The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1958-08-22
Bx elizabeth WEIGH


On August 49, 1887, the first
child of English parents in the
New World was born to Ananias
and Eleanor Dare on Roanoke Is
land in North Carolina. This date
has been celebrated annually since
1880 on the site of Paul Green's
dramatic Interpretation of this
first settlement, the Lost Colony.
Mr.. Green has always been in
tensely interested in the person
who played the role of Eleanor
Dare in The Lost Colony. Acting is
not enough; the integrity of pur-
pose, the feeling" for the part, the
sincerity of portrayal stem from
inner strengths, and so, whoever
portrays Eleanor Dare must have
something more than looks and a
voice. For six years Catherine Gale
played the role; then Julia Meade
played it for one season. And then
came the first North Carolinian to
have all the requisites for the
role: Barbara Edwards Griffith,
now the wife of Andy Griffith.
Talented in her own right, Bar
bara sings, acts and has the speak
ing voice which, with the necessary
range and depth for outdoor thea
tire, was able for six summers to
make her synonymous with the
first significant woman in our
nations history. ~
Barbara was as ethical in her
off-stage behavior as she was con-
sistent in her role on stage. Pos
sessing her moments" and liking
her fun with the best of them,
"Bobbie" prepared for her en-
frances in time to become mental
ly and emotionally "set;" and,
when off stage, she< adhered to
the rules of order and silence
while waiting for her next en-
trance. One night when a large
toad became lodged in her costume
during the Queens Garden Scene,
Bobbie, although panicked inward
ly, carried off her scene with such
sincerity that, until her exit, no
one knew the creature was there
in the folds of her gown. While
singing the lullaby in the Eleanor
Dare Cabin in Act II one night, a
bug flew down her open throat
she swallowed hastily and finished
her song without the slightest dis
play of discomfort; with lizard
running gaily about in the thatch-
ed roof of the Father Martin Cabin
just over her head, she calmly
went through the dramatic scene
there which calls for complete con-
centration.
Bobbie was born Barbara Ed
wards in Wilson, N. c., but lived
in Troy, N. c., all her life until
her marriage to Andy Griffith in
1949. Her father, j. S. Edwards,
has been for many years the SUI
perintendent of schools of Mont
gomery County, and her mother
taught English for several of those
years. Bobbie studied music at
Converse College, receiving her
B. NJ. degree there. Then because
Pm just a small-town girl who
feared the big city," she came to
Chapel Hill to study drama for a
year at the University. This was
one of the most important deci-
sions she ever made, for it was
here that she met Andy whom she
was to marry three years later
(Andy said he'd heard of a Bobby
Edwards, but thought it was a
boy; was he supposedly Well
Bobby and Andy started going to-
gether; they sang Gilbert and Sui
Ivan together, and that summer
Bobbie came to The Lost Colony
as Eleanor Dare.
Did Andy haye anything to dc
with her coming to The Lost Col
ony? He had been with the show
the summer before and had talked
to Bobbie about the show and
about Roanoke ISLAND. Bobbie
says that Andy had a lot to dc
l with her decision.
/ On August %, 1949, Sir Walter
Raleigh and Eleanor Dare were
married in the Little Chapel al
Fort Raleigh. But the invitations
read Barbara Edwards to Andrew
Samuel Griffith" The small chape
would seat only thirty people. It!
] floor was of sand, the altar wal
banked with greenery cut that
morning by the stage technicians
and in front Of the greenery wer'
4 four baskets Of bronze gladiol
personally gathered by Mr.. Bell