The Beverly Hillbillies

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This article is about the TV series. There is also an article about the motion picture of the same title.

Image:Hillbillies1.jpg The Beverly Hillbillies is a TV sitcom about a hillbilly family living in Southern California of 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 beginning, Jed's cousin, Pearl (Jethro's mother, played by Bea Benaderet), also appeared.

The theme song, "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," (listen) 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.

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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.

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 and the still Granny had installed to make moonshine ("for medicinal purposes").

Another frequent source of humor were Jethro's attempts to enter the film industry and/or become a "playboy" or entrepeneur 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.

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. Dryesdale 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 espisode as a friend of the family and former suitor of Elly Mae.

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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. 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, 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.

The family called their swimming pool "the cement pond." They were fascinated by it, but never seemed to grasp its intended use. 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" [1], 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.

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One of a breed

The show was never too serious. It was a farce, pure and simple, with a lot of slapstick and word-play. After its run, one TV critic had called the premise of the show simply, "One joke, nine years." It was still fairly popular when it was canceled after 274 episodes, but the CBS network wanted to change its image as a "rural" network. This shift was mainly prompted by pressure from advertisers seeking a more sophisticated urban audience to market products to. Other rural themed comedy shows were also canceled, including Petticoat Junction (1963-1970) (starring Edgar Buchanan and June Lockhart, who had replaced the by-then-deceased Bea Benaderet), Green Acres (1965-1971) (starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor), Mayberry R.F.D. (1968-1971) (starring Ken Berry and Frances Bavier), and Hee Haw (1969-1971) (starring Buck Owens and Roy Clark), the latter then moving to "first-run" syndication, where it ran for another 21 years.

Reruns of The Beverly Hillbillies are still televised daily around the world in syndication.

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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 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.

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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 chracteristic 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
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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?"
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Trivia

  • The actual mansion where the exterior for the Clampett home was 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 intergrate 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 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".
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See also

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External links

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