CBS television never produced the "Real Beverly Hillbillies." They did not explain why or say that it would not be produced. They just stopped talking about it.
We count that as a victory for rural America.
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The Poor in Rural America Aren’t Laughing
By Loyal Jones
I've heard a lot of flack about the proposed
reality show dreamed up by the "creative" people at CBS.
You all remember the original “Beverly Hillbillies”-- that CBS gave to
the world back there in a more innocent time. They were just out
of the Ozark hills, rich in oil money and newly ensconced in a
California mansion -- laconic Jed (Buddy Ebsen had played rube comedy
in vaudeville), acerbic Granny, curvy Ellie May, and the hunky but
unswift Jethro.
That show was based on the old comedic theme of city slickers versus
the country folk. We loved the show because we understood the premise.
It was topsy-turvy humor where the cunning and conniving slicker tries
by hook or crook to snooker the rube, and the rube always came out on
top. We loved it because it was introduced by Flatt and Scruggs, icons
of us country folk back then and of aspiring pre-yuppies who wanted to
hold on to some vestige of their roots. Banker Drysdale was the typical
slicker, and Jed was innocent, pure of heart, and meant no harm. He
even seemed oblivious of his skill at outwitting people who were
supposed to be smarter than he was.
Minnie Pearl and Rod Brasield played this kind of rube comedy at the
Grand Ole Opry. Old Joe Clark did it at the Renfro Valley Barn Dance.
And Carl Hurley and a couple of other ex-rubes I know do it to
perfection on the humor and lecture circuit. This kind of humor came
down through the oral tradition, minstrel shows, vaudeville, tent
repertoire theaters, and then radio. It works best when it was done by
an authentic country comedian telling stories to other country people
about country folks trying to deal with all those who would exploit
them or make fun of them.
But whoa! What happens when this kind of humor is staged in New York
City or Hollywood by slickers to sell stuff and in a new and less
restrained age to present crass, tasteless, and disgusting things to
keep us glued to the tube? No need to waste space here in pointing out
how tasteless and shameless television executives can be. The talk
shows, the reality shows we already have, and those awful situation
comedies have already demonstrated that. And, of course, they are not
the only ones exploiting the less fortunate and gullible. Restraint and
a modicum of taste are about all we can hope for and won't get.
Poor rural people are about the only ones in the country that you can
make fun of all you want to with near impunity. Political correctness
fades away when the subject is a poor hillbilly. Therefore they make
wonderful scapegoats. We are really haunted and troubled by the poor in
this affluent land. Even we people who rise out of poverty to become
the hard-working folks that the politicians claim they spend their days
helping have a resentment of the poor (or is it a fear that "there but
for the grace of God go I?”). We resent people who are not earning
their way. This resentment is directed far less toward the rich, who
may be getting far more than they actually earn, like those executives
who bailed out of corporations with tens of millions of dollars in
stock options, pensions, and perks, some now doing quite well, thank
you, in government positions.
It didn't take long for stalwarts of the media to get tired of, or
embarrassed by, those scoundrels at Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, etc., and go
on to examine those poor folks who were scratched off welfare and have
now gotten on Supplemental Security Income rolls (with the help of
lawyers who get 30 percent of this booty).
We were informed that Kentucky has a disproportionate number of people
on SSI (thus summoning the hillbilly stereotype?). Not surprising since
we have a disproportionate number of poor people who do whatever they
can to shelter, feed, and clothe the family. The implication is that
some of those on SSI could jolly well be working. Maybe so, if the job
required no more muscle power than that required of accountants to cook
the books, executives to cash in their stock options in the nick of
time, or state and federal legislators to vote themselves raises and
more pension benefits in the dead of the night. The legislators'
emoluments, I want you to remember, come from that same bucket that the
SSI checks come from, as do those wonderful welfare checks that go to
corporations to raise their bottom line and even help them move to
Third World countries so they won't have to pay the wages here that
might lift some of those people off of welfare.
I say shame on CBS for even thinking of exploiting poor people, but
shame on the rest of us if we watch such a travesty on entertainment.
And shame on us for scapegoating poor people. There are lots of other
folks out there who rip off public funds through tax dodges and all
sorts of subsidies that their friendly and paid-off legislators have
secured for them a hundredfold more than the poor ever get. Let's keep
our attention on the real evildoers.
The most profound thing I learned in college was about the bell-shaped
curve. It measures all things -- shoe or head size, intelligence, and
certainly income. It tells us that no matter how we prosper as a
country , there will always be those on one end of the bell curve who
are relatively poor. But then Jesus talked about that long ago, and he
taught that we who do well ought to share with those who don't. He also
warned us about a haughty spirit, avarice, and an unkind heart.
Loyal Jones, retired
director of the Berea College Appalachian Center, has written
extensively on the roots of American country music, religious belief
and practice in the Southern Appalachians, and the humor of Appalachian
people. His latest book is “Minstrel of the Appalachians: The Story of
Bascom Lamar Lunsford” (University of Kentucky Press).
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