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The Andy Griffith Show cast heard the news that President Kennedy had been shot while they were on set
"Everybody was stunned."
While our favorite television series don't always cover the more serious issues that afflict our society, that doesn't mean that they don't live through those moments just as we did as viewers. For example, a show like The Andy Griffith Show wouldn't try to cover something as serious as a presidential assassination for a multitude of reasons. Part of what made the show appealing is that it existed in such an idyllic universe, the kind of place we wanted to live instead of our reality. However, its actors and creators, while they played their characters well, were not immune to the trials and tribulations of reality.
Karen Knotts's book, Tied Up in Knotts: My Dad and Me, mainly discusses her father, Don Knotts', life and experiences, including his experience on The Andy Griffith Show. With the amount of time spent on the set of The Andy Griffith Show, it makes perfect sense that sometimes, when events happened, the cast and crew had the opportunity to experience them together. One such event described in Knotts's book was when the news that President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas, reached the public while they were on set working on a new episode.
Jackie Joseph, best known for playing Ramona Ankrum in the series, explained that before the news broke, the cast and crew were laughing during the read-through of an episode. Jackie stated, "I'm just sitting in the room with them; it was such a tickle, and they enjoyed the read-through just like they were enjoying watching a show. You know, they were just laughing, getting a kick out of each other. I mean it continued; it went on and on. They were enjoying it while doing it. And nobody laughed at Don more than Andy. He was just hysterical."
Then, suddenly, the mood changed. Joseph explained, "And then the awful news came that President Kennedy had been shot. One of the assistants in the office came in and, you know, just such a pall came over the room. Everybody was stunned."
The decision was made to cut rehearsal short, and the cast and crew returned to continue work after a hard weekend of keeping their eyes glued to the television set, with rapt attention to any news broadcasts and updates.
Still, while the mood was mournful when they returned to the set to shoot, it seemed that the actors were aware of the power that the series had to brighten spirits. No one knew this better than Don Knotts himself, who, despite all the sadness, was able to make others laugh that day. Joseph said, "Everybody was so professional and Don got everybody laughing, just by acting, by just doing his part."
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Both these classic comedy sitcoms were on-set rehearing an episode that Friday morning (L.A. time; 10:30am two hours behind the Central Time).
"Happy Birthday and Too Many More" was aired on Wed. Feb. 5, 1964.
TRIVIA: "In the middle of rehearsals for this show, the cast and crew got the news that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated, in Dallas, Texas, on Friday, November 22nd, 1963. The cast then decided to go ahead and film the show, but without a studio audience present. The feeling was that no one would be in the mood to laugh at such a somber and saddened time period."
"This was the second of two episodes that was not filmed and shot in front of a live audience. The other was The Bad Old Days (1962)."
A funny thing was when President Kennedy saw early footage of parts of the film, his only complaint was that Cliff Robertson was parting his hair on the right, while JFK parted his hair on the left. Robertson dutifully parted his hair on the left for the film.
One other piece of trivia: It was decided and approved by President Kennedy that Cliff Robertson speak in his natural voice and not try to imitate JFK's Boston accent.
IMDb.com has a middle-rating of 6.6 (out of 10) with 2,973 raters of "PT-109." I was a pre-teen on that Black Friday, and never forgot that horrible date and time, with the Miami Herald in big, black letters in a special that late-afternoon after the official word at 2pm EST: "Kennedy Is Dead."
I remember that day as well. I was in 8th grade English class. When the announcement came over the speaker, we were dismissed and I ran all the way home crying. A lot of us did. To this day I have trouble watching footage of the assassination. Do you guys remember where you were when you first heard the news?