Farewell, Howard Morris

Every morning, I have my first cup of coffee while I watch the beginning of "Good Morning, America."  During the show, they run the top headlines across the bottom of the tv screen.  I was sitting on the edge of my bed, drinking my coffee when one of the headlines caught my attention: "Howard Morris, portrayer of Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show, died at age 85."  Ernest T. Bass was my favorite character on "The Andy Griffith Show." Ernest T. only appeared in 5 episodes of the series, but the character was unforgettable. My generation will never forget the phrase "It's me, it's me, it's Ernest T." or 'How do you do, Mrs. Wiiiiiily?".  

One of my best friends, TG, who now lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, was without a doubt the world's biggest Ernest T. Bass fan.  He could recite almost all of Ernest T.'s lines from those five episodes.  "Mountain Wedding" was our favorite Andy Griffith episode of all time. In the days before the VHS vcr's, I remember TG and I watching this episode over and over again on my Sony BetaMax vcr, from where I taped it off of WTBS. In case you don't remember this episode, Andy and Barney go up in the mountains to help the Darling family get rid of Ernest T. Bass, who wants to marry Charlene Darling.  This was Ernest T.'s debut in the series.  Andy has Barney dress up in a wedding dress and veil and they trick Ernest T. into thinking he's marrying his beloved Charlene, when in fact he has just married Barney. 

I did some research on Howard Morris, and was surprised when I read his long list of tv and movie credits.  Morris was the voice of many beloved cartoon characters -- Atom Ant, Beetle Bailey, and Jughead Jones (from "Archie"), and he did voices on "The Jetsons" and "The Banana Splits."  Morris was also the voice of The Hamburgler in the early McDonald's commercials.

Somehow, I think when Howard Morris was waiting for St. Peter to open the Pearly Gates, I think he probably knocked on the gates and said "It's me, it's me, it's Ernest T."