Raymond Bailey Movies

Herbie Rides Again is the first sequel to Disney's fabulously successful The Love Bug. The emphasis here is on Mrs. Steinmetz (Helen Hayes), a feisty old San Franciscan who refuses to sell her home to conniving developer Alonzo Hawk (Keenan Wynn). Hawk's nephew, lawyer Willoughby Whitfield (Ken Berry), joins Mrs. Steinmetz's camp when he falls in love with her niece Nicole (Stefanie Powers). (This, of course, is after Nicole angrily slaps Willoughby with a boiled lobster, sending him plummeting over a balcony railing and into the drink). The day is saved by Herbie, the almost-human Volkswagen, who rallies every VW in town to thwart Hawk's machinations. Herbie Rides Again performed admirably enough to inspire still another sequel, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Still riding high in the ratings after seven years on the air, The Beverly Hillbillies launches its eighth season on CBS. The festivities commence with the series' highly publicized return to its "roots": that is, the cast briefly leaves its Beverly Hills environs for an extended visit to mountain country, filmed on location at Silver Dollar City in the Missouri Ozarks. It is during this story arc that Elly May Clampett (Donna Douglas) falls in love with local boy Matthew Templeton, played by Roger Torrey. Although the romance would end before a march down the altar, actor Roger Torrey would return the following year as another of Elly's ardent suitors -- this one named Mark Templeton! The Clampetts' sojourn to Silver Dollar City also served to introduce a new recurring character: Shorty Kellems, played by Shug Fisher. Inevitably, Shorty would follow the Clampetts back to Beverly Hills, where he teams up with Jethro Bodine (Max Baer Jr.) to live the life of a "gen-u-ine" Hollywood playboy. Ultimately, this storyline segues into another continuity strand in which the Clampetts play matchmaker for Shorty and his homegrown sweetie Elverna Bradshaw (Elvia Allman) -- who just so happens to be the lifelong enemy of Granny (Irene Ryan). Elsewhere, Phil Silvers makes several guest appearances as con artist Shifty Shafer, who in an entertaining story arc lensed in New York City, manages to "sell" Central Park to the gullible Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen). And in another memorable multi-episode guest star turn, Soupy Sales shows up as aviator Lance Bradford, the insufferable nephew-in-law of Jed's banker Milburn Drysdale (Raymond Bailey). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Those acerbic TV critics who'd predicted back in 1962 that the phenomenally successful The Beverly Hillbillies would wear out its welcome after three seasons must have been writhing in agony as the series entered its sixth year on the air in the fall of 1967. Although it had dropped from its ratings peak of number one in 1964 to 12th place in the intervening three years, the series still retained its loyal corps of fans, and had even picked up millions of new devotees in recent months. In a move to freshen up the basic format (nouveau riche hillbillies "invading" Beverly Hills), season six opened with a fascinating story arc, largely shot on location, in which millionaire mountaineer Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen) inherits a British castle on the outskirts of London. (Believe it or not, The Beverly Hillbillies was, at the time, one of the United Kingdom's most popular American imports.) This situation permits a whole new slew of comic complications, beginning with Granny's (Irene Ryan) tussle with the customs officials, and impressionable Jethro's (Max Baer Jr.) efforts to emulate the gallant knights of old, with his feisty cousin Elly May (Donna Douglas) reluctantly recruited to be a "damsel in distress." Upon the Clampett's return to Beverly Hills, Jethro persists in playing out his British-bred fantasies by becoming the Robin Hood of Griffith Park, leading to another story arc involving a band of hippies (or at least, the producers' notion of what hippies looked like). In other continuing storylines, Granny (Irene Ryan) thinks that the Civil War has been reignited when she sees a movie company filming a historical epic near the Clampett mansion; Jethro joins the military reserve, wreaking his usual well-meaning havoc, and later opens up a "topless" restaurant (no, it's not what you think); and the Clampetts become embroiled in the peculiar world of women's wrestling! The season ends with "Cousin Roy," featuring country & western singer Roy Clark in what was reportedly designed as the pilot for a Beverly Hillbillies spinoff series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After 106 black-and-white episodes, The Beverly Hillbillies switched to color for the start of its fourth season in the fall of 1965. Evidently the transition to color was heartily approved of by the series' fans: having finished season three at 12th place in the ratings, The Beverly Hillbillies shot up to 7th place for season four. The season opener represents a rare foray into location-shooting for the normally studio-bound series, as millionaire hillbilly Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen) heads to the port of Los Angeles, where he mistakes a Navy destroyer for a yacht purchased by his banker Milburn Drysdale (Raymond Bailey). While this episode is a one-shot, some of the subsequent fourth-season episodes are incorporated into the various story arcs for which the series was famous: for example, a plotline in which Drysdale organizes a Beverly Hills "Possum Day" parade to placate Granny (Irene Ryan) is spread over two weeks, as is another arc wherein the Clampetts purchase a race horse. More so than in previous years, season four of The Beverly Hillbillies is heavily reliant upon guest stars. Louis Nye returns in the role of Sonny Drysdale, who launches yet another ill-fated attempt to woo and win Jed's daughter Elly May (Donna Douglas). Likewise back for another guest turn are Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, the bluegrass musicians who are normally heard performing the series' theme song. Also making guest appearances this season are Julie Newmar, Wally Cox, Martha Hyer, Sebastian Cabot, John Carradine, and in yet another extended story arc, venerable character comedian Charles Ruggles as Mr. Farquahr, Milburn Drysdale's playboy father-in-law. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having emerged as America's highest-rated sitcom of all time during its second season on CBS, The Beverly Hillbillies was a "shoe-in" for a third-season renewal, remaining in its familiar Wednesday night slot for another year beginning in the fall of 1964. Season four gets off to a rousing start with a multi-episode story arc in which nouveau riche mountaineer Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen) buys a controlling interest in Mammoth Studios, a Hollywood film factory run by executive Lawrence Chapman (Milton Frome). After briefly living on the studio grounds, Jed and his family decide to revitalize the fading studio -- and prevent it from being bulldozed into oblivion by banker Milburn Drysdale (Raymond Bailey), executor of Jed's vast fortune, by producing their own silent-movie epic, with the tacit blessing of gossip queen Hedda Hopper. In a related story arc, Jed's innocently sexy daughter Elly May (Donna Douglas) is ardently courted by Mammoth's leading male star Dash Riprock (Larry Pennell) -- who, in an outrageous case of mistaken identity, briefly assumes that Mr. Drysdale's spinsterish secretary Jane Hathaway (Nancy Kulp) is Elly May! Elsewhere, Arthur Treacher guest-stars as a "veddy proper" butler who attempts to educate the Hillbillies in the ways of culture and refinement; Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, who are heard performing the series' theme song at the beginning and end of each episode, pay one of their sporadic visits to their former neighbors, the Clampetts; Jed's impressionable nephew Jethro (Max Baer Jr.) dons tattered shirt and false beard to become a beatnik, and loads up on expensive and useless gadgetry in his efforts to become a "Double Naught Spy" like James Bond; Drysdale's rival banker Mr. Cushing (Roy Roberts) goes to great and unscrupulous lengths to persuade Jed to transfer his millions to Cushing's bank; and Granny (Irene Ryan) tries to arrange a match between Elly and the son of an old family friend (played by famed dialect coach Robert Easton). Although The Beverly Hillbillies fell from its Number One rating perch during its third season, the series still managed to post an admirable 25.2 Nielsen share, ending up in 12th place. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

America's top-rated TV series The Beverly Hillbillies retained its Number One status as it entered its second season on CBS in the fall of 1963. By this time, newly-rich mountaineer Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen) and his family have become accustomed to their swank new Beverly Hills surroundings, but the Clampett clan's limitless wealth has not caused them to abandon their simple, basic down-home values. In other words, they may not be as bright or as well-spoken as their sophisticated neighbors, but they are essentially better and more lovable people, and will remain so as long as the series stays on the air. Although former regular Bea Benaderet had left The Beverly Hillbillies to star in her own sitcom, Petticoat Junction, the rest of the cast remains intact: the aforementioned Buddy Ebsen as Jed; Donna Douglas as Jed's wide-eyed, curvaceous, "critter"-loving daughter Elly May; Max Baer Jr. as Jed's doltish, highly impressionable nephew Jethro; Irene Ryan as Jed's nonegenarian mother-in-law Granny, still stirring up her special moonshine -- er, "rheumatizz medicine" -- and concocting mysterious mountain potions to cure all ills; Raymond Bailey as banker Milburn Drysdale, the delightfully avaricious executor of Jed's fortune; and Nancy Kulp as Drysdale's loyal secretary Miss Jane Hathaway, whose fondness for the Hillbillies in general, and Jethro in particular, is the primary motivation for her tireless efforts to help the mountaineers blend into "proper" Southern California society.
Among the subplots wending their way through the action of season two are Elly May's misadventures as the unrefined tomboy prepares for her society debut; the Clampetts' brief fling in the world of high fashion when their "Hillybilly Look" becomes all the rage amongst the wealthy Beverly Hills matrons; the "invasion" of the family's former hillbilly neighbor Lafe Crick (Peter Whitney), who shows up at the mansion for a brief visit and then refuses to leave; and of course, the never-ending efforts by Mr. Drysdale's snooty wife Margaret (Harriet MacGibbon) to oust the Clampetts from her ritzy neighborhood. According to the A.C. Nielsen Company, eight of the highest-rated TV episodes of all time were seen on The Beverly Hillbillies -- with all of these, notably the record-breaking "The Giant Jackrabbit," premiering during the series' second season. It has been theorized that the viewing public, traumatized by the then-recent assassination of John F. Kennedy, embraced The Beverly Hillbillies as an antidote for their collective grief. True or not, the fact remains that the series reached its peak popularity during its second year on the air -- much to the dismay of certain pundits who were convinced that The Beverly Hillbillies represented the end of civilization as we know it! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alfred Hitchcock's long-running TV suspense anthology moved from NBC to CBS for its eighth season on the air, and in the process expanded from 30 to 60 minutes, necessitating a change in title from Alfred Hitchcock Presents to The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Gig Young guest stars in the first of these "hours" as Duke Marsden, businessman by day, high-rolling gambler by night. Although his wife, Alice (Martha Hyer), has threatened to leave him if he doesn't give up poker, Duke enters into a high-stakes game in order to save his younger brother, Chuck (Robert Redford), from catching the gambling bug himself. Unfortunately, Duke's main opponent in the big game is a former gangster who is a notoriously sore loser. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Handsome actor Paul Ross (Charles S. Carlson) breaks up a romance between his housekeeper, Caroline Hardy (Cloris Leachman), and another man, simply because he doesn't want Caroline to leave his employ. What Paul doesn't know is that Caroline is madly in love with him -- and that she has a distinct taste for revenge. Later on, Paul is horribly scarred in an explosion, whereupon Caroline calmly informs him that he is too disfigured ever to appeal to women again...except, of course, Caroline. A perverse twist caps this final episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents' seventh season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first season of The Beverly Hillbillies can be regarded as a "shakedown" cruise, with the newly-rich Clampett family making first contact with the wealthy upper crust of Beverly Hills, CA, adapting to their strange but luxurious surroundings with a combination of farcical ignorance and warm-hearted common sense and decency. After striking oil on his property in the opening episode, poor-but-proud mountaineer Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen) is informed that his land is now valued in a "new kind of dollars" -- namely, "million" dollars (about 20 million, to be exact). On the advice of his social-climbing cousin Pearl Bodine (Bea Benaderet), Jed decides to move out of the hills and into a posh Beverly Hills mansion, taking his innocently voluptuous daughter Elly May (Donna Douglas), his elderly but feisty mother-in-law Granny (Irene Ryan) and Pearl's oafish son Jethro Bodine (Max Baer Jr.) along for the ride. Endeavoring to help the Clampett clan make the transition from abject poverty to untold wealth are Milburn Drysdale (Raymond Bailey), president of the Commerce Bank of Beverly Hills and the caretaker of Jed's fortune, and Drysdale's ultra-efficient secretary Miss Jane Hathaway (Nancy Kulp). Many of the earliest episodes are built around the Clampetts' hilarious misinterpretations of their new creature comforts: the mansion's swimming pool is referred to as "the cee-ment pond"; the billiard table is labeled "the fancy eatin' table"; the billiard cues are dubbed "pot passers"; and it takes several episodes for Jed and company to figure out where "thet music is a-comin' from" whenever somebody rings their doorbell. Meanwhile, animal-loving Elly May merrily goes about adopting as many local "critters" as she can find, the impressionable Jethro shows off the "cipherin' skills" he has accumulated as the world's oldest sixth grader (his future plans are to become either a brain surgeon or a fry-cook), and Granny crankily tries to transform her corner of Beverly Hills into a replica of her old mountain trappings, replete with a still for her "rheumatizz medicine."
Among the many subplots developed this season are Cousin Pearl's ongoing rivalry with Granny; Pearl's tireless efforts to marry off Jethro's twin sister Jethrine (also played by Max Baer Jr.), and her own furtive romance with oil-company executive John Brewster (Frank Wilcox); the Herculean efforts by Mr. Drysdale's snobbish wife Margaret (Harriet MacGibbon) to remove "those dreadful Hillbillies" from her neighborhood; and the ill-fated attempt by the Drysdale's overaged-preppy offspring Sonny Drysdale (Louis Nye) to woo and win Elly May, which nearly results in an old-fashioned shootin' feud between the Drysdales and the Clampetts! Though roundly panned by many of America's top TV critics (with such rare exceptions as the erudite Gilbert Seldes, who lauded the series for brilliantly upholding the tradition of the classic "rube outwits city slicker" stage comedies of the previous century), The Beverly Hillbillies closed out its first season as the nation's top-rated program. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After speculating on the possibility that a person can travel back in time and change history, Peter Corrigan (Russell Johnson) bids farewell to his friends and prepares to head home from his club. As he walks through the doors, he is unexpectedly transported from 1961 to 1865. Once he gets his bearings, Corrigan finds himself in a position to prevent the assassination of Abraham Lincoln -- but this "wrinkle in time" turns out to have entirely different results. Scripted by Rod Serling, "Back There" is one of the lesser offerings of Twilight Zone's 1960-61 season, though it does boast an excellent musical score by Jerry Goldsmith, which would remain in the standard TV stock-music repertoire throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The episode first aired January 13, 1961. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Wealthy manufacturer and race-car enthusiast Walter Eastman (Jess Barker) imports a revolutionary new engine for an upcoming race. Along for the ride is famous European driver Vincent Danielli (Alejandro Rey)--who proceeds to betray Eastman's trust by deliberately sabotaging the engine. Not long afterward, Danielli is murdered, and Eastman is flagged as the Number One Suspect--whereupon Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) races to the rescue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of John Cheever's best known (and most often dramatized) short stories is basis for this tense episode. While riding home from his office on the 5:48 commuter train, married suburbanite James Blake (Zachary Scott) is confronted by Iris Dent (Phyllis Thaxter), his former secretary -- and former mistress. Pulling a gun on Blake, Iris intends to exact vengeance for being spurned and humiliated by him. Although the situation heats up as the train ride continues, Iris' revenge turns out to be a dish best served cold -- and dirty. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide