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Goob
Ex Member
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My sincere condolences to the family, friends, and fans of Howard Morris. He touched my life in several ways.
As a child, I was just old enough to watch TAGS, and I remember how happy my sister and I were to see Ernest T. on an episode. Watching Ernest T. and Romeena skipping down the sidewalk was proof that grownups could still have fun and be silly. We laughed until we hurt.
In college, a group of us would meet at my apartment every afternoon to "study" (spelled b-e-e-r) and watch TAGS. We knew every episode, and would show off our knowledge of the episodes (since I was flunking economics and needed some self-assurance that I had a brain) by speaking the lines with the characters. When Ernest T. was on, most of us would speak the lines in unison.
Later, after getting married, my wife and I were working diligently to conceive our first child. One "attempt" was interrupted by non-stop laughter as Ernest T. was posing as Andy's cousin form Boston. "How do you do Mrs. Wiley" had us both laughing. Well, it turned out that my son was conceived that evening. Although it proved to be a constant irritant to my in-laws, we referred to the unborn critter as either Ernest T. or Romeena until he was born.
A few years later at a Mayberry event in Birmingham, I introduced my son to Mr. Morris as I told him the story. Although my son was a bit weirded out by it, Mr. Morris thought it was great. I was so happy to make him laugh and pay back a small portion of the laughs he had given me.
I found shirts with Ernest T. printed on them and bought them for my brother, my nephews, my son, and me. We all wore them to a family picnic a few years ago, and we had a contest to see who could stay in character the longest. My brother and I completed the entire afternoon in character, and by the time the day was over, neither of our wives were speaking to us. I've found that all I have to do to get my way at a family function is ask "Do I need to go get the shirts?" and my wife and sister-in-law will agree to about anything. Yes, it's a silly thing to do, but I believe Mr. Morris would have appreciated a good laugh like that.
I regret we'll see no new work from a master who maintained his skills well past retirement age for many folks. But then, we'll also continue to see him every time we see an episode of TAGS. And when we see cartoons, Robin Williams, Larry the Cable Guy, Saturday Night Live, and any other offbeat comic geniuses who studied the works of the great ones.
May God bless the Morris family with some sources of joy to help fill the void left by your father. He gave enough joy to the world to keep us indebted to your family for generations to come.
Mike
Dallas, Texas
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