MovieChat Forums > The Beverly Hillbillies (1962) Discussion > Any love for the Mammoth Pictures or Par...

Any love for the Mammoth Pictures or Parthenon West storylines?

posted 10 years ago by TwittingOnTrender
9 replies | jump to latest

I ask because I have heard some disparaging comments about the movie studio storyline, but it was my favourite part of the entire series. I thought the writing was sharp and the performances outstanding, including the guest players. The Monster from Yucca Flats was an inspired idea, especially satirical in its day, and I'll never forget howling with laughter as Jed tried give the creature a friendly greeting!

A close second was the "beatnik" storyline, especially Sheldon Epps, and an honourary mention for the messiah figure who lies silently in the coffee house until...well, I won't spoil it. Brilliant writing though, the show reached a real peak around this era.

No Guru, No Method, No Teacher.

[–] iray-2 10 years ago

Agreed! You'd be hard pressed to view an old sitcom from that era that didn't make some comic reference to the Liz Taylor CLEOPATRA film, which made headlines daily back in the day.
And the Parthenon West episodes are classic! And a precursor to the great Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest episodes a few years later where the actor who played beatnik Sheldon Epps also played the hippie. In real life he was the son of the guy who was the voice of Fred Flintstone.

[–] IFeedPigeons 10 years ago

All the storylines you mentioned were very good. My favorite of the Mammoth Studios has to be when they make the 2 minute silent film with Gloria Swanson.

"Am I just passion's plaything?" LMAO

And of course you have Jethro falling down. No matter how many times I see that I laugh like hell.

[–] HarlowMGM 10 years ago

I love both the Gloria Swanson and Hedda Hopper episodes, particularly the silent movie spoofs in them.

[–] IFeedPigeons 10 years ago

Oh yeah, the one w/Hedda Hopper was great. I love how, when the monster (a werewolf? - I forget) appears, Jed tries to befriend him even though he's attacking them. What a pi$$er. And then you have Ms. Hopper on a bulldozer trying to destroy the set, which the Clampetts think is real (I remember them trying to work at the General Store!), with a bulldozer. Funny stuff.

[–] steely3000 9 years ago

The one with Hedda Hopper was classic. She wanted the Clampetts to keep the studio making movies, so she takes Jed and Jethro to Grauman's Chinese theater, where they have all the footprints of actors. And Jed and Jethro think the footprints were made by pranksters, so they try to fill the footprints in with fresh cement!

And then later the Clampetts make a one-reel movie (silent), and the best part was Jethro doing a Rudolf Valentino impersonation. Classic TV.

[–] FlushingCaps 10 years ago

I watched the whole series about two years ago, again, and think the two continuing storylines you mention were among the series' best. I loved the line when Mr. Epps was being nursed at the Clampett mansion. Ellie brought him a box, thinking his frequent mention of "chicks" would cause him great joy at seeing a bunch of little feathered creatures.

I believe the lines were: Ellie: "I got you some chicks."

Sheldon: "Oh no honey. Those are some kind of birds."

[–] catlover11 10 years ago

I really like those two storylines, especially when the monster from Yucca Flats was in the scene. Hilarious !!

And I like when the Hillbillies taught the beatniks how to "dig taters"

[–] dnasty68 9 years ago

Granny was going to show the beatniks how to smoke crawdads, she just needed a little pot.

[–] msgreen-53599 9 years ago

I love the movie studio episodes too. I recall the one where Jed was trying to run the movie set General Store while Jethro had found a set where they were filming some anciet Rome movie and were making a scene where slave girls were being auctioned off. Of course Jethro thought it was real and wanted some money to buy some slave girls. I remember as Jethro dorve off in the truck to get back to the slave girl auction, leaving Jed there at the General Store, Jed said, "They're selling girls for a dollar over the hill and here I sit with my barrel of apples?" :)

The constant jokes about all the cheapo sci-fi movies made during the 50's at the studio reflected reality and just added to the comedy.

Of course one of the bet outcomes to the movie studio episodes was that it gave Jethro ambitions for a career that would lead to fame and purty girls!