The Beverly Hillbillies
Jethro's First Love
TV Flash files “Jethro's First Love” as hour 42 of 274 in the TV Flash guide — The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971) on CBS, season 2, episode 6, aired 1963-10-30, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E06: listed hour 42 of 274 in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide, hour 6 of 36 in season 2. It aired 1963-10-30 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Clampett Look” (S02E05). Next is “Chickadee Returns” (S02E07).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Jethro decides he wants to go a courtin', so Jed gives him a little education. Jed sends Jethro to the bank with an envelope that Miss Jane needs. Meanwhile, Exotic dancer Chickadee Laverne comes by the bank to see Drysdale. She wants to be paid for her services at the Banker's Dinner Conference the night before. Jethro comes by and meets Chickadee. Thinking she's the one for him, he brings her home to meet the folks. At the mansion, there's some confusion between the family and Chickadee when the word engagement is used. Chickadee thinks she'll get a job at the mansion and the family thinks she's talking about marriage to Jethro. Granny and Jed think Chickadee is too old for Jethro. Jed talks to Chickadee in private and they have another confusing conversation. Elly tells Chickadee that she likes her. Elly would like her to marry Jed so she could be her mother. Chickadee likes Elly's pets and thinks she could use them in her act. Drysdale and Miss Jane come by and they find out Chickadee is there. Chickadee leaves with Elly's raccoon.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Jethro's First Love sit in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide?
S02E06 is listed hour 42 of 274 — hour 6 of 36 in season 2, season 2 episode 6.
When did The Beverly Hillbillies S02E06 air?
Jethro's First Love aired 1963-10-30 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…