In this 1961 “Andy Griffith Show,” Sheriff Andy Taylor worries that a record producer rolling through Mayberry is just a con man trolling for investors. It turns out that Andy is wrong, a rare departure from the usual theme of a sensible sheriff surrounded by bumpkins.

This is one of the earlier episodes when Andy was dating Ellie Walker, the pleasant and lovely pharmacist. Ellie appeared in only 12 Andy Griffith Shows, with Griffith later admitting that he didn’t know how to write for her.

Ellie’s character was a TV pioneer, bringing forward-thinking feminist concepts to sleepy Mayberry while major civil rights and female empowerment societal change was burgeoning across America.

Of course, Ellie was a complete one-eighty from the cranky, controlling school teacher Helen Crump, cast as Andy’s next love interest and put in more traditional female roles.

The “Mayberry on Record,” “Ellie Saves a Female,” and “Ellie Runs for Council” are three of the most significant TV offerings of 1961, and they all came from the seemingly innocuous Andy Griffith Show.