The Beverly Hillbillies
Christmas at the Clampetts
TV Flash files “Christmas at the Clampetts” as hour 50 of 274 in the TV Flash guide — The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971) on CBS, season 2, episode 14, aired 1963-12-25, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E14: listed hour 50 of 274 in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide, hour 14 of 36 in season 2. It aired 1963-12-25 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Clampetts Get Culture” (S02E13). Next is “A Man for Elly” (S02E15).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Drysdale has set up a Christmas tree with gifts in the Clampett mansion. The family is confused by some of the gifts. Granny thinks the TV is some kind of fancy washing machine. The family intends to give Mrs. Drysdale a mink, as in the actual animal. At the Drysdale home, Milburn gives Margaret a mink coat. Drysdale tells Margaret that he also got the Clampetts a boat. He hopes that if the Clampetts enjoy the boat enough, they won't want to go back to the hills. Drysdale also got a chimpanzee for the family. The family discovers the boat in the driveway. Jed and Granny then see the chimp in the boat wearing a sailor's suit. At first Margaret doesn't want to go to the Clampetts for Christmas. But Milburn says they have a present for her and it might be the Hope Diamond. After they arrive at the mansion, Drysdale tells Jed he put the boat there as a gift. Granny gives Margaret an assortment of Hillbilly foods as a gift. Elly tells Margaret that she can't find her present and Margaret is quite upset. To teach her a lesson, Drysdale wants to hide Margaret's mink because she just left it laying on the floor. The Clampetts search for a place to sail their boat. But all they see are cars pulling boats.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Christmas at the Clampetts sit in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide?
S02E14 is listed hour 50 of 274 — hour 14 of 36 in season 2, season 2 episode 14.
When did The Beverly Hillbillies S02E14 air?
Christmas at the Clampetts aired 1963-12-25 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…