Visible crew/equipment: While Ollie's making up excuses to rush home, he and Nora are saying goodbye to Aunt Bee, and the reflection of the moving boom pole and mic are visible on the car's windshield.
Visible crew/equipment: While Andy's sitting on his desk going through the mail and Barney's sitting on the side desk, the actors' chalk marks are visible on the floor behind them, in the shots facing both of them.
Visible crew/equipment: When Gloria and Frank drive off at the end, just as the camera zooms in on Andy and Helen, the shadow of the moving boom mic is visible at the top, left side of the screen.
The Education of Ernest T. Bass - S5-E4
Visible crew/equipment: When Ernest T. runs across the street to help Helen with her groceries she rushes away from him and heads up the block to Andy, and as Andy and Helen walk toward the courthouse the shadow of the boom mic passes across the white pillar in front of the door.
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.
Super Grover ★