Bewitched
The Richest Woman
April 25, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Money can’t buy everything.
The Beverly Hillbillies clearly illustrates this point in the episode The Richest Woman.
When billionairess Tracy Richards wants to buy the Clampett’s mansion, she runs into a stalwart Jed Clampett who simply doesn’t want to sell, even if price is no object.
The richest woman in the world as a result of a massive inheritance, Richards does not take kindly to defiance. She wants to ruin Clampett after his rejection. But Jed has nothing in his background that Richards can exploit.
Richards tries sweet talking Granny. She compliments the elder Clampett on her youthful appearance and listens to her talk about her problems. The biggest problem at present is the lack of coffee because Jethro forgot to get it at the store.
Richards tries to subtly convince Jethro, Elly Mae, and Granny by introducing them to the ultra comfortable lifestyle of luxury hotel living as opposed to the working life required to maintain a mansion. She gives a car to Jethro and expensive clothes to the Clampett women.
In Jethro’s case, Richards leads him on in a romantic way.
The Clampett kin are met with consternation by Jed who sees right through Tracy Richards’ plan, commenting that his kin are bought and paid for.
Jed goes to Richards’ hotel to confront the heiress to a fortune based in hotels, steel, lumber, paper, and electronics.
Meanwhile, Granny and Elly May realize how empty their lives will be without the house. No beds to make. No floors to scrub. No critters to look after.
For people who take pride in their chores, Granny and Elly May face an uncomfortable reality of a servant-filled life. The reality jars them.
Unfortunately for Ms. Richards, Commerce Bank of Beverly Hills President Millburn Drysdale visits her to persuade her to open an account. He thinks he can negotiate a deal that will result in her purchase of the Clampett estate.
Drysdale frustrates Ms. Richards because she has a seduction plan in mind for Jed Clampett’s impending visit. Sexy dress, soft music, romantic lighting.
Ms. Richards shoves Drysdale into another room to hide because Jed Clampett is at the door.
While she executes her plan, Jethro comes into the room and exclaims that Uncle Jed is stealing his sweetheart. He promptly returns the key to the car.
Mr. Drysdale reveals himself.
Granny and Elly May enter and return the expensive clothes.
And the Clampetts all want to go home.
Alas, Mr. Drysdale will also go home empty handed.
All’s well that ends well.
The Clampetts retain their home.
And Mr. Drysdale is really no worse off than he was when he first learned of Ms. Richards’ desire to buy the Clampett mansion.
Platinum blonde Martha Hyer played Tracy Richards. Hyer's actress extensive resume includes Abbott and Costello Go To Mars, The Carpetbaggers, and Some Came Running.
She also graced the small screen, with guest appearances in television classics, including Bewitched, O’Hara: U.S. Treasury, and McCloud.
david@davidkrell.com
Money can’t buy everything.
The Beverly Hillbillies clearly illustrates this point in the episode The Richest Woman.
When billionairess Tracy Richards wants to buy the Clampett’s mansion, she runs into a stalwart Jed Clampett who simply doesn’t want to sell, even if price is no object.
The richest woman in the world as a result of a massive inheritance, Richards does not take kindly to defiance. She wants to ruin Clampett after his rejection. But Jed has nothing in his background that Richards can exploit.
Richards tries sweet talking Granny. She compliments the elder Clampett on her youthful appearance and listens to her talk about her problems. The biggest problem at present is the lack of coffee because Jethro forgot to get it at the store.
Richards tries to subtly convince Jethro, Elly Mae, and Granny by introducing them to the ultra comfortable lifestyle of luxury hotel living as opposed to the working life required to maintain a mansion. She gives a car to Jethro and expensive clothes to the Clampett women.
In Jethro’s case, Richards leads him on in a romantic way.
The Clampett kin are met with consternation by Jed who sees right through Tracy Richards’ plan, commenting that his kin are bought and paid for.
Jed goes to Richards’ hotel to confront the heiress to a fortune based in hotels, steel, lumber, paper, and electronics.
Meanwhile, Granny and Elly May realize how empty their lives will be without the house. No beds to make. No floors to scrub. No critters to look after.
For people who take pride in their chores, Granny and Elly May face an uncomfortable reality of a servant-filled life. The reality jars them.
Unfortunately for Ms. Richards, Commerce Bank of Beverly Hills President Millburn Drysdale visits her to persuade her to open an account. He thinks he can negotiate a deal that will result in her purchase of the Clampett estate.
Drysdale frustrates Ms. Richards because she has a seduction plan in mind for Jed Clampett’s impending visit. Sexy dress, soft music, romantic lighting.
Ms. Richards shoves Drysdale into another room to hide because Jed Clampett is at the door.
While she executes her plan, Jethro comes into the room and exclaims that Uncle Jed is stealing his sweetheart. He promptly returns the key to the car.
Mr. Drysdale reveals himself.
Granny and Elly May enter and return the expensive clothes.
And the Clampetts all want to go home.
Alas, Mr. Drysdale will also go home empty handed.
All’s well that ends well.
The Clampetts retain their home.
And Mr. Drysdale is really no worse off than he was when he first learned of Ms. Richards’ desire to buy the Clampett mansion.
Platinum blonde Martha Hyer played Tracy Richards. Hyer's actress extensive resume includes Abbott and Costello Go To Mars, The Carpetbaggers, and Some Came Running.
She also graced the small screen, with guest appearances in television classics, including Bewitched, O’Hara: U.S. Treasury, and McCloud.
thirtysomething
April 09, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
ABC turned decidedly yuppie when it debuted thirtysomething in 1987.
Sure, we saw young, upwardly mobile professionals before we had a media-friendly phrase for them.
Dr. Hartley on The Bob Newhart Show.
Rob Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show.
And Darrin Stephens on Bewitched are just some examples of this class-conscious, status-seeking, and career-climbing group.
In fact, the previous owner of the Tuesday 10:00 pm time slot on the Alphabet Network was a show called Jack and Mike about a yuppie couple, played by Tom Mason and Shelley Hack.
But thirtysomething was unique.
thirtysomething did not merely acknowledge yuppiedom, it embraced it.
thirtysomething did not merely speak to the people it represented, it reflected them.
thirtysomething did not merely show problems with neatly wrapped solutions, it showed the character’s journeys in dealing with these problems.
More often than not, thirtysomething dealt with failure.
A failed business. The Michael and Elliot Company folded soon after it began.
A failed marriage. Elliot and Nancy broke up, though the winds of change had been in the air for quite some time.
A failed quest for romance. Melissa constantly sought a man who could appreciate her unique fashion sense, wry humor, and simple passion.
But thirtysomething also showed triumphs and the prices associated with them.
Michael and Elliott got high-level jobs at DAA, an advertising agency headed by advertising legend Miles Drentell.
They had to deal with Miles’s ego that was roughly the size of Saturn.
Elliott and Nancy reconciled, but not before some painful realizations about marriage, love, and the hard work needed to sustain them.
And Melissa seemed to find the start of something big when she went to Hollywood to photograph a television star for a magazine article.
She lost all preconceptions, insecurities, and worries about herself when she was 3000 miles away from home. She realized she could be liked for simply being herself.
It paid off when the article’s writer said, I don’t know you, but I’d like to.
The thirties are a person’s settling down years. Marriage stabilizes the personality, children expand the responsibility, and career compounds the pressure.
Parents passing away. New babies. Search for religious identity.
In its four-year run, thirtysomething tackled the everyday issues of life and showed us there are no easy answers.
Michael’s constant struggle with his Jewish identity posed a terrific problem in the first season episode, I’ll Be Home For Christmas.
When his non-Jewish wife wants Christmas decorations and a tree, Michael is immediately uneasy. After fighting with his cousin Melissa about a business matter and venting to Elliot, Michael buys a tree, his form of an olive branch and trying to make peace during the holiday season.
The tearjerking payoff comes when Michael opens the door and sees Hope holding their baby and lighting a menorah. When he asks where she got it, Melissa enters the room. The expressions on their faces say it all. Michael and Melissa make up, and Michael and Hope find a middle ground on the holidays.
On a business trip in the episode Sifting the Ashes, Elliot explores his Catholic roots when he went to Baltimore, his hometown. While there, he encounters a priest with whom his mother is friendly. The day after a tense conversation about Catholicism with his mother and the priest, Elliot goes to the school where the priest worked. He admits, I want God in my life. It’s religion that keeps getting in the way.
Hope’s friend Ellyn had an affair with a married man.
Michael’s long-time friend Gary died in an accident.
And Nancy battled cancer, thankfully with success.
thirtysomething never preached about the consequences of actions.
It never drew a bright line to separate good from bad.
And it never talked down to us.
It simply showed us as we are. Imperfect people in a truly demanding world.
thirtysomething aired from 1987 to 1991.
Sure the styles of clothes may have changed.
The pop culture and historical references may be off-target for today’s audiences.
And the CD player has been replaced by the Ipod.
But the issues are timeless for thirtysomethings of any decade.
And that’s what classic television is all about.
david@davidkrell.com
ABC turned decidedly yuppie when it debuted thirtysomething in 1987.
Sure, we saw young, upwardly mobile professionals before we had a media-friendly phrase for them.
Dr. Hartley on The Bob Newhart Show.
Rob Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show.
And Darrin Stephens on Bewitched are just some examples of this class-conscious, status-seeking, and career-climbing group.
In fact, the previous owner of the Tuesday 10:00 pm time slot on the Alphabet Network was a show called Jack and Mike about a yuppie couple, played by Tom Mason and Shelley Hack.
But thirtysomething was unique.
thirtysomething did not merely acknowledge yuppiedom, it embraced it.
thirtysomething did not merely speak to the people it represented, it reflected them.
thirtysomething did not merely show problems with neatly wrapped solutions, it showed the character’s journeys in dealing with these problems.
More often than not, thirtysomething dealt with failure.
A failed business. The Michael and Elliot Company folded soon after it began.
A failed marriage. Elliot and Nancy broke up, though the winds of change had been in the air for quite some time.
A failed quest for romance. Melissa constantly sought a man who could appreciate her unique fashion sense, wry humor, and simple passion.
But thirtysomething also showed triumphs and the prices associated with them.
Michael and Elliott got high-level jobs at DAA, an advertising agency headed by advertising legend Miles Drentell.
They had to deal with Miles’s ego that was roughly the size of Saturn.
Elliott and Nancy reconciled, but not before some painful realizations about marriage, love, and the hard work needed to sustain them.
And Melissa seemed to find the start of something big when she went to Hollywood to photograph a television star for a magazine article.
She lost all preconceptions, insecurities, and worries about herself when she was 3000 miles away from home. She realized she could be liked for simply being herself.
It paid off when the article’s writer said, I don’t know you, but I’d like to.
The thirties are a person’s settling down years. Marriage stabilizes the personality, children expand the responsibility, and career compounds the pressure.
Parents passing away. New babies. Search for religious identity.
In its four-year run, thirtysomething tackled the everyday issues of life and showed us there are no easy answers.
Michael’s constant struggle with his Jewish identity posed a terrific problem in the first season episode, I’ll Be Home For Christmas.
When his non-Jewish wife wants Christmas decorations and a tree, Michael is immediately uneasy. After fighting with his cousin Melissa about a business matter and venting to Elliot, Michael buys a tree, his form of an olive branch and trying to make peace during the holiday season.
The tearjerking payoff comes when Michael opens the door and sees Hope holding their baby and lighting a menorah. When he asks where she got it, Melissa enters the room. The expressions on their faces say it all. Michael and Melissa make up, and Michael and Hope find a middle ground on the holidays.
On a business trip in the episode Sifting the Ashes, Elliot explores his Catholic roots when he went to Baltimore, his hometown. While there, he encounters a priest with whom his mother is friendly. The day after a tense conversation about Catholicism with his mother and the priest, Elliot goes to the school where the priest worked. He admits, I want God in my life. It’s religion that keeps getting in the way.
Hope’s friend Ellyn had an affair with a married man.
Michael’s long-time friend Gary died in an accident.
And Nancy battled cancer, thankfully with success.
thirtysomething never preached about the consequences of actions.
It never drew a bright line to separate good from bad.
And it never talked down to us.
It simply showed us as we are. Imperfect people in a truly demanding world.
thirtysomething aired from 1987 to 1991.
Sure the styles of clothes may have changed.
The pop culture and historical references may be off-target for today’s audiences.
And the CD player has been replaced by the Ipod.
But the issues are timeless for thirtysomethings of any decade.
And that’s what classic television is all about.