Petticoat Junction

Petticoat Junction is an American situation comedy produced by Filmways which originally aired on the CBS network from 1963 to 1970. The series is part of a triad of interrelated shows about rural characters created by Paul Henning, the other two being The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres.

The setting for the series was the Shady Rest Hotel just outside of the farming town of Hooterville (later the location of Green Acres). The Shady Rest Hotel is situated on the train line of the C. & F.W. Railroad. The show repeatedly mentions the Shady Rest Hotel as being from Pixley and from Hooterville, dead in the center. The characters seem to go to Hooterville for some things and services, like Hooterville Hospital and Hooterville High, and Pixley for others, notably supermarket shopping, beauty parlors, and movies.

The petticoat of the title is an old-fashioned garment once worn under a woman's skirt. The opening titles of the series featured a display of petticoats hanging on the side of a large railroad water tank where the three daughters are skinnydipping. In fact, the show's opening theme is said to contain a hint of sexual innuendo in the line, "Lotsa curves you bet. N'even more when you get to the Junction." This means that the line could be referring not to the railroad tracks, but to the figures of Kate Bradley's three beautiful daughters.

Background

The idea for Petticoat Junction came from Paul Henning's wife. She used to tell him stories of her childhood when she was visiting her family's hotel in Eldon, Missouri. The stories she used to tell Paul about her adventures at the Burris Hotel became the basis of the show.

Cast

During pre-production, proposed titles were Ozark Widow, Dern Tootin' and Whistle Stop. Set in the rural town of Hooterville, the show followed the goings-on at the Shady Rest Hotel, of which Kate Bradley (Bea Benaderet) was the proprietor. Her lazy Uncle Joe Carson (Edgar Buchanan) helped her in the day-to-day running of the business, while she served as a mediator in the various minor crises that befell her three daughters: Betty Jo, Bobbie Jo, and Billie Jo. The actresses portraying Billie Jo and Bobbie Jo changed over the years. Billie Jo was played by Jeannine Riley the first two seasons, and then by Gunilla Hutton for one year before Meredith MacRae assumed the role for the show's remaining seasons. Pat Woodell was the original Bobbie Jo for two years, with Lori Saunders playing the part subsequently.

Betty Jo was portrayed by Linda Kaye (Henning), daughter of series creator Paul Henning, for the entire run. The character of handsome crop duster Steve Elliott (Mike Minor) was added to the show at the start of its fourth season as a love interest for eldest daughter Billie Jo. A season later, however, Steve suddenly married Betty Jo; this was a result of the real-life relationship that had developed between Kaye and Minor. After Steve and Betty Jo married, they set up housekeeping in a cottage near the tracks between Hooterville and Pixley. A baby was added the following season. They moved back to the Shady Rest Hotel in the final year of production.

Much of the original focus of the show was on the Hooterville Cannonball, a steam-driven train (serviced by the above-mentioned water tower) run more like a taxi service by its engineer, Charley Pratt (Smiley Burnette), and its conductor, Floyd Smoot (Rufe Davis). It was not uncommon for the Cannonball to make an unscheduled stop in order to go fishing or pick fruit for Kate Bradley's menu at the Shady Rest Hotel. Occasionally, Betty Jo Bradley could be found with her hand on the Cannonball's throttle, as running the train home from trips into town was one of her favorite pastimes. Those trips usually consisted of a stop at "Drucker's Store," run by Sam Drucker (Frank Cady). Drucker's Store is mentioned as a favorite of Hooterville farmers because he would give credit, while the Pixley stores wanted cash.

The town of Pixley, at one end of the Cannonball's route, was named for Pixley, California. A number of location shots, particularly of the water tower, were filmed in the real Pixley. The train was said to have been furnished by: Barbary Coast Hoyt Hotel, Portland, Oregon (data given at start of one of the shows, episode 147).

Another character was the unnamed canine companion of the sisters, referred to simply as "dog". It was portrayed by "Higgins", who later went on to even greater fame as Benji.

. Sitting on table: Higgins the dog. Front row (L-R): Lori Saunders, Bea Benaderet and Edgar Buchanan. Back row (L-R): Frank Cady, Gunilla Hutton, Linda Kaye Henning, Rufe Davis and Smiley Burnette]]

Homer Bedloe, played by actor Charles Lane, was vice president of the C. & F.W. Railroad. Bedloe was a mean-spirited railroad executive who visited the Shady Rest Hotel periodically attempting to find justification for ending the train service of the Hooterville Cannonball, but never succeeding. In the series pilot, it was established that the branch line had become separated from the main part of the railroad several years earlier, but that nobody had ever bothered to do anything about it, so the crew just kept operating the Cannonball on the remaining section of track.

Ratings

The show benefitted greatly in its first four seasons from the very strong lead-in of The Red Skelton Show, which immediately preceded it on Tuesday nights. In its first season it even exceeded Skelton's ratings, finishing at #4 overall for the season. The rest of its time on Tuesday nights, it remained in the Nielsen top 25.

Cast Changes

In 1967, the show suffered its first loss when Smiley Burnette, as engineer Charley Pratt, died of leukemia. Rufe Davis' Floyd Smoot took over both jobs as engineer and conductor for a while and then was replaced the following year by Wendell Gibbs, played by Byron Foulger. During the show's last season (1969–1970), Foulger became too ill to continue and Davis returned for the episode "Last Train To Pixley". Ironically, Foulger died on the same day the final episode of Petticoat Junction aired: April 4, 1970.

Changes In Tone

For the first three seasons, Petticoat Junction focused mostly on broad humor and slapstick comedy. There was a lot of physical comedy and other types of wild humor that was characteristic of the series, much like its sister show, The Beverly Hillbillies, and its own later spinoff show Green Acres. There were many crossover appearance in season 3 alone between the casts of both shows. The Douglases (Lisa and Oliver make frequent appearance on Petticoat Junction, and likewise Kate, Joe, Charley and Floyd, and even Bobbie Jo show up on Green Acres. But as the series progressed beginning with season 4, with the addition of Mike Minor as Steve Elliot and Meredith MacRae as the third Billie Jo, the show took on an entirely different feel. Although singing had been in a small handful of the earlier episodes,most notably "The Ladybugs" and a few other episodes in which Bobbie Jo then, played by Pat Woodell did a brief solo,musical numbers and singing became prominent from season 4 onward, and slapstick comedy took a back seat. Many numbers featured the girls singing as a trio, Billie Jo solo, Steve solo, or Steve and Betty Jo as a duet. There were sometimes as much as two or three songs per episode, and physical comedy was less emphasized. The show from this point on often switched gears going back and forth between domestic comedy(often focusing on the heartfelt romance between the newly married Steve And Betty Jo) with a lot of singing, and less intense slapstick comedy. The most notable exceptions in the later years from season 6 "Steve's New Job" and "The Great Race" and "The Tenant" and "Goodbye Mr. Chimp" from season 7 had the feel of the earlier seasons with all out slapstick, nutty, comedy, that was mostly absent during this later period. Also the focus began to shift away from the Cannonball and the Railroad, and began to focus more than ever on the Bradley sister, and their everyday lives. The changes in tone coincided with the changes in cast member, most notably the character of Billie Jo, who as previously played by Jeannine Riley and Gunilla Hutton, was mostly a boy crazy, ditz, or dumb blond character. With Billie Jo now being played by Meredith MacRae, she was now portrayed as a strong single independent young lady with an aspiration for a singing career, which she later accomplishes. The stories also began to focus mostly on Steve and Betty Jo who were slowly, but surely, becoming the central characters.

Illness kept Bea Benaderet away for the last portion of the 1967–68 season. She missed two episodes (ep. 159, 160), was back for one (ep. 161), then missed eight more after that before she finally returned for the last episode of the season (ep. 170). Storylines had her away on a trip, as everyone's hopes were that the actress would recover. Paul Henning brought in Rosemary DeCamp in several episodes as Kate's sister Helen. Bea returned for the 1968–69 season but her return proved short-lived as she only made three appearances (ep. 171, 172, 173) before becoming ill again. In the fourth episode when Betty Jo gives birth to Kathy Jo, Bea provided only her voice. She's heard at the beginning when Betty Jo and Steve read the letter Kate has sent them and when Wendell answers the phone at Drucker's store (she's on the other end). Bea's stand-in (actress Edna Laird) then plays Kate "full back" to the camera, with Bea again providing only her voice. She's heard when Kate is on the hand car helping Wendell and at the end when Kate is at Betty Jo's bedside. The episode aired 13 days after Benaderet's death (October 13, 1968) from lung cancer. Choosing not to recast the Kate role, or to sign Rosemary DeCamp on full-time (she was also playing Ann Marie's mother on That Girl), the producers introduced the new character of hotel resident Dr. Janet Craig, played by June Lockhart, as a counsel of sorts for the girls.

Though still beloved by fans, the central premise of a country family was lost without a motherly figure. The long absence of Kate was only mentioned in passing during the final season's premiere episode: In episode 197, the Bradley sisters, and baby Kathy-Jo, return from dipping in the water tower. Steve has paternal qualms about his daughter's safety, to which Billie Jo/Bobbie Jo reply wistfully, "Mom taught us to swim in that very same water tower.". And in another episode, one of the rooms is referred to as the "Kate Bradley Memorial Suite". The decline in ratings, which began when the show moved to Saturday night, continued.

As a result of Benaderet's death in 1968 and the void she left which the producers unsuccessfully tried to fill with Lockhart, CBS originally was going to cancel Petticoat Junction in the spring of 1969. In the episode that was to be the last show of the series, Dr. Janet Craig (Lockhart) receives an offer for a better job opportunity in another city and decides to accept it. Although it is a more lucrative position, she, along with the other residents of The Shady Rest, are saddened at her leaving. However, at the end of the episode, Janet changes her mind and decides to stay on as resident doctor of the hotel when Steve and Betty Jo announce that they are going to have another baby. At the last minute, CBS decided to renew Petticoat Junction for the 1969-1970 season. The main reason for the renewal was that it would give the series five full years of color episodes when it would go into syndication, which would be very profitable for the network. When it returned for its seventh and final year in September, 1969, the only major plotline change was that Steve, Betty Jo, and their daughter Kathy Jo, moved out of their cottage and became residents of The Shady Rest Hotel. The storyline involving "the new addition" to their family was dropped and never referred to again. In the spring of 1970 as a precursor to the infamous CBS "rural purge", when all the other country-themed shows were axed the following season, Petticoat Junction was canceled despite the fact that its ratings had somewhat improved. On September 12, 1970, the series officially ended its prime-time run on Saturdays at 9:30 P.M and one week later, a new situation comedy took its time slot, which, over the next seven years would not only become one of CBS-TV's most popular and beloved series, but also help revolutionize prime-time television, The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Green Acres/Beverly Hillbillies crossover

Petticoat Junction was set in the same fictional universe as the rural television comedy Green Acres, also set in Hooterville. Both shows shared such characters as Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley, and Floyd Smoot. A number of core Green Acres characters, such as Fred and Doris Ziffel (originally Fred's wife was named Ruthie)), Arnold the Pig, Newt Kiley, and Ben Miller, first appeared on Petticoat Junction in the 1964–1965 season, which saw a number of scripts written by Green Acres creator Jay Sommers. Characters on all of Henning's creations sometimes "crossed over" into one another's programs, especially during the first two seasons of Green Acres. In a 1968 episode ("Granny, the Baby Expert"), Granny from The Beverly Hillbillies comes to Hooterville to tend to Betty Jo and Steve's baby. Granny looks at a picture of Kate and is astonished at her resemblance to Jed's cousin, Pearl Bodine (previously played by Benaderet), and prior to her visit to Hooterville, reminded Jed that he was related to Kate through Pearl. Other crossover shows include one where the Clampetts, Milburn Drysdale, and Miss Jane spend both Thanksgiving and Christmas of 1968 in Hooterville on The Beverly Hillbillies and a 1970 episode of The Beverly Hillbillies in which Mr. Drysdale thought that billionaire Howard Hughes lived in Hooterville (the man turned out to be Howard Hewes, who owned Hooterville real estate, including the field Steve Elliot rented to maintain his crop plane.).

Petticoat Junction was the only one of Henning's country trio not to be brought back for an updated reunion movie. The character of Sam Drucker, however, did appear in Return to Green Acres in 1990.

Cast

Kate Bradley: Bea Benaderet (1963–1968) (164 episodes)

Uncle Joe Carson: Edgar Buchanan (222 episodes)

Betty Jo Bradley: Linda Kaye Henning (221 episodes)

Steve Elliott: Mike Minor (1964, 1966–1970) (112 episodes, 111 as Steve)

Bobbie Jo Bradley: Pat Woodell (1963–1965) (64 episodes)

Bobbie Jo Bradley: Lori Saunders (1965–1970) (147 episodes)

Billie Jo Bradley: Jeannine Riley (1963–1965) (73 episodes)

Billie Jo Bradley: Gunilla Hutton (1965–1966) (23 episodes)

Billie Jo Bradley: Meredith MacRae (1966–1970) (108 episodes)

Charley Pratt: Smiley Burnette (1963–1967) (106 episodes)

Floyd Smoot: Rufe Davis (1963–1968, 1970) (131 episodes)

Sam Drucker: Frank Cady (170 episodes)

Homer Bedloe: Charles Lane (1963–1968) (24 episodes)

Norman P. Curtis: Roy Roberts (1963–1964, 1966–1967, 1970) (10 episodes, 9 as Norman)

Fred Ziffel: Hank Patterson (1963–1966) (11 episodes)

The Shady Rest Dog: Higgins (dog) (1964–1970) (163 episodes)

Newt Kiley: Kay E. Kuter (1964–1969) (16 episodes)

Selma Plout: Virginia Sale (1964–1965, 1966, 1969) (8 episodes, 6 as Selma)

Selma Plout: Elvia Allman (1963, 1965, 1966–1970) (16 episodes, 14 as Selma)

Oliver Wendell Douglas: Eddie Albert (1965–1966, 1968) (10 episodes)

Lisa Douglas: Eva Gabor (1965–1966, 1968–1969) (7 episodes)

Aunt Helen: Rosemary DeCamp (1964, 1968) (7 episodes, 6 as Helen)

Dr. Janet Craig: June Lockhart (1968–1970) (45 episodes)

Wendell Gibbs: Byron Foulger (1965, 1968–1969) (22 episodes, 18 as Wendell)

Orrin Pike: Jonathan Daly (1969–1970) (11 episodes)

Cancellation

Petticoat Junction was cancelled in the spring of 1970 due to declining ratings, a full year before the infamous "rural purge" by CBS of the other shows that, in the words of Pat Buttram, "had a tree in them."

CBS was lagging behind in certain key demographics by the late 60s, and decided it wanted a more hip, urban lineup to compete for younger viewers. Its sister shows Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies fell victim, as did Hee Haw and Mayberry R.F.D., the latter two of which were still garnering decent ratings.

Jeannine Riley (the first Billie Jo) and Lori Saunders (the second Bobbie Jo) would later star together in the 1973–74 comedy series Dusty's Trail.

Jeannine Riley and Gunilla Hutton (the second Billie Jo) were regulars on the TV show Hee Haw during the CBS years of the show from 1969 to 1971. Jeannine left the show in 1971, while Gunilla stayed with the show until 1991.

During the last season of The Beverly Hillbillies in 1970–1971, Lori Saunders and Mike Minor appeared on the show but in different characters, Saunders playing one of Mr. Drysdale's secretaries and Minor playing out of work actor Dick Bremerkamp.

Higgins the dog and Edgar Buchanan (Uncle Joe) reunited for the first Benji feature movie in 1973.

Syndication

After its cancellation, Filmways and Paul Henning's company sold the show to CBS. Its distribution has changed hands over the years due to corporate changes involving Viacom, which in 2006 split into two separate companies. Today CBS Television Distribution handles syndication.

The Technicolor (1965–70) episodes were shown in syndication for many years after the show's cancellation. However, the rights to the black-and-white (1963–65) episodes were not resolved and they were not included in the syndication package until recently when the MeTV Network began broadcasting the black-and-white (1963-65) episodes on Tuesday July 12, 2011. On Thursday July 21, 2011 the black-and-white episode airings were short lived and MeTV started airing the color episodes once again.

Petticoat Junction was one of the first shows to be broadcast on TV Land, which did air two black-and-white episodes on occasion. The show has not aired on cable television since it left the network in 1999.

Unlike its sister shows Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction has not enjoyed a healthy second life in syndication. Conversely, both Green Acres and particularly The Beverly Hillbillies have rarely left the airwaves since their 1971 cancellation.

DVD releases

Some of the black-and-white episodes from Season One are now in the public domain, their copyrights having lapsed. As a result, there have been numerous releases on discount DVDs of a group of these episodes (although with generic bluegrass-like theme music instead of the familiar opening and closing music, which is still under copyright).

The Paul Henning Estate holds the original film elements, and in 2005 allowed 20 black-and-white episodes from Season One to be officially released on DVD in an "ultimate collection" via MPI Home Video. This release features the first 20 episodes of the series, excluding the Christmas episode. The Christmas-themed episode was released by MPI Home Video in a separate release together with the Christmas-themed episode from The Beverly Hillbillies on October 25, 2005.

On December 16, 2008, CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount) released the Complete First Season on DVD, with new interviews with cast members, commercials from the original broadcasts, and the original opening and closing theme song. The Complete Second Season was released on July 7, 2009, concluding the black-and-white episodes of the series. (Beginning with the third season, the show switched to color for the remainder of the series.) It, too, contained the original theme song, as well as introductions and an interview from two cast members.

Although marketed as The Official ... Season, the backs of the boxes mention edits. On The Official First Season rear box, the studio mentions that some episodes are edited and that some music has been changed. On The Official Second Season rear box, the studio mentions that those episodes are edited as well, but the music is intact.

The rights to the show are held by CBS Television Distribution.

! DVD Name	! Ep#	! Release Date
Petticoat Junction – Ultimate Collection		August 30, 2005
Petticoat Junction – The Official First Season		December 16, 2008
Petticoat Junction – The Official Second Season		July 7, 2009

Episode list

U.S. television ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Petticoat Junction on CBS.

{| style="text-align:center;" class="wikitable" border="1" |- ! Season ! Episodes ! Season Premiere ! Season Finale ! TV Season ! Rank ! Viewers(in millions) |- | 1 | 38 | September 24, 1963 | June 9, 1964 | 1963–1964 ! style="text-align:center" | #4 ! style="text-align:center" | 15.63 |- style="background-color:#F9F9F9" | 2 | 36 | September 22, 1964 | June 15, 1965 | 1964–1965 ! style="text-align:center" | #15 ! style="text-align:center" | 13.28 |- style="background-color:#F9F9F9" | 3 | 34 | September 14, 1965 | May 10, 1966 | 1965–1966 ! style="text-align:center" | #21 ! style="text-align:center" | 12.00 |- style="background-color:#F9F9F9" | 4 | 32 | September 13, 1966 | May 9, 1967 | 1966–1967 ! style="text-align:center" | #23 ! style="text-align:center" | 11.52 |- style="background-color:#F9F9F9" | 5 | 30 | September 9, 1967 | March 30, 1968 | 1967–1968 ! style="text-align:center" | #35 ! style="text-align:center" | N/A |- style="background-color:#F9F9F9" | 6 | 26 | September 28, 1968 | March 29, 1969 | 1968–1969 ! style="text-align:center" | #35 ! style="text-align:center" | N/A |- style="background-color:#F9F9F9" | 7 | 26 | September 27, 1969 | April 4, 1970 | 1969–1970 ! style="text-align:center" | N/A ! style="text-align:center" | N/A |- |}

Audio

Curt Massey sings the Petticoat Junction theme song, composed by Massey and Henning

See also

The Beverly Hillbillies

Green Acres

Rural purge

References

External links

Railtown 1897 State Historic Park

A site dedicated to the show with gallery and videos

Category:1963 television series debuts Category:1970 television series endings Category:1960s American television series Category:1970s American television series Category:Black-and-white television programs Category:CBS network shows Category:Rail transport in fiction Category:American television sitcoms Category:Television spin-offs Category:Television series by CBS Paramount Television