by Justin Lloyd
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:
BLUE JEANS AND T-SHIRT MAN
Just a few years into the Ernest phenomenon, John Cherry observed, “None of that prima donna stuff has set in on ol’ Jim.” Throughout the fame and fortune that Ernest brought him, Jim’s overall lifestyle changed very little. He resided in the same house he had purchased before becoming wealthy, preferring the mostly unpretentious appearance of his comfortable surroundings. White House was a down-home environment, and although most everyone in town knew where Jim lived, they respected his privacy and desire for as normal a life as possible.
Few changes were made to his residence over the years with the exception of his constantly expanding inventory of watches and knives.
Jim had been paid $300 for his first Ernest commercial. By now he was making millions. But he took more pride in telling someone how rare or well made an item was instead of bragging about how much he had paid for it. He knew it was all too easy to pick out something from a catalog. He preferred the thrill of searching for something unusual, something with significance. He browsed through jewelry and knife shops as an adult just as he had wandered the school playground searching for coins as a kid.
Jim had learned the value of hard work as a child. When he would do odd jobs for his parents and aunts, the coins went directly into a chalkware piggy bank in the shape of a dog. These chalkware, or molded gypsum, figurines first gained popularity during the Great Depression. Jim named his “Gentleman J.” He also used it to collect “donations” after performing for relatives in the family room. When Jim started school, his mother helped him crack it open, revealing over several dollars in change, a lot of money for a kid at the time.
As an adult, instead of spending money on an expensive new house, Jim made investments in properties such as a Nashville condo and a farm in Sand Gap, Ky. One of the few indulgences he allowed himself was a DeLorean sports car, made famous by the movie “Back to the Future.” The car reflected how Jim stayed true to his own desires instead of trying to impress others. If he had really wanted to be “flashy,” he could have bought a top-of-the-line Cadillac or Mercedes. Instead, he preferred something James Bond might drive. Plus, the stainless-steel DeLorean matched his stainless-steel Rolex.
Once when Jim was visiting family in Lexington, his young niece Elaine was inspecting the DeLorean’s interior. She looked in the back seat and asked Jim where the flux capacitor was (the hardware that enabled the car in “Back to the Future” to travel through time when the speedometer hit 88 mph). I got a thrill myself as a 13-year-old in 1986 when Uncle Jim offered to take me for a ride in the car. We drove to a nearby gas station. When we pulled up to the pump, Uncle Jim raised both doors, letting the classical music he was blasting fill the air. To say that we drew attention is an understatement.
Another sports car Jim owned that was a rarity in the mid-1980s was a Dodge Conquest. Its electronic dash and voice-alert features likely fascinated the teenage Bond fan inside Jim. Of course, not even Jim’s cool cars could escape the reach of his humor. On the back of his DeLorean, one bumper sticker read, “As A Matter Of Fact I DO OWN THE ROAD!” On the Conquest, another read, “YES I AM A MOVIE STAR.” Another bumper sticker on the Conquest had been edited. It had originally read, “IT’S ME, IT’S ME, IT’S ERNEST T.” This was the line made famous by Ernest T. Bass – the troublemaking mountain-man character from “The Andy Griffith Show.” Jim found a letter “P” to cover up the “T” to represent Ernest Worrell’s peculiar middle name: “Power Tools.”
When interviewed, Jim was often asked about all the money he was making. He was never comfortable with the question, always deflecting it. Sometimes he told reporters tall tales, such as how he had bought a string of small towns in Ohio. Another time, he said he owned “a fleet of pastel Ferraris.” No amount of wealth brought him more pleasure than his down-home existence in the rural outskirts of Nashville. “I’m a blue jeans and T-shirt man,” he’d say.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: BUCKMASTERS & BUBBA
Jim loved to hunt, everything from bear to deer. He also became proficient with the long bow. Coke Sams remembers how proud Jim sounded when he talked about hunting with “two strings and a stick.” He probably envisioned himself as Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest. It would have thrilled Jim to no end if he had known that his fifth-generation great grandfather on his mother’s side was Edward Boone, brother of Daniel Boone. I uncovered the family connection during research for this book.
Jim’s interest in deer hunting led him to become a fan of Jackie Bushman’s “Buckmasters” hunting show on the Nashville Network. Bushman had started the Buckmasters deer-hunting association in 1986 and began his long-running hunting show in the summer of 1989. Jim met Bushman through country music singer Eddie Reasoner and his manager, Wilson Frazier. The two became fast friends, and Jim was soon making regular appearances on Bushman’s show.
Jim’s association with Buckmasters reached a whole new level after he spoke to Bushman about getting young people more involved in the sport. Jim created an Ernest-type character for the show, Bubba, a bumbling hunter (Jim told Bushman every hunter has a buddy named Bubba). Bubba had been a buffoon Jim had occasionally used in his stand-up, a nameless supporting player. Joe Liles remembers Bubba being a spoof of a character from an early stand-up routine of actor and comedian Tim Thomerson’s in the 1970s. Thomerson’s character had the dubious distinction of growing up on a mayonnaise farm. As had Thomerson, Jim gave the character a distinctive look by snarling both sides of his upper lip and exposing the top row of his teeth when he spoke.
Before Bubba was complete, he needed the right look. Bushman remembers going with Jim to a local outdoors store in Alabama where Jim picked out a large orange hat with earflaps. He turned one flap up and the other down. Then he said to Bushman, “I’m gonna take this front flap right here and I want you to go get some cardboard, and I want you to write ‘BUBBA’ on it and we’ll duct tape it on there.” Along with props such as a rifle with an oversized scope, Bubba was ready for the great outdoors.
The first year or so that Jim was on the show playing Bubba, Bushman paired him with a puppet named Shotgun Red, voiced and operated by comedian Steve Hall. With his well-worn straw cowboy hat, bushy gray moustache and plaid shirt, coupled with Southern charm and a quick wit, Shotgun Red remains a beloved figure for fans of all ages today. The puppet debuted on Ralph Emery’s “Nashville Now” TV show in 1982. The combination of Jim and Shotgun Red was an instant hit. Young fans of Bushman’s show soon began sending in pictures and questions. A segment was created for Jim to answer selected questions. The only problem was that the cast couldn’t stop laughing long enough for Jim to make it through his answers.
Bubba gained a following. “Hey Bush, you know when I go out they don’t talk about Ernest, they talk about Bubba,” Jim would say to Bushman.
Before long, Bubba was teaching safety to young hunters. Three half-hour safety videos were also created for the organization’s Young Bucks Club. In the first, called “The Misadventures of Bubba,” Jim – as himself – introduces segments where Bubba and his unseen hunting partner, Billy Bob, break all the rules of hunting. Bubba talks into the camera to Billy Bob in the same way Ernest talks to Vern. Then Jim, again as himself, follows up with an explanation of what rule had been broken and why that rule is critical for safety. The next two videos, “The Misadventures of Bubba II” and “Bubba Goes Hunting,” focus on Bubba’s over-the-top hunting antics. According to Bushman, the kids loved it, and every fish–and-game department in the country wanted copies. Many stated that it was the only educational video they had encountered that kids wanted to watch repeatedly.
For much of the ‘90s, Jim participated in the annual Buckmasters National Deer Classic. He always looked forward to the four-day celebrity deer hunt, held for years at the Southern Sportsman Hunting Lodge just west of Montgomery, Ala. Created in 1987, it brought together stars from sports and entertainment along with top whitetail deer hunters from
across the country. Bushman was surprised at just how popular Jim was at the Classic; people lined up for his autograph. Apart from entertaining as Bubba, Jim portrayed other characters such as a buffoonish football player who wore black high-tops and a 1960s-style helmet with the face mask removed. Although his equipment wasn’t permitted on the football field, it gave him the upper hand when facing off in matches against pro wrestlers also participating in the event. As serious as Jim was about entertaining, he was also fully invested in the hunting competitions. One year he even won the hatchet-throwing contest for his team.
Perhaps the most important contribution Jim made to the Buckmasters was his ability to help foster a relationship between the organization and terminally ill children. One year Bushman invited an 11-year-old boy suffering from cystic fibrosis to the Buckmaster’s Classic. The boy was thrilled to meet and hunt alongside celebrities like Jim and Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones. The experience led Bushman to create a program called Life Hunts in 1998 to give disabled and seriously ill children the opportunity to participate in a real hunt. Jim’s experiences visiting young hospital patients through the years made him a natural at using his popular characters to bring happiness to many of these brave kids.
One of Bushman’s favorite memories of Jim is the time Jim invited him to the premiere of “The Beverly Hillbillies.” Bushman had arrived just before the premiere and happened to be walking up when Zsa Zsa Gabor was making her entrance. It appeared as if the two might be together. Reporters and photographers were asking each other, “Who’s the guy in the cowboy hat?” Jim, close by, replied, “That’s the Buckmaster!” which drew a response of, “Who’s the Buckmaster?” Jim said, “That’s my hunting consultant.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: A HILLBILLY OF AN OZARK KIND
In the early ‘90s, vintage TV shows were being resurrected by major movie studios and turned into feature films. Just as comic-book characters are in vogue today, old TV classics such as “Dennis the Menace” and “The Brady Bunch” were finding new life in the hands of Hollywood screenwriters. Toward the end of 1992, 20th Century Fox green-lit the production of “The Beverly Hillbillies.” Penelope Spheeris, hot off the success of “Wayne’s World,” seemed like the perfect choice to direct the beloved TV classic. She had shown the ability to direct a comedy adapted from TV – in this case “Saturday Night Live” – for the big screen. She also related to the material, being a transplanted Arkansan living in California. Her own family had moved there from Hot Springs when she was 8.
The casting was vital in capturing the flavor of the original show, and no character was more important than that of the patriarch, Jed Clampett. After going through close to 50 actors, Spheeris set her sights on Jim. The studio then echoed the sentiment that Jim had feared for years: He was too identified with Ernest to effectively portray a reserved and comparatively sensible character such as Jed. Too much money was on the line for the studio to take the risk.
But at Spheeris’ insistence, the studio agreed to let Jim do a screen test. One advantage that Jim had was that the look of Jed, with his graying mustache and wide-brimmed hat, gave him a much different appearance.
Jim did not disappoint in the screen test. He landed the role and was thrilled about the opportunity to prove himself in a major film. He said, “I’ve been waiting a long time for a breakaway character,” adding, “But hey, that’s Hollywood!” His fans were also anxious to see him in a new role, especially one as iconic as Jed Clampett. He rounded out a talented cast that included Lily Tomlin, Dabney Coleman, Cloris Leachman, Lea Thompson and Rob Schneider. Diedrich Bader and Kevin Connolly, though not stars at the time, gained fame later in popular TV shows. Bader found success on “The Drew Carey Show” and Connolly on the HBO series “Entourage.”
Playing the character forced Jim to tone down the physical style of comedy to which he was accustomed. Jed was the quietest member of the Clampett clan. Even though he had his share of funny scenes, Jim was essentially playing the straight man to the more zany members of the Clampett family. Spheeris had to restrain him many times, saying, “No, no mugging. No, no big smile. Pull it back, pull it back.”
The difficulty of playing a character familiar to so many people was made all the more challenging with the original Jed close by. Buddy Ebsen was offered a cameo in “Hillbillies,” reprising his popular television detective character Barnaby Jones. Miss Jane Hathaway calls upon his services when Granny goes missing. He discovers that she is being held against her will in a nursing home; she was placed there by one of Mr. Drysdale’s bank employees and his criminal girlfriend. The girlfriend has been trying to woo Jed into marrying her so the pair can steal his fortune.
When asked what he thought of Jim’s portrayal, Ebsen was complimentary, even philosophical. He said, “There are 100 people who have played Hamlet, but only two to play Jed Clampett.” Ebsen’s only criticism, if you could call it that, was that Jim didn’t enunciate Jed’s famous exclamation “We-l-l-l-l-l-l doggies” all that convincingly. It’s likely that most people, including Jim, would agree that no one could ever top Ebsen’s delivery of the trademark line.
Jim shared the studio’s concern about keeping audiences from seeing any Ernest mannerisms in his performance. He spoke of his nervousness when watching the movie for the first time in a theater. “I was sitting through a screening, and I thought, ‘Oh God, the first person that yells, “Hey Vern” I’m just gonna shrivel.’ ” Fortunately that did not happen, and many reviews of Jim’s performance were favorable. He hoped that the role might open new doors in his quest to land a dramatic part. “I think it showed a few different facets of things I could do,” Jim said.
An Orlando Sentinel newspaper article from a year earlier, headlined “The Character Curse,” had examined the question of Jim’s ability to ever break out his Ernest shell. It quoted him saying, “It’s a blessing and a curse because it’s as hard to escape from it as it is to get into it.” The article mentioned other famous actors and their iconic characters such as Paul Reubens (Pee-wee Herman), Adam West (Batman), Henry Winkler (Fonzie) and Robin Williams (Mork). All the actors mentioned had varying degrees of success breaking the “curse” – but only after putting space between themselves and their characters. Without Jim doing the same, it seemed that his fate might be sealed.
Soon after the movie’s release, Spheeris admitted that she had come close to choosing Sam Elliott for the role of Jed. Along with Elliott’s acting ability, his deep voice, and slow Southern-type drawl made him a real contender. Elliott, being five years older than Jim, was even closer to Ebsen’s age on the TV series. Although he didn’t have the Southern roots that Jim possessed (which Spheeris revealed actually meant very little to her), in the end it was Jim’s comedy background that made him the more appealing choice.
In addition, Jim’s mountain heritage helped him get inside Jed’s head. He illustrated this point following the movie’s release. When talking to one reporter he claimed, “One of the best squirrels I ever ate was one my dad ran over on the turnpike.” He added, “I’ve even got wild boar in my freezer.”
The soundtrack for “The Beverly Hillbillies” finally provided Jim with an opportunity to record a song for a major label. The song, “Hot Rod Lincoln,” was made famous by the country rock band Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen in the ‘70s. Jim’s version was placed over the closing credits. “It was actually kind of a last-minute thing,” Jim said. “Ricky Skaggs did the track, and they hadn’t chosen anybody to sing it. So, (20th Century) Fox asked me if I’d like to try it, and I said, ‘Sure!’ And I headed to RCA before they changed their minds.” Jim also had the opportunity to shoot a video for the song that included his good friend Buck Finley as a passenger of the Lincoln Jim drives. Finley had been one of many to collaborate with Jim through the years writing songs and composing music. Jim once joked that in Nashville, every lease stated, “I will write country songs and pay my rent on time.”
Looking at Jim’s l
ife, it was incongruous that despite his best efforts to record in Music City, he had mostly found work there as an actor. Yet it was through his participation in a Hollywood film that he achieved his biggest success in music.
The song was the icing on the cake in Jim’s entire experience with “The Beverly Hillbillies.” He had finally come to Hollywood and starred in a major film with other big-name actors. Even with his previous success, it was the type of experience the young kid asking about the “Hollywood Bus” had dreamed of so long ago in Lexington, Ky.
During the filming, Jim was also enjoying a new relationship. Early in 1992, Jim was spending time in Lexington thanks to a lull in his schedule. One of his favorite haunts was a restaurant named Charlie Brown’s. The cozy and casual dining establishment remains open today. Located close to downtown and the University of Kentucky campus, it has always had an eclectic clientele. It was just the kind of place where Jim could relax and talk to people he thought were interesting. One night hanging out at Charlie Brown’s, he met Beth Harper. She worked for a flooring store in Lexington and was sitting at the bar with some of her girlfriends. She was unfamiliar with Ernest and really didn’t know who Jim was when they met. This allowed the conversation to go to more interesting places for Jim instead of the usual questions about his career. She remembers how much of a gentleman Jim was that first night, including walking her to her car. The two soon began dating. With Jim off from work for a while, they were able to see quite a bit of each other over the next year.
As was Jim’s pattern, he bought Harper a nice watch for her 34th birthday, which occurred just days after they met. Not long after that, he bought her a bloodstone ring from Farmer’s Jewelry store, one of his favorite places to browse in Lexington. Of course, with the ring came a free lesson from Jim on the gem’s supposed mystical powers. Jim even instructed Harper as to the exact finger on which to wear it to receive its desired benefits. Another gift he purchased for her was a gun he thought necessary for self-defense. Harper was impressed with how accurate a shot he was. Once filming began on “Hillbillies” in California, Jim flew Harper out. She remembers what a thrill it was when he took her to dine at The Ivy. Unfortunately, the relationship ended after a year although the two remained good friends. Harper believes Jim never stopped loving his first wife, Jacqui, and perhaps that was one of the reasons behind his failed relationships.