Tea at Trianon: Farewell to Mayberry

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, July 6, 2012

Farewell to Mayberry

From Tom Piatak:

Yesterday brought the news of Andy Griffith's death at 86. Unfortunately, the type of television exemplified by The Andy Griffith Show died long before its star did. Long gone are the days when the networks aired prime time series that parents could safely allow their children to watch, much less a prime time in which such shows actually dominated the competition. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a network even making a show like The Andy Griffith Show today. After all, The Andy Griffith Show was wholesome and innocent and completely devoid of vulgarity or sexual immorality or even any topical references to current events, much less propaganda for favored Hollywood causes. There hasn't been a show like that on prime time network television in many years. (Read entire post.)

Ecgbert said...: Andy Griffith seemed to quit his hit show while he was ahead but it was a few years before network TV's big purge of traditional family shows, especially the CBS ones with a country theme. The spinoff 'Mayberry, RFD' may have been a victim. In 1971 lots of people still watched those shows. Things like 'The Beverly Hillbillies' and 'Green Acres'. The networks, especially CBS, decided to preach instead of serve viewers what they wanted so that summer they cancelled all those shows (ABC treated Lawrence Welk the same way) and CBS started cramming Norman Lear's lefty morality plays down people's throats.; July 6, 2012 at 7:33:00 PM EDT
julygirl said...: There have continued to be some wholesome programiing through the years, but there is less and less. Some actors such as Andy Griffith always took the high road in all he did.; July 6, 2012 at 10:54:00 PM EDT
Alice Seidel said...: Where have the Michael Landon's of this world gone?
I wonder ... if there was such a show as Andy Griffith these days, it may be the biggest hit on TV. People are yearning for goodness.; July 7, 2012 at 5:24:00 PM EDT