Weaver’s Newsletter
An Online newsletter of
“The Andy Griffith Show” Rerun Watchers Club (TAGSRWC)

**** Merchandise Update ****

Browse the full selection of books, apparel, DVDs, artwork, collectibles, items for your vehicle, and much more online at Weaver’s (www.weaversdepartmentstore.com).

There are lots of great vintage and rare things, too. First one thing and then another. Plus there are many things on sale right now or at new, permanently lower prices.

We appreciate your shopping at Weaver’s, especially because Weaver’s sales are the main thing that helps TAGSRWC be able to support Mayberry Days and other Mayberry-connected events and charitable efforts throughout the year. We appreciate it!

Featured This Month at Weaver’s:

2014 Andy Griffith Show Wall Calendar

$15.00

The official “Andy Griffith Show” Wall Calendar is back for 2014! This calendar contains all black-and-white photos (though some are of color seasons). When hanging up, the calendar measures 12 x 22.

Favorite characters featured in the 2014 edition are Andy, Barney, Opie, Aunt Bee, Gomer, Goober, Weaver’s Mannequins, and a very skinny Santa (ho-ho-ho).
Be sure to make your dates with Mayberry in 2014!

2013 and 2014 Andy Griffith Show
Wall Calendar Combo

Was $30.00   Sale: $22.00

Two calendars for one great price. Just $22.00 for the pair, but only when you buy them together in this special combo.

NOTE: Our shipping of orders containing the 2014 Wall Calendar is expected to begin the week of July 10. You can still go ahead place your order any time you like, and we’ll process and ship your order as soon as the first 2014 calendars arrive.

For Pure Mayberry…

…you can’t beat the actual episodes themselves!

And so, look no further. All 249 TAGS episodes on DVD, plus the “Danny Thomas” pilot, Return to Mayberry movie, bunches of original commercials and more–are now only $119 at Weaver’s (originally $249!). Hey everybody, that’s about 50 cents an episode to own the best TV show ever in its entirety, plus the extras!

Murder in Coweta County DVD

$24.00

This popular and critically acclaimed 1983 made-for-TV movie stars Andy Griffith as the wealthy John Wallace and Johnny Cash as Sheriff Lemar Potts of Coweta County. It’s riveting to watch the two entertainment icons as adversaries in this fascinating film, which is based on real events in Georgia.

June Carter Cash is also featured among the fine cast of character actors. And of special interest in a pivotal role is Cindi Knight, who became Mrs. Andy Griffith about six weeks after this movie was first broadcast.

For years this film has been extremely difficult to find, except overseas and on old VHS tapes. In time for its 30th Anniversary this year, we’re pleased to be able to offer it on DVD!

Get Your Cool Summer T-Shirts!!!

Weaver’s has more than two dozen officially licensed Mayberry T-shirt designs. Some are vintage designs that are no longer in production and hard to find anywhere else. We also have a handful of shirts of other TV classics and some vintage embroidered “Andy Griffith Show” logo sport shirts and even a few Snappy Lunch sports shirts.

All of our preshrunk heavyweight 100% cotton T-shirts are just $18.00. And the sport shirts are nicely priced, too. Most of the T-shirts are available in Sizes Medium, Large, XL and 2X, and a few styles also come in 3X. Several also come in small. (The size selection is not as large for the out-of-production vintage shirts.)

Have fun showing your Mayberry spirit with one of these fun-tastic shirts today!

Just a few of our many Mayberry T-shirt designs.
All still only $18.00 each!

Find all of these items and much, much more at www.weaversdepartmentstore.com, or just click on the Weaver’s button at the top of the page whenever you’re visiting www.imayberry.com.

**** News of Cast & Crew ****

Andy Griffith was inducted into the Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame (in the Nationally Known Artist category) in Wilkesboro, N.C., on June 8.

Ron Howard‘s next feature film release, the action-filled biography Rush about the rivalry of Formula 1 racing legends James Hunt and Niki Lauda continues to get great media buzz as it revs up for its release on September 20. Here’s a link to a 3 1/2-minute “featurette”about the movie, including Ron discussing it.

Meanwhile, the big fun this summer is the much anticipated release of the fourth season of “Arrested Development” on Netflix! The entire fourth season was released exclusively on Netflix on May 26. Ron, one of the show’s executive producers, is back as narrator for the series, a cult favorite whose production has experienced its own arrested development for the past seven years.

Ron also has an on-camera cameo this season.  While the adventures of the Emmy-winning show’s Bluth family are not exactly as kind and gentle as Mayberry, they are hilarious, thanks to the show’s brilliant writing, acting and overall production, traits “Arrested Development does share with TAGS.

Ron is now in pre-production for an adaptation of In the Heart of the Seas, a tragic story of the Essex, a whaling ship destroyed by a whale in 1820. Ron has been spotted casually scouting possible filming locations in the Northeast, Great Britain and elsewhere.

Ron and Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer are also working on bringing the “Friday Night Lights” TV series to the big screen (where filmed versions of FNL, based on the FNL book, started in 2004). The interesting twist is that Imagine likely will use crowdfunding (that is, money from fans through KickStarter or a similar program) as part of the backing for the new movie.

Ron and Imagine are likewise still looking for a way to bring Stephen King’s The Dark Tower to screens of various sizes. This project has been Ron’s elusive white whale (not to be confused with his work on In the Heart of the Seas, of course). There has been a lot of speculation about the prospects for Dark Tower while Ron has been at the Cannes Film Festival this month.

In the Face of Jinn, the 2005 novel by Ron’s wife, Cheryl (writing under the lightly disguised pen name Cheryl Howard Crew), will be released as audio book audio book this summer. Daughter Bryce Dallas Howard provided the voices for all of the characters in the audio book.

Ron was also among the friends attending the June wedding of George Lucas and Mellody Hobson at Skywalker Ranch in California.

Jim Nabors was back to sing “Back Home Again in Indiana” again at the Indy 500 in May. It was Jim’s 33rd time singing it live at the classic race since 1972.

Betty Lynn greeted fans at the Andy Griffith Museum on June 21, and will be back on July 19. (Look for her at the Museum the third Friday afternoon of just about every month, with occasional  special appearances other dates.)

James Best has had a full schedule with personal appearances and exhibitions of his original art.  So far this year, he has been to Las Vegas, Nashville, Mississippi, Maryland and beyond, with more on the way.  Many of his personal appearances are “Dukes of Hazzard” reunions, but he’s often joined for comedy sketches onstage by David “Mayberry Deputy” Browning.

James may be a star on stage and screen, but Best in Show around the Best hound-hold these days is his and Dorothy’s new puppy, Sparkles ‘N’ Shine, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (with James at right).

Like grandfather, like grandson. Richard O. (Dick) Linke (TAGS associate producer and longtime personal manager to several TAGS actors) shared this recent photo (at left) of himself with two-year-old grandson Duke.

In addition to her starring role at New York’s Metropolitan Room on July 3 (a special evening that puts a spotlight on her remarkable and varied career, while also raising funds for her beloved Actors & Others for Animals charity), Jackie Joseph has especially active lately in fundraisers for Blindness research and for Leukemia & Lymphoma assistance. And she still finds time to regularly write a column for the Tolucan Times and to be involved in SAG/AFTRA issues, among many other activities.

Peggy McCay (Mayberry’s Sharon DeSpain) was nominated for Best Actress at June’s Daytime Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Caroline Brady on “Days of Our Lives,” a role she has played since 1983.

Connie Sawyer, who played Kansas City newspaper researcher Miss Blanchard in “Helen’s Past” (Episode #243) was on the “Tonight” show with Jay Leno earlier this month. Now 101, Connie Sawyer may be the oldest living person who worked on TAGS. She has appeared in countless TV and movie productions in a film career spanning 65 years, and still counting. Here’s a link to the her “Tonight” show appearance: ConnieSawyeronTonight2013.

Karen Knotts (daughter of Don) will be back with her one-woman “Tied Up in Knotts” show at Mayberry Days in Mount Airy in September. She has recently done performances in Maine and Kentucky, and she has ones coming up in California, Kentucky, Louisiana and Kansas. Check out her website for details at www.karenknotts.com. And if you’d like to see her show, which features lots of stories about her dad, in your area, let local event organizers and venues know they can contact her through her website.

***

Douglas Dillard Legacy Fund
It’s hard to believe that it has been over a year since we lost the beloved Doug Dillard. The Douglas Dillard Legacy Fund has been established by friends of Doug as a means to provide financial support (a special permanent grave marker is part of its mission) and also to perpetuate Doug’s music and memory. Contributions should be sent to:

Douglas Dillard Legacy Fund
PO Box 90537
Nashville TN 37209

***

**** The Mayberry Sidecar ****

A Couple of Links to Mayberry-Related Stories
About Mount Airy

* Up first, a recent story from the The New York Times (aka the “nattering nabobs of negativism”): New York Times Naysayers Story

* And this more discerning one from the Mount Airy News that paints a much prettier picture:

**** Mayberry on the Web ****

The iMayberry Community
This is the latest Web activity hosted by TAGSRWC and organized and overseen by webmaster Allan “Floyd” Newsome. It’s called iMayberry Community. You can check it out and sign up for free at: http://imayberrycommunity.com/.

The iMayberry Community has been getting a great response. About 600 fans have already signed up (it’s free). It complements our other online activities, including our main www.imayberry.com page, podcasts, Facebook page, online newsletters (such as The eBullet!), weaversdepartmentstore.com and chat rooms. Combined with TAGSRWC chapters and the various Mayberry events for all fans (from Mayberry Days to ocean cruises), not to mention enjoying the sites of Mount Airy year-round, the world of Mayberry fun keeps expanding.

And best of all, it’s all rooted in watching the show itself. Whether through DVDs, local stations or TV Land, loving to watch the show continues to be the energy that feeds all the other Mayberry fun and activities that we enjoy. What a wonderful thing Andy Griffith and his talented team of actors, musicians, writers and crew people created 53 years ago–for us and generations to come!

Two Chairs, No Waiting is our weekly podcast of TAGS news, interviews and pretty much whatever happens to be going on in and around Mayberry. It’s hosted by Allan Newsome. There’s a new episode every Tuesday (and you can tune in and participate during tapings on Monday evenings). Past episodes are in an online Archives in case you want to listen to or view episodes you’ve missed. (As of this week, there have been 242 episodes since 2008.)

There’s a lot of really great info and discussions that you simply won’t find anywhere else, including rare interviews (vintage and new) with cast and crew members of TAGS, and others, including recent episodes with Ernest Borgnine talking about George Lindsey. If you’ve got sound on your computer or have an iPod or android or similar device, you can easily tune in live or download these podcasts.

Also, check out the podcast area of our www.imayberry.com site for info about a Mayberry Bible Study Podcast, also hosted by Allan.

And there’s a Brother Figure podcast to Two Chairs, No Waiting. It’s hosted by longtime TAGSRWC member Kevin Burke, who does a super job of describing and discussing individual episodes. It’s called Burke on Mayberry. Check it out.

 

TAGSRWC’s official page on Facebook now has more than 38,000 friends! You can find us at www.facebook.com/tagsrwc. There’s a variety of comments about Mayberry, and a lively stream of fans’ favorite TAGS lines. And our Facebook page is also one of the first places we post announcements and breaking news about TAGS. If you haven’t already dropped by the page, we hope you’ll check it out sometime when you have the chance. We invite you to become a TAGSRWC Facebook Friend!

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