The 11th episode in the inaugural season of “The Andy Griffith Show” delivered one of the all-time great holiday episodes, so good the series never dared to try the theme again after “The Christmas Story” aired Dec. 19, 1960.
Despite being forced by crotchety, old Ben Weaver to arrest bootlegger Sam Muggins on Christmas Eve, Sheriff Andy Taylor still looks to preserve a decent Christmas in Mayberry.
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. 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.
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. Andy and Ellie’s tender duet of “Away in a Manger” still makes us yearn for the yuletide season.
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.
Brimming 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. (You can stream it on Amazon Prime Video now).
Who doesn’t love getting a Christmas card?
Barney 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. “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. 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.
Everybody deserves a vacation at Christmas
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. 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. And you know he would, too.
How do you ‘merry up Christmas’?
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 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. I just made a batch to kind of merry up Christmas.” Barney interjects several times, “But it’s Christmas,” but Ben is unmoved. “Christmas. 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. 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.
‘Troll the ancient yuletide carol!’
Andy audibles and moves the party to the jailhouse, even inviting Sam’s wife and children to join their pappy in his cell. 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. 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.
Ben wants in on the Christmas cheer
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. Andy knows his game and continues teaching him a lesson. “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. When he grinch rips it up, the deputy looks to haul him away and charge him a fine, but Ellie pays it for him so they send him on his way again.
Andy and Ellie’s lovely duet
Andy tunes his acoustic guitar and begins to pick a lovely version of “Away in a Manger,” sung by Ellie before the sheriff joins in for a delightful duet. The camera drifts across the courthouse, wandering through the decorated cell to find lonely Ben Weaver peering through the bars and singing along to the hymn. When he sees the crowd begin to pile their plates with Aunt Bee’s cooking, he stumbles off of his milk crate and causes a commotion.
It’s better to give than receive
The sheriff spots Weaver outside and cites Ben for disturbing the peace, loitering and prowling before he threatens an officer of the law. Andy then realizes Ben wants in on the Christmas fun, so he finally relents. When hauled in, Weaver brings a suitcase Andy tells Barney to search in case he smuggles in any “files.” The deputy dressed as Santa Claus opens it to find unwrapped items Ben insists he mistook for his own possessions, like roller skates he hands to Opie, a baseball mitt he gives Billy Muggins and a dolly he gives Sam’s daughter, as the room breaks into “The First Noel.”
A little pick-me-up
The cherry on top for me: When Andy finally walks him to his cell, Aunt Bee stops them to hand Ben a full plate full of food and then a cup of eggnog, officially welcoming him to their celebration. Later, Andy wakes up Sam to send him home with his family. They discover his jug of moonshine is empty. They surmise Ben, now passed out in the cell, was the culprit: “Ben was feeling mighty low there. He might’ve took a little pick-me-up.”
