Green Acres does Beverly Hillbillies does skateboarding

Surf and Skate historian extraordinaire Scott Starr turned me on to this clip from Green Acres that originally aired in 1967. There’s a community play production of The Beverly Hillbillies that Oliver and Lisa have to step in at the last moment when the leads get injured. Jethro finds a skateboard by the “cement pond” which was what the hillbillies called their pool. This is probably the first time a skateboard was ever used as a plot device on a TV show – the inevitable “unsuspecting tv character gets injured on a skateboard.” I believe there were earlier skateboarder appearances on talk shows and game shows such as What’s my line?, not to mention some ABC sports action, but if this aired in 1967 it was probably after the skateboard fad had died a seemingly overnight death. According to Starr, 1965 was the big commercial year for skateboarding, and Christmas catalog research seems to validate this. Watch the skateboarding segement after the jump.

Thanks again to Scott Starr for somehow knowing this scene existed and letting me know about it. I’d link to his YouTube account but he can’t keep them anymore, and his website isn’t up yet. After you hit play, hit the “High Quality” (HQ) button that appears next to the volume control.

In the inevitability that this clip gets removed from YouTube, here are some stills.

Yuck Yuck Yuck! It’s a skateboard and I’m a hillbilly!

I found it out by the see-ment pond! Possibly the earliest TV reference to pool skating.

Aaaaaay! Oops, wrong show.

Setting the skateboard down just around the corner… I’m sure nothing bad will happen.

Whoaa!!!

look out for that scenery!

Is it Eddie Albert actually skating or is it a stuntman?

Verdict: Stuntman. You never see his face while he’s skating, and there’s a cut before they show Eddie picking himself up.