The Beverly Hillbillies centred on a hillbilly family who moved from the Ozarks to Beverly Hills after their patriarch, Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen), found oil on his land. Although collectively known as "the Clampetts," they were not a traditional nuclear family as usually seen on television at the time. In fact, aside from Jed himself, only his daughter Elly May (Donna Douglas) shared the last name "Clampett." Elly May was a tomboy skilled in hunting, climbing trees, and even wrestling, who loved animals. Moving to Beverly Hills with Jed and Elly May was Jed's mother in law, Granny. Granny's full-name was Daisy Moses and while the rest of the family appear to have come from the Ozarks, Granny came from Tennessee. Granny brewed moonshine, which she claimed was for medicinal purposes, and took great pride in being an M.D. ("Mountain Doctor"). Since Jed, Elly May, and Granny couldn't drive, it was Elly May's cousin Jethro Bodine (Max Baer Jr.) who drove them to Beverly Hills in an ancient truck. Jethro was not very bright, but fancied himself as being intelligent (he was proud of his "sixth grade education"). Pearl Bodine (Bea Benaderat), was Jethro's mother and Jed's cousin, who often came into conflict with Granny. Jed kept his money in the Commerce Bank of Beverly Bills, of which Milburn Drysdale (Raymond Bailey) was president. Mr. Drydsale was consumed by his love of money, and would do nearly anything to keep the Clampetts' money in his bank. He even moved the Clampetts next door to him, something that did not sit well with is blueblood wife, Margaret Drysdale (Harriet McGibbon). Mr. Drysdale's secretary, Jane Hathaway (Nancy Kulp) acted as a voice of reason to Mr. Drysdale. She frequently questioned her boss's schemes and sometimes even defied him if she thought he had gone too far. Even though she was educated at Vassar, Miss Jane (as the Clampetts called her) treated the Clampetts as equals and friends.
The Beverly Hillbillies was the creation of Paul Henning, who was a seasoned veteran of writing situation comedies at the time. He got his start in radio with a script for Fibber McGee and Molly and wound up spending 15 years with the show. He went on to work with The Burns and Allen Show on radio and made the transition with the show when it moved to television. He created The Bob Cummings Show (also known as Love That Bob), which ran for five season and saw success as a syndicated rerun.
Paul Henning not only had considerable experience with sitcoms when he created The Beverly Hillbillies, but he also has some experience with actual mountain folk. He was born and raised in Independence, Missouri. As a Boy Scout he would go on camping trips to the Ozarks where he encountered real life hillbillies. Not only had he met mountain folk in real life, but he also had some experience in writing rural humour. While at the radio station KMBC in Kansas City early in his career, he was both a writer and cast member on Happy Hollow, a show described as "a down-home program featuring traditional music, country humour, and the corn-fed wisdom of 'Uncle Ezra'." With Stanley Shapiro on both The RCA Victor Show and The Dennis Day Show, he created the character of Charley Weaver, a rural character that performer Cliff Arquette adopted for his own. He also wrote two episodes of The Real McCoys, the show that would spark the upsurge in rural comedies during the Sixties.
It was in the early Sixties that Al Simon, an executive at Filmways, approached Paul Henning about writing a pilot for them. Paul Henning drew upon his experiences with hillfolk and his love of rural humour to create what was initially titled The Hillbillies of Beverly Hills. The title was soon changed to The Beverly Hillbillies, which created some problems for the producers. Country musician Zeke Manners had a band called The Beverly Hill Billies in the Thirties that proved to be somewhat popular on radio at the time. Fortunately, the producers and Zeke Manners were able to work out a deal so that the TV show would keep its title The Beverly Hillbillies.
The Beverly Hillbillies was pitched to ABC, the home of earlier hillbilly hit The Real McCoys. ABC turned the show down. Ultimately, CBS picked the show up. Unfortunately, they scheduled it against the popular show Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall on NBC. To make matters worse, CBS gave the new show absolutely no promotion. Filmways then mounted their own promotional campaign. Filmways produced a series of 20 to 60 second spots that started airing in 85 cities six weeks prior to the debut of the show.
As it turned out, The Beverly Hillbillies proved to be the smash hit of the 1962-1963 season. It debuted to a 28 ratings share, and its ratings simply improved from there. By only its fourth week on the air, The Beverly Hillbillies became the no. 1 show on network television, with a phenomenal 33.7 ratings share. In the end it became the the first show in the history of television to be no. 1 for the year during its very first season (here I must point out that The $64000 Question was a summer replacement before becoming the no. 1 show for the 1955-1956 season).
The Beverly Hillbillies would remain the no. 1 show on the air in its second season. Indeed, if anything, it became even more successful, actually breaking records in the ratings with several episodes. To this day the January 8 1964 episode "The Giant Jackrabbit" remains the highest rated, half hour episode of a sitcom. What is more, seven other episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies aired in late 1963 and early 1964 remain among the most watched programmes on American television for all time. The Beverly Hillbillies would not maintain such incredibly high ratings for the entirety of its run, but it still did respectably well. Ultimately it spent five of its seasons in the top ten highest rated shows and three in the top twenty. It was only in its final season that it failed to reach the top thirty.
While The Beverly Hillbillies debuted to phenomenal ratings, it also received some of the worst reviews for any show in the history of American television. Rick Du Brow of UPI wrote about the show, "The series aimed low and hit its target." William K. Sarmento in The Lowell Sun commented that, "...last night’s premiere of The Beverly Hillbillies was an insult to the intelligence of the most moronic viewer," and remarked, "The show is a cross between The Real McCoys and L’il Abner." William K. Sarmento wasn't the only critic to bring up The Real McCoys in a review of The Beverly Hillbillies. Variety wrote the show off as an imitation of The Real McCoys and further wrote that it was "...painful to sit through" and "...improbable and impossible as the characters who people it." No less than The New York Times called the show "...strained and unfunny."
Although it might have seemed so at the time, not every review of The Beverly Hillbillies was negative. Cynthia Lowry of Associated Press actually liked the show and wrote, "...it promises to be uninhibited and amusing if the writers remember to add enough branch water to the corn." One individual with much more intellectual clout than any television critic also genuinely liked the show. Cultural critic and writer Gilbert Seldes wrote essays on the show for both the December 15 1962 issue of TV Guide and January 5 1963 issues of The Saturday Review. He pointed out that while the typical formula for comedy was "real people in unreal situations", the formula for comedy on The Beverly Hillbillies was "unreal people in unreal situations."
For a show that ran nine seasons, The Beverly Hillbillies saw very little change in its cast over the years. The core characters of Jed, Granny, Elly Mae, Jethro, Mr. Drysdale, and Jane Hathaway all remained with the show for the entirety of its run. The second season of the show would see one major change in its cast. During its first season Jed's cousin Pearl Bodine was a recurring character on The Beverly Hillbillies. The Beverly Hillbillies producer and creator Paul Henning had known Bea Benaderet since their days on radio working on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (on which she played George and Gracie's neighbour Blanche Morton). He had long admired her as a comedic talent and thought that after years of playing supporting roles it was time for her to be a lead in a situation comedy. He then created the sitcom Petticoat Junction as a vehicle for Bea Benaderet. After last appearing in the first season episode, "The Psychiatrist Gets Clampetted," Pearl made one last appearance on the show in the sixth season episode "Greetings from the President" in 1967.
While the central cast of The Beverly Hillbillies would remain intact for its whole run, various recurring characters would come and go. John Brewster (Frank Wilcox), the executive of O.K. Oil Company (the company that bought the rights to the oil on Jed's land ) was a recurring character for the show's first five seasons. Elverna Bradshaw (Elvia Allman), Granny's rival from the hills, was a recurring character on the show from its first season to its eighth season. John Cushing (Roy Roberts), the president of the Commerce Bank's rival Merchants Bank, who was always trying to lure the Clampetts away to his institution, appeared on the show as a recurring character from its third to its sixth season. Dash Riprock, a handsome actor who started out as one of Elly May's suitors and became friends with the Clampetts, appeared from the show's third season to its seventh season. Dr. Roy Clyburn (Fred Clark) was Mr. Drysdale's doctor who was always trying to keep Granny from practising her mountain medicine. He was a recurring character from the show's second season to its fifth season. Late in the show's run famed character actor Percy Helton played Homer Cratchit, a bank clerk at Commerce Bank who had worked under Mr. Drysdale's father. Daneille Mardi played the recurring role of British Commerce Bank secretary Helen Thompson.
It would be another actress who played a secretary at Commerce Bank who might well be the most famous person to have a recurring role on The Beverly Hillbillies. Sharon Tate had been signed to a seven year contract with Filmways by its president Martin Rashonoff in 1963. Considered for the role of Billie Jo Bradley on Petticoat Junction, Mr. Rashonoff thought she needed more confidence and cast her in a guest appearance on the Filmways show Mister Ed and then in the role of secretary Janet Trego on The Beverly Hillbillies. Sharon Tate first appeared on The Beverly Hillbillies in the show's second season, playing a student named Mary at a school Elly May was attending. She first appeared as Janet Trego in the second season episode "Jethro's First Love." She continued to appear as Janet Trego until the show's fourth season. By that point her movie career was beginning and she no longer appeared on the show. It is to be noted that the naturally blonde Sharon Tate played Janet in a brunette wig.
One of the most unusual recurring characters to appear on The Beverly Hillbillies was Jethro's twin sister Jethrine. Jethrine was played by Max Baer Jr. in drag. While many people probably assume Max Baer Jr. played Jethrine using a falsetto voice, in reality her voice was provided by Paul Henning's daughter Linda Kaye. Linda Kaye later played Betty Jo Bradley on Petticoat Junction. Jethrine appeared in several episodes of the first season and made her last appearance in the second season episode "Christmas with the Clampetts."
There were many more recurring characters on The Beverly Hillbillies than I have listed here. Some would appear for several seasons, others for only one story arc. Of course, this was one of the ways in which The Beverly Hillbillies differed from other sitcoms of its day or sitcoms before it. Other sitcoms of the Sixties were episodic, with their plots neatly wrapped up in one episode. The Beverly Hillbillies featured story arcs that would unfold over multiple episodes. Among the story arcs on The Beverly Hillbillies were the Clampetts inheriting a castle in England; Jethro playing Robin Hood in Griffith Park and leading a band of hippies as his "Merry Men;" Jethro opening his own talent agency on the fifth floor of the Commerce Bank building; and yet others. The Beverly Hillbillies was hardly serialized the way modern TV shows are, but it did utilize plots that would unfold over several episodes. This made it a pioneer in television, particularly with regards to sitcoms.
Another way in which The Beverly Hillbillies differed from earlier sitcoms is that on many of the domestic comedies episodes would revolve around a crisis that were neatly resolved in a half hour, often with some sort of moral to the story. On The Beverly Hillbillies often various crises would not be resolved at the end of an episode, and there was generally no moral to the story. Quite simply, on The Beverly Hillbillies the emphasis was on comedy, with no real concern to resolving the personal problems of the characters in any given episode. As Gilbert Seldes pointed out, the formula for comedy on The Beverly Hillbillies was "unreal people in unreal situations."
One more way that The Beverly Hillbillies differed from many sitcoms is that it existed in a shared universe with Petticoat Junction and Green Acres. While the Warner Bros. Westerns and detective shows of the late Fifties and early Sixties existed in a shared universe, this was something that had not been seen in sitcoms before. Hooterville, the small town that served as the setting for both Petticoat Junction and Green Acres, was first referenced in in the sixth episode of The Beverly Hillbillies, "Trick or Treat." It was during the show's seventh season that the Clampetts, as well as Mr. Drysdale and Miss Jane, actually visited Hooterville, spending both Thanksgiving and Christmas there. Afterwards Frank Cady would make a few guest appearances as Sam Drucker from Petitcoat Junction and Green Acres on The Beverly Hillbillies. "The Clampett-Hewes Empire", that aired in the 1970-1971 season, would be the last crossover episode between The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres. Of course, since then there have been other sitcoms that have existed in shared universes (Cheers Wings, The Tortellis, and Frasier being an example).
For the most part The Beverly Hillbillies concentrated on its central cast and recurring characters rather than frequently featuring guest stars, although over the years several big names appeared on the show. Blue grass legends Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs would guest star as themselves in a few episodes. The two of them had written the show's theme song, "The Ballad of Jed Clampett." Their fictional wives on the show were played by Joi Lansing (who played Lester Flatt's wife) and Midge Ware (who played Earl Scrugg's wife). Perhaps the biggest name to appear on the show was John Wayne, who had a cameo in the fifth season episode "The Indians Are Coming." Gloria Swanson was another big name to appear on The Beverly Hillbillies, playing herself in the fifth season episode "The Gloria Swanson Story." Julie Newmar guest starred in the fourth season episode "The Beautiful Maid," playing an actress Mr. Drysdale installed as a maid in the Clampett household so she can learn their backwoods dialect for a role (the episode aired on March 30 1966, only two weeks after she had made her debut as Catwoman on Batman). Ted Cassidy guest starred on the fifth season episode "The Dahlia Feud" as Mr. Ted, Mrs. Drysdale's nearly invulnerable gardener (even Granny's shotgun didn't phase him). Phil Silvers played shifty conman "Honest John" in the eighth season episodes "Jed Buys Central Park" and "The Clampetts in New York." Among other things, he "sold" Jed Central Park. It was in the following episode that what might have been the biggest name besides John Wayne appeared. In "Manhattan Hillbillies" Sammy Davis Jr. played a New York City police officer. Sammy Davis Jr. was friends with Dick Wesson, who wrote several episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies from its first season to its last.
Another famous face appeared in the pilot of The Beverly Hillbillies. Robert Osborne, the film historian who worked for The Hollywood Reporter and gained everlasting fame as the first host of Turner Classic Movies, had at one time been an actor. In the pilot for The Beverly Hillbillies Robert Osborne played Mr. Drysdale's young assistant, Jeff Taylor. He was offered a regular role on the show, but turned it down thinking that the pilot would never sell.
As might be expected of a show that became a smash it nearly upon its debut, there was some Beverly Hillbillies merchandise on the shelves in the Sixties. Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs released "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" as a single and it went to no. 1 on the Billboard Country chart and no. 44 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1963 a soundtrack album for the TV series was released, with the cast performing in character. In 1966 Irene Ryan released a single as Granny entitled "Granny's Mini-skirt." Standard Toycraft put out a Beverly Hillbillies board game, while Milton Bradley put out a Beverly Hillbillies card game. Aladdin manufactured a Beverly Hillbillies lunchbox with a Thermos. In 1963 Ben Cooper released Halloween costumes based on The Beverly Hillbillies Later, in the late Sixties and early Seventies, Halco would put out their own Halloween costumes based on the show. Dell Comics published several issues of a Beverly Hillbillies comic book from 1963 to 1971.
As mentioned earlier, The Beverly Hillbillies did very well in the ratings. It ranked no. 1 for the year in its first two seasons, and spent five years in the top ten and another three in the top twenty. It was only with its ninth and final season that it failed to make the top thirty of the Nielsen ratings for the year. Much of the reason the show might have fallen in the ratings may have been the fact that CBS moved it from its long time Wednesday time slot to a new time slot on Tuesday. There it faced strong competition from The Mod Squad. While the ratings for The Beverly Hillbillies had dropped, they were still high enough that any other season it might have been renewed. Unfortunately, the 1970-1971 season was the year of the Rural Purge.
As early as 1967 CBS was concerned about its ageing and largely rural audience. At the time it was reported that CBS wanted to redo its schedule to better compete with NBC for the younger, 18-49 year old demographic desired by Madison Avenue. It was in 1969 that Robert D. Wood became president of CBS. He was concerned with both the network's falling ratings (although it was still no. 1 each season) and concerned that it was not attracting younger viewers. It was in June 1970 he appointed Fred Silverman as Vice President, Programs, essentially the head of CBS's programming department. It would be Fred Silverman who hit upon improving the network's fortunes by cancelling nearly every single show that appealed to an older, rural audience at once.
Of course, much of the impetus for the Rural Purge was not simply making CBS better able to compete with NBC for younger viewers, but also the fact that the Prime Time Access Rule was going into effect at the start of the 1971-1972 season. The Prime Time Access Rule cut several hours from the networks' prime time schedules each week. The FCC had enacted the Prime Time Access Rule out of concerns over the amount of control the networks exerted over the production and distribution of television shows. The FCC hoped that the rule would create more diverse programming on local stations by letting them air different sorts of shows in time slots that once belonged the networks. Regardless, because of the Prime Time Access Rule, the networks had to cancel many more TV shows than they ever had before. In the case of CBS, the network used it as a chance to get rid of shows that appealed to rural audiences and older audiences in hopes of attracting younger viewers.
It was with its ninth season that The Beverly Hillbillies was cancelled, although it might well have been renewed any other season. Green Acres, Mayberry R.F.D., and the variety show Hee Haw were also cancelled. The latter two shows ranked in the top twenty for the year, making them among the highest rated shows ever cancelled. The Beverly Hillbillies had been the smash hit of the 1962-1963 season. It ended its run cancelled en masse with several other shows.
The Beverly Hillbillies was gone, but hardly forgotten. From the late Seventies into the Eighties, TV reunion movies were popular on American broadcast television. With the continued popularity of The Beverly Hillbillies it was perhaps inevitable that there would be a TV reunion movie. That TV movie, Return of The Beverly Hillbillies, aired on October 6 1981. Irene Ryan had died in 1973 and Raymond Bailey in 1980, so Granny and Mr. Drysdale were noticeably absent from the reunion movie. Max Baer Jr., who had been typecast as Jethro, did not want to return for the reunion movie and so Ray Young played the role. While The Beverly Hillbillies had become much more highly regarded than it had upon its debut, Return of the Beverly Hillbillies received bad reviews from critics and received mediocre ratings. Even fans were not too happy with the TV reunion movie.
In 1993 CBS aired a retrospective of The Beverly Hillbillies, The Legend of the Beverly Hillbillies. Buddy Epsen, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer Jr. reunited for the special. The special proved successful, ranking fourth in the Nielsen ratings for the week. Interestingly enough, The Legend of the Beverly Hillbillies treated the 1981 TV reunion movie as if it has never happened.
That same year a feature film based on the TV show was released. The Beverly Hillbillies (1993) starred Jim Varney as Jed, Cloris Leachman as Granny, Erika Eliniak as Elly Mae, Dabney Coleman as Mr. Drysdale, and Lily Tomlin as Jane Hathway. The movie was released to abysmal reviews. It also did poorly at the box office. Perhaps audiences did not appreciate a beloved sitcom being resurrected as a film with 1990s humour, some of which could be considered offensive (it is inconceivable that the Clampetts, or any real residents of the Ozarks, would eat "roadkill stew").
Today The Beverly Hillbillies can still be seen on various television outlets and is available on streaming services. The show that many critics in 1962 thought was insulting to the intelligence of audiences is now regarded as a classic. Quite simply, many critics in 1962 did not seem to grasp that The Beverly Hillbillies was different from anything before it. As mentioned earlier, it threw the standard, domestic comedy format of episodes whereby crises would be neatly resolved in a half hour out the window. Not only were situations in many episodes left unresolved at the end, but the comedy in The Beverly Hillbillies was often so broad that it could be considered absurdist. The show certainly had no pretence towards realism.
Beyond the fact that the comedy of The Beverly Hillbillies was extremely broad, it also differed from its contemporaries (not to mention earlier sitcoms) in that it acted as a social satire. The honest, hard working Clampetts were often contrasted with the often hypocritical city folk of Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. While the show served as an attack on the upper class of Beverly Hills, it also acknowledged the changes in society throughout the Sixties. Over its seasons it spoofed Hollywood, beatniks, dance crazes, the spy craze, the counterculture (to which it was somewhat sympathetic), the student movement, feminism, environmentalism, jogging, and the growing interest in Eastern religions. While The Beverly Hillbillies never addressed the Vietnam War or the anti-war movement, it did acknowledge that the world around the Clampetts was changing, which was more than many of the sitcoms of the era did.
The Beverly Hillbillies' influence would be seen in future "fish out of the water" comedies, including sister show Green Acres, Newhart, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, The Nanny, and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Derided by critics upon its debut, it became phenomenally successful with episodes still ranking among the most watched of all time. While it never reached those heights of success ever since, it remains popular to this day and still maintains a large and faithful following.
Outstanding work, Terence!
ReplyDeleteFor those interested, I highly recommend Stephen Cox's fun and informative book on the history of the show. (I own the 80's, 90's, and 00's editions).