Ohio man is mad about Mayberry

The year Griffith left the show, 1968, was the year it hit No. 1.

Of the show's 249 episodes, 90 were in color.

Don Knotts left the show in 1965 to be replaced briefly by Jack Burns, who played Deputy Warren Ferguson. Knotts won five Emmys for his work on the show. (Griffith never won an Emmy.)

After Griffith left, the show "Mayberry R.F.D." took its place, starring Ken Berry as Mayberry councilman Sam Jones.

It, along with such still-popular shows as “The Beverly Hillbillies” and “Green Acres,” was axed by CBS in 1971 during the network’s infamous “rural purge.”

A statue of Andy and Opie with their fishing poles was erected by TV Land in 2003 in Raleigh, N.C.

After pitching a fit, Griffith’s hometown of Mount Airy, N.C., got a TV Land statue of its own in 2004.

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — It’s not like Tony Farley wants to borrow a cup of sugar or an egg.

He just wants an autograph from a guy whose most famous role — a persona fried into our consciousness like a basket full of Aunt Bee’s chicken on a Sunday after church — has led us to believe he’d be a great neighbor.

So he’s respectfully written to Andy Griffith 10 times.

“So far,” Farley lamented, “it hasn’t happened.”

Maybe it’s time to change tactics — to be a little less Mayberry and a little more like spam e-mail.

You see, the Springfield resident managed to obtain Griffith’s Social Security number without even having to pose as a Nigerian prince with a sketchy investment opportunity.

Let’s just say it’d be a real shame to have to open a Discover card, or to rent a bunch of Don Knotts movies from Blockbuster and never return them, in the name of a beloved, 84-year-old gentleman.

In reality, Farley’s too loyal to extort his idol for an autograph.

But what kind of fan has his favorite actor’s Social Security number, found on an old contract, in the first place?

The kind who owns Christmas cards that Griffith once mailed to family and friends.

Or the kind who has a canceled personal check that Frances Bavier, the actress who played Aunt Bee on “The Andy Griffith Show,” wrote for $33 to a drug store in 1980.

Or the kind who, after getting to have lunch with the actress who played Barney Fife’s girlfriend, Thelma Lou, turned around to collect the coffee mug she drank out of and the butts of two cigarettes she smoked.

Or the kind who has, on display in his basement, a clown suit worn by Knotts in the TV movie “Return to Mayberry.”

That kind.

“I really am normal,” Farley pleaded as he started down the stairs of his basement.

But even in Mayberry, how well do people really, truly know their neighbors?

On Sparrow Road, who’d ever suspect to find “1,200 square feet of Mayberry” in the house next to the bean field?

Everybody, actually.

It’s public knowledge that Farley is an “Andy Griffith Show” super-fan — and his wife, Marsha, is by default — whenever his 1961 Ford Galaxie pulls out of the driveway and rolls down West Sparrow on another country drive.

It’s painted to look exactly like Sheriff Andy Taylor’s cop car.

“To me,” Farley explained, “Mayberry is a state of mind. It’s where I’d like to live.”

Dude’s there.

Citizen’s arrest

Farley parks the Galaxie in a garage with a sign above the door that reads, what else, Wally’s.

Inside, you’ll see another sign that reads, “Good luck Gomer in the Marines.”

Is this guy devoted or what?

Well, gollleee — what kind of question is that?

Was Gomer stupid?

Goober stupider?

A visit to the Farley residence is like visiting a Mayberry museum — only funner.

“Before we go any further,” Farley said, mere moments after opening his front door, “I have to deputize you.”

Out came a badge and a replica of Andy Taylor’s shoulder patch.

“I’ve got thousands of these patches,” Farley said.

No bullets are issued, though. Not even just one.

If nothing else, Farley’s Mayberry memorabilia collection, which includes hundreds of cast autographs, a handful of screen-used artifacts and even a banjo once personally owned by Griffith himself (now decorated with cast autographs), is a testament to the timelessness of “The Andy Griffith Show.”

The show is as seemingly popular today as it was 50 years ago come October, when it premiered on CBS.

In fact, it’s probably on TV Land right now.

“It is,” Farley said. “It came on at four o’clock.”

At 41, Farley never got to see the show in prime-time.

It doesn’t make the reruns any less rewarding.

“The town was filled with bumbling characters, but Sheriff Andy Taylor always brought out the best in everyone in that fictional town,” he said. “It was a show that was based on love. Today’s TV shows don’t have lessons or morals to be learned.

“That is why ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ has been so successful. It was a show that represented the best in people.”

Nip it!

As principal of Summit Academy, a school for the autistic in Columbus, he admittedly looks to Sheriff Andy for wisdom.

“Last year,” he said, “I had a lot of problems with my sixth graders.”

Seems they were in need of a lesson in consequences — so Farley popped in the 1963 episode “Opie the Birdman,” in which young Opie kills a mama bird with his slingshot.

“The kids were begging me to watch more Mayberry,” he said.

Maybe they’ll even grow up to have a basement like Mr. Farley’s.

“It’s kind of overwhelming, I know,” he said.

He’s got Goober’s goggles, Otis’ coin changer and even the badge right off of Barney’s hat as seen in the 1986 “Return to Mayberry” reunion movie.

“Aren’t I a good wife?” smirked Marsha Farley.

The centerpiece of the collection is the Galaxie, which he bought on eBay for $1,575.

Folding down the car’s visors will reveal more than two dozen autographs from cast members — everybody from Jim Nabors and the late Knotts to the guy who played Opie’s pal, Johnny Paul Jason, and the woman who played Ernest T. Bass’ girlfriend.

One person is missing.

Andy Griffith.

“He’s very elusive,” Tony Farley said.

So for now, he’ll be in the car in spirit — and in the form of a life-sized mannequin of Andy Taylor that sits in the back seat with a life-sized Opie.

“We’ve been pulled over by a lot of police,” Farley said. “Usually, they just want their picture taken with it.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0352 or amcginn@coxohio.com.