beverly hillbillies

For some reason, youtube suggested this to me today.  This is, apparently, the pilot that was never aired.   I just found it especially fitting to permies:

The character Jethro, was played by Max Baer Jr.

His father was heavyweight champion for a time in the 1930s. Although he was only one quarter Jewish, he chose to wear a star of David on his trunks, in support of his brethren in Europe who were being persecuted. He knocked out the German Champion Max Schmeling, and became the sweetheart of the American and European Jewish community. In the height of the depression, stadiums were filled. Max Baer, used his celebrity to help draw attention to what was going on in Germany, before World War II began.

I never saw this thread when it was originally posted and our video seems to have gone AWOL.
But I did see the pilot episode last night and part of it resonated with me so much I thought "I've got to post that!"
It wouldn't surprise me at all if it turned out to be the same part.


And in case it disappears again, here's the transscript:

Jed Clampett : What do you think Pearl? You think I oughta move?

Cousin Pearl Bodine : Jed, how can you even ask? Look around you. You live eight miles from your nearest neighbor. You're overrun with skunks, possums, coyotes, and bobcats. You use kerosene lamps for light. You cook on a wood stove, summer and winter. You're drinkin' homemade moonshine, and washin' with homemade lye soap. And your bathroom is fifty feet from the house. And you ask should you move!?

Jed Clampett : [ponders all this]  Yeah, I reckon you're right. Man'd be a dang fool to leave all this!

You know, it's funny. When I was younger I took the show probably as the writers had intended; just a culture-clash leading to a series of silly misunderstandings.  Now I'm really starting to appreciate the Clampetts.  Yeah, maybe they don't "get it" when it comes to modern life, but then again, maybe modern life isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

Example scenario:
<I watch an episode>"OMG! They don't even know what a telephone is.  Hahahaha!"
<phone rings>
"Hello?  This is windows support calling..." <i violently hang up>
"So... does this mean your cabin is for rent, Uncle Jed?  Cuz I'll take it!" ;)

I know the first few years of our my life, we were pretty poor. Dad worked at a mill, and my mom was a stay-at-home-Mom. After a few years though, about age 7, we seemed to "make it". My dad got a better job, and so we bought food from the grocery store instead of having big gardens, collecting berries, shooting deer, raising our own pigs, cattle, sheep and chickens. I mean we made it!

And then the divorces started happening. Cancer started taking family members, and we seemed to talk about medical aliments instead of what the logging was going, how the hay was growing, and what the lamb crop was like for the year.

Ultimately I have concluded, the best thing a family can do is grow up poor.

More self reliance.
Less sense of entitlements
More drive to succeed
More pride in accomplishments
Better eating from home grown food
More understanding of the soils, livestock and wildlife
Better understanding of cash flow and finances
Better health...

Travis Johnson wrote:I know the first few years of our my life, we were pretty poor. Dad worked at a mill, and my mom was a stay-at-home-Mom. After a few years though, about age 7, we seemed to "make it". My dad got a better job, and so we bought food from the grocery store instead of having big gardens, collecting berries, shooting deer, raising our own pigs, cattle, sheep and chickens. I mean we made it!

And then the divorces started happening. Cancer started taking family members, and we seemed to talk about medical aliments instead of what the logging was going, how the hay was growing, and what the lamb crop was like for the year.

Ultimately I have concluded, the best thing a family can do is grow up poor.

More self reliance.
Less sense of entitlements
More drive to succeed
More pride in accomplishments
Better eating from home grown food
More understanding of the soils, livestock and wildlife
Better understanding of cash flow and finances
Better health...

I would amend that to say "the best thing a family can do is grow up poor in the country".

Jed Clampett : [ponders all this]  Yeah, I reckon you're right. Man'd be a dang fool to leave all this!

Amen and Amen!

Another TV show that surprises after a re-visit is Green Acres.  Some of the scenarios were taken from real life - the tractor woes, the Extension Agent, Hank Kimball.  When I signed up for a landline in Kentucky, they asked if the house was under construction and offered to mount the phone on the power pole. ;)

Trace Oswald wrote:

Travis Johnson wrote:I know the first few years of our my life, we were pretty poor. Dad worked at a mill, and my mom was a stay-at-home-Mom. After a few years though, about age 7, we seemed to "make it". My dad got a better job, and so we bought food from the grocery store instead of having big gardens, collecting berries, shooting deer, raising our own pigs, cattle, sheep and chickens. I mean we made it!

And then the divorces started happening. Cancer started taking family members, and we seemed to talk about medical aliments instead of what the logging was going, how the hay was growing, and what the lamb crop was like for the year.

Ultimately I have concluded, the best thing a family can do is grow up poor.

More self reliance.
Less sense of entitlements
More drive to succeed
More pride in accomplishments
Better eating from home grown food
More understanding of the soils, livestock and wildlife
Better understanding of cash flow and finances
Better health...

I would amend that to say "the best thing a family can do is grow up poor in the country".

Yeah probably. You have to remember I lived in (3) houses all my life. All three were within sight of one another.

As I told someone the other day, "I moved south...517 feet South to be exact, so in 45 years, I am moving at "Glacier Pace".

BTW: My town is 750 people and 25 square miles...30 people per square mile. We have more cows here than people...

Travis Johnson wrote:

"Glacier Pace".

Travis, I love it!......You've just come up with the next reality show with overtones of "Peyton Place"!  :-)  

(cue the sultry-yet-dramatic theme music...) "Coming this viewing season---"Glacier Pace".....  "...for those who find C-SPAN overly-stimulating!...."  ;-)

It could be like a slower version of BBC's "Emmerdale Farm".  

John Weiland wrote:

Travis Johnson wrote:

"Glacier Pace".

Travis, I love it!......You've just come up with the next reality show with overtones of "Peyton Place"!  :-)  

(cue the sultry-yet-dramatic theme music...) "Coming this viewing season---"Glacier Pace".....  "...for those who find C-SPAN overly-stimulating!...."  ;-)

It could be like a slower version of BBC's "Emmerdale Farm".  

Katie and I always said we should have our own TV show as it gets pretty crazy around here.

A few years ago a friend of Katie's found herself and her baby homeless, so we went and got her, and had her stay here for awhile. After the second day she asked, "Is it always like this here?"

Yep...pretty much.

John Weiland wrote:"...for those who find C-SPAN overly-stimulating!...."  ;-)

Have an apple for making me laugh out loud.