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''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 Critic s, ''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 ) 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 . 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. 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 Raccoon s 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 Actor s with Stage Name s 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 Claude a Cuckold , by fathering the puppies of his intended mate. 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 Episode s, 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. Rerun s of ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' are still televised daily around the world in syndication. 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 MALAPROPISM S, COLLOQUIAL TERMS AND PHRASES
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
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