Aunt Bee's Big Moment - S8-E23
Visible crew/equipment: After Aunt Bee's solo flight, just as the flight instructor walks over and gives Bee the papers as proof that she soloed, the large T-mark (rubber/plastic) is visible on the ground between Bee and the instructor.
Aunt Bee's Big Moment - S8-E23
Visible crew/equipment: After Aunt Bee tells Opie that she will solo the next day, when she sits in the chair to practice her flight maneuvers, the actor's tape mark is visible on the floor beside her feet.
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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