banjoy - Posted - 06/18/2021:  05:14:24

In another thread I was looking for a specific clip from Beverly Hillbillies which I never did find. But in my search, I did come across this weird promo clip from the cast of the show:



youtube.com/watch?v=uTMfrd302Bo



That sure as heck isn't Earl Scruggs on banjo.



Then, at the very end of the clip, you will hear the regular Beverly Hillbillies theme, which IS Earl, which is then audio-spliced-edited to some other banjo picker in the same key and time, to finish out the audio exit / outro.



I had never heard this banjoist or this edited theme until yesterday when I stumbled across this clip. It was new news to me.



So if this is old news or a topic which has already been beat to death I apologize in advance.



Just curious and wondering if anyone might know some of the backstory to this. If it's already been discussed, maybe a link to that discussion?

Edited by - banjoy on 06/18/2021 06:13:06

janolov - Posted - 06/18/2021:  06:27:50

It sounds like a tenor banjo, or plectrum banjo.

Omeboy - Posted - 06/18/2021:  08:06:34

The banjoist is most likely Perry Botkin. Perry played great plectrum and also did all the incidental guitar music heard throughout each episode. He wrote "Ellie May's Theme," which was Ellie's musical signature. You'll see his name in the show's closing credits.  youtube.com/watch?v=9n7dtAosWqM

The Old Timer - Posted - 06/18/2021:  08:33:50

Is Perry the same guy who sang the tv theme instead of Lester? That was done specifically so they could insert sung "commercials" at the end of the theme song without having to get Lester off the road to record such musical phrases in Nashville. I can remember a man singing the Kellogg's cereal commercial line, and "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should". Those sung commercial lines disappeared after the first season or so.

I've seen a commercial where Jed promoted Winston cigarettes, sitting in Granny's kitchen at the table puffing away. Shades of Uncle Dave Macon and Prince Albert tobacco!

I thought sure the answer to the original poster's question was going to be "Don Parmley" (of the Bluegrass Cardinals) who provided the incidental 5 string banjo music used within each episode. But the link did indeed feature 4 string banjo playing, not 5 string.

RioStat - Posted - 06/18/2021:  08:55:05

It was Jerry Scoggins that sang the "Ballad of Jedd Clampett" on the theme song.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Scoggins

R Buck - Posted - 06/18/2021:  09:42:06

Tenor or plectrum banjo may have been Tommy Tedesco who was a wreaking ball team member who played both styles of banjo along with mandolin and guitar all tuned in a unique way to make it easier for him as a guitar player.

Edited by - R Buck on 06/18/2021 09:43:17

Jbo1 - Posted - 06/18/2021:  09:56:38

Robert, you're thinking of the Wrecking Crew, a loose group of LA studio musicians who played on many thousands of pop and rock songs in the 1960s and 1970s. Tedesco was one of them, so was Glen Campbell.

Omeboy - Posted - 06/18/2021:  11:02:26

Closing music credits:

banjoy - Posted - 06/18/2021:  13:06:25

Yeah I guess I should have mentioned in the opening post that I was hearing a banjo plucked with a pick, and not fingerpicks.



But at the end of this clip, they did a splice/cut mid-song from Earl picking to this other banjo picker in a very different style over the ending promo for Corn Flakes cereal ... then fade to black. I mean, the first measure is definitely Earl, then it cuts to the completely different thing and tags the ending. To the lay person this would go right by, but to us banjo pickers it jumps right out.



Here's a link to that exact spot in the video.



Maybe Beverly Hillbillies did a lot of that kind of editing, I never really paid a lot of attention so maybe they did. But this jumped right out to me.

Edited by - banjoy on 06/18/2021 13:08:10

The Old Timer - Posted - 06/18/2021:  14:50:23

RioStat thanks, I knew that. But my memory cornfabulates Perry Botkin with Jerry Scoggins all the time! Same syllables, and they rhyme. Please forgive me.

Banjoy Frank you exemplificated just what I was speaking about, custom commercials appended to the theme song. I hope somebody can find and post the Winston cigarette one. I believe Earl himself mighta played that one. He was probably a Winston man... I've heard an old live show tape where Earl played the Winston line at the end of the Hillbillies theme.

R Buck - Posted - 06/19/2021:  05:11:43

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jbo1

Robert, you're thinking of the Wrecking Crew, a loose group of LA studio musicians who played on many thousands of pop and rock songs in the 1960s and 1970s. Tedesco was one of them, so was Glen Campbell.

---

You are so right and I am getting old. Thanks for reminding me of the correct name. Tedesco did a lot of film work and this has his fingerprints on it to my ears. I still can remember sounds and faces better than names. Oh my.

banjoy - Posted - 06/19/2021:  05:38:26

The Old Timer

After I read your post I spent about an hour or so in YouTube la-la land and found all sorts of Winston commercials -- but none with the musical tag. All the clips I found were just the promo. And boy, did they push WInstons! It seems every cast member had their own cameo, Miss Jane, Granny, Jed, Mr. Drysdale, I think even Jethro was in there too. It seems all of 'em loved smoking LOL!!

I had no idea, and don't remember all that stuff from years ago. I do remember all those Corn Flake Commercials.

I found a few YouTube compilations of lots of Beverly Hillbilly ads put together but again, it seems all the musical queues were not included in those compilations. I finally gave up looking. But it would be cool to hear some of those customized~edited musical tags.

Bradskey - Posted - 06/23/2021:  00:15:01

The Beverly Hillbillies: The Ultimate Collection was an early 2 volume DVD release of season 1 and 2 episodes in the public domain, before CBS decided to release the first few seasons officially. These sets are still available on Amazon and elsewhere rather inexpensively. They consist of 16mm versions of the show from producer Paul Henning’s private collection. They contain several commercials, including the Winston and Kellogg’s jingles.



"Winston tastes good like a *hammer-on* cigarette should."

Edited by - Bradskey on 06/23/2021 00:17:55