Why isn't Mrs. Margaret Drysdale more of a gay icon?

Who?

OP -- I fuckin' LOVED Margaret Drysdale!

She was my absolute favorite '60s sit-com character.

You are so right, OP -- Miz Drysdale is the personification of all that makes DL great and interesting.

I vote that her face should be right under the DataLounge logo in the upper left corner!

Stick to Vampire Diaries, r1. More your speed, hon.

While I always loved Mrs. Drysdale, it is Lovey Howell, wife of Thurston Howell III, strandee on Gilligan's Island, that made me laugh.

Mrs. Howell and Mrs. Drysdale would've been great friends. Can you imagine a glorious luncheon with these two and Phoebe Tyler?

Harriet was apparently a big drunk. But a fun one.

The Clampett's meet Mrs. Drysdale.

"She's drinking woman, Granny!"

Ha, Ha, Ha!

She was wonderful. But she was no Miss Hathaway.

What about me? I was about as fey and gay as you could get away with (short of Paul Lynde) in the '60s.

That show had wonderful comic actors in every single part.

Jed on Margaret: "I reckon when it comes to culture, Miz Drysdale is the first hog to the trough".

OP: You're right. She's been overlooked for far too long.

You're in charge of a grassroots campaign to make Mrs. Margaret Drysdale a gay icon.

Compared to Miss Jane, Granny and Elly May, Mrs. Drysdale just wasn't much fun, and her having a gayish son from her previous marriage didn't merit her standing as an icon.

[quote]You're in charge of a grassroots campaign to make Mrs. Margaret Drysdale a gay icon.

Thank God, finally a glimpse of that "Gay Agenda" I've always heard exists.

I believe that Margaret may have been overlooked because she didn't appear in as many episodes of "The Beverly Hillbillies" as the rest of the cast. And it was a long time ago.

At least 'Lovey,' Mrs. Thurston Howell III was in every episode of "Gilligan's Island." But Margaret deserves her due. Let's her it for Margaret Drysdale!

Watching MRS. DRYSDALE is like revisiting my great grandmother & her two sisters. All they did in life was belong to this club & that, and attend one party after another. One's 'breeding' being of the utmost importance. They even looked like MARGARET. Cracks me up.

"Milburn, those DREADFUL hillbillies!"

Harriet MacGibbon, who played Mrs. Drysdale, was by all accounts a nice lady who specialized in playing society snobs. It was Raymond Bailey (Mr. Drysdale) who was loathed by the rest of the cast.

Why did the cast hate Raymond Bailey?

I couldn't stand that actor who played Sonny. And wasn't he not much younger than Harriet?

Harriet's grave!

Clara Edwards was the Mrs. Drysdale of Mayberry

Loved her - nothing like a snob.

Gay men tend to like glamorous divas- young or old. Mrs. Dryesdale was a little too Barbara Bush- a dreary, bigoted, clueless old witch who will never die.

r19 You're thinking of Louis Nye, a regular on the old Steve Allen late night show.

Harriet McGibbon played the ambassador's wife who was to help settle Rosiland Russell and her family when they went to Japan, in the film "A Majority of One." Very high on my list of guilty pleasure films.

[quote]Why did the cast hate Raymond Bailey?

I found the following when I Googled. Take it for what it's worth:

There's a story about him in some book I read that makes him sound like a bitchy queen (though a straight one), but funny. The Hillbillies cast were in Missouri for some function and where they were shooting the (extremely awkwardly spliced) SILVER DOLLAR CITY episodes. (SDC was meant to look like Bugtussel I suppose, but the stock footage showed too many people way too "modern dress" to be believable as the Clampett's neighbors.)

Anyway- they were invited for dinner to the home of the sister of series creator Paul Hening, a local socialite who was married to a local big-shot in that area of Missouri. Henings sister and her family lived in a restored Victorian mansion, and upon arriving Bailey, already intoxicated from the limo ride, said very loudly "Oh my god you didn't tell me your sister lived in a whorehouse! Don't you give her any money?" Hening and others basically said "Shut up Raymond... chill... be cool... she's not show people and they're not used to loud and obnoxious people". So Bailey was cool, until they got inside, when the sister introduced herself and welcomed the entire cast and Bailey, in front of her "local elite" guests said "Ah, that explains it... you're not one of the girls you're the madam."

Margaret Drysdale quotes from the IMDB site:

She isn't terribly amusing or attractive, is she?

r27 -- Don't you be saying' bad things 'bout Miz Drysdale!

She'll wake her poodle Claude up and sic him on you!

Mrs. Drysdale did have one or two moments where she was genuinely touched by the Clampetts' generosity, not in large sums of money but when they showed that they considered her a friend.

One of the best two-parters featuring Mrs. Drysdale:

Here is "Elly Goes to School"

"The Clampett Look" is the conclusion.

The inimitable character actress Doris Packer guest stars as "The Widow Fenwick" along with her Joanna Barnes as her daughter, "Cynthia."

[quote]She was a snooty, pompous, judgmental, neurotic hoot, as played by Harriet McGibbon. Where's the love?

So these are the types of "qualities" that us gays are supposed to find admirable???

No wonder we have so many assholes in the LGBT community.

I'm more of a Nancy Kulp fan, myself. She seemed awesome!

Nancy was awesome. People knew she was a lesbian, right? I mean there's no way they couldn't have known.

I prefer to call her Nan Kulp

[quote]Joanna Barnes as her daughter

Bitch is NOTHING without ME!

Granny and the family meeting their neighbors on Halloween, not knowing the holiday was pretty funny. Granny's reactions to kids begging for candy in hideous masks was pretty funny.

Bunny- Just watch yourself !!!

re ELLY GOES TO SCHOOL:

Did you recognize then unknown starlet SHARON TATE ? She's the blond in the black dress who inquires of Cynthia (BARNES), "Who whipped that up for you Cynth ?"

Loved it when Mrs Drysdale ran for Possum Queen against Granny.

I didn't realize Sharon Tate had appeared on the show in a different role than her semi-regular part, Miss Trego.

I'd forgotten how funny Max Baer was as Jethrine. Who did his voice?

LINDA KAYE HENNING provided the voice of JETHRINE. She later played Betty Jo on PETTICOAT JUNCTION.

No one other than... ahem, "people of a certain age"... remember The Beverly Hillbillies anymore. It was not a show which had humor that translated from generation to geenration.

Say what you want, and no it wasn't anything great but THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES was pretty popular for a few years in the mid 60s. The series ran from 1962-71. Plus, one of the episodes THE GIANT JACKRABBiT was one of the highest watched shows of all time.

Oh, and nothing wrong with getting older. Happens to everyone who is fortunate enough to age. Plan on being different Cupcake ?

Truth Fairy -- Please fly into a bug zapper.

The show was awful and got worse with time, recycled plot lines, tired gags.

Love the story about Mr. Drysdale embarrassing Paul Henning and his sister at the sister's manse---"why didn't you tell us your sister lived ina whore house". Someone who made a fortune off this enlessly recycled hick shit deserves a bit of mean spririted ribbing.

[quote]Oh, and nothing wrong with getting older. Happens to everyone who is fortunate enough to age. Plan on being different Cupcake ?

I never said I was young myself.

That was just the premature conclusion to which you jumped.

I also suffer from premature ejaculation. I tell ya, I'm just prematuring all over the goddam place these days. Must be my age.

Fun fact: Paul Henning, who had a long career in writing for radio, also co-wrote the script for the second Doris/Rock movie, "Lover Come Back," which featured Donna Douglas! It was his first movie script, and was nominated for an Academy Award.

The show was still in the Top Ten when it was canceled. CBS decided it didn't want the "country bumpkin" image and canceled Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres and Hee Haw a year after testing the waters by dumping Petticoat Junction.

I loved Granny threat against Mrs. Drysdale: "I'll salt her hide and [italic]nnnnail[/italic] it to the barn door!"

One of the funniest eps ever - Widder Fenwick and her 30 year old finishing school daughter, Cynthia mistake Elly Mae's jeans and pail look as the height of new fashion. The Clampetts thinks the Fenwicks are down on their luck- they mistake the gardener's shed as their actual home, bare furnishings and all and set about helping the Widder Woman. Watched it while smoking pot in the early 80's, great stuff.

"I am a pillah of societeh!" -- Marg Drysdale. I wonder what she would think of what Beverly Hills has become today.

The Cynthia Fenwick/"Elly May Clampett look" story arc was amazingly funny.

The first few seasons (the B&W) were especially funny. And to the bitch who implied no one of a certain age would even know about the show, my nieces and nephews, who range from 8 to 12, watch the DVDs and love it. It's just harmless, silly, timeless fun.

I wonder if Doris Packer (Widder Fenwick) was originally sought to play Mrs. Drysdale?

She was the best of those 1950s snobby character ladies, most memorable as Mrs. Chatsworth Osborne II on Dobie Gillis.

The other great snobby character lady was Elvia Allman, who was also all over 1950s sitcoms and now best remembered as the head of the chocolate factory assembly line on I Love Lucy.

r55, don't forget Mabel Albertson, who played Darren's mother on Bewitched. She played the cunty snob in other shows too. She had snob-face down pat.

My favorite scene is in the first episode when Granny is inspecting her new kitchen. She walks over to the big double door refrigerator and mutters, "Who ever heard of putting the cool cupboard against the west wall?" The she tries to light to electric stove with a match and when the match goes out she says, "Jed, this stove ain't got no draught!"

r55 Eleanor Audley should not be forgotten either, she was the grandest grande dame of them all. ABSOLUTELY perfect as Eddie Albert's mother in "Green Acres."

{58} Eleanor Audley's best role was as the passive aggressive, witchy Mrs. Billings on the Dick Van Dyke Show. She kept tricking Rob into directing the annual PTA variety show (in which Laura always starred).

She also worked for Disney, providing the voice for the Wicked Stepmother in Cinderella, and Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty.

Jessie Royce Landis was another of the great character actresses of the period who could do "rich bitch" very well.

Lovey Howell was nothing like Margaret. Lovey had real style, refinement, class and grace. She didn't care if you were rich or poor, but she wouldn't tolerate bad manners.

Mrs Drysdale had an old family name and married Milburn for money and to give Sonny (a professional Freshman) a home. Drysdale was horrified to learn that when her ancestors were coming over on the Mayflower, Jed's ancestors were waiting for them in Jamestown.

Mrs Drysdale's most serious indignation was probably when her poodle Fifi had puppies with Duke, the Clampetts' hound dog.

Jed Clampett:

"When Mrs. Drysdale gets home she's gonna call the PO-lice!"

Jethro:

"No she won't. I gnawed the stump so it'd look like a BEAVER done it!"

I was in love with Jethro and his too tight blue jeans.

What a shame Max Baer Jr. never had a second act.

How about the Queen Witch herself? Agnes Moorehead.

[quote]What a shame Max Baer Jr. never had a second act.

He did become a successful independent film producer. He produced, co-wrote, and co-starred in the Drive-In movie classic, MACON COUNTY LINE, which was made on a shoestring and raked in millions.

Baer wrote the screenplay on the backs of Beverly Hillbillies scripts during breaks while filming the TV show. He also produced and directed the film based on the country pop tune ODE TO BILLY JOE.

Was Donna Douglass playing Elly May when Elvis broke her heart?

I believe that Margaret Drysdale is now on the road to becoming a gay icon.

Thank you, OP.

"This has been a Filmways pree-sentation"

Why did they have to dub Donna Douglas's voice in "Eye of the Beholder," the classic "pig people" episode of "The Twilight Zone"?

Wasn't there a regional punk band called "The Margaret Drysdales?"

I couldn't find any online evidence of a band called 'The Margaret Drysdales' but my search [italic]did[/italic] turn up one named 'Abe Vigoda'.

Maybe I was thinking of another band, this one named for Jethro:

This is the type of campfest that set Lovey Howell apart from the others.

Baer tried to obtain the rights to Madonna's Like a Virgin so that he could adapt it for a movie. The mind boggles.

Both he and Donna Douglas have spent the rest of their lives trying to hold back time, with Douglas regularly dressing as Ellie May and looking like a fruit loop in the process.

This remains as the most-watched American sit-com episode some 45 years after its first telecast.

It is a 2-part story arc.

No other half hour comedy has beaten this episode -- "Granny & The Giant Jack Rabbit."

How about Margaret Dumont?

The pilot or first episode of TBH was on MeTV this morning. Aunt Pearl!

Was the original plan for Bea Benaderet to be a series regular? Loved, loved, loved her on Burns & Allen, but she didn't add much to TBH.

Max Baer has been trying to open a Beverly Hillbillies themed casino in Reno or Carson City for 20 years without any success. I think the dream will die with him.

Mike Minor guest starred on a BH episode the other morning on MeTV and I'd forgotten how hot he was back in the 1970s.

"The show was still in the Top Ten when it was canceled. CBS decided it didn't want the "country bumpkin" image and canceled Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres and Hee Haw a year after testing the waters by dumping Petticoat Junction."

Bill and Babe Paley were embarrassed in front of their Manhattan friends at parties over the glut of country themed sitcoms on CBS, so they were yanked.

I think that Mayberry RFD, which also did very well, was caught in the bumpkin cancellation sweep.

It was, R83. I know only too well that it was.

Hayden Rorke - De. Bellows from "I Dream of Jeannie" - appeared in one episode of BH, playing a chauffeur to a young boy in Jethro's class.

Hayden Rorke was gay as a goose and also appeared as one of the actors that Lucy mistook for spies on "I Love Lucy."

r86, Emmaline Henry might disagree with you, since he was fucking her all throughout I Dream of Jeannie.

From Wikipedia:

[quote]Rorke was "unashamedly gay", as Jeannie co-star Barbara Eden stated in her 2011 biography Jeannie Out of the Bottle. She commented that Rorke "and his partner, Justus Addiss, lived together for many years in Studio City, along with their menagerie of dogs

Who told you he was fucking Mrs. Bellows, r87.

Wikipedia:

[quote] Rorke was "unashamedly gay", as Jeannie co-star Barbara Eden stated in her 2011 biography Jeannie Out of the Bottle. She commented that Rorke "and his partner, Justus Addiss, lived together for many years in Studio City, along with their menagerie of dogs." He and Addiss would often invite the cast over for parties.

He seemed like the type who'd fancy caftans.

I loved that show as a kid, watched it endlessly. The music they played as Mrs. Drysedale came tooling up to the Clampett's mansion in her convertible Lincoln was the best.

Bea Bennadarett was the original choice to play Granny from what I understand. When that didn't work out Paul henning cast her as Aunt Pearl and later found a starring vehicle for her as Kate Bradley in Petticoat Junction.

That first episode was strange-- Granny didn't wear glasses. I think that was the only time in the entire series when she didn't.

Bea Benedaret's real life son was the actor who portrayed would-be Elly May suitor, Jazzbo Depew.

Bea's son, Jack Bannon, was a regular for the entire run of "Lou Grant."

He also played the guy who stole Val's babies on Knots Landing.

Jack Bannon is a dead ringer for G. Gordon Liddy.

Loved when Elly Mae was dating the Navy diver (frogman) and Granny kept thinking he was an actual frog-man.

[quote]Bea Benaderet was the original choice to play Granny

BEA was also who LUCILLE BALL wanted to play ETHEL MERTZ but she was already contracted to JACK BENNY.

Bea did guest star on that awful season 1 Ethel-less episode. I don't think Bea could've played sarcastic like Viv could.

Bea played the similar-to-Ethel sidekick role on Lucy's radio series, "My Favorite Husband."

[quote]Bea did guest star on that [b]awful season 1[/b] Ethel-less episode. I don't think Bea could've played sarcastic like Viv could.

Like most series, they were still finding their footing in the 1st season. Seasons 2,3, 4 usually being the 'prime' then it's time to call it a night.

[quote]Bill and Babe Paley were embarrassed in front of their Manhattan friends at parties over the glut of country themed sitcoms on CBS, so they were yanked.

Interesting. I had read that one reason GiLLiGAN'S ISLAND was not renewed for the fall 1967 season was because the time slot came down to either it or GUNSMOKE and BILL loved the latter.

Was granny into the gays? I know everyone on the hillbillies hated her cause she flaunted her popularity over them.

The country bumpkin shows were cancelled because advertisers didn't pay as much for older, rural audiences as younger, more urban ones. ABC, the #3 network, had been more successful in attracting young people and was starting to be more competitive financially,

Poor Mrs. Drysdale was rather common, wasn't she?

Very nouveau riche.

You dreadful homosexuals

Buddy Epsen was the only one well-treated by Beverly Hillbillies. The rest of the cast was so poorly paid they had to make personal appearances to make ends meet, and then ended up so typecast they could barely find work.

Because she's the ultimate frau.

We would like to guillotine her at the Pride March.

Sonny's mother would definitely be a gay icon!

She got channeled into Hyacinth Bucket, who was admittedly way more fun. “NO YOU MAY NOT MAKE PYJAMAS WITH YOUR ROOMMATE TARQUIN”

Margaret: (dramatically) "They're barbarians! And I warn you Milburn, just as they brought about the decay of Rome, so Beverly Hills will crumble, unless..."

Milburn: "Oh, please, Margaret, relax."

That's DL.

Didn't they catapult Margaret out of a hospital window into the Hillbillies's truck one ep? The 1st 2 years of this show in b/w were great when aided by pot.

I loved Mrs Drysdale. She was always saying stuff like "Milburn, you simply must do something about those..those..PEASANTS!"

Milburn! Lmao

I’m torn between my love for Margaret Drysdale and Granny.

Was Millburn Drysdale a homosexual?

Wouldn't Granny have described it as "you know, funny," with that hand signal that was used for decades?

The Possum Queen contest episode was on MeTV this morning.

Omg I missed it!