Gohisca, 1952 and the Generosity of a Friend, Part II

As detailed in my last post, my Mayberry friend Jimmy Phillips recently gifted me with what is now one of my prized possessions: the Goldsboro, North Carolina’s 1952 high school yearbook, Gohisca, from the last year Andy Griffith worked as a high school teacher. I also mentioned that Andy decided to accept that teaching job at the urging of a friend from the long-running outdoor drama, The Lost Colony. That friend’s name was Clifton “Cliff” Britton.

Currently preparing for its 82nd season in 2019, The Lost Colony is a play based on the 1587 English settlement on Roanoke Island in the Outer Banks that was found mysteriously deserted three years later. After his freshman year, Andy considered trying to join the cast of The Lost Colony which paid $25 per week but instead worked alongside his father in a Mount Airy chair factory earning $40 a week. As he became involved with a theater group at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill called the Carolina Playmakers, the following summer he took the cut in pay and joined the cast of The Lost Colony.

Andy made important connections there, none so important as meeting his future wife who was also in the cast. Another cast mate was Bob Armstrong, later billed as R.G. Armstrong, a great character actor familiar to Mayberry fans as the farmer Flint who was trying to run his farm with only the help his daughter, “Frankie.” Andy also got to know Clifton Britton.

Cliff had been involved with The Lost Colony since 1947 when he joined as a stage manager. At Goldsboro High School, he was the director of the Goldmasquers, a dramatic arts group that staged plays frequently. The school’s department was the largest high school drama department in the South. He was named an Honorary Member of the Carolina Playmakers and by 1951 was an Assistant Director of The Lost Colony.

Cliff was interested in doing more musicals at Goldsboro and convinced Andy to join the staff at the high school to strengthen the music department. As discussed in the last post, Andy accepted and taught at Goldsboro for three years before leaving in 1952 to pursue a full-time career as an entertainer.

If the name Cliff Britton sounds familiar, it is because Andy was fond of sometimes making references to real people and locations in The Andy Griffith Show. When Andy and Barney were being considered for membership to the exclusive Esquire Club. Andy’s friend, Roger Courtney, introduced them to other club members, including Cliff Britton, an insider’s nod to his old friend.