Thelma Lou moves to Mayberry (actress Betty Lynn moves to Mt. Airy, NC) - nice story

[Faygo Kid]

Mt. Airy is Andy Griffith's hometown, and the inspiration for Mayberry. I thought this was a rather upbeat article at a time when Rush, O'Lielly and Coulter are screaming even louder than ever. She's 81 now, but Thelma Lou was a looker, and some mighty hot stuff in this (then) youngster's opinion. Barney, you sly dog, you. . .

". . .The woman who played Thelma Lou on "The Andy Griffith Show" moved more than 2,100 miles to Mount Airy -- Griffith's hometown and one of the inspirations for the fictional Mayberry.

Lynn knows this ain't Mayberry either. It never existed, really.

But she figures this picturesque town in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains is about as close to Mayberry as she's going to get. In this life, anyway.

"There's NO place like it, unless it's heaven," she says over a lunch of hot coffee and a hamburger with onions at a local country club.

Despite a career that spanned more than a half century and saw her starring opposite such luminaries as Bette Davis and Natalie Wood, Lynn remains best known for her turn as Deputy Barney Fife's steady girl.

Though she was in just 25 episodes and made her final appearance 41 years ago, Lynn continues to be adored by legions of Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club members and sought after by nostalgia seekers. Like other veterans of a show whose scripts have been used in college courses and Sunday school lessons, she has basked in Mayberry's benign afterglow.

Nowhere does that reflected light shine brighter than in Mount Airy. . ."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/02/backtomayberry.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch

[KatyaR]

1. Barney and Thelma Lou were always so cute . . .

what a sweet story. It's so nice to read something like this instead of all the crap news we get.

[Faygo Kid]

2. It's a relief from the day's news, for sure. Had to nip it in the bud.

Getting as snarly as Cheney as to what's going on, and I don't need that.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. One more picture because I like her, too --

[Skittles]

4. Thelma Lou was awesome

a lovely character

[MedleyMisty]

5. I was born and grew up in Mount Airy

and my mother still lives there. I'm sure I'll see this in the paper next time I visit.

Umm, the loudspeakers must be new. Although one time my friends and I were walking on Main Street around one in the morning and heard this really loud Victrola music coming from an apartment above one of the stores. Okay, so yeah, not much to do with loudspeakers but it is noise on Main Street so there.

They forgot to mention the Mayberry Mall. And the Mayberry Days festival. And all the Andy Griffith stuff at the Autumn Leaves Festival.

A girl I went to high school with used to go on and on about how she hated Mt. Airy and couldn't wait to leave. A few months ago I went to visit my mother and there was a story about how she was honored by the community theater association at the Andy Griffith Playhouse. I guess she decided she didn't hate it so much after all.