1993 Eclipse Beverly Hillbillies

If you made your fortune in bubbling crude (oil that is), is Beverly Hills the place to go anymore?  I guess after the fall of Beverly Hills 90210, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, and Beverly Hills Ninja the shine has worn off of the 1-0.  However, the Beverly Hillbillies was the perfect mix of timing, comedy, sex appeal, and witticism on American television.  The stoic Jed, pretty Elly May, sassy Granny, and hijinker Jethro were what America needed in the 1960s.  What America needed in 1990s was a trading card set of this family and their big-city adventures.  I picked up this 1993 Eclipse pack out of the $0.33 bin at the local card shop and thought I'd take a chance.  Looking at the pack, the gold foil card seems really intriguing so I couldn't pass this up for APTBNL.  The Trading Card Database has the entire checklist here.  Grab your favorite jug of moonshine, and lets rip this open in search of some black gold!

Eclipse looking to save money here by only printing half of the cards in color.  There are still some die-hard collectors out there.  eBay tells me that in the past month or so at least 6 sets have sold.  Hmmm....

Wait, what?  Jethro is the real-life son of heavyweight boxer Max Baer?  Mad respect.

Don't do it Granny!!!!

Gold-diggers....

That beauty on the right, my friends, is Jethro in drag....playing his sister Jethrene.

The series was getting creative at some point and shot an episode in New York City.  The bottom picture is a gentlemen innocently tying his shoe, but the door will soon open and his soon-to-be fiancé thinks he is proposing.  You can't make this stuff up folks.

"Stealing from the poor to feed the rich" taking place on the bottom card.

Mr. Drysdale had perseverance, I'll give him that.  How he managed to not beat the living snot out of the Clampett family is beyond me, but makes for great television.

The series heads into the 1970s....and into desperation.  Interesting factoid on the back of the top card....Jethro, aka Max Baer Jr. directed Smokey and the Bandit.

Here is a shot of the backs...my only complaint is the production quality (really, this is my only complaint).  It looks like most of my cards went through the meatgrinder when they were printed.  There must have been a roller feeding problem when they were being cut or printed......and so now my "Jethro the Flesh Peddler" card is worthless.

There you have it.  I hope this brings a little joy to your Monday!