Mayberry with money: There's plenty of dollars, but is Palm Beach still just a small town?

Someone once described the small-town feel of richy-rich Palm Beach as "Mayberry with money."

OK, that was yours truly.

We used the phrase years ago when describing the island's comfortable intimacy. Since then, "Mayberry with money" has taken off. It's everywhere.

Seriously, we think we need to protect it with a copyright.

It was an apt description then, before the fishing hole closed and the 4-H Club dissolved. OK, none of those things have happened, but look around. Everywhere, there's stuff. People. Buildings. Cars. Signs telling us what we can't do.

It's Mayberry no more.

In The Andy Griffith Show, Mayberry's Andy Taylor was a homespun, morally upright man raising a young boy. In real life, Andy Griffith was a world-class horndog who started a long, steamy extramarital affair with Aneta Corsaut ― the actress who played his onscreen girlfriend Helen Crump ― almost from the minute she walked on the set.

His off-screen wife was not happy.

In 2006, a man from Wisconsin running for sheriff changed his name to "Andy Griffith" in what he said was a tribute to the actor.

The actor sued him.

In Mayberry, Andy was a man of modest but honest means. In real life, he demanded a 50 percent stake in the show, leaving behind a tidy $35 million at the time of his death in 2012.

And Barney Fife, the bumbling, exophthalmic deputy who couldn't snare a woman with a bear trap? In real life, Don Knotts had an extramarital affair with the young assistant to Griffith's manager.

His missus, too, was unhappy. She walked.

Sarah, the town's switchboard operator was on duty 24/7. At night, she listened in on people's phone calls.

In Mayberry, Aunt Bee was Andy's warm, embracing aunt who helped him raise his young son.

In real life, Frances Bavier was a humorless, disapproving woman from a wealthy New York family who thought the role was beneath her while at the same time chiding her fellow actors for not taking their roles seriously enough.

Maybe they should have called her Aunt Bee-yotch.

In Mayberry, the town was warm and friendly. In real life, the few Black actors in the cast had no spoken lines until Rockne Tarkington appeared on the episode "Opie’s Piano Lesson."

He became the only Black actor to have spoken lines during the series’ entire eight-year run.

Otis Campbell, the town drunk, would like to sleep off a bender ― after telling his wife he was going to "choir practice" ― in a small jail cell not unlike the one at the Palm Beach PD.

(Don't ask us how we know this.)

In real life, actor Hal Smith was a lifelong teetotaler whose acting career included voicing the role of Mother Goose in "Once Upon A Girl," an X-rated animated feature film.

Hmmm ... Perhaps "Mayberry no more" isn't a bad thing after all.

Now excuse us while we run off to choir practice.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Maybe Andy and Opie's neighborhood isn't really where we want to live