Even Opie throwing that rock into the pond took a little Hollywood magic
They only had three tries — and there was one big problem. Ron Howard could not throw that far.
How many times have you seen the opening credits of The Andy Griffith Show? Dozens? Hundreds? Countless?
You've been fooled every time.
It seems like a simple enough set-up. Sheriff Andy and Opie walk to the fishin' hole with their poles. The boy picks up rocks and tosses them towards the water. What kid doesn't have the impulse to skip stones?
But that iconic intro had two major hurdles, as we learned in The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family, the wonderful new autobiography by famous brothers Ron and Clint Howard. For starters, that body of water, known in Mayberry as "Myers Lake," was no fishin' hole. It is, in reality, a reservoir in Franklin Canyon Park, high above Beverly Hills. That reservoir provides drinking water to the city of Los Angeles.
So, folks can't go throwing things into it willy-nilly, no matter how famous they might be.
"The rules for filming were strict: I was only allowed three takes to throw the rocks," Ron Howard explained. "The prop department had three rocks ready to go, carefully cleaned so that their presence in the lake would not affect the potability of the water."
Aha! Sterile rocks! Well, three takes should be plenty of tries to get that stone into the water, right? Well, on the first take, little "Ronny" discovered a big problem.
"My skinny little arm was not powerful enough to get that rock into the water," Howard wrote. A quick solution was needed — they only had two more chances.
The production came up with a clever fix. Ron moved his arm as if he was throwing Rock No. 2, but secretly Reggie Smith, the prop master hiding behind a tree, threw the actual rock to get a "picturesque splash in just the right part of the frame." No third take was needed.
Opie never threw a rock in the take you see in the opening credits. A "stunt rock guy" did the action.
Hey, Howard was just six years old. That's a hard throw.
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Really? BIRDS fly over that lake and do their business, but GOVERNMENT types are worried about a few rocks? CALIFORNIANS. 9_9
again there are so many fake scenes and such in the show...like the doggie ep and there is bad lightning and thunder- no one jumps or is scared
also look at the times the camera shows the outside around the courthouse through the courthouse windows - nothing is static - the bank should always be out the window behind andys desk...and then the dubious horn honking when any major character is on some street
B: Re "A quick solution was needed — they only had two more chances."
That's they had only two chances.
If a sentence requires the word "only," trust an American to insert it in the wrong place.
Erroneous grammar is incorrect. Common sense applies to usage that clarifies.
White or European Americans.
Hispanic or Latino Americans.
Black or African Americans.
Asian Americans
Native Americans
Or the 100 + Listed on :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_Americans.
Please clarify as a number of your posts certainly indicate that you are "American".
Actually filmed out of sequence.
If you take the shows and scatter during the seven days, your hunger to watch goes up.
Same shows everyday get boring. If you have for example MASH twice a week, Monday and Friday you look forward to the day to see the next episode.
Right now, METV is sort of like YOUTUBE!
I would find TV more interesting waiting to see a show, then always on.
And as for the programming, well jamming the same series on top of each other, is sort of like the MEDICARE commercials for enrollment. One after another. But I guess the schedule probably coincides with the purchase agreement METV has with the supplier or they are trying to get there monies worth, not to mention what geographical region allowed to be shown in. After all there are other markets overlapping.
Just throw the rock, kid!
This of course is 30 minute shows. As Time Goes By, is well written, acting superb and, with seriousness and humor all brilliantly played out.
Probably 12 on up in age.
I found this to be a great show of character.
If you have access to Britbox, I highly recommend this 5 Star show. If METV can get access I highly suggest they consider.
***** 5 STAR SHOW
Just excellent.
Ah, Life Born, Live, Die
Even after 65 years, the GOOD TIMES still outweighs the bad times!
FRANK SUTTON (Sgt Vince
Carter) and TOMMY LEONETTI (Cpl. Nick Cuccinelli) both passed away at age50.
Frank Sutton passed away in 1975 and Tommy Leonetti passed away in
1979.Cpl.Boyle(Roy Stuart,)
Replaced Cpl . Nick Cuccinelli Tommy Leonetti.
You have to know where the series was filmed, then look at the specific link here.
This is one link that might get you closer.
http://www.theyact.com/los-angeles-studio-lot-maps/