andy griffith

Chris Knight's avatar

…then be aware that TCM (the Turner Classic Movies channel) will be running it at 1:45 a.m. this coming Friday, July 6th. That’s Eastern Standard Time anyway (dunno how that’ll translate in your own locality). Be sure to set your DVRs accordingly!

Why?

Because if you only knew Andy Griffith from the down-home Sheriff Andy Taylor he played on The Andy Griffith Show, then his performance in A Face in the Crowd will without a doubt shock the hell out of you.

This was Griffith’s first film role. Directed by Elia Kazan from a screenplay by Budd Schulberg and released in 1957, A Face in the Crowd has Griffith as drunken Arkansas drifter “Lonesome” Rhodes: a no-good bum who becomes a media creation with fame, fortune and irredeemably rotten with power and corruption. Over time Rhodes comes to have influence over millions of people through the sway of television. ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

The very sad news breaking everywhere right now is that Andy Griffith has passed away at the age of 86 at his home in Manteo, on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

Awright well, what can be said that hasn’t already been during the course of his long life: Griffith was an incredible performer, whether he was acting or singing or doing comedy… like what started it all for him, his 1953 monologue “What It Was, Was Football”:

A few years later Griffith was in No Time for Sergeants, considered by many to be his single funniest work…

And ‘course it wasn’t long afterward that Griffith was keeping the sleepy little town of Mayberry safe and sound as Sheriff Andy Taylor. Griffith first put on the badge in a “backdoor pilot” episode of Danny Thomas’s Make Room for Daddy (an episode which also featured future co-stars Ronnie Howard and Frances ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

Oops… I forgot. Am I even allowed to write “Super Bowl”? Might get hit by the NFL for copyright infringement by not calling it the “big game” instead.

Well anyway, no matter who who’re rooting for tomorrow or even if you’re not a sports fan at all, here’s something we can all enjoy: Andy Griffith’s classic comedy monologue “What It Was, Was Football”, accompanied by George Woodbridge’s illustrations from MAD Magazine!

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Chris Knight's avatar

Over the weekend somebody vandalized the statue of Sheriff Andy Taylor that sits outside the Surry Arts Council building in Mount Airy, North Carolina. The statue depicts Mount Airy’s most famous son, actor Andy Griffith, alongside his son Opie from The Andy Griffith Show.

Sheriff Andy now has green hair and a red smile painted on his face. His sheriff’s badge is also now colored red. Opie was unharmed.

You can read all about it here.

I don’t think that whoever did this has any idea of the trouble they’re in. This being North Carolina, and Mount Airy (the inspiration for Mayberry on the show) of all places, an attack on Sheriff Taylor is downright sacrilege.

Sounds like the Joker is afoot in Mayberry. Time to load up your bullet Barney!...

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Chris Knight's avatar

In 1953, a young North Carolina actor named Andy Griffith did a stand-up routine about the game of football. The recording of it became a runaway bestseller across the country, and it quickly propelled Griffith toward major motion picture roles and of course The Andy Griffith Show. And since that time “What It Was, Was Football!” has become one of the best-known comedy monologues in history.

I first heard this bit around 1984, when the local edition of P.M. Magazine did a video clip of Griffith’s routine accompanied by footage from a local game. They even had a guy act out the “Buddy have a drink!” part. I thought it was pretty hilarious and years later when I spotted an Andy Griffith CD at a store in Asheville I bought it, just for “What It Was, Was Football!”. It’s now on my MP3 player 🙂

And guess what? You ...

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