Parker Stevenson (Michael Digby) at this time was most famous for portraying Frank Hardy in The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (1977), a series about two famous detective brothers.
The envelope sent to Sheriff Tupper bears a rather unusual stamp. Affixed upside down and postmarked to match the envelope, it's a commemorative poster stamp for the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games, a fairly obscure and rare choice. It would have been a 53-year old stamp even at the time the show was first aired, and is also from the wrong coast given that the fictional Cabot Cove is supposedly in Maine.
The stamp gives the appearance of being the genuine item, and one taken from somewhere near the center of the top row on a sheet given the wider top margin. Some modern counterfeits of this stamp are known to exist, however, so it's possible it had no real value.
The stamp gives the appearance of being the genuine item, and one taken from somewhere near the center of the top row on a sheet given the wider top margin. Some modern counterfeits of this stamp are known to exist, however, so it's possible it had no real value.
The title is from the childhood rhyme that is meant to repel name callers: Stick and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.