‘The Beverly Hillbillies’: Where Was the Clampett Family Originally From?
Viewers know Jed Clampett opens “The Beverly Hillbillies” by shooting into a space of land, then seeing oil gush out. Where did this happen?
That’s a good question. Jed Clampett, Granny, and the entire Clampett clan move from the Ozarks to Beverly Hills, Calif. After all, “Uncle Jed” is a hillbilly so living among the Ozark mountains makes some sense.
In the pilot, the narrator says, “Let’s take them back to their home in the Ozarks and see how this whole thing got started.”
See, good-old Jazzbo Depew is trying to woo Jethrine Bodine (Max Baer, who played Jethro, dressed up like a woman). Things didn’t work out for Jazzbo, though, as Jethrine didn’t take to his techniques.
‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ Show Up On ‘Petticoat Junction’
Hooterville gets a lot of mentions not only on “Hillbillies” episodes but on “Petticoat Junction” and “Green Acres.”
The city is a central point for all three shows’ creator, Paul Henning. He managed to work in a number of “crossover” episodes where cast members from “The Beverly Hillbillies” and “Petticoat Junction” appeared.
In the 1968-69 and 1969-70 seasons, “The Beverly Hillbillies” cast members go to Hooterville. During the first crossover set of shows, Granny (Irene Ryan) visits Hooterville upon hearing about cousin Betty Jo Bradley (Linda Henning) having a baby.
That initial appearance comes on “The Beverly Hillbillies,” then Granny shows up on “Petticoat Junction.” On the final episode of a three-episode arc, “The Beverly Hillbillies” features “Petticoat Junction” cast members Betty Jo, her husband Steve Elliott (Mike Minor), and general store owner Sam Drucker (Frank Cady).
Four other times, cast members from both shows appeared in “crossover” episodes.
Popular CBS Show Starts Airing Color Episodes
During its run on CBS, “The Beverly Hillbillies” was a series that started out with black-and-white shows. Then they made the switch to color episodes because more color televisions were being sold in the mid-1960s.
The show is filmed in black-and-white from 1962-65. Then, in the 1965-66 season, “The Beverly Hillbillies” were shown in glorious color, according to IMDb.
The first color episode, “Admiral Jed Clampett,” hit the airwaves on Sept. 15, 1965. All other “The Beverly Hillbillies” episodes are in color until the show gets canceled in 1971. It had 168 color episodes and 106 black-and-white episodes to its credits.
While “Hillbillies” episodes pretty much stay the same, some shows, once they changed to color episodes, also changed their tone, look, and a few storylines, too. Among them are “I Dream of Jeannie,” “The Andy Griffith Show,” and “Bewitched.”
