): Opie spends the night with them.
• Bobby Gribble married Emma Larch even though someone thought he hated her in grammar school -(The Case of th Punch in the Nose
• Charlie Deveraux is the husband of Mrs. Deveraux. Barney says she is “ugly as homemade soap” and he isn't good-looking either. -(The Shoplifters)
• Howard Felcher -- Howard is getting a divorce from his wife Lorraine, who apparently drinks too much. -(Opie's Fortune)
• The Johnsons- A family that owns one of the nicest farms in the county. (Barney's First Car)
• The Wilsons : Have a new lawnmower, so their old one could be donated to the Scobey rummage sale.-(Andy Forecloses)
• Harold and Sue Grigsby
• Mr. and Mrs. Sam Burton. (The Shoplifters)
• Craig and Millie Fulton (Opie's Job):
• Mr. and Mrs. Hendrick (Aunt Bee's Invisible Beau):)
• Lorraine and Howard Feltcher (Opie's Fortune):
• Tyla Lee - Andy tells the story of how Tyla met her husband. They live in a little yellow house just up from the courthouse.(Prisoner of Love)

 Go watch the show…learn something