On Friday, August 8, many Tribute members and Maggie Peterson, who played "Charlene" on The Andy Griffith Show, appeared on WFMY, the CBS affiliate for the Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point region of North Carolina. The station has aired The Andy Griffith Show continuously since it began. 
And then we went to Tex and Shirley's Restaurant in Greensboro for breakfast. The manager came over and met us, explaining the history of the place and touting his pancakes. Opie had ordered some and said they were pretty good! Otis got a huge piece of country ham. Charlene had a big bowl of oatmeal, while Howard and Goober ordered eggs and a usual breakfast fare.
Cut-in times were 6:25 and 7:25 a.m. Everyone was driving from three different places.... Howard was bringing Opie (and his mom) from Albemarle. That's about 2 hours away from the station. Greta Lint, handling publicity, brought Charlene from Asheboro. That's about 45 minutes away. And Otis and Goober were driving in from Mt. Airy - about 60 minutes away.
Otis had On-Star in his car. It showed he was on a road that didn't exist. But he's electronically savvy and called the toll free number. Yes, someone answered and directed him to the station. Howard had a Garmon - showing the long way to get to the station. Greta had a heavy foot - and when she got within just minutes from the station, she got stuck behind two Greensboro city cops going 1-4 miles an hour. You read that right. They were purposely slowing down traffic on US Hwy. 29 for some unknown reason. We were only minutes away .... Luckily, Howard was just pulling into the WFMY parking lot. Whew! Someone would make that first live shot!
While in the break room waiting for the 7:25 cut-in, we had some coffee cake and coffee from the machines. A small library of books was off to one side - and had 2 books about The Andy Griffith Show in it. Maggie Peterson (Charlene) autographed the page of the book about her character.
While in the break room waiting for the 7:25 cut-in, we had some coffee cake and coffee from the machines. A small library of books was off to one side - and had 2 books about The Andy Griffith Show in it. Maggie Peterson (Charlene) autographed the page of the book about her character.
Before we left, the station's chief engineer - the first woman chief engineer at WFMY - greeted Charlene for a hug and gave us a place where we could all take some more photos. Other station personnel came in for the action, too.
And then we went to Tex and Shirley's Restaurant in Greensboro for breakfast. The manager came over and met us, explaining the history of the place and touting his pancakes. Opie had ordered some and said they were pretty good! Otis got a huge piece of country ham. Charlene had a big bowl of oatmeal, while Howard and Goober ordered eggs and a usual breakfast fare.
People in the restaurant dropped their jaws as we all walked in - and out. They had no clue that celebrities of screen and stage were in the house. Otis wants to go back for another piece of that great ham!
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