>>In the season six episode "Malcolm at the Crossroads" I am almost positive there is a male mannequin being used as a Mayberry citizen. Ken Anderson<<
I have always wondered about that too. Ken. They had plenty of extras. Have never come up with a logical reason for that. Jimmy Dean down in Alabama Ken and Jimmy, this is a good topic, and got me curious, so I took a look at it to weigh in with my vote. It's not a mannequin. It's a real actor. I assume you mean the guy across the street leaning against a post watching the Malcolm accident. He stands there very stiff in his dark suit and nice hat, with his hands behind his back. Here are my thoughts and theories. They were short a background actor that day and the Director told Ruth Burch the casting director to just go get some "working stiff". Since this episode was about Malcolm the Englister, they hired a Buckingham Palace Guard (the ones who don't move) and just put a normal suit on him. He was one of the Bookie Barber's customers in town to scout out a new location and he tried not to look too conspicuous. Most of the background actors gathered around Malcolm, but he was told to stay on his spot...being a former military man he stood in the "at ease" position and did not move. He was working for Ben Weaver as a plain clothes detective (he had a black suit that was real plain) and he was pretending to be a mannequin to spot shop lifters coming out of Weavers. Seriously, the time of his exposure is so short---its plausible that he just stood motionless to give the scene some depth of townspeople. I love something else in the background of that show. The cherry red/orange Ford Mustang seen a couple times. I have a miniature mock-up (about 12 inches) of that very car from when my Dad was a Ford Dealer. Anyway my theory is he is real. The Untrained Voice In training as a noticer _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
