Summary[]
Barney, Floyd, and other townspeople are convinced that local resident Henry Bennett is responsible for many mishaps that have occurred in Mayberry.
Plot[]
After losing a game of checkers to Floyd the barber Barney accuses Henry Bennett, who was looking over his shoulder, of being a jinx.
Warding Off the Jinx
Soon, everyone seems to be accusing him of being responsible for some accident or problem. Andy thinks it's all nonsense and to prove his point, he asks Henry to join him and Barney in their boat at the annual fishing derby. Andy and Barney have always won the opening day prize for the most fish caught so Andy is confident this will dispel any myths about Henry. It doesn't quite go as planned when the boat springs a leak and sinks! Despondent, Henry announces that he's leaving town but Andy decides the time has come to make Henry know how much he is appreciated by his fellow citizens and arranges for Henry to win the door prize at the local fundraiser. Even that doesn't quite go as planned but Andy saves the day
Notes/Trivia[]
- This episode establishes that Opie has red hair. Seeing as how the show was in black & white, it makes it hard to tell.
- Clint Howard's (aka Leon's) first Andy Griffith Show appearance was as an uncredited boy at the church social. (at 18 min 18 sec)
- This is the second time Andy has had a rowboat that sank. In Season 1, Episode 2: The Manhunt, his boat: Gertrude sprang a leak on a regular basis and Andy said he had to caulk it often. The boat later sank when a convict tried using it to escape to the other side of the lake. The boat in this episode is not the same boat that appeared in "The Manhunt.” "The Manhunt's" boat was much smaller and had a flattened nose. It was barely big enough for Andy and Opie to sit in. The boat in this episode seats 3 people and has a pointed nose that adds 2 or 3 more feet of length to the boat.
- Norman Lawson is mentioned in this episode as being a terrible baseball player.
- This is one of the rare times we see rain in Mayberry. The others are in A Black Day for Mayberry, Quiet Sam, and Dogs, Dogs, Dogs.
- The 1999 song "Man With the Hex,” by Atomic Fireballs, quotes Barney's spell-breaking chant almost verbatim in its lyrics.
- The lottery number 44 that everyone has is probably an homage to Andy's movie "A Face In The Crowd" in which Walter Matthau is repeatedly called "Vanderbilt 44" by Andy's character Lonesome Rhodes.
Goofs[]
- Revealing mistakes: The opening shot of the episode, of the man and woman walking by the front of Floyd's Barbershop, is the exact same shot as in the episode, The Manicurist.
- When Barney asks for an oar, a close-up reveals that there is one near his foot which he could have grabbed.
Music[]
Quotes[]
Barney: There are atmospheric rays which control bodily motion. Now if a person containing negative or hexant qualities gets between you and them rays, why he creates a static that jars any successful motion into an unsuccessful motion, and jinxes ya'. And that is a scientific fact!
Andy: And that is also the biggest crock of nothing I ever heard.
Barney: (Protection from a Man with a Hex, said while reaching your right arm over your head and touching your
left earlobe with your eyes closed.)
Wink'um pink'um,
nodamus rex,
protect us all,
from the man with the hex
Barney:
Come fish come, come fish come,
Sam's at the gate, with a frosted cake,
come fish come.
Fly away buzzard, fly away crow,
way down South where the winds don't blow.
Rub your nose, and give two winks,
and save us from this awful jinx.
Gallery[]
Behind the Scenes[]
