jimmy dean

One of the stories my father used to tell me was how Jimmy Dean came over to my great grandmother's house one night to watch NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS. I never knew the details until I got married and asked Dad to tell my wife who loves country music.

After my parents separated in the mid 50's, my father moved back to Mount Rainier, Md.(site of the real life exorcist) to live with his grandmother. There was a bar on 34th Street where Dad would go for pizza and a beer. The in-house entertainment was Jimmy Dean and his band.

One night during their break, Dad said Dean went over to the bar and changed the channel. The owner wanted to know why. "Because my friend Andy Griffith is doing NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS." "You're being paid to play music, not watch tv."

Dad invited Dean and the band to come over to his grandmother's to watch the show, but soon they had to return to the bar. His grandmother slept through the whole thing.

Years later Dad wrote to Dean about that evening, and Dad said Dean remembered that evening.