How did they write Bea Benaderet out Petticoat Junction?
Petticoat Junction was a sitcom that aired on CBS from September 1963 to April 1970.The series takes place at the Shady Rest Hotel, which is run by Kate Bradley, her three daughters, and her uncle.One of the shows is about rural characters.The success of The Beverly Hillbillies led to the creation of Petticoat Junction.Green Acres was a spin-off of Petticoat Junction.Wayfilms is a joint venture of Filmways Television and Pen-Ten productions.
There is a show about the goings-on at a hotel.Kate Bradley is the proprietor.Her lazy but lovable Uncle Joe Carson (Edgar Buchanan) helps her in the day-to-day running of the hotel, while she serves as a mediator in various minor crises that befall her three beautiful daughters: redhead Betty Jo (Linda Kaye Henning); brunette Bobbie Jo.Uncle Joe often comes up with half-baked get-rich-quick schemes and ill-conceived hotel promotions which end up making him a fool of himself.
The Hooterville Cannonball, an 1890s vintage steam-driven train run more like a taxi service, is the focus of the show early on.Sometimes the Cannonball would make an unexpected stop for the crew to go fishing or pick fruit for Kate.The Hooterville to Pixley spur line was cut off from the rest of the railroad 20 years before the show started.Charlie and Floyd are depicted as retired employees of the railroad receiving pensions.
Railroad executive Homer Bedloe tried to shut down the Hooterville Cannonball.Occasionally, Betty Jo can be found with her hand on the Cannonball's throttle, as running the train is one of her favorite pastimes.
Trips on the Cannonball usually stop in Hooterville at Sam Drucker's Store.Men come to play checkers and chat at Drucker's.The Bradleys, Uncle Joe, and others rely on the telephone of the postmaster, Sam Drucker.
The isolated branch line of the C. & F.W. leads to a water stop where the Shady Rest Hotel is located.There is a railroad.The line is completely unrelated to any other railroad because it was demolished many years ago.The hotel is located roughly at the middle of the line, 25 miles away from each of these towns.The hotel was built because the lumber fell off the train, according to Kate Bradley.At one end of the Cannonball's route, the town of Pixley was named.There were a number of location shots filmed.The exact location of Hooterville is never mentioned.Although clues to the location of Hooterville often conflict with each other, nearby mentions of towns and counties place it in Southwest Missouri.[3]
The Shady Rest is an old-fashioned, Victorian-style hotel, accessible primarily by train, and where guests share bathing facilities and eat together with the family at a large dining-room table.Kate Bradley cooks sumptuous meals on a wood-burning stove, and her specialty is chicken 'n' dumplings.Vince Vecchio was the property master.In a 1966 interview, Bea Benaderet said she thought Vince was better at cooking than her mother was.[4]
The hotel is located at a water stop, not a junction where two or more railroad lines meet.The train stop is often referred to as "petticoat junction" because the Bradley sisters skinny dip in the railway's water tower.The opening titles of the series show the women hanging on the tower while they are swimming offscreen.It was 7 and 8.
The hotel and the train were based on a real hotel in Eldon, Missouri, run by my wife's grandmother.[3]
The Burris Hotel was owned by Ruth's grandparents and she told him about her childhood adventures there.The Rock Island Hotel used to be located next to the railroad tracks.Alice Barth told her many stories about growing up in Eldon and the hotel she owned.The stories of Ruth and her mother became the basis of the show.
Linda Kaye Henning said that her father was the author of the series.The show would make a great starring vehicle for a veteran character actress.Since the 1930s, Benaderet had played second-banana roles on radio and television.She provided the voice of Betty Rubble in The Flintstones.She played a semiregular character in the first season of The Beverly Hillbillies.Benaderet had earned the right to headline her own series and had paid her dues.
The show's titles were proposed during preproduction.[13]
The first three seasons of Petticoat Junction centered on homespun humor and the village's backward mindset.The show began to take on a different feel in the fourth season.The romance of Steve and Betty Jo, who became key characters, became the focus of stories.The show became funnier at home.Musical numbers and singing became popular.Songs had the Bradley sisters singing as a trio, solo, or duet.Some episodes had as many as two or three songs in them.There is a citation needed.
As they were both accomplished singers, the addition of Mike Minor as the third Billie Jo influenced this change.The characters of the two women changed.She went from being a boy- crazy dumb blonde to a strong, independent young lady.Bobbie Jo went from being book-smart to more of a bubble-head used for comic relief.There are no comments at this time.
Kate Bradley's appearance changed as well.Kate's wardrobe and hair style depicted her as a dowdy country farm woman in the first two seasons.After the third year, her clothing and coiffure were more flattering and appealing, and she wore high heels.
Sickness kept Benaderet away for the last third of the season as she dealt with lung cancer.She missed two episodes and returned for one.The stories dealt with Kate's absence by having other characters say that she was out of town, but it was never stated where or what Kate was doing.Rosemary DeCamp and Shirley Mitchell were brought in to play Kate's sister Helen and cousin Mae.In January 1968, it was announced that Benaderet's treatment was successful, and she returned for the fifth-season finale that aired on March 30, 1968.Benaderet appeared thinner and weaker as a result of her cancer treatment.She told the Press-Republican that Charles Stewart would continue to write her as the lead despite her absence.[16]
Benaderet had finished the first two episodes of "Birthplace of a Future President" and "The Singing Sweethearts" when she was diagnosed with cancer again.In the third episode, "Only A Husband", she shared a scene with Mike Minor, but she was conspicuously absent from the other scenes that were written for her.Linda Kaye Henning said that she was not well enough to do an episode where she had a baby.The birth of Betty Jo's baby was the reason why the fourth episode of season six would include Benaderet.Benaderet only provided her voice for scenes of Betty Jo and Steve reading a letter from Kate and using a handcar to get to the hospital in this episode.Benaderet's stand-in, actress Edna Laird, portrayed Kate with her back to the camera in the latter segments.In the episode, Betty Jo reveals to Kate that Steve and she are in love, as well as three short flashbacks of Kate from season five.The episode aired 13 days after Benaderet's death.
During her illness, Benaderet received a lot of get-well cards and letters from her fans.She was the star of the show in the first five years.The absence of her character had to be handled delicately.It was rare for a main character on a television show to die.Kate Bradley continued to be referred to as "out of town" because the producers and CBS decided to continue the show.Benaderet's name was removed from the opening credits and he received star billing for the rest of the series.The opening theme lyrics were changed to say "It is run by Joe, come and be his guest".The central premise of a country family was lost without a motherly figure.During the last two seasons, there was only one mention of Kate's absence.The Bradley sisters and baby Kathy Jo are back from swimming in the water tower.Steve has paternal concerns about his daughter's safety, to which Billie Jo and Bobbie Jo wistfully reply, "mom taught all of us to swim before we could walk."Also in the old water tower.
The producers decided not to recast the Kate Bradley role, or to sign Rosemary DeCamp on full-time, and instead introduced the new character of Dr. Janet Craig, played by June Lockhart.On Lassie, he played another mother figure - Ruth Martin.The character of Lockhart was brought on as a surrogate mother figure to fill the void left by the death of Benaderet, and also takes up a medical practice at the hotel.During a difficult time, the cast was most welcoming to the newcomer.At the end of each episode, Lockhart moved from featured billing to co-star billing.The lyrics to the show's theme song were slightly altered to accommodate the change in cast.
The show's ratings began to decline when CBS moved it to Saturday night.The ratings for the show did not make it to the top 30.The sitcom's future was in jeopardy due to the mediocre ratings and the death of Benaderet.The show was considered to be canceled by CBS in 1969.The finale was supposed to be the series finale.Dr. Janet Craig accepted a good job offer in another city.When Steve and Betty Jo announce that they are going to have another baby, Dr. Craig decides to stay.
The series was renewed by CBS at the last minute.Five full years of color episodes would be very profitable for the network and was the main reason for renewing.Two major plotline changes were made when the show returned for its final season in 1969.Steve and Betty Jo and their daughter Kathy Jo move out of their cottage and back into the hotel.The storyline about Betty Jo's new baby was never referred to again.The second change is the addition of a game warden named Orrin Pike, who becomes Bobbie Jo's boyfriend, much to the annoyance of Uncle Joe.The CBS rural purge of the early 1970s was preceded by the cancellation of Petticoat Junction in the spring of 1970.The show ended at 9:30 pm on September 12th, 1970, and was replaced a week later by The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
There was no series finale at Petticoat Junction.The fourth-to-last episode is similar to a series finale.Floyd Smoot decided to retire in the episode.The residents of the Shady Rest Hotel and Sam Drucker all take a ride on the Cannonball and relive some of their most cherished memories, such as fishing from the train, a pregnant Betty Jo driving a train when she is about to give birth, and the Christmas-time Cannon ball decorated withFloyd sings a song called "Steam, Cinders and Smoke", written by a former cast member.It was released as a single in 1964.Floyd decided not to retire when the people of Hooterville wrote him letters asking him to stay.
There were only three actors who appeared in all seven seasons.Buchanan appeared in every episode."Bobbie Jo and the Beatnik" and "Have Library, Will Travel" were the only two episodes that Linda Kaye Henning appeared in.Buchanan was three years older than Benaderet in real life.
The Cannonball nemesis Homer Bedloe was played by Charles Lane.Lane said that he had a stern character on I Love Lucy."They were all good parts, but they were jerks," he said.It can mean a lot of work if you have a type established.The New York Times reported that people would greet Lane in the street because they thought he was from their hometown.[25]
"Sheba", the dog of Betty Jo's boyfriend Orville Miggs, was featured in the first-season episode.The producers were given an idea by that episode.The new character of a dog was added at the start of the 1964-1965 season.As a result, he became a regular cast member.He appeared in the second season opener "Betty Jo's Dog".On the first day of school, Betty Jo met a little male dog who immediately attached himself to her and the Bradley family.At first, Kate was against keeping him, but by the end of the episode, she allowed him to stay.The subject of Higgins's name is addressed in that episode.When he first arrives, different names are suggested by the sisters, but they never decide, so the dog is not actually named.Dog or Boy becomes the character's name.The show's press releases referred to him as the "Shady Rest Dog".The fifth-season episode "Higgins, Come Home" refers to the dog's real name, but the title is not displayed on the episode.The show was canceled in 1970.He was cover- featured on an issue of TV Guide magazine and won a PATSY Award.The two men had a close relationship.Buchanan is shown petting the dog in the official cast pictures taken during the run of Petticoat Junction.Buchanan played a small role in the 1974 film Benji, which was also starred by Higgins.Linda Kaye Henning said in a TV interview that her father, the show's producer, had planned to run a contest to name the dog, but that never happened, leaving the animal without a proper name.There is a citation needed.
The 1964-65 season saw the introduction of another new character to serve as a female nemesis for Kate Bradley.Virginia Sale reprised her role in the first season of Green Acres, but her character is not mentioned by name.During the third season, Elvia Allman was brought on as a guest star for one episode and reprised her role on Green Acres the same season.Sale's Selma was replaced by Allman.She appeared in 19 episodes, which ended at the end of season 7.Over the next 3 seasons, the daughter of Selma was introduced at the same time and appeared in 7 episodes.The pretty girl is the butt of many Jane jokes.In her next-to-last episode, Henrietta is given a glamorous makeover by the Bradley sisters and is revealed to be quite attractive.
The second-season episode "Mother Of The Bride" aired on December 15, 1964 and featured Mike Minor as Dan.The character of Dan Plout is never seen again.In the fall of 1966, Mike Minor reprised his role as handsome crop duster Steve Elliott.Steve was the love interest of the oldest daughter, but later married the youngest daughter.
In the season-one episode "The Ladybugs", three Bradley sisters form a Beatlesque band with their friend Sally Ragsdale.They wear wigs and play the Beatles song "I Saw Her Standing There" in front of a crowd.The four actresses performed the same song on The Ed Sullivan Show just days before this episode aired.Ed invited viewers to watch the girls on their show later that week.There is a better source needed.
Frank Cady was the only actor in television history to play a recurring character on three different shows at the same time.He had guest appearances on The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction.[31]
Benaderet played Mrs. Granby on the radio show.The inspiration for the Petticoat Junction spin-off was this show.Eva Gabor played Lisa Douglas, the alter ego of Mrs. Granby, on television.Jack Bannon, Benaderet's son, played a small part in the show as a boyfriend or date for one of the Bradley girls.There were two recurring characters on Petticoat Junction.He was a banker in the early seasons and a train engineer in later seasons.Jimmy was the love interest of Orville Miggs.
Elna Danelle Hubbell played Kathy Jo in season seven.Kathy Jo was played by Heather and Barbara Whiter.When their mother heard that the producers were looking for red-haired babies, Heather and her sister landed the role.She doesn't have any first-hand memories of working on the show.[34]
Sharon Tate was supposed to play Billie Jo.She never appeared in the show despite a cast photo being taken with Tate.The emergence of erotic photos of Tate may have been one of the reasons for Tate's replacement, but the truth is that she was not prepared for a central role, and her agents convinced her to pass up the opportunity.The first two seasons of the show were played by Jeannine Riley.In the third season, Riley was replaced by Gunilla Hutton, and for the rest of the show's run, she was played by Meredith MacRae.
The first two seasons of the series were played by Pat Woodell, who left to start a singing career.When Pat Woodell was unavailable, Bobbie Jo was only shown from behind, with a double standing in.The character was played by a woman.After the cast changed, the character of Bobbie Jo went from a shy bookworm to a funny scatterbrain.She gave her lines a slightly daffy delivery after taking over the role.The show writers changed the character of Bobbie Jo from a brainy introvert to a high-spirited, delightfully ditzy one.[35]
After filming wrapped for the fourth season, the show suffered its first loss when engineer Smiley Burnette died of leukemia.Floyd Smoot took over as conductor and engineer in the fifth season of the show.The absence of the character of Charley was explained by allusions to his death.The following season, Floyd was replaced by a different player.Foulger did not appear during the show's last season because he was too sick to continue.Davis played Floyd Smoot in one of the episodes.He was addressed off-screen as an invisible character.The last episode of Petticoat Junction aired on April 4, 1970.
June Lockhart joined the show as Dr. Janet Craig after the death of Bea Benaderet, who played the main character Kate Bradley.
Petticoat Junction wasn't part of the updated reunion movie.Hello Again Hooterville: A Thanksgiving Reunion was a project that never came to fruition.The Petticoat Junction cast reunion was featured on the game show Family Feud in 1983.There was a promotional ad for MeTV in 2015.
Frank Cady's final acting role was in 1990 when the character of Sam Drucker appeared in Return to Green Acres.Linda Kaye Henning and Charles Lane did not play Betty Jo and Homer Bedloe in The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies.Linda and Chief were played by Lane and Henning.
The universe of Petticoat Junction is similar to Green Acres.Both shows are set in Hooterville and feature characters such as Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley, and Floyd Smoot.Arnold the Pig, Newt Kiley, and Ben Miller all appeared on the second season of Petticoat Junction.During the first two seasons of Green Acres, the characters in all of Henning's creations crossed over into one another.
There was never a connection between Petticoat's run from 1963 to 1968 and The Beverly Hillbillies, even though Bea Benaderet had played Cousin.Granny came to Hooterville to tend to Betty Jo and Steve's baby in a 1968 episode of Petticoat.When she arrives at the Shady Rest, she mistakes Uncle Joe for Kate and says that she and cousin Pearl are related to Kate."Granny Goes to Hooterville" and "The Italian Cook" are both part two of a three-episode series with Hillbillies.
The Thanksgiving Story, "The Week Before Christmas", and "Christmas in Hooterville" are some of the shows that feature the Clampetts.The Beverly Hillbillies had two consecutive episodes with Miss Jane and Mr. Drysdale, who thought Howard Hughes lived in Hooterville.[41]
There are episodes of Petticoat Junction with characters from Green Acres.Only those that first appeared on Acres are counted.
The Petticoat Junction theme song was sung by a man.The song was written by two people.The song "Petticoat Junction" was recorded by Flatt and Scruggs.
John Hickman's "Banjo Signal" was used in the DVD release of the series.Frank Hutchison's "Train That Carried the Girl From Town" is the new music for the series.Both editions have screen credit.
The show was sold to CBS after it was canceled.In 2006 it was split into two separate companies due to corporate changes.CBS Television Distribution handles syndicated programming.
After the show's cancellation, the color episodes were shown in syndication.The black-and-white (1963–65) episodes were not included in the package until the Me-TV Network began broadcasting them on July 12, 2011.The airings of the black-and-white episodes were short lived, and on Thursday, July 21, 2011, Me-TV started airing the color episodes again.The first two seasons of the show were aired on Me-TV.The show is on and off of the Me-TV schedule.The black-and-white episodes of the Decades TV Network began airing on April 23, 2018).
The show ran on TV Land from 1996 to 2000.The show ran on the Retro Television Network from 2005 to 2008.The program ran on Prime-TV from 2000 to 2002, Deja-Vu from 2005 to 2008, and TV Land Canada from 2006 to 2010.The black-and-white episodes from the first season are in the public domain.Many discount DVDs of these episodes have been released, although with generic bluegrass-like theme music instead of the familiar opening and closing music, which is still under copyright.
The original episodes of "Petticoat Junction" are on the Retro Television Network.
In 2005, 20 black-and-white episodes from the first season of the show were released on DVD in an "ultimate collection" via MPI Home Video.The first 20 episodes of the series are included in this release.The Christmas-themed episode from The Beverly Hillbillies was released by MPI Home Video on October 25, 2005.The Santa Claus Special aired on December 20, 1966 and was reshot in color with small variations.[46]
The Complete First Season on DVD was released by CBS Home Entertainment on December 16, 2008.The Complete Second Season was released in July of 2009.The show switched to color in the third season.It also contained the original theme song, as well as an interview with two cast members.
The third season was released as a Walmart exclusive.On April 15, it received a full retail release.48