I love fish-out-of-water stories and "The Beverly Hillbillies" is a PRIME EXAMPLE. Jed Clampett was the patriarch of the family. He was a poor mountaineer, who barely kept his family fed.
If Jed was such a crack shot who supposedly could shoot a mosquito between the eyes, from 1,000 feet, why did he have problems keeping his family fed? It was obvious that Jed's bullet was shot into the ground, because the oil well was "drilled" by the bullet. Why was he shooting into the ground, prior to the oil oozing up? Didn't he know that the best way to hunt for food was not to shoot the bullet into the ground? I guess he could have been hunting for a groundhog and it just happened to be underground. Sounds like a Dick Cheney excuse.
I like to go off on tangents and this is one of those times. I think Jed and "The Dick" would have been best buddies. "The Dick" goes hunting at a fancy-smancy preserve using caged birds which are then released, just after the "hunter" is told where to point their gun. I think Jed also had a problem knowing where to point his gun.
Well, Jed comes running into the cabin & tells the family that an oil company wants to buy their oil, with a new kind of money. He has heard of a silver dollar, but he has never heard of a "million dollar."
No, Jed, you are being paid a MILLION DOLLARS.
Tangent time, again. I've never experienced an oil company giving me money, as opposed to TAKING MONEY from me. If that happened to me, it would probably make me feel all tingly inside. Imagine having an oil company executive "kissing your butt," as opposed to doing something else with it.
The money is flowing in for the Clampetts. Milburn Drysdale, a Beverly Hills banker, is keeping all of Jed's money "safe." Drysdale has bought a Beverly Hills mansion and will later buy investments for naive Jed.
Boy, sitcom bankers are soooo nice and soooooo honest. In real life, how long do you think it would take for Drysdale to start siphoning off some of the millions of dollars, which are coming in to Drysdale's bank without any oversight by Jed? In my humble opinion, 30 seconds.
The Clampett clan has moved into their fancy mansion, in CaliforneeeeeiiiiAAA & they need to get used to the city life. For example:
1) fancy dining table (aka pool table)
2) pot passers (pool cues)
3) music coming from the walls prior to somebody knocking at the door (aka door bell)
4) cement pond (aka swimming pool)
5) city-fied way of eating corn (aka eating Kellogg's Corn Flakes)
Kellogg's Corn Flakes, was the sponsor of "The Beverly Hillbillies." Kellogg's used the cast members as spokespeople for their product, while the actors were in character, as the Clampett family. The company also used print advertising, such as, full page newspaper ads with coupons & countertop displays with the character's likeness printed on it.
One of those countertop displays is available for sale, at
TV TOY MEMORIES . You can view a picture of the display:
