It’s a funny thing when a new character is introduced into an established TV sitcom. Some become so popular that they get their own series (Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney on Happy Days); others stay on as regular co-stars (Steve Urkel on Family Matters; Larry, Darryl and Darryl on Newhart); and still others are fondly remembered for just a handful of appearances. Such is the case with Skippy and Daphne, two free-spirited, good time-seeking gals who gave sheriff Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith) and deputy Barney Fife (Don Knotts) no end of troubles in a trio of memorable episodes of The Andy Griffith Show.
The dizzy duo made their Mayberry debut in 1962’s Season Three episode “Barney Mends a Broken Heart.” When Andy and county nurse girlfriend Peggy (Joanna Moore) seemingly break up after an argument, Barney tries to help his pal out of his funk by setting up a double date at a local café with two women he met from the nearby “big city” of Mt. Pilot: the bubbly and chatty Skippy (Joyce Jameson), noted for her high-pitched laugh and habit of referring to Barney as “Bernie,” and the sultry Daphne (Jean Carson), whose trademark greeting was a breathy “Hello, doll.” Andy, of course, is in no mood for his deputy’s latest fix-up attempt, and even less so when Daphne’s jealous ex-boyfriend Al shows up and gives the out-of-uniform lawman a black eye. The ladies were only around for one scene, but they clearly made an impression with viewers.
While Carson would turn up a month later in another role (as one of the fugitive prisoners holding Barney and Floyd hostage in “Convicts at Large”), she and Jameson wouldn’t return together until Season Four’s aptly titled “Fun Girls.” A late-night work session at the sheriff’s office is interrupted when the pair follow “Bernie” back during a dinner run and refuse to leave. The fellas convince the gals to let them drive them back to Mt. Pilot, but who should see the quartet leaving together but Andy’s and Barney’s steady gals, Helen and Thelma Lou? The next day the jealous sweethearts break their dates for that night’s dance social (and Thelma Lou gives their “rivals” the catty nickname “Fun Girls”). Three guesses who “Mr. Fix-It” Barney arranges to attend the dance with him and Andy. The fellas eventually smooth things over, and Daphne and Skippy are left in the capable company of cousins Gomer and Goober Pyle (the latter making his first show appearance in this episode).
Let’s take a moment here to look at the talented actresses behind the characters. Joyce Jameson (1927-1987), a Chicago native and UCLA graduate, made her Hollywood debut as a chorus girl in the 1951 version of Show Boat. Her more than two dozen films included Billy Wilder’s 1960 Best Picture Oscar-winner The Apartment; a pair of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe shockers, Tales of Terror (1962) and The Comedy of Terrors (1963); alongside Elvis Presley in 1966’s Frankie and Johnny; as one of the race announcers in 1975’s Death Race 2000; and in two Clint Eastwood features, The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) and Every Which Way But Loose (1979). Joyce was also a small-screen regular for over 25 years on everything from Science Fiction Theatre, The Danny Thomas Show, The Munsters, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (she dated star Robert Vaughn in the mid-‘60s) to The Waltons, The Rockford Files, Barney Miller, and The Fall Guy. Coping with depression for many years, she would pass away from an overdose of pills.
Smoky-voiced Jean Carson (1923-2005) was, like Don Knotts, a native West Virginian. Her 1948 Broadway debut in the George S. Kaufman play Bravo! earned her a Theatre World award, and she picked up a Tony Award nomination as Pearl in 1950’s short-lived The Bird Cage. Jean’s brief movie résumé included The Phenix City Story, I Married a Monster from Outer Space, The Party with Peter Sellers, and the original Fun with Dick and Jane, but she was a steady TV presence in such shows as Studio One, Peter Gunn, The Twilight Zone (the episode “A Most Unusual Camera,” written with her in mind by Rod Serling), Death Valley Days, and Perry Mason. Retiring from acting in the mid-‘70s, Carson answered fan questions and sold signed photos on her website before succumbing to complications from a stroke.
Daphne and Skippy would come back a year later in Season Five’s “The Arrest of the Fun Girls,” which starts promisingly with the duo speeding through downtown Mayberry to get Andy and Barney’s attention (“I was sayin’ to Daphne, ‘How can we pick up on our cop friends?,’ Skippy explains. “And then she said, ‘Why don’t we let them pick us up?’”). From there the episode soon turns into a rehash—albeit an amusing one—of “Fun Girls,” complete with comedic misunderstandings by Thelma Lou and Helen. The most memorable scene is when town inebriate Otis Campbell walks into the sheriff’s office and locks himself in his favorite cell to sleep off a bender, only to find that he has two comely cellmates.
Knotts’ decision to turn in his badge after five years to pursue a solo career in feature films probably helped to put the kibosh on any future appearances by Daphne and Skippy, or maybe the creators simply felt that the characters had run their course (unlike what might have happened in the ‘70s or ‘80s there were no plans for a spin-off series). And so the “Fun Girls” drove back home to Mt. Pilot and–save for a brief mention in the 1986 reunion movie Return to Mayberry—lived on in fans’ memories alongside Malcolm Merriweather, the Darling family, and Ernest T. Bass…but those are stories for another time.