Otis Campbell is the fictional "town drunk" in Mayberry on the
American TV sitcom The Andy Griffith Show. Otis was played by Hal
Smith and made frequent appearances on the show from 1960 to 1967 but
stopped appearing toward the end of the series because of concerns
raised by the sponsors over the portrayal of excessive drinking.Otis
works as a glue dipper in a furniture factory Monday through Friday
and drinks all weekend. After a binge, Otis will usually lock himself
in the town jail until he is sober. He has a key to the front door of
the courthouse and the cell keys are hung on a nail near the cells
(presumably, to accommodate Otis). The lack of crime in Mayberry and
the laid-back attitude of the Sheriff's department, easily
accommodates Otis's drinking habit. On one occasion Otis brings a suit
to the jail on Friday before his binge so that he can change into the
suit for church on Sunday without going home first. Otis often lets
himself in jail on the same day that a dignitary or a superior of
Sheriff Andy Taylor is arriving at the courthouse, much to the chagrin
of the sheriff or Deputy Barney Fife, played by Don Knotts.Otis works
as a glue dipper in a furniture factory Monday through Friday and
drinks all weekend. After a binge, Otis will usually lock himself in
the town jail until he is sober. He has a key to the front door of the
courthouse and the cell keys are hung on a nail near the cells
(presumably, to accommodate Otis). The lack of crime in Mayberry and
the laid-back attitude of the Sheriff's department, easily
accommodates Otis's drinking habit. On one occasion Otis brings a suit
to the jail on Friday before his binge so that he can change into the
suit for church on Sunday without going home first. Otis often lets
himself in jail on the same day that a dignitary or a superior of
Sheriff Andy Taylor is arriving at the courthouse, much to the chagrin
of the sheriff or Deputy Barney Fife, played by Don Knotts.In the
episode "The Case of the Punch in the Nose", it is revealed that Otis
was first arrested for drunkenness on September 23, 1941, at 2 p.m. (a
Tuesday) but was released because it was "his first offense."A common
joke on the show was to have Otis see something bizarre or unexpected
while he was inebriated that was actually present, but which he would
assume to be a drunken hallucination. Once, Sheriff Taylor locked a
dynamite-laden goat in a padded jail cell to prevent an explosion.
Predictably, Otis stumbled in after a night of drinking, and let
himself into the same cell, only to find the mattress nailed to the
wall (curiously, along with the blanket). Otis attempted to climb into
the bed anyway, and naturally fell on the floor. Believing the
peculiarity to be a result of his intoxication, he exclaimed, "First
time I ever fell off a bed onto the wall." Otis Campbell Top Movies & Young Movies