Opie Steps Up in Class - S8-E5
Continuity mistake: When Aunt Bee picks up Opie at Billy's house, she parks the car in front and walks up to the front door. In the wideshot there's a space of approximately 3-4 feet between the blue window shutter and the door trim under the pediment, but in Aunt Bee's closeup there is no space whatsoever.
Opie Steps Up in Class - S8-E5
Continuity mistake: When Aunt Bee drives up to the Hollander house with Opie, in the wideshot the car's rearview mirror is affixed to the windshield, but in the closeup the mirror has vanished.
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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