WE'VE OFTEN HEARD the old adage that; ".....there are only so many basic plots!...." an axiom that we might well take to the bank. After all, life is a limited experience; at least when one considers our short run or visit to this planet Earth. As far as its application to drama, comedy or farce goes, it appears to have been perfectly tailored to the Theatre.
WITH REGARD TO today's honored guest and 'victim', THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES(CBS TV/Filmways,1962-71) it is readily apparent from the get go that the series had taken some commonly held notions of pitting 'simple Country Folk' against the highly 'Cultured', Urbane denizens of our long-standing institutions of Government, the Arts and the World of High Finance; with the Country Bumpkins usually getting the best of the encounter.
IN A NUTSHELL, the basis for the series, as told in the opening song, is that poor, West Virginian mountain man, Jed Clampett, accidentally strikes oil on his property by firing a shot from his Kentucky Long Rifle into the ground. This causes a gusher and "next thing you know, old Jed's a millionaire." MOVING TO A MORE proper location for a man of such means, namely Beverly Hills, California, Mr. Clampett takes with him 3 of his kinfolk; Granny (Irene Ryan), niece Ellie May Clampett (Donna Douglas) and nephew Jethro Beaudine (Max Baer, Jr.). The move to sunny California put them into an environment in which they would have an uninterrupted cultural conflict with a world of prim & proper stuffed shirts; not to mention all of the Corporate "Suits" at the Bank.
POISED IN THEIR Wall Street inspired sanctuaries were the two main characters who would supply all of the conflicts needed. Veteran Character Raymond Baily's portrayal of Banker Mr. Milburn Drysdale and the eternal "Plain Jane", Nancy Culp as the humorless, all business secretary, Miss Jane Hathaway give the Clampett Clan all they can handle.
EVEN THE SELECTION of their names would seem to sort of reflect and reinforce what these characters stand for; with 'Drysdale' being a sort of no humor bu$ine$$ guy. He's literally a "dry", humorless financier and Miss "Hathaway" bears a surname that has been associated for whatever reason, with the Upper Class Bluebloods ever since the Landing at Plymouth Rock.
AND SO THE Clampetts and their antagonists would get into weekly conflicts involving with the Establishment folks. Conflicts that were very fundamental and commonplace; having been previously experienced by such as Will Rogers, Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) in MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN and Al Capp's LIL ABNER Comic Strip. (Donna Douglas' Ellie May and Max Baer's Jethro could easily have been removed intact and portrayed Lil Abner & Daisy Mae in a LIL ABNER film or play!)
IN THE FINAL analysis, the working of what we can only call "Obvious Humor" here is rendered as funny and fresh by the skillful handling by a talented cast and gifted direction of the episodes. (We noticed that the recent installment we saw on cable was done by Actor/Director Richard Whorf. Do you remember him, Schultz? He portrayed Sam Harris to James Cagney's George M. Cohan in YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (Warner Brothers. 1942).
WITH REGARD TO today's honored guest and 'victim', THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES(CBS TV/Filmways,1962-71) it is readily apparent from the get go that the series had taken some commonly held notions of pitting 'simple Country Folk' against the highly 'Cultured', Urbane denizens of our long-standing institutions of Government, the Arts and the World of High Finance; with the Country Bumpkins usually getting the best of the encounter.
IN A NUTSHELL, the basis for the series, as told in the opening song, is that poor, West Virginian mountain man, Jed Clampett, accidentally strikes oil on his property by firing a shot from his Kentucky Long Rifle into the ground. This causes a gusher and "next thing you know, old Jed's a millionaire." MOVING TO A MORE proper location for a man of such means, namely Beverly Hills, California, Mr. Clampett takes with him 3 of his kinfolk; Granny (Irene Ryan), niece Ellie May Clampett (Donna Douglas) and nephew Jethro Beaudine (Max Baer, Jr.). The move to sunny California put them into an environment in which they would have an uninterrupted cultural conflict with a world of prim & proper stuffed shirts; not to mention all of the Corporate "Suits" at the Bank.
POISED IN THEIR Wall Street inspired sanctuaries were the two main characters who would supply all of the conflicts needed. Veteran Character Raymond Baily's portrayal of Banker Mr. Milburn Drysdale and the eternal "Plain Jane", Nancy Culp as the humorless, all business secretary, Miss Jane Hathaway give the Clampett Clan all they can handle.
EVEN THE SELECTION of their names would seem to sort of reflect and reinforce what these characters stand for; with 'Drysdale' being a sort of no humor bu$ine$$ guy. He's literally a "dry", humorless financier and Miss "Hathaway" bears a surname that has been associated for whatever reason, with the Upper Class Bluebloods ever since the Landing at Plymouth Rock.
AND SO THE Clampetts and their antagonists would get into weekly conflicts involving with the Establishment folks. Conflicts that were very fundamental and commonplace; having been previously experienced by such as Will Rogers, Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) in MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN and Al Capp's LIL ABNER Comic Strip. (Donna Douglas' Ellie May and Max Baer's Jethro could easily have been removed intact and portrayed Lil Abner & Daisy Mae in a LIL ABNER film or play!)
IN THE FINAL analysis, the working of what we can only call "Obvious Humor" here is rendered as funny and fresh by the skillful handling by a talented cast and gifted direction of the episodes. (We noticed that the recent installment we saw on cable was done by Actor/Director Richard Whorf. Do you remember him, Schultz? He portrayed Sam Harris to James Cagney's George M. Cohan in YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (Warner Brothers. 1942).