Thursday, January 29, 2015

Our Throwback Thursday tweet: Jethro in drag

Max Baer, Jr., the son of the famous boxing champion, occasionally played a dual role in The Beverly Hillbillies: sister Jethrine in addition to Jethro Bodine at the Clampett's hacienda.
     Baer, who held a bachelor's degree in business administration from Santa Clara University, where he minored in philosophy, was as shrewd a businessman in real life as Mr. Drysdale was on the show. From Wikipedia:
     Baer wrote and produced the drama Macon County Line (1974), in which he played Deputy Reed Morgan. It was the highest-grossing movie per dollar invested at the time. Made for just $110,000, it earned almost $25 million at the box office. This record lasted until The Blair Witch Project broke it in 1999.
     ...He then had the idea of using the title of a popular song as a movie title and acquired the rights to the Bobbie Gentry hit song and producing Ode to Billy Joe (1976). Made for US$1.1 million, it grossed $27 million at the box office, plus earnings in excess of $2.65 million outside the US, $4.75 million from television, and $2.5 million from video.

     ...Since the success of Ode to Billy Joe, the motion picture industry has produced more than 100 song title movies. Baer decided to pursue the rights to the hit song "Like a Virgin," recorded by the singer Madonna in 1984. When ABC tried to prevent him from making the film, he sued and won a judgment of more than $2 million.

No comments:

Post a Comment

ShareThis