The struggling Shady Rest Hotel is further jeopardized when a no-nonsense vice president of the C & FW Railroad is dispatched to investigate the apparently forgotten spur line that connects ... Read allThe struggling Shady Rest Hotel is further jeopardized when a no-nonsense vice president of the C & FW Railroad is dispatched to investigate the apparently forgotten spur line that connects the towns of Hooterville and Pixley.The struggling Shady Rest Hotel is further jeopardized when a no-nonsense vice president of the C & FW Railroad is dispatched to investigate the apparently forgotten spur line that connects the towns of Hooterville and Pixley.
- Betty Jo Bradley
- (as Linda Kaye)
- Herby Bates
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaTV debut of Smiley Burnette.
- Quotes
Willimena Josephine 'Billie Jo' Bradley #1: Ma, the train's comin'!
Kate Bradley: Yeah, I heard it.
Kate Bradley: [to her three daughters] In the water tower again, weren't you?
Elizabeth Josephine 'Betty Jo' Bradley Elliott: Yes.
Kate Bradley: Some day that train's gonna sneak in, drain all the water before you can get out and leave you high, dry and bare!
- SoundtracksPetticoat Junction
(uncredited)
Written by Curt Massey & Paul Henning
Performed by Curt Massey
[Series theme song played during the opening titles and credits]
In fact, the series' premiere episode "Spur Line to Shady Rest," scripted by Henning, literally severs its ties from the outside world through a quirk of fate: Following the collapse of a trestle connecting it to the larger C & FW Railroad network, a spur line running through the Hooterville Valley becomes its own isolated transportation corridor, with its train, the Hooterville Cannonball, run by engineer Charley Pratt and fireman/conductor Floyd Smoot, about the only way to get from the farming hamlet of Hooterville, site of Sam Drucker's general store, to the small town of Pixley, with the Shady Rest Hotel, location of a water tower for the steam-powered Cannonball, in between.
And when this is finally realized back at C & FW Railroad headquarters, company president Norman Curtis (Roy Roberts) dispatches Homer Bedloe to terminate the Cannonball's operations in the first of Charles Lane's twenty-four delightfully irascible appearances as the corporate big-city baddie scheming to disrupt the tranquility of this Brigadoon in the boondocks of Modern America.
From the start, "Petticoat Junction" spoofs as many stereotypes as it fosters. Shady Rest proprietor Kate Bradley sets a mouth-watering country dinner table but is struggling to attract hotel guests--not surprising given its extreme isolation--while her Uncle Joe Carson, who installed a non-functioning elevator and telephone just to give the joint "some class," isn't much help. Widower Kate's three fetching daughters all play to the farmer's daughter trope: blonde Billie Jo, the eldest, is boy-crazy; brunette Bobbie Jo, in the middle, is the bookworm; and redheaded baby Betty Jo is the tomboy, with Linda Kaye for now discreetly hiding her last name, Henning, to conceal that she is indeed creator Paul Henning's daughter. Just to make the trope obvious, a bevy of (ahem) traveling salesmen happen to be riding on the Cannonball along with Homer.
Enjoying life in the slow lane while seeming to lack sophistication, the denizens of Hooterville Valley are hardly country bumpkins, with industry veterans Edgar Buchanan, Frank Cady, and especially star Bea Benaderet falling seamlessly into character to match wits with fellow show-biz stalwart Lane as they invite you to settle in for an extended stay at "Petticoat Junction."
- darryl-tahirali
- Mar 11, 2022
Details
- Runtime25 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1