News Article
From Ron Green Jr., staff writer for the News and Observer, Raleigh NC: When my 8-year old nephew saw an image of Andy Griffith on the computer screen Tuesday, he stopped and said, Hey, Andy Griffith. What other 86 year old entertainer would an 8 year old recognize? It speaks in a small way to who Andy Griffith was, not just to my boomer generation, but to seemingly every generation that celebrated the Fourth of July on Wednesday. He was Andy Taylor, the great American sheriff and moralist. Andy Taylor was a television creation, but what made him enduring is how much we wanted him to be real. Andy Griffith was real and though most of us knew him only through the characters he played, I hope he was something like the sheriff who didn't carry a gun. When the news came that Andy - if you're born in North Carolina, you're born on a first name basis with Mr. Griffith - had passed away in Manteo, I felt it. Maybe you did, too. He had that kind of effect on many of us. The Andy Griffith Show went off the air more than 50 years ago but it has lived on through syndication, the rare television show that can be shared by three generations. It was about Barney Fife and Opie, Ernest T. Bass and Aunt Bea, Helen Crump and Thelma Lou. At its heart, though, it was about Andy. Andy Griffith did many things in his career but he is best remembered fro being the sheriff of an imaginary town where most of the trouble was caused by Barney. Andy Taylor wasn't perfect but he set a nearly perfect example for Opie and the rest of us. It was simple but it felt right. Think about this: How rare is it to come across an Andy Griffith episode you don't remember? To borrow a line from perhaps the best episode of The Andy Griffith Show, a lot of heats feel empty today. But don't our memories seem nice and full! Submitted by Welford TheCameraNut ___ WBMUTBB mailing list WBMUTBB@wbmutbb.com http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
News from Mount Airy
Today's Mount Airy News has an article about the City of Mount Airy planning an event to honor Andy Griffith. (Mayor) Cochran said details for some kind of public program to honor Griffith are still being worked out, but that she thinks such an event is needed “to show our intense love for him and the contributions he made” to Mount Airy. http://mtairynews.com/bookmark/19213454 Jeff ___ WBMUTBB mailing list WBMUTBB@wbmutbb.com http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
Allen, Andy and Elvis
Thank you Allen for the multiple postings allowing everyone to express their timely condolences and sense of loss concerning one of the finest men and great entertainers of our lifetime. On another note I wasn't aware that Andy once toured with Elvis Presley. Apparently in 1955 he joined Elvis and several Grand Ole Opry stars touring the countryNeedless to say Andy got top billing...this was in July of 1955 before either he or Elvis had hit the big time. Andy had been touring with his wife, Barbara doing a song and dance routine. So this would have been about the time he started doing stand-up comedy. Tickets for the shows sold for $1.25. How times change. You can't even get a nectarine crush for that price today. Vic Friskey ___ WBMUTBB mailing list WBMUTBB@wbmutbb.com http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
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Andy's Passing
I know I sent in a post the other evening but I felt compelled to send this one. I was thinking about Andy singing There is a Time from the Guest in the House episode. I've always been a little more partial to The Darlings version in The Darling Baby but I wanted to hear Andy's version again. After watching it this afternoon I understood why I wanted to hear it. It is such a deep, contemplating version. Wow! You have to wonder if Frances Bavier and Jan Shutan (who played Gloria) were acting or actually caught up in the moment. Chris Nelson Mayberry Volunteers Chapter Wilmington, NC ___ WBMUTBB mailing list WBMUTBB@wbmutbb.com http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
Re: Andy and Elvis
Thank you for telling us about the tour, Mr. Friskey. Here is an Andy Griffith Scrapbook cid:part1.01080301.07000908@oldpinkhilltraders.comfrom the tour. It has a nice, two-page write up on Mr. Griffith in the beginning of the book. That same year Andy, Elvis and Imogene Cocoa performed a cowboy skit on the Steve Allen Show. It was mentioned on a forum that Elvis was eluded to or mentioned on TAGS a couple of times. ~Kim in MO On 7/6/2012 11:00 AM, wbmutbb-requ...@wbmutbb.com wrote: On another note I wasn't aware that Andy once toured with Elvis Presley. Apparently in 1955 he joined Elvis and several Grand Ole Opry stars touring the country. ___ WBMUTBB mailing list WBMUTBB@wbmutbb.com http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
My Tribute to Andy
I spent some time this past weekend being interviewed by our local newspaper and one of our TV stations. I was also on one of the morning local talk radio shows. I submitted the following tribute to Andy which will be printed in our newspaper this week. For the past two years I have had the pleasure of traveling around west central Wisconsin driving my 1965 Ford Galaxie replica Mayberry squad car and dressing as Barney Fife. I have attended many classic car shows and have participated in parades in many small towns as The Mayberry Guru. I think it is only fitting that I share a few thoughts about the passing of Andy Griffith. In one of The Andy Griffith Show episodes, Deputy Barney Fife said that Andy Taylor was the best friend Mayberry ever had. I would like to expand that thought by saying Andy Taylor was one of the best friends America ever had. Portraying Sheriff Andy Taylor, Andy Griffith showed millions of viewers for five decades what is decent and right about this great country. The town of Mayberry and the character Andy Griffith portrayed may have been fictitious, but the values they represented were very real then and are very real today. As I travel around the state in my squad car I get to talk with hundreds of people and while doing so I have discovered an important truth. Many people today are yearning to return to a time when life was much slower and simpler. They yearn for their children and grandchildren to be able to grow up in a place like Mayberry where they can enjoy being children and where they are not forced to grow up too fast. I have also had the great privilege of giving my Mayberry Presentation to over fifty groups all over Wisconsin and Minnesota. People of all ages share with me their love of the Andy Griffith Show and what an impact Andy Griffith had on their lives through his portrayal of Sheriff Taylor. I never had the honor of meeting Andy Griffith. But if I would have met him I would have said to him, “Thank you my friend. Thank you for giving us more than fifty years of great entertainment. Thank you for showing us what life is meant to be like. Thank you for all the laughs and for all the tears.” Just because Andy Griffith is no longer with us, that does mean the end of Mayberry. Mayberry will live on in all the hearts that have come to love that wonderful town and its wonderful people. And thanks to modern technology future generations will also be able to enjoy Andy Griffith, a true icon of the entertainment industry. -- Ken Anderson The Mayberry Guru 2906 May Street Eau Claire, Wisconsin 54701 www.mayberryreflections.com ___ WBMUTBB mailing list WBMUTBB@wbmutbb.com http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
Our Andy
I don't know if Andy's family visits here, but I send my deepest condolences to them. Like so many of you, my heart is deeply saddened by the passing of Our Andy. Like all of you, I have had many friends call, text and email me because they know how much I love Andy and TAGS. I counted it an honor to just get to see Andy when the TV Land statue was given to Mt Airy, and I will always remember it as one of the best times of my life. Such an humble man who brought all of us so much laughter and wonderful entertainment for so many years. All I could think about when I heard the news of Andy's passing was a line from the Winken, Blinken and Nod episode, that I will take the liberty of changing just a bit. When Opie was so sad as he looked at the cage after his birds had flown away, Andy told him: but don't the trees seem nice and full. I would say to all of us who will miss Andy: Yes he is gone, but doesn't heaven seem nice and full. Right there with you Bob. Anita Carpenter One of Cincinnati's Biggest TAGS Fans ___ WBMUTBB mailing list WBMUTBB@wbmutbb.com http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
