Most people only remember Irene Ryan as Granny on the Beverly Hillbillies, but before that she was an accomplished in vaudeville, with her husband Tim Ryan, and in movies and the Broadway. Recently on Netflix streaming, a couple of her long-lost Monogram films have surfaced, HOT RHYTHM and SARONG GIRL. The films written by her husband and featured Irene in a poor man’s Grace Allen type character. In HOT RHYTHM she steals the show.
However, it wasn’t until she was cast in Beverly Hillbillies that she reached the status of star.
I’d always heard the story that Irene Ryan died backstage after singing this song on stage while in Pippen. However, the true story is that she collapsed with a stroke after finishing the number, but flew back to California where she died two days later.
Irene sings No Time At All… (forgive the weird cartoon attached to it)
Home Projectionist 