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There's a good reason why Helen Crump has such an ugly sounding name
The writers were just as surprised as Sheriff Andy that Crump became his love interest.
"Andy Discovers America" was purportedly the favorite Andy Griffith Show episode of former president Dwight D. Eisenhower. While we could not confirm that, it makes sense. The episode does center around Opie learning American history.
Then again, Ike might have just been a romantic softie at heart. After all, this is the episode that introduced Sheriff Andy's future bride, Helen Crump, as played by Aneta Corsaut.
Up to this point, we had seen the single father date women named Ellie, Mary and Peggy. There was a Karen in there, too. Mary (No. 2) and Karen (No. 4) were two of the most popular names for American girls at the time. Helen, meanwhile, had dropped from being the No. 10 name in the 1930s to No. 136 in 1960.
But, really, we should be focusing on the last name — Crump. It was meant to sound like a wad of mud hitting pavement, a hybrid of "clump" and "grump," perhaps.
Indeed, the surname "Crump" was given to the character as an intended joke. When we first hear of her, as Opie complains about his new teacher at the kitchen table, she is referred to as "Old Lady Crump." The name needed to sound like a spinster. That way, when Andy finally met her face-to-face midway through the episode, the surprise of her being an attractive young woman pays off. That wouldn't have worked as a joke had her name been "Mary Simpson," no offense to any Helen Crumps out there.
That's not us speaking. Take it from the writer himself.
"The character's comical name suggests that the writer of the episode, John Whedon, thought of her as little more than a schoolmarm," Gustavo Pérez Firmat wrote in his book A Cuban in Mayberry: Looking Back at America's Hometown.
In fact, Helen Crump was intended to be a one-off character, planned to only appear in this single episode. "That is why they picked an unpleasant sounding name," trivia hounds have noted. Obviously, she ended up sticking around much longer than that. She was, in fact, Andy's only love interest to span multiple seasons, as the two ended up marrying in the premiere episode of the spin-off Mayberry R.F.D.
What convinced the writers to have Helen Crump stick around after this intended one-off episode? Chemistry. Not the school subject. Romantic chemistry.
Andy Griffith simply clicked with Corsaut. Had they known, the writers would have come up with a more poetic name.
Oh, one more note about the writer, John Whedon. That last name might sound familiar. Yes, he is the grandfather of Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and writer-director of Marvel's The Avengers and its sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron. John's son, Tom, wrote for Captain Kangaroo and The Electric Company.
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NEVER "should of," "could of," "would of," "might of," etc.
