Day 150
I feel like we all lost a neighbor today. The slow talking, good-natured southern gentleman who lived down the street – who waved as you went by or offered you a lemonade as you passed on foot, the one who always wore a smile. Andy Griffith died today. He was 86.
I don’t know anyone who hasn’t watched at least one episode of Andy of Mayberry … anyone (over a certain age) who doesn’t remember those days of waiting to see what hilarity Barney would bring to the screen and what soft-spoken words of wisdom Andy might impart … and what pie Aunt Bea was baking?
When I was searching for a new hometown there were times when I longed to find a town such as Mayberry … where life was slower and people knew each other and on Sunday afternoons they’d walk to a friend’s home for a visit and a cold bottle of orange soda while rocking on the front porch.
S-L-O-W-E-R. Sounds nice. And intriguing. And impossible.
But for a brief half hour of black and white tv we can have it all. The caring nature of Aunt Bea … the primness of Miss Crump … the sweetness of Thelma Lou. We can watch Barney struggle to get that one bullet out of his pocket while in some ridiculous predicament and know he’ll eventually shoot off his gun accidentally. We can watch Gomer sing gospel … Goober pump gas … Floyd cut hair. We can even watch Miss Clara grow her prize-winning roses, Otis sleep it off in the jail and the mayor and the department store owner and all the others do what they did best – give us a glimpse of life when time was slower and there was no crime and kids respected their elders and all was sweet and good and innocent. They did that by bringing us into their lives – all in fictional Mayberry, North Carolina.
And that show introduced us to Opie … the cutest six-year old ever! What a career Ron Howard has had!
I heard it said once that Andy Griffith, after the first show, decided that Don Knotts (Barney) should play the comedic role and he’d play the straight man. That was not how the producers wanted things but he said that was how it was going to be. I also heard it said that he treated everyone with kindness and as if they were family. I wouldn’t expect anything less.
During and after all those years of his career, Andy seemed to avoid the “star” or celebrity status that came with his fame … somehow keeping his neighborliness and homespun goodness intact and visible at all times.
In any case, I feel like we all lost a friend, neighbor or sweet uncle today. I don’t know anyone who personally knew him – but I think we all feel like we did.