The Clampetts Strike Oil

FIRST EPISODE. The rest is TV history.

How all us kids treasured this show, and still do.

Thank you to producer and writer Paul Henning, who wrote many funny episodes for Bob Cummings tv show in the 50s. He had an idea and ran with it, likely inspired by the MA AND PA KETTLE movie series. The thing is Ma and Pa were dirt poor, so why not make them rich and bring them into the modern world? Better yet, Beverly Hills. Swimmin' pools, movie stars!

This premier episode is told in flashback, mountaineer Jed hooking up with Mr. Brewster (Frank Wilcox) from the OK Oil Company, claiming his marshy land is brimming with OIL. This bit would lay the foundation for many other stories, where there's lots of doubt about all the new folks the Clampetts would meet. Perfect material to build on. Is Brewster and his crony telling the truth or are they dang revenuers?

Buddy Ebsen, long time song and dance man, had been appearing in several rural tv shows, like MAVERICK and RAWHIDE, also known for the movie DAVY CROCKETT. He was a natural for the role of Jed, the honest, down to earth adult in the room. The rest of the cast of characters were lovably nuts. That's how Henning scored it. Long time comedian Irene Ryan, a master of makeup and characterizations, was cast as Granny, rivaled by Bea Benederet as Cousin Pearl, Jethro's mom. I have always said, had it not been for PETTICOAT JUNCTION, Bea would have become a regular cast member. Beautiful Donna Douglas, also making a name for herself on tv, won the role as Elly. Max Baer, Jr, the son of the famous boxer, was popular at Warner Brothers/ABC, getting good roles in tv westerns, much like Buddy Ebsen, and was chosen by Henning to play Jethro. Max made the show in many ways, if not invented an iconic tv character.

The other bit put together by Henning was moving the Clampetts to Beverly Hills, their new digs WISELY next door to Mr. Drysdale (Raymond Bailey), president of the Commerce Bank of Beverly Hills. Granny thinks their new mansion looks like a prison and this is where the awkward fun begins with Drysdale, the atypical money mad guy on steroids. Bailey was a favorite of Alfred Hitchcock, routinely appearing on his tv show, and no doubt impressed Paul Henning as did Nancy Kulp to play Miss Jane, his brow-beaten secretary. What a team these two made, who became lifelong friends behind the scenes.

The show shot up to Number One in the 1962-63 Neilsen ratings, even topping Lucille Ball's tv show(!) -- and remained in the Top Ten for years. Remarkable, and again all due to Paul Henning, who passed in 2005 at age 93.

First episode directed by Ralph Levy, director for Jack Benny's tv show.

Should you be in Hollywood, the Clampett mansion is still there, located on Bel Air Road. It holds a record 24 bedrooms and 18 bathrooms, reportedly one of the most expensives homes in the US, situated on 10 plush acres of land.

SEASON 1 EPISODE 1 remastered CBS dvd box set with a beautiful color cover. 5 dvds. Released 2015.

I recently discovered that YouTube has many old pilot episodes--from both shows that went on to become a regular series as well as for shows that never came to be. In the case of "The Beverly Hillbillies" (here called "The Hillbillies of Beverly Hills"), it was very interesting see how the show evolved.

In this pilot, there is plenty of music--though none of it is the familiar music later used in the show. It's filled with flashback scenes and tells the story of how oil executives discovered oil on the Clampett property and how the family then came to move to California. Oddly, once the credits are complete at the end, there is several more minutes of the show.

Apart from the distracting audience (or perhaps it was a laugh track), the pilot was clever and entertaining. Well worth seeing...particularly if you love the show.

This was a very funny 1st episode for the Beverly Hillbillies. I laughed almost all the way through. Evidently growing up I never saw this episode but really never liked the series much. It seems they used all the funny stuff on the first 2 episodes - the series went downhill really fast. Guess you can only make so many jokes about cement ponds and phantom door bells. By the 3rd episode the jokes got lame and few and far between. However this 1st episode was hilarious - I really enjoyed it.

I caught the Beverly Hillbillies back in the early 1980s. By which times these episodes were already 20 years old.

The premise is a fish out of water comedy. Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen) is a country bumpkin, a simple honest to goodness farmer. His daughter Elly May is a tomboy even though Granny Clampett tells her son that Elly May has filled out and should be at home doing domestic work and looking for a husband.

Only some men from the petroleum company tell Jed that his land has oil. Texas tea and lots of it. Jed is offered 25 to 100 of some new kind of dollar. It is his cousin Pearl who figures that Jed is being offered millions of dollars for the oil on his land.

Now loaded and accompanied by nephew Jethro they head for Beverly Hills to their new mansion.

Only with the gates surrounding their new home. The Clampetts view their house as a prison. While they are mistaken for outlaws by Jed's new greedy banker Milburn Drysdale.

The first episode is very much the set up. Ironically the iconic theme song is not used here. The song explains the plot of the pilot in a few seconds.

It establishes what kind of family the Clampetts are and that life in California is not going to be easy for them. Even though they are wealthy.