Andy Forecloses

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"Ellie Saves a Female"	"Quiet Sam"

Summary

Andy, faced with the unpleasant task of serving an eviction notice on a family who has fallen on hard times, tries desperately to come up with a way for the tenants to keep their home.

Plot

While Andy gives Barney a hard time, teasing him about Juanita Beasley (and making Barney do a "trouble check"), Mayberry's resident grouch, Ben Weaver, shows up at the courthouse and informs Andy that he's foreclosing on Lester Scobey, Helen Scobey, and their daughter Mary Scobey- a family that is behind on their mortgage payments. Despite Andy's appeal that Ben give the Scobey's more time or have a little compassion on the family, Ben insists that Andy proceed with his duty. When Andy goes to see Lester Scobey and his family, he finds out that Lester is working hard to try to make ends meet and has never been late on a payment before. Realizing that Lester is doing all he can do to provide for his family, Andy and Barney chip in to come up with the money for rent. However, when they try to pay Ben, he informs them that because a payment was missed, the entire balance of the property is due. Determined not to have the Scobeys evicted, Andy, Barney, and Aunt Bee do their best to try to raise the money. In order to give them more time, Andy figures out a way to stall the foreclosure process. But, when they come up short, Andy has no choice but to do his duty. He wonders if it's possible that Ben may not realize just how much trauma he's putting the Scobeys through. He pretends to be mean to them as he orders them to get out of the house. In the end, Ben stops the foreclosure.

Trivia/Notes

In this episode, Sam Edwards portrays Lester Scobey, Margaret Kerry is Helen, and Joy Ellison appears as Mary. In episode "The Christmas Story", these actors portrayed the Muggins family.
Barney's never-seen girl on the side, Juanita Beasley, is mentioned in this episode. She works as a waitress at the Junction Cafe. Her telephone number is given as 142R.
Though Jack Prince's character wasn't named, it was most likely "Luke Ranier" or "Ben Sewell", since those characters were seen just a few episodes before "Andy Forecloses". Later he went by "Rafe Hollister".
The rummage sale was needed to help raise $780.00 (the entire balance of the mortgage note). Lester's monthly payment mentioned in the beginning of the episode is $52.50.
Mary Scobey (the daughter of Lester and Helen in this episode) also plays the character of Mary Wiggins (Opie's girlfriend) in "The Beauty Contest".