When stray dogs descended on Mayberry … In memory of Andy Griffith (1926-2012)
Andy, Goober and a “talking” dog
Where Ace and I are living now — just down the road from Mayberry — episodes of “The Andy Griffith Show” were being shown nearly all day long today after news broke about the actor’s death.
There are those who will tell you there is no real Mayberry in North Carolina. They’re the same ones who will tell you there is no Santa. In truth, in North Carolina, Mayberry is never more than 30 minutes away from wherever you are.
You just head down that country road, away from the big city — the Charlotte, the Raleigh, the Greensboro – and stop in the first town big enough to have gas pumps and a barber shop. If you’re greeted with a smile, and it appears genuine, you’re in Mayberry.
Mayberry is a state of mind — a zen-like destination, reachable only by slowing the hell down, caring about your fellow man, letting yourself think in an unrushed manner and having a second piece of pie.
And one man was the sparkly-eyed epitome of that. Andy Griffith, who died peacefully at his home this morning and, according to the local sheriff, has been laid to rest on the family farm on Roanoke Island.
The “Andy Griffith Show” always struck me as a lot like a dog — able to calm me down, and make me smile, and be convinced, for 30 minutes at least, that the world is a good place, and mankind not too shabby a species.
Dogs had center state in only a few episodes of the show, like the time Opie and a friend rigged a walkie-talkie to a dog and convinced Goober his dog could talk, or, my favorite, the time the sheriff’s office was beseiged with strays.
Of all the smallish towns in North Carolina, Mount Airy — Griffith’s birthplace — is the one that makes the most of its link to Mayberry, and, true to form, it’s only a half hour up the road. We’ve been there for a couple of visits.
But most times we get there via remote control. If you keep flipping, you can usually find Mayberry and, for half an hour, go back to a time and place where folks managed to be social without “social networks,” where the pace was slow, things were black and white, and life had just the right amount of complications — enough to keep it interesting without it being overwhelming.
That’s what I liked about Mayberry: Almost every problem could be resolved calmly, kindly, with unrushed reasoning — even what to do with a pesky pack of stray dogs:
PART ONE: In which Otis gets his breakfast and Opie finds a dog …
PART TWO: In which Barney takes the dogs — 11 of them now — to a happy place …
PART THREE: In which the strays save the day …
Posted by jwoestendiek July 3rd, 2012 under Muttsblog, videos.
Tags: andy, andy griffith, andy griffith show, andy taylor, animals, dead, died, dogs, episodes, icon, mayberry, memory, north carolina, nostalgia, opie, pets, sheriff, stray dogs, talking dogs, taylor, television
Comments
Comment from debbie
Time July 3, 2012 at 11:28 pm
Ditto for me John… lovely
Comment from Sue
Time July 4, 2012 at 5:59 am
Thanks for this tribute to Andy, but especially to Mayberry. It is, indeed, a state of mind. A good one! And the stray dog episode is one of my faves.
Comment from Miss Jan
Time July 4, 2012 at 1:51 pm
Lovely tribute to the man and the Mayberry state of mind. Many years ago I visited a dear friend in Graham, NC. Oh the fun we had. Being a Yank I’d never experienced iced sweetea served with hot hushpuppies drenched in butter and OMG the best coleslaw ever, ever. I think I dined on that three x day for the time I was there. We toured, by horseback (plainshod Tennessee Walkers) and by car. And I was introduced to “Mayberry” everywhere, from the tiny country store at a wide spot in the two-lane road where the old-fashioned gas pumps sported Nehi stickers and the attendant sat on an upturned bucket enjoying a “chaw” to a sleek upscale restaurant in a clearly well-to-do small town where you expected snootiness based on what you saw and instead experienced the warmest welcomes possible – along with absolutely killer roast chicken with every trimmin’ imaginable. and PIE. OMG. THE PIES. I will tell you, when my friend showed me the farm where a relative formerly lived, just shy of the north state line, and it was for sale, it was all I could do not to whip out my checkbook and go for it – just the thought of a husband 3000 miles away stopped me. Wish I had gone ahead and done so because the husband went away about five years later but the dream of that North Carolina farm never, ever did. And that was 25 years ago.
Yes – I still believe in Santa as a place of good spirit though it is awfully hard to find these days, and I still believe in Mayberry. Why, there’s a Mayberry even in Kentucky and it used to have a black lab as mayor! I do think that Mayberry is maybe a shangri-law of the midwest, the southeast and maybe the deep south too. I am not convinced it exists west of the Mississippi. So someday I will go looking for the spirits of Andy and the show characters, and that Maybe-Mayberry, too.
Comment from Miss Jan
Time July 4, 2012 at 1:55 pm
Forgot to name the Kentucky town that personifies Mayberry there like Andy’s Mayberry did in NC – that would be Rabbit Hash, KY.
Comment from Brandt Hardin
Time July 3, 2012 at 5:11 pm
Andy brought small-town humor and life into the homes of every American through their television screens. He’ll be missed after his long and full career of entertainment which still fills many households like my own family’s. I created a portrait of Andy and Don Knotts for my Cult of Personality series a few years back, which depicted entertainers who influenced my life in one capacity or another. I shared work of art today on my artist’s blog at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2012/07/in-memoriam-andy-griffith.html Feel free to drop by and share your own memories of growing up with Mayberry.