A
AALARD
Guest
Mayberry a draw for fans 50 years later
MOUNT AIRY, N.C., -- Goober's suit has come home to Mount Airy, N.C., where it's still TV's Mayberry after 50 years.
Actor George Lindsey's costume drew overflow crowds Friday at the Andy Griffith Museum, the Charlotte Observer reported. It's the anchor of a Mayberry renaissance helping to revive this small town.
Mount Airy's downtown has become a Mayberry theme park based on the hamlet in "The Andy Griffith Show," which topped the ratings on CBS from 1960 to 1968.
Last year's Mayberry Days drew about 30,000 visitors; organizers are expecting about 50,000 this year, pegged to the 50th anniversary in October of the first episode.
Lindsey, who is 75 and doesn't travel much, didn't appear Friday but sent Jim Clark to speak for him. "He told me to say Goober says, 'Hey!'" Clark told museum visitors.
Clark said the suit, an unsophisticated double-vested, brown pinstripe number with white socks, was worn by Lindsey in numerous episodes, as well as when Lindsey appeared as Goober years later on "Hee Haw."
Clark says the program still draws fans in reruns after two generations because of its timeless nature.
"Primarily, it's great storytelling," he said. "And wholesome -- it's got lots of nostalgia."
MOUNT AIRY, N.C., -- Goober's suit has come home to Mount Airy, N.C., where it's still TV's Mayberry after 50 years.
Actor George Lindsey's costume drew overflow crowds Friday at the Andy Griffith Museum, the Charlotte Observer reported. It's the anchor of a Mayberry renaissance helping to revive this small town.
Mount Airy's downtown has become a Mayberry theme park based on the hamlet in "The Andy Griffith Show," which topped the ratings on CBS from 1960 to 1968.
Last year's Mayberry Days drew about 30,000 visitors; organizers are expecting about 50,000 this year, pegged to the 50th anniversary in October of the first episode.
Lindsey, who is 75 and doesn't travel much, didn't appear Friday but sent Jim Clark to speak for him. "He told me to say Goober says, 'Hey!'" Clark told museum visitors.
Clark said the suit, an unsophisticated double-vested, brown pinstripe number with white socks, was worn by Lindsey in numerous episodes, as well as when Lindsey appeared as Goober years later on "Hee Haw."
Clark says the program still draws fans in reruns after two generations because of its timeless nature.
"Primarily, it's great storytelling," he said. "And wholesome -- it's got lots of nostalgia."
