Los Beverly ricos

This is a hilarious 1960's comedy that I grew up with and still never tire of every time I chance to encounter it in re runs. It surely stands among the best of its genre. The series revolves around the sidesplitting culture clash that ensues when the country bumpkin Clampett family moves to Beverly Hills after father, Jed Clampett, stumbles upon oil on his land and becomes a multi millionaire. The rest of the family joining him at their new Beverly Hills mansion include Jed's mother-in-law Granny, pretty daughter Elly May, and nephew Jethro Bodine.

The Clampetts are of course...something else...as they enter this alien world, where their mansion has every luxury imaginable including a cement pond. The superstitious & feisty Granny makes certain her kin always have lots of vittles, especially such delicacies as hog jowls and possum belly. She hangs out her shingle for the purpose of imparting her unique brand of down home doctoring & dentistry, and firmly believes that the South won (or at least is winning) the Civil War. Much of her time is spent chasing her great nephew, Jethro, out of her kitchen with a broom, trying to curtail his endless appetite. The dim witted Jethro is a scheming would be playboy, who's all proud that he graduated sixth grade and can cipher. Jed's sweet, innocent, & beautiful daughter, Elly May, has a penchant for critters, including a pet chimpanzee named Bessie. Granny is terrified that Elly's destined to become an old maid, as alas, she's still unwed at the ripe old age of eighteen. Much of Granny's energy is put into seeking out suitable beaux, although any courtin' & sparkin' in the Clampett parlour must be suitably chaperoned (or rather, cheered on) by spying through the closed door's keyhole.

The gem of the series is Jed, around whose unfailing integrity this ongoing saga revolves. He always seems blissfully unaware that he's wealthy, feels and acts no differently than he did back in the hills, and treats everyone the same (whether rich or poor). He gives generously to country folk and city slickers alike, is equally kind to both neighbours and total strangers...all the while dealing with the crazy antics of both Granny and Jethro and seeing to the lovely & rich Elly's various suitors, not all of whom have the most honourable of intentions. As another commented, if only everyone was like Jed Clampett!

In dramatic contrast to these hillbillies are the wealthy and status conscious Beverly Hills citizenry, as personified by Jed's banker, Mr. Drysdale, whose life revolves around maintaining the favour of his bank's main customer, Mr. Clampett, and protecting that thirty million dollars (or whatever the figure). His wife, Mrs. Drysdale, is a superficial & snooty dame who comes into frequent conflict with her neighbour, Granny. Jane Hathaway is Mr. Drysdale's very properly spinsterish but man hunting and bird watching secretary. She is the constant victim of her boss's greedy schemes and actually becomes quite a genuine friend to the Clampetts.

The actors are all stellar in their roles...Irene Ryan (Granny), Donna Douglas (Elly May), Max Baer Jr. (Jethro), Raymond Bailey (Mr. Drysdale), Nancy Kulp (Miss Hathaway), and especially the wonderful Buddy Ebsen (Jed).

It's a hilarious and side splitting romp, each episode funnier than the last. Through it all, Jed's integrity and honesty always shine through. The humble and good hearted neighbourliness of the Clampetts stands in sharp contrast to their affluent environment. It's Jed Clampett's desire for the simple pleasures of home, family, friends, and hard honest work versus Milburn Drysdale's blatant materialism. Every viewer realizes that, despite all the absurdity and the utterly ridiculous scenarios, the Clampetts know exactly what's important in life and that this family of uprooted hillbillies has a real life lesson to teach us all.

If only there were more TV shows like it today! Alas, our society has become far too sophisticated for its own good.

I remember The Beverly Hillbillies from when I was a little kid, and then when I was 12 years old we had cable TV for the first time and I was able to catch it three times a day! That's when one of the stations decided to run all the episodes in their original sequence, starting from the first episode. Now Walmart has been selling Beverly Hillbillies' DVD's of 16 episodes at a time for around $10. It's a great deal, but the only drawback is that whoever puts out these DVD's didn't get the rights to use any of the opening and closing theme songs. There's plenty of good banjo playing, but no narration by Jerry Scoggins and no closing tune. Still the episodes are extremely enjoyable.

Of course some of it is cornball and dated, but this sitcom beats the pants off any current shows I've seen. Contrary to what some reviewers here have said, the Clampetts always seem to come out on top of every situation by simply being themselves. If that means they're stupid and backwards, then I'd rather be that than something else. By being themselves, decent and simple, they unintentionally expose everyone else's agenda's, phoniness, and crookedness, whether it's Mr. Drysdale's love affair with Clampett money or just some interloper trying to seduce Elly Mae, or whatever. I also find their unabashed Southern pride to be refreshing in today's stifled and overly-militant PC world. Again, they're simply being themselves. Maybe it helped that Irene Ryan was from Texas, Donna Douglas was from Louisiana, and Buddy Ebsen was from rural Illinois. I guess Max Baer was just a natural as Jethro, and he later dwelt on mainly Southern themes in his post-Jethro life as a film producer. PC or not, the show is funny!!

If anyone's mind is pickled on older TV series, it is mine. And I know millions of others as well cherish "The Beverly Hillbillies" among the top of them all. The cast of this show fits so well with each other that they become the real deal. They became a part of our family somehow. Each regular character goes beyond typecast. The Scruggs/Flat music simply adds more of the same quality. I sometimes practice my guitar while watching the show so I can pick up a few licks each time.

I think that one of the most endearing qualities is that most any viewer can find something to identify with. The most obvious things are Uncle Jed's wisdom laden observations and Granny's energy and willingness to take up a cause. Jethro keeps her busy, but she never lacked for time to pick up her doctoring bag and charge full steam ahead to cure whoever might be ailing. From childhood to this day, I never seem to tire from watching this show. I can't say that about many others. Perhaps the Western series, "Bonanza", is one other that comes to mind. In both shows the characters own personalities forge their way into immortality.

The Hillbillies was the funniest show of the 60's. In fact, I'm in my 20's and I prefer the classics to the sitcom wasteland of today. I catch them atleast twice a day on TV Land and they always make me laugh hard. The best episodes were the ones where somebody (or some critter) drank Granny's moonshine by accident. Then the fun would really begin. I didn't see anyone mention Harriet MacGibbon as Mrs. Drysdale and that's a shame because she was hilarious, always getting into fights with Granny and fainting. The comedy team of Raymond Bailey and Nancy Kulp had some of the best chemistry in TV history. Their reactions as they played off each other (and off the Clampetts) were side-splitting. Drysdale and Hathaway were a major factor in the show's success. I agree with someone else who commented that Irene Ryan should be up there in the same class with Lucille Ball. It's tragic that her name is all but forgotten today. But Granny lives on in the hearts of her fans.

I'm a long time fan of The Beverly Hillbillies. I recently did some research on the internet to find out more about the mansion used in the series. "The Kirkeby Mansion" built in 1938 is actually in Bel Air. the 1938 French neoclassical-style mansion at 750 Bel Air Road, built by Lynn Atkinson (and later sold to hotelier Arnold Kirkeby after Atkinson's wife refused to move into a house she thought too ostentatious.) Kirkeby agreed with the production company to let them use his estate on the condition that the actual address was not given out to the general public. The address (750 Bel Air Rd.)leaked out and before long tourists became a problem. I've found a satellite view of the property recently and found out that the front gate was completely taken out and the house can no longer be seen from the street. The new entrance is down the road. Too bad really because the estate with it's still meticulously manicured spectacular seventeenth century style formal french garden is among the most beautiful in California.