Among other things we learn:
Both kids vanished in '69. It wasn't until much later anyone found out what happened. Jethro had been trying to be a record producer, and hung out with someone named Terry Melchor, a famous actress' son who now produced a famous combo called The Beach Boys. Melchor considered a recent discovery, a street musician called Charlie, unmanageable, and cut him loose, but Jethro got it in his head he could turn Charlie into a star, as if saying it would make it true. Charlie was everything Jethro wanted to be, a man who made his own rules. Charlie lived on a commune on a ranch in the north San Fernando Valley, with a whole family of free spirits including many girls. In Jethro, Charlie might have seen a disciple or a meal ticket, but he invited the boy to come stay at the ranch. Jed saw him once after that, when he came home for his things, hair unkempt and a patchy beard growing from his chin for the first time, spouting something Jed didn't quite understand about a coming race war and how God wanted the white man to retreat to the desert. As quickly as he appeared, he was gone again. Elly went with him.
And my personal favorite:
The FDA raided Granny's self-declared medical practice. Offended by an invasion of government officials on her property, she defended herself as she always had, with a long barrel rifle. A SWAT team cut her down on the Clampett front porch. For several weeks, tabloid magazines and TV news programs were filled with lurid tales of "the Beverly Hills Witch," most invented from scratch, before interest evaporated. A few mentioned the "living dead man" found inside the mansion, reputedly the witch's zombified captive and intended victim. Consigned to a county hospital for observation, Jed turned to Drysdale for help, but by this time Drysdale was of no use. Investigations revealed his role in drug trafficking, and learned he had been using those profits and the portfolios he managed for rich clients, including Jed, to buy up savings-and-loans. But the S&Ls had collapsed, taking Jed's fortune with them. Drysdale, facing prosecution and certain conviction, put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger, leaving his wife and grown son, who had always prided themselves on their stations in life, to fend for themselves, tainted by association.
Go on and give it a read.
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