The Clampetts Strike Oil is the first episode of the first season of the Beverly Hillbillies. It is followed by the episode Getting Settled. In this episode, Jed Clampett sold his swamp to an oil company, gets paid 25 million dollars for it, and heads off to Beverly Hills. The original air date was September 26, 1962.
The episode starts out with the Clampetts driving their truck through Beverly Hills. Jed Clampett says for them to go see the house they bought. The narrator asks how a bunch of hillbillies could afford a mansion in Beverly Hills. They decide to go back and see how the whole thing started. Jed Clampett walks in with Duke at his heels. Granny, who is sewing up Elly May's shirt, tells Jed that he needs to do something about Elly May. She holds up the shirt, showing a few holes in it, which Elly May got from fighting with a bobcat. When Jed asks if she got hurt, Granny says the bobcat went limping off on 3 legs. Jed doesn't know what he's going to do with Elly May. Granny says Jed needs to get Elly May into a dress, that her shirts are getting too small for her, popping the buttons off. Granny then remembers she needs to go stomp out a fire and walks out. Jed asks her if she's going to stomp out a fire wearing her dress and boots, and Granny misunderstands him and takes off her shoes so as not to burn them. When Granny goes out, Elly May starts banging on the door and yelling for somebody to open it. Jed opens it to find Elly carrying somebody over her shoulder. She sets the man on the table. Elly says it's a stranger she found by the swamp. She thought it was a revenuer, so she beaned him with a rock and carried him to the cabin. When Jed says he's not a revenuer, she asks if she can keep him, treating him like dog or cat. Jed says no over and over until the message gets through. Granny then runs in with her feet scorching hot, saying how the fire smarts. She soaks her feet in water and feels better. While in the water, she notices the man on the table. She regconizes him from the Petroleum company. She talks about how he wanted to do some wildcatting down by the swamp, thinking he means actual wildcats. The man on the table wakes up, and sees the Clampetts around him. He sees Jed and tells him that his swamp is full of oil and his company would like to pump it out. Jed, not realizing how much oil is worth says he would like to pump it out also, but he can't afford it. The man tells Jed how rich a man he is, which leads Jed to believe that the man is crazy, or got hit too hard by the rock Elly threw at him. The man asks for a telephone, so he can call his boss, but when he finds out they don't have one, claims he's going to fly to Tulsa. The Clampetts misunderstand him yet again and says how he thinks he's got wings. The oil company man rides back on a helicopter with his boss, Mr. Brewster. They confirm that the swamp is one of the richest swamps ever and want to get Clampett's name on a deal. The pilot says the ground is too rocky to land, so they get the slings ready to be lowered..
Granny tells Jed to hurry up and load that shotgun.
Granny, back at the cabin runs inside the house looking for the gun, which Jed is cleaning. She then points out the window to them the helicopter, which she calls a giant bird. When the oil company man is lowered on the sling. They believe it to be the bird grabbing a man. Jed finishes cleaning the gun. Granny grabs the gun and shoots twice at the bird. She says she made it drop the stranger. Elly May walks in and sets the oil company man on the table again. Later on, Pearl Bodine is riding in her truck, with Jethro, (her son), driving it. The car is driving madly down the hill. Jed and Granny see the mad car and look for something to hold onto. Jethro crashes the truck into the chicken house, narrowly missing the cabin. Pearl comes in, apologizes about the chicken house, and sits down. She asks Jed about him selling the swamp to some oil company. Jed confirms this, and Pearl asks how much they paid him for it. He said it would depend on how much oil they pumped out, but they gave an estimate of about 25-100. He also said they were paying him with a new kind of dollar, million dollars. Pearl is shocked about how much money he's getting, while Jed still thinks that it's just a new kind of dollar. Jed gives Pearl a letter saying everything that Mr. Brewster said. Pearl collapses and looks for the jug(alcohol). Jed goes to get it, but Pearl stops him at the door, saying he's a millionaire. Jed says that Mr. Brewster was calling him that too, and saying that he should move away from here. He asks Pearl if he should move away, which Pearl is shocked he should ask. She says all the bad stuff about the mountains, such as 30 miles from your nearest neighbors, no electricity, and no plumbing. Jed takes it the wrong way and thinks she wants him to stay, and walks out. Pearl finds him whittling, goes up to him, and tells him that she wanted him to go. She then tells him about all the comforts of Beverly Hills, the place she thinks he should move. She talks about how warm it is, when Jed is surprised about. He decides to ask Jethro about it. Jethro thinks he's accusing him, and says he didn't take the snow. Pearl shoves him off and tells Jed about all the movie stars in Beverly Hills. Jed decides to wait until Mr. Brewster comes and ask him. Mr. Brewster tells him that millionaires do settle in Beverly Hills, and it would be a fine place for the Clampetts. He says the bank out there can get him a good place to live. Jed decides to go. The next day Jed, Elly May, and Jethro (who is driving them to Beverly Hills), are loading the truck. Jed finds out that Granny is in her rocking chair on the back porch and not coming...
The Clampetts hold the gardeners at gunpoint.
He tries to convince her with the warm weather and the movie stars, but Granny is firm. Jed finally puts her rocking chair with her on it on the truck and they drive off. In Beverly Hills, the president of the bank, Milburn Drysdale, is preparing the mansion for the Clampetts arrival, along with his secretary, Jane Hathaway. He says that he has his gardeners working on their mansion, which happens to be next door to Mr. Drysdale's. An employee comes in and tells him that Mrs. Drysdale is not happy about her gardeners working on the Clampett's mansion and neglecting theirs. A phone call arrives telling Mr. Drysdale that the Clampett mansion is being invaded by outlaws. Mr. Drysdale jumps up and hurries off. At the mansion, the Clampetts are all holding guns pointed at the gardeners. They think the gardeners are prisoners and the mansion is a jail. They wait and wait until they hear a police car. Thinking they are going to be rewarded for their noble act, they get a surprise when they are thrust into jail. Mr. Drysdale comes in, telling the guards they've arrested one of the richest men in the country. He looks in the cell, expecting Mr. Clampett to be wearing formal clothes. When he doesn't find what he is looking for, he grabs Jed's shirts demanding what he's done with Jed Clampett. Jed says he's Jed Clampett and would appreciate if he would let go of his Sunday shirt. Mr. Drysdale is surprised to see Jed Clampett look like that and demands to the guards that they open the door. He gets out Elly May and Granny and they all drive to the mansion. Up the driveway, the Clampetts, still thinking it's a prison, blames Mr. Drysdale for this mess-up. The episode ends with them running away as from the mansion as quickly as possible.
