The Beverly Hillbillies
Elly Becomes a Secretary
TV Flash files “Elly Becomes a Secretary” as hour 35 of 274 in the TV Flash guide — The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971) on CBS, season 1, episode 35, aired 1963-05-22, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E35: listed hour 35 of 274 in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide, hour 35 of 36 in season 1. It aired 1963-05-22 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Psychiatrist Gets Clampetted” (S01E34). Next is “Jethro's Friend” (S01E36).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Miss Jane gets sick and Mr. Drysdale has to speak at a conference. Miss Jane hasn't finished writing the speech he is to give. Jed comes by the bank to see if there's anything he can do. Drysdale meets the new teller, Bob Billington, who sucks-up to the men and flirts with the women. To help out, Granny is mixing up a cure for Miss Jane and Jethro comes up with a speech for Drysdale. Jed, Elly and Jethro come by the bank. Jed volunteers to have Elly fill in for Miss Jane. Jethro hands Drysdale his speech which Drysdale thinks is the one he was working on. Drysdale leaves and Jed figures that he'll run the bank until Drysdale gets back. Bob tries to make time with secretary Kitty Northcross. But then Bob sees Elly and starts to flirt with her. Elly misunderstands Bob's "hipster" talk. At the convention, Drysdale starts to read Jethro's speech and then has to improvise. Jed lends money to a Mr. Wilson, who claims to be a poor chicken rancher. When Bob hears how much money Jed has, he tries to get some. Wilson was actually a test case for the convention. Because Jed was the only one to give him money, Drysdale is named "Banker of the Year".
Viewer FAQ
Where does Elly Becomes a Secretary sit in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide?
S01E35 is listed hour 35 of 274 — hour 35 of 36 in season 1, season 1 episode 35.
When did The Beverly Hillbillies S01E35 air?
Elly Becomes a Secretary aired 1963-05-22 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…