Summary[]
Andy suspects young Jimmy Morgan is robbing Wally's Filling Station.
Plot[]
Barney has decided he and Andy need to modernize their approach to law enforcement. He tries installing an intercom system in the cells, but the microphones fail to work. Andy leaves Barney to continue experimenting and takes the squad car to Wally's Filling Station to have a new carburetor put on, only to learn that Wally is out of town. Gomer cannot handle repair work yet, so he is allowing the Hanson brothers, Jed and Prothroe, to use the empty service garage to park their car at nights.
Mr. Carter arrives in search of Andy, dragging young Jimmy Morgan with him. Andy had earlier persuaded Mr. Carter to give Jimmy, a troubled youth in need of a job, a chance. However, Jimmy accidentally destroyed Mr. Carter's truck battery while tinkering with a homemade starter engine, and was in search of another when he was caught. Mr. Carter believes Jimmy intended to steal the battery, and insists he should be locked up. Instead, Andy tells Gomer to let Jimmy help him catch up on repair work until he can pay Mr. Carter back for the battery. Mr. Carter objects, Branding Jimmy a thief and untrustworthy.
Later, Wally's best tools disappear from the shop. There's no sign of a forced entry, but Andy is hesitant to believe Jimmy would take the tools despite being the obvious suspect and the only one besides Gomer with a key. He suggests Barney stake out the gas station. Barney rigs up a camera to take a picture if the garage door is opened, demonstrates this for Gomer, then patrols the exterior of the station. Meanwhile, Prothroe Hanson, a dwarf, emerges from where he was hidden in the trunk of his car, and steals some more things. The next morning, faced with the evidence that there still is no forced entry, Andy confronts Jimmy. Barney has the camera film developed, but the only picture is the one of him taken during the demonstration.
Jimmy flees while they are distracted with the picture. That night, Gomer says he saw Jimmy sneaking around the filling station. Andy and Barney sneak up and discover Jimmy has taken several car batteries and hooked them to the cash register with jumper cables. Thinking Jimmy means to blast it open, they move to arrest him when he leaves the station, only to be startled by Prothroe screaming inside as he is electrocuted by the register. They unhook the batteries and rescue Prothroe, and Jimmy reveals he was only trying to help them catch the thief. Andy praises Jimmy's ingenuity and scientific know-how.
Barney's Security Camera
Notes/Trivia[]
- The title comes from the early Edison movie The Great Train Robbery (1903) which demonstrated many of the techniques of telling a story with film.
- Juanita now works at the Blue Bird Diner.
- Andy smokes in this episode.
- 30 cents a gallon for gas is what is listed at Wally's station.
- The layout of Wally's filling station seems to change for this particular episode. It's never quite explained how they are able to park a car inside the filling station itself. In every other episode, the garage is in a separate building. Gomer also says that he lives in the back of the station in Gomer the House Guest, however, it is shown that the filling station is deserted at night in this episode.
- Gomer Pyle's first-ever "Shazam!"
- In several episodes, it appears a flat cutout of the squad car is used outside the courthouse door rather than the real car.
- Wally is said to have gone to Jefferson County seat for the week but in reality, there is no Jefferson County, North Carolina. However, there is a Jefferson, North Carolina which is 63 miles from Mt. Airy so this may have been the writers incorporating the name of a nearby location to Andy’s hometown.
Goofs[]
- When Barney is testing the camera in the filling station, his mouth is open when he opens the door (and triggers the shutter). When the photograph is developed, his mouth is closed.
- Wally's station has always been out on a country road. In one scene they show a house across the street that should not be there.
Music[]
Quotes[]
Barney's Tribute to Juanita
Juanita, Juanita,
Lovely, dear Juanita,
From your head down to your feet,
There's nothing half so sweet,
As Juanita, Juanita, Juanit.
Oh, there are things of wonder,
Of which men like to sing.
There are pretty sunsets and birds upon the wing,
But of the joys of nature,
None truly can compare,
With Juanita, Juanita, she of beauty beyond compare.
Juanita, Juanita, lovely dear Juanit.''
Gallery[]
