February 25, 2022 Trivia Contest

Additional Bowden Comments

Well done winners! Thanks to everyone for playing. Gary, we have a consolation prize and a home version of Bluegrass Trivia for you with our thanks. (Not really.)

Pearl Bodine was played by the formidable Bea Benaderet on the Beverly Hillbillies. Bea also did a lot of female voices in Warner Brothers Looney Tunes and The Flintstones, and was the star of the spin-off Petticoat Junction. I seem to dimly remember some kind of bad country band several years ago that called themselves Pearl Bodine or something like that.

But there is no Pearl Bodine bluegrass singer. Pearl was Jethro’s mother, and Jed’s sister.

Pearl was in the early years of the Hillbillies, visiting the family for quite a while. In the first appearance of Flatt & Scruggs on the show, they sent a letter ahead saying they were coming to Los Angeles for “an engagement” and looked forward to seeing the whole family including Pearl. Jethro, while running this letter in from the mailbox, fell in the cee-ment pond and all the ink ran except that F&S were “coming to town”, to see “Pearl” for an “engagement”. So they all thought Lester & Earl were coming to court Pearl. Once Lester & Earl sorted out the confusion, they teamed up to make Pearl feel good by singing the song “Pearl Pearl Pearl” to her. Flatt & Scruggs actually released a 45 rpm record of this little ditty.

In the end, Pearl turned ’em BOTH down, saying she couldn’t marry an entertainer who’d be on the road all the time. And she didn’t want to break up their act by picking one and disappointing the other!!

All the other ladies named are fine bluegrass singers.