A Plaque for Mayberry

When it is discovered by the Women's Historical Society that a descendant of Revolutionary War hero is still living in Mayberry. Barney begins the process of proving that he is the descendant, using charts and graphs. Then it is discovered that not only is Mr. Fife not the guy, but Otis, the town drunk, is. How do they deal with it.

Yeah, the sobriety test scene is funny, another example of two really fine, comic actors doing their thing. But the clowning stuff is by NO MEANS the highlight of this excellent episode...not for me, anyway.

What stands out is the total sincerity and sensitivity of Hal Smith's portrayal of the "real" Otis; with good material and direction, Smith was a fine actor. Too bad the series rarely gave him a chance to show off his "legit" acting chops.

The scenes between Hal and Dorothy Neumann (Mrs. Campbell) are very touching, as is Hal's brief speech near the end (I wish it were longer).

If you want comedy, there's plenty of it with Dick Elliot's wheez-bag, blustery, teddy-bear performance as Mayor Pike; the scene just outside his office door (when he learns that Otis is about to show up for the ceremony), with his frustration boiling over at Andy and Barney...brief as it is.... is an example of light comedy at its finest, written, timed, and delivered to perfection; three true pros doing their best work, effortlessly.

Alas, many AG fans seem to be more interested in the slapstick-y aspects of these shows, and generally overlook the depth which a bufoonish character like Otis was occasionally allowed to display. LR.

... It's rather like bragging about being tall. But I digress.

A couple of representatives of a historical society come to Mayberry and tells the mayor that they believe that the only living descendant of a Revolutionary War hero is living in Mayberry. They will need some time to go over the town records and find out who that person might be. Barney has dreams that it might be him, but it turns out to be - drum roll - Otis Campbell! Otis is the town drunk as everyone knows, and you never know when the urge will hit him to get "a snoot full" as they might say in Mayberry.

Otis is very proud, but still the mayor is worried that Otis will show up plastered to the ceremony in which the town gets a plaque and embarrass Mayberry. The mayor asks Andy to hire a substitute - the women from the historical society have no idea what he looks like - and to talk to Otis about the situation. But Andy decides to handle this his own way. Will he regret it? Watch and find out.

This was a pretty good episode in which you get to see Otis and his wife at home - and him sober! The best part of the episode is at the beginning where Barney balks about how they always just let Otis come and go without a sobriety test. Remember that Otis locks himself up whenever he is drunk and lets himself out of his cell in the morning after he's slept it off. The actual sobriety test is hilarious - things don't turn out for Barne like he had anticipated.

Some decent scenes throughout. Nothing spectacular except the best scene Barney (Don Knotts) giving Otis (Hal Smith) a hilarious classic sobriety test. Mayor Pike (Dick Elliott) who's usually funny plays it pretty straight here. Otis is funny making drunken noises when his name is mentioned by the old biddies looking for Nathan Tibbs' descendant. Why is Otis singled out? Wouldn't his blood relatives also be descendants? Otis really hit it on the head when he brought up that he really didn't do anything to be put in this position except be born. We get an early look at classic Barney foolishly jumping to conclusions prematurely.