TAGSRWC
|
Volume 8, Issue 2 |
April 10, 2008 |
If you cannot view the HTML newsletter (photos), click here to read it at our Web site.
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The
eBullet
An
Online newsletter of
“The Andy Griffith Show” Rerun Watchers Club (TAGSRWC)
Volume 8, Issue 2
April 10, 2008
*********************************************
Welcome to our
early Spring issue of The eBullet
for 2008! We’ve
been waiting on some last-minute event updates, so we’re a few days
late with issue, which was scheduled to be out in late March.
This year’s
activities around Mayberry are starting to hit full stride. We’ve already had the
super George Lindsey/UNA Film Festival last month. Here are some
highlights of what’s coming up:
****
Floyd’s Barbershop Bulletin Board & Event Calendar ****
* April 18-20: LeRoy McNees and Roland White of
Mayberry’s Country Boys (Kentucky Colonels) will be performing as part
of the 50th Anniversary of the Ash Grove that is being hosted by UCLA.
Both LeRoy and Roland will be participating in a tribute to
fellow Country Boy (and Roland’s brother) and guitar legend Clarence White,
and LeRoy will also be part of a gospel concert on
Sunday. For more info, visit http://www.ashgrovemusic.com/Pages/UCLA_event.htm.
* April 24-25: Back to Mayberry festival benefiting Eagles’
Wings, a foundation supporting adults with special needs in
Eagles’
Wings, Inc. 3rd Annual Mayberry Dinner
and Auction will be held at The Zone in Bryant-Denny Stadium
on the campus of the
Mayberry
tribute artists will entertain. Tribute
artists confirmed include David
“Mayberry Deputy” Browning, Allan “Floyd” Newsome, Jeff “Howard
Sprague” Branch, Jamie “Opie” Sullivan, and Kenneth
“Otis” Junkin.
Othere
details are TBA soon. For
more info, call 205-345-5484 or visit http://www.eagleswingsoftuscaloosa.org.
*May
3: 21st Annual Uncle Jesse’s Big Bass Classic in
* May 7: David Browning is on duty for
Senior Day/TRIAD in
* May 10: LeRoy McNees,
wife Jan and the Bluegrass Gospel Band will be leading a Mother’s Day
chapel service for the Parkfield Bulegrass Festival in Parkfield,
Calif. For more info, visit http://www.parkfieldbluegrass.com.
* June 15:
LeRoy and Jan McNees lead the chapel service for the
33rd Annual Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival in
* June 21: David Browning shines a the Greenville (Tenn.) Astros game.
*
June 28 & 29: James
Best
appears at DukesFest at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. David Browning will
be on hand for crowd uncontrol on the 28th as well.
Visit http://www.dukesfest.com
for more info.
*
July 5: Doug and Rodney Dillard
and their band perform at the 22nd Annual Sally
Mountain Park Bluegrass Festival in
* July 9:
Jim Nabors is in concert
at the American Music Theatre in
* July 11-13: LeRoy
McNees performs
at the Ernest T. Bass-approved Athy Bluegrass Festival in
* July 12: 8th Annual Mayberry Squad Car
Nationals in conjunction with the 4th Annual Mayberry Comes to
Graysville festival in
* July 18 and 19: Don Knotts Birthday Celebration
Festival in
* July 25: David Browning slides into
* July 26: David “Mayberry Deputy”
Browning is on the path for fun (and how!) for the
* July 30: Everyone hopes his socks aren’t
too porous and the tightly-knit crowd doesn’t unravel when David
Browning tells yarns at the
* Aug. 1: David Browning’s back to rock
the stadium at the
* Aug. 2: David Browning is a sight to
see at the Asheville (N.C.) Tourists game.
* Aug. 5: David Browning is on patrol for
National Night Out in
* Aug. 9: Doug and Rodney Dillard
and their band and their TV sister Maggie Peterson Mancuso
perform at the Second Annual Mayberry in
Troy, a fundraiser for the Montgomery County DARE program in
* Aug. 21-23: David Browning makes the
circuit, first for Food City Family Race Night on Thurs. and then for
the NASCAR scene on Fri. and Sat. at the
* Aug. 30: David Browning makes the rounds
on the diamond for the Mississippi Braves game in
* Sept.
25-28:
19th Annual Mayberry Days in
Mount Airy, N.C. Stars confirmed so far include Doug
Dillard,
Rodney
Dillard, Betty
Lynn, Maggie Peterson Mancuso,
James Best, Jackie
Joseph, Elizabeth MacRae,
LeRoy McNees and George
Spence. For
more info, visit: http://www.surryarts.org.
* Nov. 1-6: A
Cruise to Mayberry (click here for more info and photos of
past cruises) to the
****
News of Cast & Crew ****
There was a nice
big story about Andy Griffith in the February 17
edition of
No release date has been announced yet for
Play the Game, the movie Andy filmed last fall.
The film also features Rance
Howard and Clint Howard.
Ron Howard
is currently in post-production for the film version of Frost/Nixon,
based on the hit play about David Frost’s interviews with Richard Nixon
after he resigned. The film
is scheduled for release on June 30. And
Ron is still in pre-production as director for Angels
& Demons, the sequel to The Da Vinci Code
that also stars Tom Hanks. The release date for the film,
originally set for release next Christmas, has been pushed back until
May 2009 because of the writers strike.
George Lindsey appeared in an
American TV Icon segment on “The O’Reilly Factor” on the Fox News
Channel that aired the first Friday in March.
The
video clip of that interview is not yet up on O’Reilly’s Web site, but
here’s a link that does have the interview: http://www.geevideos.com/watch/3447101021/o%e2%80%99reilly-factor-george-lindesy-fox-news. This version has a few
annoying advertising graphics with it, but as Goober once said, it’s
“better than nothin’.”
And the 11th Annual George
Lindsey/UNA Film Festival was another huge success that same weekend as
the O’Reilly inteview. The
library at the
|
ABOUT FACE--George Lindsey mugs for the camera with Billy Bob Thornton during George’s film festival at the University of North Alabama. Photo courtesy of UNA. |
And this year’s special guest was Academy Award
winner Billy Bob Thornton. He
was joined by Lucas Black and Natalie Canerday for a Sling
Blade cast reunion that drew overflow crowds.
Betty Lynn was a
featured speaker for the “Best of Our State” conference hosted by
Mayberry maestro Earle
Hagen is back home and doing well after a short hospital
stay to get some heart matters squared away.
LeRoy McNees is
just getting back from a missionary trip to
Barbara Perry
(Floss and other characters around Mayberry) checked in with us to say
she’s been doing fine and enjoys staying in touch with Mayberry news. Her most recent film role
was as “Old Woman” in a swimming pool scene in Mr. Woodcock, starring
Billy Bob Thornton and Susan Sarandon and Amy Poehler.
We’re sad to report that actor Jim Begg, who played different characters in four episodes
of TAGS, died on February. 15. He
was 69. He was born
in
His live-action acting work consisted mostly of
small parts in an interesting variety of films.
His four appearances on TAGS were as movie character
George in “
Jim appeared in two episodes of “Gomer Pyle,
U.S.M.C.” and one episode of “Mayberry R.F.D.”
He was also in The Village of
the Giants, Grand Theft Auto
and an episode of “Happy Days” with Ron Howard.
And he was in the Don Knotts features The
Ghost and Mr. Chicken and The Love
God? and in The Cat from Outer
Space with Ken Berry and Ronnie Schell.
He also provided the voice of Scoots in “Cattanooga Cats.”
Private services were held for Jim Begg in Sherman
Oaks and he was buried at Forest Lawn in Hollywood Hills. In lieu of flowers,
donations in his memory can be made to the Motion Picture and
Television Fund or Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles.
**** Update on
Mayberry’s Finest Line of Packaged Foods ****
The full line of canned goods and baking mixes is
now available in hundreds of stores and also online (with the
additional offering of mail-order gift baskets) at the Mayberry’s
Finest Web site at www.mayberrysfinest.com. The Web site has an
up-to-date list of stores and precise locations (organized by state) in
its Foley’s Market section.
Keep an eye out for Mayberry’s Finest at your
favorite store. If
you don’t find the products in the store where you shop, ask the store
manager if the store can stock the items for you and others.
On the Mayberry’s Finest site, you can also listen
to their catchy jingle by the 2006 and 2007 International Bluegrass
Music Association Entertainers of the Year, The Grascals, who are the
official spokes-group for Mayberry’s Finest.
And here’s another tidbit about Mayberry’s
Finest…they have a page on MySpace at www.myspace.com/mayberrysfinestfoods. If you’re a MySpacer, drop
by and tell ‘em hey.
Breaking
News: As of April
2, The Mayberry’s Finest Recipe Contest
has been suspended and postponed until a
later time. It’s sort of like the time Aunt Bee was called
out of town to take care of Maude, Cousin Edgar’s wife, when she came
down with the bursitis. The folks at Mayberry’s Finest want
to make sure that Aunt Bee’s back in Mayberry and has everything in
apple-pie order at home before proceeding with this nationwide contest.
And besides,
if Mayberry’s Finest had completed the contest as
quickly as originally projected, then whooosh, it would be over too
fast, especially for Mayberry, where folks like things to be
slower.
We’ll have an
update about when the contest resumes in a future issue. When
the contest does restart, there will be plenty of time for everybody to
be notified and get their entries in. And anybody who has
already entered the contest need not worry. Your entry will
still be valid when the contest resumes. You’ll be receiving details
about what’s going on with the contest directly from Mayberry’s Finest.
Meanwhile,
use this extra time in the kitchen to perfect those recipes made using
Mayberry’s Finest!
****
Chapter Update ****
We have two new chapters since the last eBullet:
The
Mayberry Chieftains
Barney’s Front Porch Cider Sippers and Car Counters
That brings our total number of chapters founded to
1,324. If you’re
interested in starting a chapter of TAGSRWC, all you need to do is pick
a name that has not already been chosen, and submit it with a list of
your founding members by postal mail.
What you do as a chapter is entirely up to you. Your group can do as much or
as little as you like. Or
write to us also if you would like to contact a chapter near you. Our address is TAGSRWC,
****
Merchandise Update ****
As we roll along in
the warm days of springtime, here are some of our newest and most
popular Mayberry items at Weaver’s Dept. Store at http://www.iMayberry.com.
* Goober’s Great
2008 Grab-Bag of Mayberry Stuff $60.00
http://www.weaversdepartmentstore.com/index.php?item=67
Goober rummaged around in the
garage again while taking inventory earlier this year and he came up
with another Grab-Bag of interesting Mayberry items. All of
the items are no longer in production and are therefore now in the
category of “collectible.”
At a
minimum, each Grab-Bag has the following items:
* 1 Officially Licensed T-Shirt with Barney Fife on
it (The shirt design included is our choice according to availability,
but you’ll need to specify in the Comments section of the online order
form whether you want Medium, Large, or 2XL. Size XL is not
available for this offer. The default choice if you don’t
indicate a size is Large.)
* 1 110-card Set of Series 3 “Andy Griffith Show” Trading Cards (note
this Grab-Bag includes Series 3 cards for the first time)
* 1 Mayberry-related book with an original price of at least $10
* 1 “Andy Griffith Show” ornament
* 2 Different newspapers with coverage of major Mayberry events
* 1 Officially-licensed Mayberry license plate
* 1 Mayberry mouse pad
* 2 Vintage (that is, not 2008) Mayberry wall calendars (still in their
original shrink wrap)
* 3 Different wooden Mayberry building fronts (Mrs. Mendelbright’s
Boardinghouse, Mayberry Hotel, and All Souls Church)
* 3 Different Mayberry bumper stickers
* 1 Mayberry-related audio tape (still sealed)
* 5 Different Mayberry photos (8x10)
* 2 Pairs of 2 different Mayberry birthday balloons (a total of 4
balloons)
* Assorted Mayberry event and news publications and materials (fliers,
newsletters, fans, magnets, buttons, etc.)
If the items were sold separately, their suggested
retail prices would total over $120. But Goober is not the best at
arithmetic and Ernest T. wasn’t around to help us count by stomping his
feet, so our price is only $60 for the whole Grab-Bag. We
have only a handful to offer with this configuration of items because
most of the items are in extremely short supply. Get ‘em while you can.
All proceeds (not just the profits, but 100% of
the $60 price) are going toward our annual support of the Surry Arts
Council and its Mayberry Days festival in September in
* 2008 “Andy
Griffith Show” Wall Calendar--Was $14.00; Now $10.00!
http://www.weaversdepartmentstore.com/index.php?category=44
We’ll soon be four months into this year, so we’re
knocking $4 off the price of this 2008 wall calendar.
We expect this will be our only price reduction on this
item because we don’t have very many left.
And these TAGS wall calendars have a history of going up
in price again as collectibles as the years pass.
This fifth straight year of a TAGS Wall Calendar
celebrates that milestone with all color photos for 2008. Now, don’t panic. “All color” doesn’t mean
photos only from the color seasons.
Several photos are from the black-and-white era. The photos are in color
only because they’re publicity stills.
Some haven’t been published since the first set of trading
cards in 1990.
Still haven’t gotten your 2008 Mayberry wall calendar? It’s not too late. This fifth straight year of an officially licensed TAGS Wall Calendar celebrates that milestone with all color photos for 2008. Now, don’t panic…”all color” doesn’t mean photos only from the color seasons. Several photos are from the black-and-white era. They just happen to be in “glorious color” because they are publicity stills. Some haven’t been published since the first set of trading cards in 1990.
* Waitress
DVD (widescreen version) featuring Andy Griffith On
This hit independent film of 2007
features Andy Griffith as Old Joe, a crusty diner owner. It
also stars Keri Russell.
There’s
a lot of wholesome pie-making in this romantic comedy, but there are
also some mature themes that give it a PG-13 rating. The
suggested price is $30.00, but we’ve got it for just $22.00
* All New Box Set of All Eight
Seasons of “The Andy Griffith Show,” Plus the “Danny Thomas” Pilot and Return
to Mayberry $192.00
http://www.weaversdepartmentstore.com/index.php?maincat=72
The suggested retail price for this Box Set of every episode
of “The Andy Griffith Show” (plus the “Danny Thomas” pilot
episode and the 1986 Return to Mayberry
movie) is over $240.00. The previous 8-season box-set release
(without the pilot and the movie and now also discontinued) carried a
suggested retail price of $320.00. We think our $192.00 price
is an exceptional value.
We also sell
individual Complete Seasons on DVD at nice discounts.
*
Complete First Season of “Matlock” on DVD
$39.00
http://www.weaversdepartmentstore.com/index.php?category=73
After years of anticipation, “Matlock” is finally coming out on DVD! This first season has 23 episodes plus the movie pilot on seven discs. “Matlock” always had great guest stars, and the first season certainly set the pace with Dick Van Dyke, Roddy McDowall, Billy Bob Thornton, Pipe Laurie, Desi Arnaz Jr, Norman Fell, Billy Zane, Jose Ferrer and lots of other familiar faces. The list price for this set is $50, but we’ve got it for just $39.00. The release date is April 8 and we’ve got ‘em in stock now!
* Mayberry-opoly
Board Game $30.00
http://www.weaversdepartmentstore.com/index.php?category=56
This board game,
new in 2007, is a dream come true for “Barney Fife, Realtor” and anyone
who has ever wished to own a little piece of that paradise we know and
love as Mayberry!
If you
love Monopoly and Mayberry or you know somebody who does, then you’ll
really love Mayberry-opoly.
At just $30.00 per
game, Mayberry-opoly is worth the price just to have the cool design of
the box and the board to look at or display. We think it’s
the most fun opoly game ever created.
*
Fiddler’s Ghost by Mitch Jayne
$15.00
http://www.weaversdepartmentstore.com/index.php?category=25
Darling boy Mitch Jayne’s fascinating 2007 novel, Fiddler’s Ghost, is getting fantastic reviews. It’s absorbing reading for anybody who loves a good ghost story, music, skillful writing, or just plain great storytelling from a true master. Few people have as much of a command and appreciation of language (especially the Ozark variety) as Mitch. We don’t want to give away the plot, but we will say that it’s a charming, entertaining and engrossing tale.
*
Complete Third Season of “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.” on
DVD $32.00 http://www.weaversdepartmentstore.com/index.php?category=91
The Complete Third Season of
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (the first season featuring Elizabeth
MacRae as Lou Ann Poovie) is now available at Weaver’s, along
with the First and Second Seasons.
The Complete Fourth Season of “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.” is coming out on May 20. We’ll start taking pre-orders in mid-April.
* Hallmark has a Mayberry greeting card with sound that’s available in selected stores. We won’t spoil potential surprises by telling what it is, but if Opie is shopping for a card, he might want to consider this one.
****
Chapter News ****
Several chapters were able to attend the George
Lindsey/UNA Film Festival in early March. Among them were, “Irritatin’, Ain’t It?” (Fall Branch,
The 6 and 7/8
chapter (
Mayberry chapter
(
Members of Mayberry 426
chapter (
Mrs. Mendelbright’s
Bulb-Snatchers (
Barney chapter (
****
Miss Crump’s Mayberry Quizzes ****
Answers
to Miss Crump’s Mayberry Quiz #75
We had excellent participation and high scores for
this quiz. Several
people got all of the answers correct.
We put the names of all the contestants with perfect
scores in a hat and drew the name of the prize winner: Greg
Lewis of
Here are the answers we were looking for:
1. Barney shows the opener (to be precise, it’s
actually a beer can opener with an umbrella on it) to Andy in Weaver’s
Dept. Store when they’re investigating “The Shoplifters.”
2. False. As
the “Big Fish in a
3. Besides Orville Monroe and Emmett Clark, George
is another person accepted as professional at TV repair in Mayberry.
Though accepted as professional, George is not necessarily always
welcome, as when “Andy and Helen Have Their Day.”
4. “Girl-Shy”
5. Howard Sprague asks Andy to provide accident
reports for 1953 and 19 other years when we first see Howard on the job
as “The County Clerk.”
BONUS: A blue sofa and green rug are seen together
in black and white when Barney and Thelma Lou are window shopping
during one of their dates before things start to unravel and it’s
“Barney and Thelma Lou, Phfftt!”
Miss
Crump’s Mayberry Quiz # 76
Even more than usual, this quiz from Miss Crump is
a true Mayberry history test. (If
you can’t guess why, we’ll explain in the May issue.)
Because this is sort of a mid-term exam, the questions are
sort of middle of the road in difficulty.
(Well, O.K., there are some pretty tough ones, but there’s
a couple of fairly easy ones, too.)
Good luck!
1. Name two times that Andy is seen in his home
repairing a lamp.
2. Name a happening in Mayberry that is described
as “a bolt from the blue.” (“A
bolt out of the blue” is also acceptable, but that’s not the one we’re
looking for. In a
tie-breaker situation, an entry that has both references might get a
special prize!)
3. Who in Mayberry is once said to have dropped a
bacon and tomato sandwich on the ground?
4. Who once gummed a cookie with Andy Taylor?
5. Name two people who have been seen driving the
Darling family’s truck.
BONUS: What proposed action would save Mayberry an
estimated $3,628?
Submit your answers by e-mail to OldLadyCrump@iMayberry.com
or, if you just don’t trust a machine with your entry, mail your
answers to TAGSRWC,
The person whose quiz has the required correct
answers will receive his or her choice of any single item offered
online at Weaver’s. (Neither
a box set of TAGS DVDs nor a set of Wooden Mayberry Building Fronts is
considered a single item. Neither
are sets of tin signs, grab-bags or combos.)
If there is more than one person with the most
correct answers (as is usually the case), we’ll draw a winner from all
the top entries.
**** Postnote ****
Between issues of The eBullet,
keep up with the goings-on in Mayberry with the daily “Who’s
Been Messin’ Up the Bulletin Board?“ Digest. It’s a free
subscriber list that consists entirely of comments, newsflashes, and
questions and answers from subscribers. You
can sign up for that list by going to the “Mailing Lists” link at http://tagsrwc.com.
TAGSRWC also publishes Weaver’s
Newsletter in more-or-less alternate months to The
eBullet. Like The eBullet, the Weaver’s
Newsletter is free. Its
focus is mainly on new Mayberry merchandise and collectibles and quick
newsflashes. To
sign up, go to: http://mail.weaversdepartmentstore.com/mailman/listinfo/newsletter_weaversdepartmentstore.com
TAGSRWC’s other main vehicle for Mayberry
information is simply our Web site at http://www.tagsrwc.com
(and it’s nearly identical sister site http://www.iMayberry.com.
Both sites have
extensive content and links for just about everything a Mayberry fan
might be looking for.