The Statue - S7-E23
Audio problem: When Aunt Bee is introduced at the start of the ceremony, in the first wideshot as she begins her speech we hear her say, "Friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens of Mayberry" but it's not in sync with her mouth movements. (00:18:45)
The Statue - S7-E23
Other mistake: At the end of the ceremony, when Aunt Bee finally unveils the life-size statue of Seth Taylor the prop jiggles (presumably it's plastic) back and forth on the base, even though we know it's carved out of a block of granite (stated by Howard earlier in the episode) by a stonemason. (00:05:00 - 00:22:55)
The Statue - S7-E23
Continuity mistake: At the end, when Aunt Bee concludes the reading of the minutes and mentions the improvement fund, she's holding the blue folder up in her hands with its notepapers inside, but in the next shot one of the notepapers is suddenly flipped over the top of the folder. (00:23:45)
Answer: As noted in the previous answers, in real life, things like this provided wind and/or rain deflection, and also maintained a bit of privacy when blinds were raised somewhat. The interior courthouse set was located in the studio, so the "outside" Main Street didn't exist. I believe these things were added to the courthouse windows for practicality, to avoid some crew movement being visible on the opposite side of those windows. These are not "window boxes" to hold anything, as they're actually bottomless; we can see the Venetian blind's long pull cords under them. They're made of plywood and simple to build, so the "material and labor" was inexpensive. Similar variations made of different materials are in other movies/shows. In 1957's "12 Angry Men," textured chicken wire glass panels are in the jury room windows, and in "Jesse Stone: Night Passage" another type is in Jesse's office windows.
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