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Roy Halsey
A.K.A. "Cousin Roy,", this hick country guitarist and banjo picker from Bugtussle (near Hooterville) and recurring character was played by real musician Roy Clark on several episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies.
- "Cousin Roy" 03 Apr 1968
- "Jethro the Flesh Peddler" 22 Jan 1969
- "Cousin Roy in Movieland" 29 Jan 1969
In his first appearance, he's merely an amateur musician who's written a song about Ellie May, with whom he's smitten. He also plays banjo to sell his mother's patent medicine, "Mother Myrtle's Magic Mixture." Clark also dons drag to play Mother Myrtle Halsey herself. She's shown briefly singing and playing the piano.
In his second and third appearances (really a two-parter), he's become a more of a professional musician, playing regularly at the Bug Tussle Biltmore hotel. Some record company man invited him to Hollywood to make a record, but has no money. So the Clampetts volunteer to finance his album. This just happens to coincide with show regular Jethro's turn at playing being a big Hollywood agent. But Jethro, trying to be a hip playboy, wants nothing to do with his hayseed relation.
By the end of the "Cousin Roy in Movieland" episode, Halsey attains stardom, no thanks to Jethro. Jethro tried to remake Halsey's image as Blue Boy Roy and the Electric Zoo, with Halsey in a Buster Brown suit and wig, singing a very odd version of "The Great Pretender," backed by Ellie May's pet monkey Bessie on tambourine and pet bear Fairchild on drums. But Halsey decides it's not for him, and a mad Jethro rips up his contract just before discovering that Halsey's album is going to be a nationwide smash.
