Where To Watch
This Andy Griffith Show actress appeared on television just the one time
So what happened to Edris March of ''Ellie Saves a Female''?
"Ellie Saves a Female," an episode of The Andy Griffith Show from late in the first season, seems like a run-of-the-mill sitcom installment of the early 1960s. Barney has a run-in with some cute baby pigs. Andy gets spritzed with a perfume called Midnight Madness.
The more interesting storylines were perhaps happening behind the scenes. The episode offered up a college reunion, a farewell of sorts, and a very rare sighting.
R.G. Armstrong, a relative newcomer with credits on several Westerns like Maverick, The Rifleman and Have Gun – Will Travel under his belt, played Farmer Flint. The character actor had close ties to Andy himself. Armstrong attended the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, where he honed his thespian skills as a member of the Carolina Playmakers. Fellow Tarheel alum Griffith was a member of the very same theater ensemble. The two chums had a chance to work together on the boob tube.
Meanwhile, "Ellie Saves a Female" would be a swan song of sorts for the titular Ellie. Elinor Donahue, who played Sheriff Andy's love interest that first season, would appear in only one more episode, "The Guitar Player Returns." She pops up in just a couple of scenes. (Fittingly, her final line is "Bye-bye.") So, "Ellie Saves a Female" offers Ellie her last turn in the spotlight.
That brings us to the rare sighting. Farmer Flint has a daughter, the "Female" of the title, one Frankie Flint. Ellie gives the farmgirl a makeover. Edris March is delightful in the role.
Which makes it all the more strange that March never appeared on television again. This is the only credit to her name.
Whatever happened to Edris March?
A chance encounter with an Andy fan in 2001 gives us an answer. This fan happened to be wandering the California Mart, a fashion merchandise market in downtown L.A., when they came up Edris March. You see, March had a small business in the building. March co-owned a women's lingerie line called Fame Time. This biographic detail is confirmed by a book on back pain, of all things, 1995 publication Bad Back: Coping for Life. "Myrna Farnum and Edris March, the owners of Fame Time in Los Angeles, phoned," the author writes.
Frankie Flint after her makeover. Edris March would go own to run a lingerie line.Back to the fan. "I was able to reunite her with Don Knotts that year at the Hollywood Celebrities Show in North Hollywood and also put her in touch with R.G. Armstrong, the well-known character actor that played her father Old Man Flint on The Andy Griffith Show episode," this fan explained in a post authenticating an autographed photo of March.
We also learn that, following her extremely brief stint as a television actress, March "spent 15 years as a dance instructor for Arthur Murray dance studios."
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24 Comments
This is either bad grammar or camouflaged porn.
My only objection (should the guest writer be interested in comments) is that the term "Boob Tube" has always been a misnomer. In the day, used by self-styled critics of what has turned out to be the golden age of television. Snobbery (subtle but snide) expressed begrudgingly in "required" TV Guide reviews of simple TV shows. I just want to remind a current generation, that shows like TAGS often represented the ideals of their times. Not bad aspirations to be sure. Not always a perfect either, when premises played for silly laughs. But still, a window on our history, depicting a lifestyle that included gentility and kindness. Those kinds of productions (little works of art?) are deserving of respect.
To the point, I knew many people of the decade, who would hide their portable TVs in the closet, so their pseudo-intellectualism wouldn't be uncomfortably compromised by such a "wasteful" medium 😉. Thanks heavens those golden aged shows have lived to see this day!
Where would we be today, if instead of choosing among a few PBS channels in the 60's, there were 400+ of them (through a full spectrum cable service)? And then if we had to hunt for the few networks giving us shows like the ones we treasure on MeTV (and Retro stations)? Would we be a more enlightened, gentile population? Or a society more deadly boring than a thousand hours of "Firing Line?"
Just a thought. 😉
