Brownielocks and
The 3 Bears
present
Our 2002 Halloween Costume as
Cast of Characters Elly
May Clampett is
Brownielocks Note: I bet you'd never
thought you'd see Brownielocks in a blonde wig? :) |
The
real cast of characters was: |
Some Trivia I had considered doing
a trivia quiz, but after reading the book decided that wouldn't
work. I don't think many of you would know the answers anyway.
First, because the show has been off the air so long, most of the
tidbits are not fresh in our minds. Others because of being too young. 1. The TV series premiered on Wednesday, September 26, 1962. And it captured almost 50% of it's audience for it's time slot. 2. The first 3 seasons were filmed in black and white. All the rest were done in color. It ran from 1962 to 1969. 3. Was it a real mansion? Yes and No! At first it was filmed at 750 Bel Air Road in Bel Air, California. And the owner of the mansion was a millionare named Arnold Kirkeby, who was a Chicago hotel magnate. Kirkeby said it was OK to film at his home as long as the location was kept a secret. 4. How much did the Kirkeby's charge? Actually, Mr. Arnold Kirkeby unfortunately died in a plane crash before the first filming began. But his widow honored her husband's agreement. She charged $500 a day, until... 5. TV Guide leaked the location and Mrs. Kirkeby got tired of the fans just walking into her home looking for Jethro (mostly) and Granny etc. So she stopped allowing the filming. This is when it got moved to a stage set and scenes of outdoors were no longer done. 6. Their truck was a 1921 flatbed. It is now located in the museum at the School of the Ozarks in Missouri. 7. Paul Henning created the series. He also wrote the theme song, although it is sung and performed by the singing duo Lester Flats and Earl Scruggs. 8. Donna Douglas starred with Elvis in "Frankie and Johnny." She fell in love with him and has never really gotten over it, according to the book. Donna also received the most fan mail. At one time, she had over 6,000 letters to try to answer. 9. Irene Ryan weighed only 100 lbs. While Max Bauer was 6'4" and 240 lbs. or so. 10.
The original choice for Granny was Bea Benaderet. But she was rejected due
to being "too busty" so she was hired to |
Origin of the
phrase "Hillbilly" or "Hillbillies"
From what I read, the Scottish
are claiming to have created the phrase based on the Scottish settlers
who came and settled in the Appalachia area of the US. Those who supported King William were called "Orangemen" - seems logical right? But since the name "William" often has the nickname of "Billy" they soon got called "Billy's Boys." This after a while got rephrased into "Hill Billies" due to the fact the supporters lived in the Appalachian Hills. |
How to Talk like The Beverly Hillbillies
Writer, Paul Henning was a veteran of radio, where dialogue was important to create a character. So, he inserted a lot of colorful phrases and Hillbilly talk into the dialogue. He also insisted that the lines be spoken exactly as written without altering any syllable, unless he said OK.
Here are some common phrases we heard on this show:
"Set
a spell"
"Feelin' lower than a well digger's heel."
"Ya tuckered yer tail betwixt yer legs, didn't ya?"
"I'll commence ta fixin' the vittles."
"Fine as frog's hair."
"Slippery as a hog on ice."
"Err ya gonna spark (kiss) her?"
"Ya got slickered an' ya shamed t'amit it."
Below is some more of their lingo!
Hillbilly Word |
Hillbilly Description |
Ainjun |
Engine
as in "Cain't fix the ainjun of der car." |
Argy |
To
argue as in "Don't argy with me." |
Ast |
To
ask (both present and past tense) as in "You ast for it
din't ya?" |
Banch |
Bench
as in "Sit on dis banch and rest a spell." |
Bar |
A
Buyer as in "We need a bar for the farm." |
Bobbed |
Barb
Wire as in "That bobbed fence will tear yer clothes to
bits." |
Bubs |
Light
Bulbs as in "The bubs burnt out." |
Canny |
Candy
as in "She's as sweet as canny." |
Cheer |
Chair
as in "Granny loves her rockin' cheer." |
Commence |
To
start or begin as in "Let's commence with dis meetin'." |
Daintz |
Dance
as in "I'm takin' her to da daintz on Saturday." |
Dar |
Dire
(destitute) as in "I'm in dar need." |
Dawk |
Doctor
as in "Get the dawk!" |
Dreckly |
Directly
as in "Go dreckly across the river." |
Eench |
Inch
as in "A yerd is 36 eenches." |
Et |
Ate
or eat as in "When we gonna et?" |
Fark |
Kitchen
Utensil with prongs = Fork as in "Don't hold your fark like
that." |
Fer |
For
as in "What fer?" |
Ferener |
Foreigner
as in "We don't wunt no fereners on our land." |
Flar |
Flower
as in "He brung her a bouquet of flars." |
Ford |
Forward
as in "Come ford and admit it." |
Gay-us |
Gas
as in "The truck needs some gay-us." |
Goomers |
Dummies
or Oddballs as in "You'll look like a big goomer dressed
like that." |
Grain |
Green
as in "She was turning grain after eating them
vitties." |
Hep |
Help
as in "I don't need any hep from ya." |
Hern |
Hers
as in "The little brat is hern." |
Hillbilly |
What everyone else but
them are! |
Int |
Ain't
as in "Int it grand?" |
Jist |
Just
as in "It's jist pure peculiar." |
Kag |
Keg
as in "Bring that kag of moonshine into the house." |
Lack |
Lack
as in "Why he's a lookin' lack a prissy fella." |
Lar |
Liar
as in "That boy is a darn lar." |
Mess |
A
bunch as in "Fix a mess of food." |
New-Monie |
Pneumonia
as in "She got cold and wet and cum down with New-Monie." |
Nup |
No!
As in "Nup means Nup!" |
Orl |
Oil
as in "We got orl on our land and we got rich." |
Pie-Annie |
Piano
as in "I'm taking Pie-Annie lessons." |
Polecat |
Skunk
as in "He lied to me that dirty, rottn' no good polecat!" |
Purdy |
Pretty
as in "She's lookin' mighty purdy in that dress." |
Seed |
Past
tense of seen as in "He seed her first." |
Sofy |
Sofa
as in "I caught dem neckin' on da sofy!" |
Spark |
Kiss
as in "We're not only courtin' we're also sparkin'" |
Thanks |
Thinks
as in "That man from the IRS just thanks he's so
smart." |
Trappins |
Clothes
as in "Put on your best Sunday trappins." |
Turble |
Terrible
as in "This whole situation is simply turble." |
Twixt |
Between
as in "It's none of your business and is twixt only me and my
husband." |
Varmits |
Animals
as in "Elly May just loves varmits." |
Walled |
Wild
as in "He's not the settlin' down kind. He wants to be walled and
free." |
Wil Par |
Will
Power as in "Aunt Beatrice has no wil par to stay on her
diet." |
Worsh |
Wash
as in "You need to worsh your hands before you eat." |
Yore |
Your
as in "Be sure to tell yore mother." |
X |
How some hillbillies
sign their name. |
Yurp |
Europe
as in "They think they're so high-falootin' because they went to
Yurp on vacation." |
Recipes
Below are some
recipes I thought you might enjoy making for Halloween.
They come from the "Beverly Hillbillies Cookbook" by Jim Clark and Ken
Beck
Rutledge Hill Press © 1994. This book is fun! There's tons of recipes.
I'm posting just a few.
Jester's Punkinhead Pumpkin Cookies
Cream
together the shortening & sugar in a large bowl. Add the pumpkin and
molasses. Sift together the remaining ingredients and add them to the
pumpkin mixture. Mix thoroughly. Cover and chill for 2-3 hrs.. Roll the
dough to the desired thickness on a floured board. A good thickness is
1/2 inch. Cut out with cookie cutters. (We recommend the pumpkin shape).
Place cookies on a greased cookie sheet (we like to use parchment paper
instead) and bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 min. Bessie's Frozen Chocolate Bananas
Peel the bananas and cut each in half crosswise. Insert a wooden skewer into the cut end. Arrange the banana pops on a plate lined with wax paper. Freeze for 30 min. Then, place the oil and chocolate in a 1-Cup microwaveable measuring cup. Microwave at 50% power for 2.5 to 3 minutes. Stir in-between. Then stir until mixture is smooth. Dip the banana pops into the chocolate and use a spoon to distribute the chocolate totally over the banana pop. Return the pops to a plate lined with wax paper. Serve immediately or wrap individually in aluminum foil and freeze. Makes: 6 servings. Brownielocks Decorating Tip: Roll the banana pop in brown chocolate sprinkles to it looks like a bark log. Then stick on a gummy worm so you have like a worm on a stick. Granny's Black Magic Baked Fudge
Melt the margarine and chocolate together in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Gradually beat in the sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Then add the vanilla. Sift the flour with the salt and add teh dry ingredients to the chocolate along with the nuts. Spread the batter into a buttered 9" square pan. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Makes: 36 Squares Brownielocks
Decoration Tip:
Buzzard Wings
In a large bowl
combine the barbeque sauce, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and syrup.
Dip the wins in the mixture. Place the wings on two large foil-covered
cookie sheets. Pour the remaining sauce over the wings. Broil until
brown turn each wing once. Reduce the oven temperature to 400F and
bake for 30 minutes. Keep wings warm on low until ready to serve.
Dr. Daisy's Chickasaw Blood Builder
Mix the fruit juices in a pitcher. Sweeten to taste with sugar syrup. Add the water and crushed fruit. Garnish with thin slices of oranges. |
The Beverly Hillbillies Theme Song (with the missing Verse) |
The Third Verse
was removed from the TV Version due to time.
I am inserting the missing third version below in "brown".
But our Midi doesn't allow it if you're trying to sing along.
Midi (plays only once)
is the theme song to "The Beverly Hillbillies"
Here are the lyrics:
(To hear the actual MP3 theme sung by Lester Flats CLICK HERE)
Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed.
A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed.
Then one day he was shootin' at some food.
And up through the ground came a bubblin' crude.
Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.
Well the first thing you know ol Jed's a millionaire.
Kinfolk said "Jed move away from there."
Said "Californy is the place you ought to be."
So they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly--
Hills, that is. Swimmin' pools, movie stars.
Ol' Jed bought a mansion, Law-dy it
was swank.
Next door neighbor was pres'dent of the bank.
Lotsa folks objected, but the banker found no fault.
Cause ol' Jed's millions was a-layin' in the vault.
Cash, that is! Capital gains, Depletion money!
Well now its time to say good by to Jed and all his kin.
And they would like to thank you folks fer kindly droppin' in.
You're all invited back a 'gin to this locality.
To have a heapin' helpin' of their hospitality.
Hillbilly that is. Set a spell. Take your shoes off.
Y'all come back now, ya hear?
Source other
than recipes:
"The Beverly Hillbillies" by Stephen Cox
Harper Collins Publishers © 1993