Beverly Hillbillies continuity glitch

Cafe Society
1

I just realized this issue of earth shattering import, and I’m stunned…STUNNED…with my discovery.

There was at least one episode where Jed and Jethro demonstrate remarkable marksmanship. As I recall, they are sitting near the front door of the mansion, and shooting flies on the wall surrounding the property. With rifles. Such a feat would make military snipers green with envy.

However, in the opening montage, as the lyrics:

Then one day he was shooting for some food,
And up through the ground come a bubbling crude
(Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea)

are sung, Jed is shown shooting at a deer from relatively close range…and MISSING! His errant bullet then causes oil to come bubbling to the surface. How can this be? Aside from the scarcity of oil wells in the Ozarks, and the massive waste of the entire petroleum industry with their fancy drilling rigs where a mere muzzle-loading rifle would suffice, how could an expert marksman such as Jed miss something as large as a deer in the first place?

My childhood memories are thus built upon a lie, and all my hopes and dreams are shattered. Why, Jed, why?

2

Was it a deer? I remembered it as a rabbit.

3

Actually, if I remember correctly, in the pilot, Jed already is fully aware that his land is soaking in oil. He considered his land as worthless because he couldn’t grow crops on it. The oil man who befriends him is really a decent fellow, and doesn’t cheat Jed at all and gives Jed the full value of the oil. There wasn’t any mention of shooting a deer (or some “food” though I do believe it was indeed a deer.)

But of course, the song story is better.

4

I would just like to state, for the record, that my younger brother has shot flies out of the air. With a rubber band. I’ve witnessed it many times.

5

The opening to the TV show doesn’t show what Jed was shooting at. It just shows him firing, then it shows oil bubbling out of the ground. The 1993 movie with Jim Varney does show Jed shooting at a rabbit. Still a larger target than flies, though.

6

Sorry, but we never see what Jed was shooting at in the opening. Watch here. That is the only copy of the original B/W opening I could find easily online. There are some of the color versions available and they are almost shot for shot identical.

7

Fanwank to the rescue: The bullet went clean through the rabbit and then hit the oil deposit.

8

You’re 100% spot on. The wildcatter asked Granny if he could do wildcatting, and Granny says, go ahead, they’re happy to get rid of the critters. Elly then beans the guy with a sling shot and carries him in. Granny says he’s OK.

The wildcatter comes to and tells Jed his land is full of oil. Jed says, he knows. When the wildcatter suggests money to Jed, Jed thinks he will be charged that to remove the oil. He doesn’t know the worth. Even after Mr Brewster makes a deal with Jed, Granny and Pearl think he’s been slickered.

Then Pearl swoons and asks Granny to fetch her jug :slight_smile:

9

Jed is from the west part of Arkansas. Remember Mr. Brewster of the OK Oil Company lives in Tulsa near Jed. Jed always talks about Joplin and Granny has friends that work in a flour mill in Springfield (apparently a very risque place). Both those cities are in Missouri.

Of course Granny is a Moses from “across the river.” She was born in Eastern Tennessee in the Great Smokey Mountains, in what she refers to as “Daniel Boone Country.”

As you can see I loved this show growing up

10

As I recall, Granny and Elly could do it too. Granny did it while shooting behind her back using a mirror to give the flies a sporting chance.

11

I don’t know if we really found out about Elly Mae and guns. In the pilot she takes down the wildcatter with a sling shot. When Miss Jane gives her a bra, she thinks it’s a double barreled sling shot. And when Mr Drysdale takes them all to the skeet shooting place, Jethro, Jed and Granny use guns while Elly uses a sling shot. Jed says, Elly Mae don’t cotton much to guns

12

You’re right about Elly. As I recall, Drysdale’s eyes about popped out of his head to see Jed use a rifle at the skeet shoot.

13

They are from “the Hills.”

I think the writers are purposely vague about which hills. You can find as many references which suggest Tennessee as you can Arkansas. (For example, the back-home town of “Bugtussle” referenced in the series has a real-life counterpart in Bugscuffle, Tennessee.)

14

I remember a dirty version of the Beverley Hillbillies theme song featuring Jed and Ellie, with the last line going “An’ out from his pants came a’ bubblin’ . . . [censored]”

15

i will overlook any flaws in a show that help make Flatt and Scruggs more popular.

16

That’s true. Not only do we not see what Jed shot at, but there’s no way to tell how far away it was, since the cameras cut from a medium shot of Jed to a closeup of the bubbling crude.

“Well, doggies! Dr. McCoy, have you figgered out what’s wrong with Jethro?”

“He’s dim, Jed.”

17

Jed had been out all day without seeing any game. Being tired and hungry would put anyone off his game.

18

The Bel Airabs identified his target as Jews.

19

There’s an actual Bug Tussle in Oklahoma–it gained some fame thirty or forty years ago for being the home town of then - Speaker of the House Carl Albert.

20

I think you’re wrong about that. As I recall, they were shooting the flies while they were still on the wing. Waiting for them to land on the wall would be unsporting.