The Beverly Hillbillies

The Beverly Hillbillies was a TV sitcom about a hillbilly family living in Southern California in the 1960s.

The patriarch strikes oil while hunting on his land near a fictionalized hamlet called Bugtussle in the Ozark Mountains. He then listens to the advice of friends, neighbors and extended family members, and moves with his family to Beverly Hills, California, with the resultant wealth.

A Filmways production, the series aired on CBS from September 26, 1962 to September 7, 1971.

Despite its being panned by critics, The Beverly Hillbillies shot to the top of the Nielsen Ratings shortly after its premiere and stayed there for several seasons. It was high in the ratings throughout most of its run.

The series starred Buddy Ebsen as the widowed patriarch, Jedidiah "Jed" Clampett; Irene Ryan as his mother-in-law, Granny (Daisy Moses); Donna Douglas as his daughter, Elly May; Max Baer, Jr. as his nephew, Jethro Bodine, (sometimes playing Jethro's twin sister, Jethrene, on early shows); Raymond Bailey as Jed's greedy banker, Milburn Drysdale; Harriet E. MacGibbon as Drysdale's snobbish wife, Margaret; veteran canine actor "Stretch" as Jed's Bloodhound Duke; and Nancy Kulp as Drysdale's secretary, "Miss" Jane Hathaway, who pined for the clueless Jethro.

In the first season, Jed's cousin (although more logically his sister), Pearl Bodine (Jethro's mother, played by Bea Benaderet), also appeared.

The theme song, "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," (Ballad of Jed Clampett.ogg) was written by producer and writer Paul Henning and originally performed by Bluegrass artists Flatt and Scruggs. It was #44 on the music charts in 1962. Flatt and Scruggs made several guest appearances as themselves, and as potential suitors for Pearl.

Unusual storylines

Most storylines revolved around the clash between the "uncivilized" hillbilly culture the Clampetts represented and the "civilized" American culture the Drysdales represented. The Clampetts lived as they always had, even in their large, elegant mansion, never abandoning their mountain attire or replacing the old rattletrap truck that they moved to California in. They continued to grow their own food; and Granny made lye soap and moonshine. An injoke about how the Clampetts and the folks back home were "backward" is when the Clampetts tell Gloria Swanson that "back home" the folks watch Gloria Swanson movies-from the silent movie era. Granny's favorite actor is Hoot Gibson.

A running theme during the series involved the outlandish efforts Mr. Drysdale took to keep the Clampetts in Beverly Hills (and their money in his bank). Such desires to return to the mountains were often prompted by Granny after some perceived slight she received from the "city-folk" around them. Drysdale went so far as to recreate the log cabin the Clampetts lived in and place it right next to the swimming pool (or "cement pond, as they called it) and the still Granny had installed to make moonshine (which she slyly refers to as "roomatiz medicine"). Another time Drysdale bought the Silver Dollar City "bank" to keep the Clampett's money in Beverly Hills. Once Drysdale hired movie stuntmen to play fake Native Americans "attacking" the Clampett mansion after Jed and Jethro decide to negotiate oil leases with real Native Americans. One injoke is that whenever Jed pulled money out of his pocket Drysdale's blood pressure would rise-likewise whenever it seemed that the Clampetts would withdraw their money from his bank, Drysdale's face would turn green.

Drysdale's favorite comic book hero is called "Superbanker".

Another frequent source of humor were Jethro's attempts to enter the film industry and/or become a "playboy" or entrepreneur of some sort. Jethro's stupidity usually caused these attempts to fail spectacularly, as when he decided to open a "topless" restaurant, where the waitresses did not wear hats. The one time Jethro almost succeeded in show business was when "Cousin Roy" {Roy Clark} asked Jethro to back him as a country singer. Jethro, of course, refuses and loses as usual.

Misunderstandings were the general source of humour in the program -- either the Clampetts did not understand something they had never encountered before, or various city dwellers could not comprehend something the Clampetts are talking about, as when some businessmen hear Jed talking about "crawdads" -- crayfish -- and think he's discussing some new military vehicle, which they would like to invest in.

Some of the later episodes are positively bizarre, as when the Clampetts encounter a group of hippies living in Griffith Park -- they praise granny for wanting to "smoke crawdads" -- and Jethro dresses as General Patton and drives around in a tank, with Mr. Drysdale dressed in a World War I German officers uniform.

Several country-western stars also made appearances on the show including Roy Clark as "Cousin Roy" as well as the duo of Flatt and Scruggs. Pat Boone appeared on one episode as himself with the premise that he hails from the same area as the Clampetts.

Characters

Although having little formal education, Jed had good common sense, Granny had insights into human nature, and Elly May was a strong capable girl. She could throw a fastball and even wrestle her cousin (or any other man) to a fall. However Jethro was incredibly ignorant and self centered. Granny styled herself an "M.D." -"mountain doctor" - claiming to have a complete knowledge of herbs, potions and tonics. Elly May had a deep rapport with all animals and adopted a great diversity of them {such as cats and dogs}, including raccoons and a chimpanzee, as her "critters". Another running joke was her poor culinary skills; the results were not only inedible but, when the clan discreetly fed her meals to the backyard plants as so not to hurt her feelings, the plants died.

Elly May was as stunningly beautiful as she was naïve, and was squired about by eager young Hollywood actors with stage names like "Dash Riprock" and "Bolt Upright." (Obvious puns on the actors Rock Hudson and Rip Torn.) Jethro called himself "Beef Jerky," imagining himself a playboy and sophisticated man-about-town. He was particularly proud of his education: he spent 12 years at school - before passing the sixth grade. After that, he decided to go to college. He managed to enroll late in the semester at a local secretarial school due to his financial backing, and earned his diploma by the end of the day because he didn't understand what was going on in class and was too disruptive. One running joke was "the six foot stomach" and his appetite. Another running joke was when Elly and Jethro would get into a fight-Jethro would always lose.

The family was fascinated by their swimming pool, but never seemed to grasp its intended use (Granny sometimes did the laundry in it). Another running joke was that they never discovered the source of the sound that took place a few times prior to someone showing up at the front door (the doorbell).

The Drysdales were also pretty foolish. Although Mrs. Drysdale's had obvious disdain for their neighbors, Mr. Drysdale was willing to do anything to keep them next door so as to not lose control of their millions in his bank. Episodes in 1962 and 1966 featured his ne'er-do-well stepson, Sonny (played by Louis Nye), a Mama's Boy whose "career" was going to college. Sonny was at one point a potential husband for Elly May. When he jilted her, there was nearly a feud. All the while, Mrs. Drysdale led outlandish campaigns to rid her city of the uncouth hillbillies.

Jed's Bloodhound Duke, played by the canine actor "Stretch" ^*, was also a constant thorn in Mrs. Drysdale's side. In addition to his baying and digging, he made her French Poodle Claude a cuckold, by fathering the puppies of his intended mate.

One of a breed

The Beverly Hillbillies never took itself too seriously. It was a farce, pure and simple, with plenty of slapstick and word-play. After its run, one TV critic called the premise of the show "one joke, nine years."

It was still fairly popular when it was canceled in 1971 after 274 episodes, but CBS, prompted by pressure from advertisers seeking a more sophisticated urban audience, decided to refocus its schedule on several "hip" new urban themed shows. CBS' other rural themed comedies were also canceled, including Green Acres, Mayberry R.F.D. and Hee Haw, which was resurrected in first-run syndication, where it ran for another 21 years. Petticoat Junction had been canceled a year earlier due to declining ratings since the death of star Bea Benaderet.

Reruns of The Beverly Hillbillies are still televised daily around the world in syndication. The show is distributed by Paramount Television.

The Hillbillies on video

The first two seasons of the series are in the public domain (their copyrights having not been renewed by CBS, which bought the rights to the series shortly after its cancellation). As a result, these episodes have been unofficially released on home video and DVD on many low-budget labels, and shown on low-power television stations and low-budget networks in mostly murky 16mm prints. In many video prints of the public domain episodes, the original theme music is replaced by generic music due to copyright issues.

However, before his death, Paul Henning (whose estate now holds the original film elements to the "public domain" episodes) authorized MPI Home Video to officially release the best of the first two seasons on DVD, the first "ultimate collection" of which was released in the fall of 2005. These collections include the original, uncut versions of the season one episodes, complete with their original theme music and opening sponsor plugs. Vol. 1 included, among its bonus features, the alternate, unaired version of the pilot film, "The Hillbillies Of Beverly Hills" (this is the version of the episode that sold the series to CBS), and the "cast commercials" (cast members pitching the products of the show's sponsors) originally shown at the end of each episode.

For many years, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (under license from CBS) officially released select episodes of "Hillbillies" on videocassette until Paramount (through post-1994 parent Viacom's merger with CBS) took over the video rights. Paramount (through CBS DVD) has announced plans to release the copyrighted episodes in box sets for late 2006.

Frequently used malapropisms, colloquial terms and phrases

cee-ment pond (the swimming pool)
critters (any animal par.Elly May's assorted pets)
A bil-yerd* (The stuffed rhino-head in the billiard room)
fancy eatin' room (the billiard room)
fancy eatin' table (the billiard table)
pot passers (pool cues)
fancy leather lunch boxes (briefcases)
feelin' lower than a well digger's heel
frisky as a flea on a fat dog
green (naive, gullible, easily deceived)
He was only greenin' ya! (He was only fooling you!)
If brains were lard, his wouldn't grease too big a pan
p-new-moe-nie (pneumonia)
polecat (a skunk)
pretty as a bag filled with striped candy
pretty as fresh-churned butter
pretty as a mess o' fried catfish
rootin' around like a hog in a new pen
set a spell (sit for a while)
spark/sparkin' (court/courting, date/dating)
squawking like a two-pound chicken laying a three-pound egg
vittles (victuals; food)
We-e-e-ll doggies! (Jed's characteristic expression of impressed astonishment)
You're green enough to stick in the ground and grow
You're totin' water with a leaky bucket
deep fried in possum fat (a method of cooking)
You're dropping your bucket down an empty well
I'm gonna fetch my shotgun
One of these days I've got to have a long talk with that boy

Complete theme song

The Ballad of Jed Clampett

performed by Jerry Scoggins

"Come and listen to my story 'bout a man named Jed,

a poor mountaineer, barely kept his fam'ly fed.

Then one day he was shootin' at some food,

and up from the ground come a bubblin' crude,

oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.

Well the first thing you know ol' Jed's a millionaire.

The kinfolk said, Jed, move away from there.

They said, Californy is the place you oughta be,

so they loaded up the truck and they moved to Beverly,

Hills that is, swimmin' pools, movie stars.

Ol' Jed bought a mansion, lawdy it was swank,

next-door neighbor was pres'dent of the bank.

Lotsa folks objected, but the banker found no fault,

'cause ol' Jed's millions was a-layin' in the vault,

cash that is, capital gains, depletion money.

Well now it's time to say goodbye to Jed and all his kin,

they would like to thank you folks for kindly droppin' in.

You're all invited back next week to this locality,

to have a heapin' helpin' of their hospitality,

hillbilly that is, set a spell, take your shoes off,

y'all come back now, ya hear?"

Trivia

For a time, The Beverly Hillbillies was sponsored by Winston cigarettes, and the actors Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan and Nancy Kulp appeared in commercials for the brand, smoking Winstons and reciting the jingle "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should."
Exterior shots of the Clampetts' mansion were filmed at the Kirkeby Mansion located at 750 Bel Air Road, Bel Air.
While the series remained comedic, during its run in the late 1960 and early 1970s the show did integrate various social issues such as feminism, beatniks, hippies, the youth movement and even civil rights (although during its run, the show never had a continuing minority character as part of the main or supporting casts). The greedy Mr. Drysdale successfully blocked efforts by his bank employees to form a labor union or to get health insurance.
Baer plans to open "Jethro's Beverly Hillbillies Mansion & Casino" in Carson City, Nevada.
The Beverly Hillbillies program was also linked with Petticoat Junction and Green Acres due to cross appearances of characters/actors between the shows. For example Sam Drucker (portrayed by Frank Cady) appeared on all three programs. A similar universe existed between the programs The Golden Girls, Empty Nest and Nurses. As well as Seinfeld, Mad About You and Friends.
Saturday Night Live presented a skit about "The Bel Arabs", a Bedouin family who moved to Bel Air, California, after striking oil. The skit included a revised version of "The Ballad of Jed Clampett".
A song by "Weird Al" Yankovic titled "Money For Nothing/The Beverly Hillbillies" is a parody of "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straits (the strange title resulted from legal restrictions). Mark Knopfler himself played the guitar in this parody, which appeared in music video form in Al's 1989 movie UHF.
Saturday Night Live did a spoof of "The Ballad of Jed Clampett"-subsuiting President William Clinton's name for that of Jed Clampett.
On a epsiode of Green Acres, Mr. Haney tries to sell Mr Douglas a colored photograph of "The Beverely HillBillies" an crossover injoke.
In one episode, Mr. Drysdale reveals that he was born in Tennessee. After receiving hearty approval from the Clampetts, he mentions that his mother was part of the Bodkins clan, the archnemeses of the Moses clan. Granny then chases him off with a gun.
Dell Comics published a short-lived comic book based on the show.

External links

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