Great stuff. You said they dropped the hokey?

Recently found the first Petticoat Junction episode. Explaining why everything was as it was. I loved it more because of the Cannonball!

Well, by "hokey", I meant that initial part where the narrator was doing all the talking about great Hollywood is, and he was "surprised" to see hillbillies in their old truck. THAT is what I meant by hokey, as a plot exposition device.

And I never considered Jed hokey...he was the wisest character in TV, I always thought. I remember one episode where an aged out hoochy coochy dancer was gold digging to hook Jed. She "had been" a looker. At one point Jethro says to Jed, his eyes all googly about this fancy woman being after Uncle Jed and he said "Uncle Jed, she's about the purtiest thing I've ever seen!" Jed paused and considered and replied "Well boy, I believe she's already done waded her deepest water." You couldn't fool Jed.

What's the First Thing You Know? Ole Jed's a millionaire...

It's been awhile since I seen this. Thanks for posting. Yes, I remember very very well Louise Scruggs telling me about this. At first they said no. They were very concerned this new show might be demeaning to southern people. After a private screening, meeting Flatt and Scruggs decided to preform the theme song. The rest is history. I loved Louise and Earl's stories of The Beverly Hillbillies. Jed always outsmarted the city slicker!

According to the legend I heard, the "Ballad of Jed Clampett" was written after the pilot sold. Jerry Scoggins was tapped for the vocals for two reasons. First, Flatt & Scruggs toured and were not easily available to re-record changes the studios might want. Scroggins lived in LA and could be in the studio at the drop of a hat.
Second, the producers were still looking for a sponsors for the show. At that time, sponsors were very involved in the presentation of the program & had product placement everywhere. There was a concern that the eventual sponsor might want to be mentioned in the theme song. The short notice made Flatt & Scruggs impractical for re-recordings.

"Come & listen to my story about a man named Jed.
Smokes a Camel cigarette right after he is fed.
He set his fields afire while shootin' at some food.
And Texaco showed up to purchase all his crude.

Oil, that is. Black gold. Texas tea."

In his book on the history of Bluegrass music, Neil Rosenberg tells the story of the circumstances surrounding Earl Scuggs' appearance at the first Newport Folk festival. When the festival promoter contacted Louise Scruggs, it was specified that they wanted only Earl to perform at the festival. It could be that the producers of the TV show also had an aversion to Lester as the lead vocalist for the theme song.

Yeah, I'd heard that Lester's voice was maybe TOO country for the producers.