Okay, I have to warn you--this is a long post! So skip it if you don't have time. But since this was my very first Mayberry Days, I just had to tell you all about my experience, so here it is:
I am back from the 25th annual Mayberry Days!! What fun! It was a real dream-come-true for me. Here's a (not so brief) run-down of what we did. Before we left home, Ray told me to get some of my TAGS DVD's, so I packed some from each of the first five seasons. He said, "I thought we could stop on the way and buy a portable DVD player so we can watch the show on the way there and back." Do I have a great husband, or what? So that's what we did. The one riding played the DVD's and could watch, while the one driving listened. We pumped the audio through the van's stereo, so we had great volume. It was about a ten-hour drive each way (not counting stops), so we watched a total of 41 episodes! On Friday, we arrived in time for the Mayor's Proclamation, which is so much more than that. All the guest stars and tribute artists were there, and all the stars were introduced and got up to speak. There were even a couple of musical numbers. I also met several of the tribute artists, some of whom I'd already met at Danville in May. Ray and I wanted to eat a pork chop sandwich at the Snappy Lunch, but that wasn't possible. By the time the Mayor's Proclamation was over, there was already a long line stretched out along the sidewalk, so we gave up on that idea. Instead, we walked around Main Street for a while before the Karen Knotts show "Tied up in Knotts" at the Earle Theatre. Ray and I both enjoyed Karen's show. She talked about Don, his career, and growing up with him, as well as her own life. While she talked, she showed pictures and video clips on the screen behind her. Karen definitely got some of her dad's talent. She did some great impersonations of Arlene Dahl, Carol Channing, Marilyn Monroe, and Carmen Miranda. Her take-off on Channing was spot-on! Afterwards, we visited the Andy Griffith Museum. Wow! Imagine seeing, right there in front of your eyes, Barney's salt-and-pepper suit, Andy's uniform shirt with badge, Otis's sport coat and hat, and Goober's bronzed beanie, among other things. There was Andy's desk and chair, his typewriter and gavel, the bronze eagle, the signs from the court house door, and the keys to the jail cells. Big ain't the word for it!! But it killed me not to be able to take pictures of all those wonderful items. No photography is allowed in the museum. That was the only downside. Later that afternoon was the trivia contest. I didn't even attempt it, since I knew they made the questions extremely hard, but it was fun to watch. After the contest, the members of the digest met to have a group photo taken. It was fun to put faces with some names I already knew. Before we left for the day, I suddenly realized that I had not taken any pictures of the Andy and Opie statue. Ray and I took turns with the camera and statue, and then some lovely people walked up and offered to take a picture with both of us by the statue. That was another thing about the weekend--we met so many nice people and made some new friends. TAGS fans are the best! Saturday was a very good but long day. We arrived early, before 8:00 a.m., to be ready for the parade, which started at 9:00. The parade was great! All the guest stars were there, along with many tribute artists. There were squad cars and marching bands and all kinds of other entries. It lasted about an hour, I think. After the parade ended and we returned our chairs to the van, we walked over to the museum, where the stars would be signing autographs. It wasn't time to start yet, but a line was already forming outside the door. We found out the line was for Betty Lynn, so we decided to stay in it. It's a good thing we did because before long the line was so long that I couldn't see the end of it. We spent the waiting time chatting with a nice couple from Florida who had their little dog with them. All the guest stars had tables where they were selling signed photos. While Ray stayed in line, I went over to Karen Knotts's table. I got a signed photo, told her how much we enjoyed the show, and had my picture taken with her. I said, "If you heard someone laughing uproariously at your Carol Channing impersonation, that was me!" Karen said, "Come to think of it, I *did* hear someone laughing then--a very distinctive laugh. That must have been you!" I was then going to get Jackie Joseph's autograph, but she spied the little dog ahead of us in line and wanted to pet and hold it, so I figured I'd get her later. I already had Maggie Peterson's signed photo from another event, so I went around the room and snapped a few pictures of the other guest stars while Ray was holding our place in line for Betty Lynn. Both Elizabeth McCrae and George Lindsey, Jr., mugged for my camera. We finally got up to Betty, and everything you've heard about her is true. She is truly a sweetheart of a lady. She is so humble and down to earth and is genuinely appreciative of her fans. She never rushes anyone and spends time talking with each one. We had our pictures taken with her. When I was saying goodbye, I gave her my good wishes for continued health, and she turned and kissed me on the cheek! Ray was holding the camera, but didn't get a picture of it. I said, "You would have to miss that moment!" Morgan Brittany's table was next to Betty's, so we stopped and spoke to her. She had copies of her new book "What Women Really Want." I had already checked it out on Amazon and knew it was a book I'd be interested to read, so we bought a copy and she signed it. We chatted for a bit and took pictures of each other with her. We left after that, and I realized later that I never did get back to Jackie Joseph's table. Oh, well. The day was just beautiful--perfect weather--so Ray and I walked around some more. We encountered Allan Newsome (our own Floyd the Barber) in front of Russell Hiatt's barber shop, so we stopped and talked with him a bit and took some pictures. Then we walked down Main Street to where there are replicas of the court house, Wally's Service, and other places from the show. Behind these buildings is the Darling cabin where a bluegrass band was playing, so we sat down to listen and have a bite of lunch. That afternoon, we attended Neil Brower's interview of Joy Ellison, the actress who played various young girls on the show (the daughter on the Christmas episode, Mary Wiggins, etc.). That was quite interesting. Joy gave much insight into both the making of TAGS as well as TV shows in general. At the end, Neil asked her what it meant to her that after all these years fans still remembered her and appreciated her work on the show. She said that she is rather overwhelmed by it, and she started to cry. It was very touching. Afterwards Allan Newsome saw me dabbing at my eyes, and he said, "Don't it clutch ya?" I responded, "Yes, it sure clutched me!" We stayed in the Earle Theatre for the annual meeting of The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club. I was able to talk later with Jim Clark, the Head Goober. I had corresponded with him but had never met him in person, so it was nice to do that. We had plenty of time before the Colonel Tim's show that evening, so we walked around town some more and stopped to have some ice cream. Then we drove down to Andy Griffith's boyhood home and took some pictures. Colonel Tim's Talent Time is quite a show! The whole thing lasted over three hours!! The tribute stars and guest stars were very entertaining, and they included some local talent in the show, too. Most participants sang or did comedy skits, but some talked. Since I'm also a Doris Day fan, I enjoyed what Jackie Joseph told us about Doris's 90th birthday party. I found out that Margaret Kerry has more talents than I knew. She demonstrated some of the voiceover work that she did, and she's good! She also did a tap dance--and she's 85 years old! They got some of the audience members involved with David Browning (The Mayberry Deputy) to reenact the scene when Barney does the solo with the choir. David was hysterical! The whole thing was a lot of fun and was a great cap-off to the weekend. It was hard to leave behind the whole Mayberry atmosphere and all the great people we met, but we have our memories of a wonderful weekend, in addition to the 1,100 pictures I took! It's going to take me some time to go through them all. Thanks for taking the time to read about our Mayberry adventure! Thelma Lou (Janet) _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
