Nearly four years after his dreams for a Jethro's Beverly Hillbillies casino fizzled in Reno, actor Max Baer Jr. is planning a $54 million resort in a former Wal-Mart store a half-hour's drive away in Carson City, Nev.
"It's a very different concept from anybody that's doing anything else," Baer said Friday in describing the 240-room hotel-casino venture that will key on the popular "Beverly Hillbillies" TV series in which he starred as the doltish Jethro Bodine.
Among highlights: a 200-foot-tall, flame-belching oil derrick, a "Granny's shotgun wedding chapel," Uncle Jed's gift shop, Jethro's buffet and "Elly May's buns bakery." Baer also envisions a 9-screen movie theater and dancehall-show lounge.