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(The
following article appeared in the New Castle Courier-Times
and is written by Managing Editor Darrel Radford.
The newspaper's website can be found at
www.thecouriertimes.com.)
Mayberry delights, inspires
By Darrel Radford
Managing Editor
dradford@thecouriertimes.com
Posted July 22, 2002
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Mayor Sherman Boles chats with the Mayberry Deputy
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In vintage Don Knotts fashion, The Mayberry Deputy literally
set the stage for a memorable evening at Bundy Auditorium
Saturday night.
"There's only one word for this," David
Browning told the sell-out crowd in a way that would make
Don Knotts smile. "BIG"
Indeed, the event that drew people from as
far away as California to New Castle was everything Mayberry
fans could have hoped for.
George "Goober" Lindsey rattled off jokes
faster than Andy used to run away from Charlene Darling.
Ernest T entered the auditorium from the back, throwing fake
"rocks" at the audience on his way up to the stage. Thelma
Lou and Darling charmed the crowd with songs while James
Best kept fans on the edge of their seats in anticipation
that he might actually play that guitar of his.
He didn't, of course, but nobody was
complaining during a four-hour show in which the Mayberry
cast was as pleased with the audience as the audience was
with the show.
They laughed...they clapped....they sang.
They offered standing ovations more than
once. Likewise, they were praised in return by an
appreciative group of veteran actors whose credits read like
a Hollywood history book.
Howard Morris, alias Ernest T. Bass, had
worked with Sid Caesar. James Best had worked with Jimmy
Stewart. The Dillards had done some pickin' with comedian
Steve Martin and his banjo.
And Mitch Jayne, who played with the
Dillards on the Andy Griffith show, was a close friend of
the late Denver Pyle. In fact, Jayne spent his time on stage
telling stories and paying tribute to Pyle.
Jayne came out wearing an Anaheim Angels
cap that Denver Pyle wore. It was given to him as a gesture
of thanks by Pyle's wife after the actor's death.
"Denver wore this because Gene Autry gave
it to him," Jayne explained.
When Jayne mentioned Pyle's the name, the
sell-out crowd applauded, prompting the musician to thank
the audience for giving Pyle something he never received
much of during his impressive film career. Because nearly
all of it was film, Jayne said, Pyle never got to see people
express appreciation for his work.
"Denver never bragged about himself, never
envied anybody. He was his own man. He never took himself
seriously but took his work seriously every day that he
lived."
Jayne said that Pyle, the grand patriarch
of the Darling family on The Andy Griffith Show, had great
respect for the show's namesake.
"Boys, you watch that man," Denver would
say about Andy Griffith. "He's an acting lesson."
Jayne also recounted a story about Pyle's
experience on a John Wayne film. He said the two actors
became good friends to the point of giving each other a hard
time on the set.
"Mr. Pyle, there's about a dozen ways to
bail out of a horse and that's the worst one I ever saw,"
Jayne said John Wayne once told Pyle after an awkward
dismount during a western movie.
Jayne also took time to recount his
favorite Andy Griffith episode ó once in which the Darling
boys turned snoring into a musical experience.
"Each of us picked out a snore we'd heard,"
Jayne said. "Andy cracked up, slid out of his chair and
started pounding the floor, he was laughing so hard. He said
it sounded like somebody ripping the siding off an elephant.
We had to do that scene many, many times because even the
stage hands couldn't contain themselves."
The Bundy Auditorium setting provided an
impressive backdrop to the show.
A Mayberry police car was on stage, along
with an old fashioned gas pump and barber pole just for the
Floyd impersonator. There was also an appearance by an Otis
the drunk impersonator.
Saturday's show completed a big two-day
event that saw 2,500 attend a Saturday morning autograph
session. On Friday, more than 1,000 attended the hog roast
and celebrity auction.
The auction raised about $9,000.
Christine Mallette, director of tourism and
marketing for the Henry County Convention and Visitors
Bureau, said 41 live items and nine silent items were sold
for the auction.
A 1-week stay at Dale Hollow Lake, in the
foothills of the Cumberland Mountains, was the top-selling
item, Mallette said.
Money raised from the auction will be
divided between two local organizations; two-thirds will go
to Henry County United Fund, and one-third will go to the
Art Association of Henry County.
Saturday's show had some distinct local
flavor.
When The Mayberry Deputy wasn't hosting the
show, he was casting a wary eye at local stage helper Mike
Fleming. Fleming, himself a well-known local actor, played
right along.
Rodney Dillard was made an honorary member
of the New Castle S.W.A.T. team. Dillard's son is a member
of the S.W.A.T. team in Branson, Mo. The presentation was
made by local law enforcement officials and Mayor Sherman
Boles, who teased the local audience members by saying he
had been "practicing on his accent" just for the Mayberry
show.
There were funny confrontations on stage,
thanks to The Mayberry Deputy, who tried to get the best of
Best.
"I out-rank you," Best told the deputy.
Then Best unbuttoned his shirt to great audience applause as
he displayed a uniform that made him famous on The Dukes
of Hazzard and proclaimed "I am Roscoe P. Coltrane."
The Mayberry Deputy wasn't impressed.
"Nip it in the bud," he said. "You beat
everything, you know that."
"Don't touch this shirt," Best warned.
"This goes for $3,000 on ebay!"
There was no confrontation, however, where
Mayberry cast members and the audience were concerned.
Even Ernest T. became mellow in saying
thanks for what was considered by most to be an outstanding
weekend.
"After 40 years, I want to tell you how
touching it is for me to listen to your joy and your
affection," Howard Morris said. "For 40 years you've been
doing your part. You've made me very grateful. I thank you
for being the most loyal fans any show ever had."
Betty Lynn - alias Thelma Lou - also had
kind things to say. And they weren't to the Mayberry Deputy,
they were to the Mayberry fans in New Castle.
"It's a beautiful little town," she said of
New Castle. "I love all the trees and greenery. I don't see
a lot of that in Los Angeles where I live. I hope you all
appreciate what you have here. You have room to look out
over the landscape. It's not all crowded together. It's
wonderful."
Dillard said he and the boys "were all
keyed up" as Denver Pyle liked to say on the Griffith show
about playing Carnegie Hall Nov. 30.
"And if people are one eighth as nice as
you are, we'll be okay," Dillard said.
The memorable evening ended with Goober
reading a poem "What Mayberry Means to Me," which no doubt
transformed the tears brought about by so much laughter into
tears of sentimental appreciation.
But the heartfelt ending didn't stop Ernest
T from tossing a final "rock" at the audience as he left the
stage.
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