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The Beverly Hillbillies mansion address was leaked, and fans caused a little trouble
Mrs. Kirkeby, the mansion's owner, was mourning the loss of her husband, and fans would knock on the door and ask, "Where are the Beverly Hillbillies?"
There are many ways for a production to be filmed. It can be captured on a green screen, at a studio where there are sets or on location. The Beverly Hillbillies was filmed at Kirkeby mansion in Bel Air.
Mr. and Mrs. Kirkeby rented their beautiful home to the series for $500 a day. However, the media leaked the location, which caused fans to visit and ask about the cast, even when filming wasn't in progress. Paul Henning, the producer of the series, sat down with the Television Academy to talk about how this ultimately affected the show.
"We were asked that no one reveal the real location of the mansion, and everyone went along with us," he began. "I think it was, and I hope I'm right, TV Guide [who revealed the actual] location of the Beverly Hillbillies mansion. From that day on, these wonderful people who had given us permission to film [there] were besieged by people just driving up to the house, knocking on the door, and saying, 'where are the Beverly Hillbillies?'"
Henning revealed that Mrs. Kirkeby's husband was killed in an airplane crash and decided not to allow it to continue to be filmed at their home.
"She said, 'I hate to do this, but we can no longer have this location known because people are driving us crazy,'" Henning added. "Tourists would just drive up and annoy them, so we said it's perfectly understandable."
The show had to use stock footage after agreeing to no longer film at the mansion. Around this time, the series was transitioning to color, and the decision was a "great blow."
"It was a great blow. We were just ready to go to color, and we were preparing to go up to the mansion and reshoot all of our stock shots with color," the producer said. "That was a great blow, but we certainly couldn't blame Mrs. Kirkeby; she was kind to let us film there in the first place."
So, how did the series find a solution? They filmed at different locations. "We faked it. We shot around at various locations."
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26 Comments
The mansion in color however, was very well known and used in other Shows (I believe). In any event whether or not TV Guide literally revealed the legal address or explained where it was. Especially in that day, guides took fans around Beverly Hills and Hollywood, showing them Big Stars homes (like Lucille Ball). And there's some story (probably through MeTV) where Ms. Ball encountered a fan on her property. But people then, would end up going through actor's garbage cans and the like. In Hollywood (Beverly Hills) there weren't many secrets.
It's changed in this day for security reasons and to be protected against obsessive fans seeking their idols.
The current owner has offered tours, a museum and gift shop across the street from it for the last 16 years. I think the current owner wishes for it to remain a piece of " Americana." So he'll probably consider that when deciding who it is sold to. It'll be interesting to see.
There's asort of documentary, "Road Trip for Ralphie" where a couple visits some of thefiming sites. Nothing major, but fun. I watched it last year.
There's also "A Christmas Story Story" out this year. I'mwatching it right now. Not bad, elements of the original.
People also flock to the Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey to see the actual
"Watcher House".
This is a very wealthy neighborhood, full of movers and shakers who work in
Manhattan, so when sightseers idle in front of the house the cops will arrive in a few
minutes and give out more tickets than when Barney Fife was manning Checkpoint
Chickie on his motorcycle.
I'm guessing the Love Boat had 2 versions also. The ship of course. But for inclement weather, the alternative in studio.
In one of Columbo's episodes however, they clearly used the ship's outdoor pool. And it looked mighty 𝓒𝓗𝓘𝓛𝓛𝓨!
"The Beverly Hillbillies." Its published that the exterior and interiors were used in several films,
(1956) "High Society", (1960) "Cinderfella" with Jerry Lewis, (1987) "Disorderlies" and (1987) "Over the Top."