This Fourth of July, many Americans found themselves yearning for a better America, while mourning the loss of Andy Griffith and watching marathons of “The Andy Griffith Show.”
Most beloved for his role as Sheriff Andy Taylor on “The Andy Griffith Show” and as Ben Matlock in “Matlock,” Griffith died in the early morning of July 3. He was at his home in Manteo, N.C., with his wife at his side. Griffith was 86 years old.
“He is the love of my life, my constant companion, my partner, and my best friend. I cannot imagine life without Andy, but I take comfort and strength in God’s grace and in the knowledge that Andy is at peace and with God,” said Cindi Griffith, in a statement from the Andy Griffith Museum website.
“The Andy Griffith Show,” which famously starts out with father and son walking together down a trail to that unforgettable whistled tune, depicted life in a small southern town called Mayberry.
Sheriff Andy Taylor was a widower, a dedicated friend, and father. The sheriff had class and virtue; he protected the town not with a gun, but with wisdom and humor.
The show was immensely popular when it first aired in the 1960s. It ran for 249 episodes over eight seasons. The reruns are just as popular today. “I am so much enjoying this show. That calm, quiet, peaceful sort of thing you can’t get livin' in a big city,” wrote one fan on YouTube, after watching episode 16.
Griffith’s hometown, Mount Airy, N.C., is said to be the inspiration for the town of Mayberry.
In 2009, Mount Airy started a new tradition, putting on the annual Mayberry Days festival. According to the Mayberry Days website, it’s a day for “fans who long for the days when life was simple and the sheriff didn’t carry a gun.”
Days Gone By
Here is a recap of a classic episode: A businessman from Charlotte, Mr. Tucker, is always in a hurry. He finds himself stranded in Mayberry with car troubles. The town’s mechanic, Gomer, fixes the businessman’s car but when Sheriff Andy, his young son Opie, Aunt Bee, and Gomer give warm-hearted goodbyes, the businessman can’t resist the kind Mayberry folk and stays an extra night. They spend the night rocking on the porch singing “Go Tell Aunt Rhody” and talking about getting a bottle of pop.
It just makes you feel good—and in the mid-1960s, that’s what TV was supposed to do.
The Andy Griffith Show is “genial and comparatively innocuous; these shows were just right for a time when TV was under frequent attack by the Federal Communications Commission and Congressional committees for its violent content,” wrote Jerry Haggins on The Museum of Broadcasting Communications website, in memory of Griffith.
Other standards at the time regulated television with the goal of advancing education, culture, and community responsibility. A senate judiciary committee report released in 1955 advised that television depicting “cruelty, greed, and selfishness as worthy motivations, is to be avoided” and “criminality shall be presented as undesirable and unsympathetic.”
The 1955 television standards sound a lot like Mayberry.
Fondly Remembered
In a statement on Tuesday, President Barack Obama said he and Michelle Obama were saddened by the news of Griffith’s death.
“A performer of extraordinary talent, Andy was beloved by generations of fans and revered by entertainers who followed in his footsteps. He brought us characters from Sheriff Andy Taylor to Ben Matlock, and in the process, warmed the hearts of Americans everywhere. Our thoughts and prayers are with Andy’s family,” said Obama.
Griffith has been laid to rest on Roanoke Island, just off the coast in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. With deep roots in North Carolina, Griffith supported many charitable causes, including the Outer Banks Conservationists, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the Outer Banks islands; the Griffith Scholarship Fund at UNC–Chapel Hill, which awards funds to undergraduates who plan to major in music; and the Surry Arts Council in his hometown of Mount Airy.
Tanya Jones, executive director of the Surry Arts Council, said they are broken-hearted. “His contribution to us, the Surry Arts Council, and the town of Mount Airy cannot be measured. We are blessed to have known him. We will cherish is his art, his music, his talent, and of course, our beloved Andy Griffith Show,” Jones said in a statement.
North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue said the state has lost its favorite son. “Andy Griffith graciously stepped into the living rooms of generations of Americans, always with the playful charm that made him the standard by which entertainers would be measured for decades.”
“In an increasingly complicated world, we all yearn for the days of Mayberry. We all will miss Andy, and I will dearly miss my friend,” said Perdue.
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