The Beverly Hillbillies

The "Hillbillies" has vaudville like gags. Nothing but pure comedy. Just plain great. It's stood the test of time.

The casting was perfect. Buddy Ebsen is a favorite. Donna Douglas is the most beautiful woman I've seen. Could be my favorite TV show of all time.

In 1971, when "The Beverly Hillbillies" was canceled, "All in the Family" premiered. While "All in the Family" is praised as the first "socially relevant" sitcom, "The Beverly Hillbillies" was the first to satire our society - "The Beverly Hillbillies" did it with screwball comedy. "The Beverly Hillbillies" changed the face of television - to date, it still holds the record for some of the highest-rated single half-hours of television. And, the performance of Irene Ryan in this series is right up there with the likes of Lucille Ball and Mary Tyler Moore on their respective series. It is a shame Ryan never won an Emmy for perhaps one of the most endearing, energetic performances in the history of television. While the first five seasons of the series were undeniably the best, and the writing suffered by the late 1960s, "The Beverly Hillbillies" changed the face of television. It opened the door for creativity, wild plot lines and colorful characters that dominated television in the world of sitcoms of the 1960s. It is the era of the 1960s that produced some of the most beloved sitcoms in history, and all of it was due to a little groundbreaking sitcom about a man named Jed.

Normally I don't critique sitcoms because, frankly, it's not worth the effort and are so crassly superficial that they don't require any serious attention. But in the case of "The Beverly Hillbillies" I will make an exception. This is because of one character: Jed Clampett, played by Buddy Ebsen. Jed Clampett is one of the most endearing yet complex characters ever created by the television industry. Superficially, Jed Clamptett doesn't seem to be the type of character that warrants much serious attention. After all he's just a simple, uneducated backwoodsman from the hills who's lived in a shack all of his life, and by pure dumb luck comes into a pile of money which doesn't seem to change him one bit. Which is what makes Jed Clampett such a wonderful character. For Jed Clampett has dignity and integrity and nothing will divert Mr. Clampett from remaining true to himself or altering the way he treats everyone - with openness, honesty and a real desire to be hospitable. Further, Jed Clampett commands respect, and is respected, not only by his immediate family who are utterly devoted to him, but even by that crass and conniving banker who, despite his air of superiority, reveals, episode after episode, what a buffoon he is compared to the calm and self-assured Mr. Clampett. Also, it should be noted the Jed Clampett protects and cares for not only his daughter, but his nephew and mother-in-law, the latter two a constant challenge to Jed's patience, which he never loses. If there were more Jed Clampetts in this world, then maybe we'd all be living in shacks, but at least we'd be getting along with each other and treating each other better.

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.

Several series have tried to be funny based on the "misunderstanding" principal, but "The Beverly Hillbillies" did it first and funniest. The characters included Jed, a poor but wise mountain man who used his good old country wisdom and saying to rationalize everything, Granny, the world's oldest Confederate widow with moonshine in one hand and a shotgun in the other, Jethro, the idiot savante who thought he was a genius and then Elly Mae, the demurely sexy tom boy who could fight like a wild cat. Add to this the cheap and opportunistic banker Milburne Drysdale and his voice of reason, Jane Hathaway, who starts out as the only normal person in the series but who later turns out to be as crazy as the rest because of her Birdwatchers Club, and you have a recipe for disaster. This show had a great cast and numerous wonderful episodes and storylines that continued sometimes for eight to ten episodes, a thing unusual for a Sixties series. My favorite character is and always be Shorty Kellums, the short innkeeper from back home who was quite the ladies man up until the next storyline.