The Beverly Hillbillies
The Garden Party
TV Flash files “The Garden Party” as hour 47 of 274 in the TV Flash guide — The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971) on CBS, season 2, episode 11, aired 1963-12-04, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E11: listed hour 47 of 274 in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide, hour 11 of 36 in season 2. It aired 1963-12-04 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Turkey Day” (S02E10). Next is “Elly Needs a Maw” (S02E12).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Granny is cooking up some lye soap and Jed is worried the fumes will bother Mrs. Drysdale. Margaret is having a garden party that afternoon and goes to talk to Granny about the smell. The fumes are also destroying her hibiscus plant. Jed and Granny misunderstand Margaret and believe they are invited to the party. And Granny thinks that a hibiscus is in the body and wants to doctor Margaret. Drysdale sends Miss Jane to talk to the Clampetts. Jed thinks that a garden party is when you help someone make a garden. Miss Jane tries to talk the Clampetts out of going to the party and tells them it has nothing to do with actual gardening. They still want to go. Miss Jane shows Drysdale the Clampetts all dressed up. The Clampetts arrive at the party with some of Granny's "rheumatism medicine" and some country cooking. Margaret talks them into taking their stuff back and waiting by their 'cement pond' to handle the 'overflow' from her party. After Granny shoots a fake alligator in the pond, the crowd from Margaret's party come over to see what happened. They start drinking the spiked punch and the people are having a great time. With all her guests at the Clampetts, Margaret finally comes over and joins them.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Garden Party sit in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide?
S02E11 is listed hour 47 of 274 — hour 11 of 36 in season 2, season 2 episode 11.
When did The Beverly Hillbillies S02E11 air?
The Garden Party aired 1963-12-04 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…