Clampetts Are Buff This Time Around

The Scene: Monday’s L.A. premiere of Twentieth Century Fox’s “The Beverly Hillbillies” at Mann’s Chinese Theater. A party followed at the nearby Hollywood Colonnade, a former Masonic lodge that’s devolved into a club/dance venue.

Who Was There: The film’s stars, Jim “Ernest” Varney, Lily Tomlin, Cloris Leachman, Dabney Coleman, Diedrich Bader, Lea Thompson and Erika Eleniak; director Penelope Spheeris; Zsa Zsa Gabor and Buddy Ebsen who have cameo roles; and Fox execs Peter Chernin, Bill Mechanic and Tom Jacobson. Among the guests were Ed Begley Jr., Holly Robinson, Amy Yasbeck, and Cathy Moriarty. The flu epidemic must be hitting especially hard in Hollywood--the guest list of expected celebs batted an anemic four for 42.

The Buzz: The film will play big in the heartland. “My brother in Cleveland will love this,” said a magazine editor.

Know What I Mean, Vern?: “It’s kind of weird to think that for Jim Varney, playing Jed Clampett is an artistic stretch,” said one woman.

Vittles: This year’s chance to serve possum mousse and pate d’ squirrel came and went. However, there was a down-home buffet from Along Came Mary of fried chicken and catfish, ribs, corn bread and--a VIP room first--macaroni and cheese.

Dress Mode: No sign of Appalachian chic, but there were plenty of film crew members so there was a touch of blue-collar garb.

Quoted: Lily Tomlin on why films based on TV shows are being made: “One is a big section of the movie-going audience grew up on these shows. That’s maybe one clue. A lot of people who run studios are of that same age group. That’s another clue. The third clue might be that no one can think of anything else to do.”

Pastimes: Nostalgia for wasted youth spent watching mind-numbing television. Also comparing the TV cast to the film’s. One guest thought “they were all skinnier.” That they’d become “the aerobicized Clampetts.”

Two Lines on Zsa Zsa: “No, it was her sister who was in the show with the pig,” said one woman to another as the actress/author/recidivist wife walked by. And Spheeris said, “When my career starts to go downhill, all I figure I have to do is slap a cop.”