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This Andy Griffith Show episode had a subtle tie back to the pilot episode
Did Frank Cady's town drunk move on from the pilot to Mount Pilot?
The pilot episode for The Andy Griffith Show, which aired as an episode of The Danny Thomas Show titled "Danny Meets Andy Griffith," was markedly different from the sitcom it became. We wrote an entire list of 10 things that were radically different about the pilot. There was no Don Knotts and Frances Bavier was there, but she was playing a local named Mrs. Henrietta Perkins, not Aunt Bee!
The pilot also featured a different town drunk.
Frank Cady is most familiar to fans of classic television for his role in the Hooterville universe, having played Sam Drucker on The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres and Petticoat Junction. In the Andy pilot, however, he is Will Hoople, the "town drunk." That's right, he had the role before Otis Campbell.
As Sheriff Andy — who is much meaner in this early iteration — explains the way of Mayberry law to Danny, Will Hoople marches into the (much different) police station, grabs keys off the sheriff's desk, locks himself into a jail cell, and plops down on the bed. It's one of the funniest moments in the pilot.
But here's the really funny thing — Frank Cady did indeed return to The Andy Griffith Show as a town drunk, only he was a town drunk in Mount Pilot. He went from pilot drunk to Mount Pilot drunk!
It happens in "The Rehabilitation of Otis Campbell", in season five. Fed up with how he's being treated in Mayberry, Otis blows town and drifts to the nearby Mount Pilot. Naturally, he ends up behind bars there, too. In the clink, he befriends another drunk — played by Frank Cady.
Now, Cady is called "Luke" here, but he has a very similar appearance to Will Hoople. We like to think that it's the same character. Maybe he just moved to a new stomping ground and changed his name.
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"Frank Randolph Cady (September 8, 1915 – June 8, 2012) was an American actor best known for his role as storekeeper Sam Drucker in three American television series during the 1960s – Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, and The Beverly Hillbillies – and his earlier role as Doc Williams on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet."
"After being discharged from military service in 1946, Cady appeared in a series of plays in the Los Angeles area that led to movie roles, beginning in 1947. In 1949, he had an uncredited speaking role in the classic film noir drama D.O.A.. In 1950, he had another uncredited role in Father of the Bride. He had a small part in the noir classic The Asphalt Jungle (also 1950) playing a witness who refused to identify a robbery suspect. He appeared in George Pal's film When Worlds Collide (1951), and worked with Pal again in 1964 in 7 Faces of Dr. Lao.
Cady had a prominent role in Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole (or The Big Carnival, also 1951) and had a small, nonspeaking role in Rear Window in 1954. He played the husband of Eileen Heckart characters in two films: The Bad Seed (1956) and Zandy's Bride (1974). He appeared on the Make Room For Daddy episode that was the pilot for The Andy Griffith Show. He was cast on some radio programs, including Gunsmoke episode #140 ("Outlaw Robin Hood") on January 8, 1955."