The Beverly Hillbillies
Jed Plays Solomon
TV Flash files “Jed Plays Solomon” as hour 21 of 274 in the TV Flash guide — The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971) on CBS, season 1, episode 21, aired 1963-02-13, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E21: listed hour 21 of 274 in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide, hour 21 of 36 in season 1. It aired 1963-02-13 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Jed Throws a Wingding” (S01E20). Next is “Duke Steals a Wife” (S01E22).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Granny's been letting Elly's dogs go after Pearl every time she yodels. Jed catches Granny and makes her stop. So now Granny calls the police. Sergeant Dean and Officer Kelly arrive at the mansion again. Dean really likes Pearl's yodeling and joins her in song. Kelly is still fond of Elly and goes to see her by the pond. Elly is putting firewood under Granny's still. Kelly doesn't know what a still is, but he tells Elly she shouldn't have an open fire in the yard. When Dean takes Pearl outside to the squad car, Granny thinks she got Pearl in trouble and becomes sad and contrite. Kelly describes what he saw to Dean and Dean says it's for making moonshine. Granny continues to apologize to Pearl. Dean and Kelly figure Granny doesn't know it's illegal to run a still. Granny hears the men talking. She misunderstands and thinks Pearl turned her in. To protect Granny, Jed, Elly and Jethro each say the still is theirs to Dean and Kelly. The men won't do anything if Granny promises to stop making moonshine.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Jed Plays Solomon sit in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide?
S01E21 is listed hour 21 of 274 — hour 21 of 36 in season 1, season 1 episode 21.
When did The Beverly Hillbillies S01E21 air?
Jed Plays Solomon aired 1963-02-13 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
The oil-strike-and-move premise is the whole engine, so early episodes that put the Clampetts in Beverly Hills show the joke at full strength. Buddy Ebsen's Jed is the calm center; Granny and Jethro do the folklore.
In the series
Why this series still plays
The Clampetts struck oil, moved to Beverly Hills, and turned culture clash into CBS's most ruthless ratings weapon. Buddy Ebsen's Jed, Irene Ryan's Granny, and Jethro's glorious denseness made rube-versus-elites comedy a national habit. Watch it to see how a high-concept rural sitcom can own a decade of Nielsens while critics sneer.
The joke is architectural. A poor Ozark family strikes oil, relocates to a Beverly Hills mansion, and the sitcom never needs another premise. Paul Henning's *The Beverly Hillbillies* (CBS, 1962–1971) ran nine seasons and 274 episodes on Buddy Ebsen's Jed Clampett, Irene Ryan's Granny, Donna Douglas's Elly May, and Max Baer Jr.'s Jethro — plain wisdom, mountain medicine, critters, and glorious denseness as four clean hooks. Critics sneered. Audiences did not. That split is the text.
Filed against
- Buddy Ebsen as Jed Clampett
Buddy Ebsen’s Jed Clampett struck oil and moved The Beverly Hillbillies into a ratings weapon — 1960s catalog rube-versus-elites, then Barnaby Jones clocking out of overalls into a PI trench with a home lab. TV Flash files him as the…
- Irene Ryan as Daisy 'Granny' Moses
Irene Ryan's Daisy 'Granny' Moses was The Beverly Hillbillies' homemade artillery — Clampetts striking oil, moving to Beverly Hills, Buddy Ebsen's Jed, Jethro's denseness, rube-versus-elites comedy as CBS's most ruthless ratings weapon.…
- Donna Douglas as Elly May Clampett
Donna Douglas made Elly May Clampett the sunniest weapon on The Beverly Hillbillies — critters, a rope, and Hill-to-Hills culture clash that CBS ran like a ratings oil strike. Jed had the drawl; Douglas had the voltage that turned…
- Max Baer Jr. as Jethro Bodine
Max Baer Jr. played Jethro Bodine on The Beverly Hillbillies like denseness was a contact sport — the Clampett nephew whose glorious thickness made rube-versus-elites comedy a CBS ratings weapon in the 1960s. Oil money, Beverly Hills…