Image: JCHS.orgPosted on 09/15/2017 4:00:47 AM PDT by iowamark
Paul Henning was working as a soda jerk in his local Brown's Drugstore when he met Harry Truman. Henning was merely a young man living in Independence, Missouri, while Truman was county judge for Jackson County. The future president advised Henning to go to law school. He did just that.
Image: JCHS.org
Yet, decades later, the two men would end up in far different places. Truman, of course, sat in the Oval Office. Henning, on the other hand, created the wildly popular sitcoms The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction.
Between his legal studies and television career, Henning worked as a writer on the radio program The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. There he got his foot in the door and honed his comedy-writing chops.
Henning died in 2005. Fortunately, a decade earlier, Ruth Henning, his wife, had written a memoir detailing his early life and showbiz career. Ruth passed in 2002. That's the couple in the above photo, on the right.
Recently, the Jackson County Historical Society unearthed this manuscript. On September 26, the book, titled The First Beverly Hillbilly: The Untold Story of the Creator of Rural TV Comedy, will at last be published. You can order it now for $27.
The JCHS has another historical gem for fans of the Clampetts. It has posted a 1997 audio interview with Henning, who was 86 at the time. Listen to the interview and check out some exclusive photos at JCHS.org.
I haven’t watched petticoat junction in years..as in decades...started watching on amazon and could sing every word of that song as I heard the music.
Green Acres I could do without.
I loved those shows growing up as a kid. I loved Mr. Douglas and his Hoyt Clagwell tractor and his telephone high up on the pole.
Lived the other two. A buddy described Green Acres as one smart guy surrounded by stupid people.
“A buddy described Green Acres as one smart guy surrounded by stupid people.
And Haney was the smart one who sold the dump farm to the big city lawyer lol !
Agree. His FIRST was his strongest. Those which followed became weaker. Who didn’t like the Clampet family?
A clip from my favorite Hillbillies episode :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt-gmS9twsA
Beverly Hillbillies At Mamoth Studios
Mrs. Drysdale.
Riding English on that tractor always kills me, crack up every time I see it to this day. Needs to be wearing a pair of jodhpurs, lol.
bookmark
That describes much of my career in IT.
Who was the smart one? Certainly not Oliver Wendell Douglas?
Eb?
Mr. Haney?
Sam Drucker?
Arnold?
Green Acres was my favorite. Arnold and the Ziffels were a hoot!
Bkmk
Green Acres is an acquired taste. Surreal is probably the best description. Due to that the arts crowd will be studying it 100 years from now if they aren’t already.
I loved Green Acres. I think County Agent Hank Kimball said it best: "Green Acres was a great show....well, maybe not a great show, but it was pretty good...at least it was entertaining, well, maybe not entertaining, but it was.....what was the question again?"
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