Petticoat Junction

Petticoat Junction Cast

Series Description

The Petticoat Junction TV show was a 30 minute comedy series on CBS about a widow and her three daughters who operated a hotel on the outskirts of a small rural town. The girls' feeble-minded Uncle Joe often came up with zany ideas that put the hotel in jeopardy. Sometimes the girls themselves would get into jams requiring their mom, her friends, and occasionally even Uncle Joe to find a way out for them. A "colorfull" cast of characters checked into the hotel and more visited from town on the train.

Petticoat Junction Cast

Bea Benaderet .... Kate Bradley
Edgar Buchanan .... Joseph P. "Uncle Joe" Carson
Jeannine Riley .... Billie Jo Bradley (1963-1965)
Gunilla Hutton .... Billie Jo Bradley (1965-1966)
Meredith MacRae .... Billie Jo Bradley (1966-1970)
Pat Woodell .... Bobbie Jo Bradley (1963-1965)
Lori Saunders .... Bobbie Jo Bradley (1965-1970)
Linda Henning .... Betty Jo Bradley Elliott
Smiley Burnette .... Charley Pratt
Frank Cady .... Sam Drucker
Rufe Davis .... Floyd Smoot
Charles Lane .... Homer Bedloe
Roy Roberts .... Norman Curtis
Kay E. Kuter .... Newt Kiley

Theme Song

Title: "Petticoat Junction"

By: "Paul Henning and Curt Massey"

Come ride the little train that is rolling down the tracks to the junction.
Petticoat Junction
Forget about your cares, it is time to relax at the junction.
Petticoat Junction

Lotsa curves, you bet. Even more when you get
To the junction, Petticoat Junction.

There's a little hotel called the Shady Rest at the junction.
Petticoat Junction
It is run by Kate, come and be her guest at the junction.
Petticoat Junction
And that's Uncle Joe, he's a movin' kind of slow at the junction,
Petticoat Junction.

Petticoat Junction Trivia

The location for most of the scenes on Petticoat Junction was the Shady Rest Hotel outside of a small farming town named Hooterville. Beginning in Petticoat Junction's third season, several of the regular characters on the series were used to "spin-off" a new series titled, "Green Acres". That series was about a farmer and his wife who had a farm that was also located outside of Hooterville. For three seasons, characters from both series regularly guest-starred on each other's shows!

The train that connected Petticoat Junction was an "antique" steam engine type called the Hooterville Cannonball. Many of the shots of the Cannonball on the show were really just a plastic shell of the exterior. A real train in Sonora, California was used as the model and when the train was actually moving, those were shots of the real train. The fake one only had one set of wheels that would have to be moved from the engine to the passenger and baggage cars depending on which one was in the scene!

The dog on Petticoat Junction was never called by his name. They simply called him "Dog". In real-life, the dog's name was "Higgins". You might remember him better from his final acting role as the star of the 1974 movie, "Benji". Ironically, that was also the final acting role for Edgar Buchanan who played Uncle Joe on Petticoat Junction!

The creator of Petticoat Junction, "Paul Henning", got the idea for the series from stories his wife told him about summer vacations she had spent at a small hotel situated near a train station in Eldon, Missouri.

Paul Henning interviewed more than 1,500 young women for the roles as Kate Bradley's three daughters! Bea Benaderet urged him to pick one actress in particular and he gladly took her advice since it was his real-life daughter, Linda Henning. Linda was the only one of the three original girls to stay with the series until it final episode. In fact, the only other Cast who remained for the entire run were Edgar Buchanan (Uncle Joe) and Frank Cady (Sam Drucker).

In November of 1967, the characters Betty Jo and Steve Elliot were married on Petticoat Junction. Ten months later, Linda Henning (who played Betty Jo) and Mike Minor (who played Steve Elliot) were married again, but this time in real-life!

Frank Cady appeared as Sam Drucker on "Petticoat Junction", "Green Acres", and "The Beverly Hillbillies" simultaneously! No other actor has ever done that on three sitcoms at the same time!

A petticoat is an undergarment that women wore in order to add fullness to a skirt. In the opening sequence of Petticoat Junction we saw the three girls' petticoats hanging over the side of the watertank that provided water for the Hooterville cannonball. They were hanging there because the girls were obviously bathing in the water tank. That's where the series got the first word in its title. The second word, "Junction" is presumed to refer to the fact that the Shady Rest Hotel was located at the junction of two rail lines, although only the one to Hooterville was ever mentioned on the show.

Episodes List With Original Air Dates

Season 1

1... Spur Line To Shady Rest (9/24/1963)
2... Quick, Hide The Railroad (10/1/1963)
3... The President Who Came To Dinner (10/8/1963)
4... Is There A Doctor In The Roundhouse? (10/15/1963)
5... The Courtship Of Floyd Smoot (10/22/1963)
6... Please Buy My Violets (10/29/1963)
7... The Ringer (11/5/1963)
8... Kate's Recipe For Hot Rhubarb (11/12/1963)
9... The Little Train Robbery (11/19/1963)
10. Bedloe Strikes Again (11/26/1963)
11. Uncle Joe's Replacement (12/3/1963)
12. Honeymoon Hotel (12/10/1963)
13. A Night At The Hooterville Hilton (12/17/1963)
14. Cannonball Christmas (12/24/1963)
15. Herby Gets Drafted (12/31/1963)
16. Bobbie Jo And The Beatnik (1/7/1964)
17. My Daughter The Doctor (1/14/1964)
18. Hooterville vs. Hollywood (1/21/1964)
19. Visit From A Big Star (1/28/1964)
20. Last Chance Farm (2/4/1964)
21. The Very Old Antique (2/11/1964)
22. The Art Game (2/18/1964)
23. Betty Jo's First Love (2/25/1964)
24. Behind All Silver, There's A Cloud Lining (3/3/1964)
25. The Talent Contest (3/10/1964)
26. Kate And The Manpower Problem (3/17/1964)
27. The Ladybugs (3/24/64
28. The Hooterville Flivverball (3/31/1964)
29. Kate The Stockholder (4/7/1964)
30. Kate And The Dowager (4/14/1964)
31. Charley Abandons The Cannonball (4/21/1964)
32. Dog Days At Shady Rest (4/28/1964)
33. A Millionaire For Kate (5/5/1964)
34. Bedloe And Son (5/12/1964)
35. Local Girl Makes Good (5/19/64
36. Cave Woman (5/26/1964)
37. Kate Flat On Her Back (6/2/1964)
38. The Genghis Keane Story (6/9/1964)

Season 2

39. Betty Jo's Dog (9/22/1964)
40. Race Against The Stork (9/29/1964)
41. Have Library Will Travel (10/6/1964)
42. The Umquaw Strip (10/13/1964)
43. As Hooterville Goes (10/27/1964)
44. My Dog The Actor (11/10/1964)
45. The Great Buffalo Hunt (11/17/1964)
46. Betty Jo's Pen-Pal (11/24/1964)
47. Bedloe's Nightmare (12/1/1964)
48. Kate's Bachelor Butter (12/8/1964)
49. Mother Of The Bride (12/15/64
50. The Lost Patrol (12/29/1964)
51. Smoke-Eaters (1/5/1965)
52. The Curse Of Chester W. Farnsworth (1/12/1965)
53. There's No Flame Like An Old Flame (1/19/1965)
54. Billie Jo's First Job (1/26/1965)
55. A Matter Of Communication (2/2/1965)
56. Kate Bradley, Girl Volunteer (2/9/1965)
57. Hooterville Crime Wave (2/16/1965)
58. For The Birds (2/23/1965)
59. Modern Merchandising (3/2/1965)
60. Visit From The Governor (3/9/1965)
61. A Borderline Story (3/16/1965)
62. The Shady Rest Hotel Corporation (3/23/1965)
63. A Tale Of Two Dogs (3/30/1965)
64. The Black Box (4/6/1965)
65. Bedloe's Most Fiendish Scheme (4/13/1965)
66. Bedloe Gets His Comeuppance (4/20/1965)
67. The Mayor Of Hooterville (4/27/1965)
68. Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Jinx? (5/4/1965)
69. The Chicken Killer (5/11/1965)
70. Why Girls Leave Home (5/18/1965)
71. There's No Stove Like An Old Stove (5/25/1965)
72. The Brontosaurus Caper (6/1/1965)
73. The Hairbrained Scheme (6/8/1965)
74. There's No Business With Show Business (6/15/1965)

Season 3

75. Dear Minerva (9/14/1965)
76. The Baffling Raffle (9/21/1965)
77. The Dog Turns Playboy (9/28/1965)
78. The Good Luck Ring (10/5/1965)
79. Joe Carson, General Contractor (10/12/1965)
80. Bobbie Jo's Sorority (10/26/1965)
81. A Doctor In The House (11/2/1965)
82. Hooterville A-Go-Go (11/9/1965)
83. Hooterville Hurricane (11/16/1965)
84. Betty Jo Goes To New York (11/23/1965)
85. Bedloe's Successor (11/30/1965)
86. The Crowded Wedding Ring (12/7/1965)
87. Uncle Joe Plays Post Office (12/14/1965)
88. What's a Trajectory? (12/21/1965)
89. The Butler Did It (12/28/1965)
90. Better Never Than Late (1/4/1966)
91. Betty Jo Catches The Bouquet (1/11/1966)
92. Billie Jo's Independence Day (1/18/1966)
93. Yogurt, Anyone? (1/25/1966)
94. Only Boy In The Class (2/1/1966)
95. The County Fair (2/8/1966)
96. Jury At The Shady Rest (2/15/1966)
97. The Invisible Mr. Dobble (2/22/1966)
98. It's Not The Principle, It's The Money (3/1/1966)
99. War Of The Hotels (3/8/1966)
100. The Windfall (3/15/1966)
101. Second Honeymoon (3/22/1966)
102. Kate Sells The Hotel (3/29/1966)
103. Kate Bradley, Peacemaker (4/5/1966)
104. What Ever Happened To Betty Jo? (4/12/1966)
105. The Young Matchmakers (4/26/1966)
106. Every Bachelor Should Have A Family (4/19/1966)
107. Hooterville Valley Project (5/3/1966)
108. Betty Jo's Bike (5/10/1966)

Season 4

109. Young Love (9/13/1966)
110. Birdman of Shady Rest (9/20/1966)
111. Hooterville, You're All Heart (9/27/1966)
112. The All-Night Party (10/4/1966)
113. Cannonball, Inc. (10/11/1966)
114. He Loves Us, He Loves Us Not (10/18/1966)
115. Kate Grounds Selma Plout (10/25/1966)
116. Shoplifter at the Shady Rest (11/1/1966)
117. The Almost Annual Charity Show (11/15/1966)
118. How Bugged Was My Valley (11/22/1966)
119. Twenty-Five Years Too Late (11/29/1966)
120. The Runt Strikes Back (12/6/1966)
121. Is There A Doctor In The Valley (12/13/1966)
122. The Santa Claus Special (12/20/1966)
123. My Daughter The Secretary (12/27/1966)
124. The Rise And Fall Of A Tycoon (1/3/1967)
125. Girls! Girls! Girls! (1/17/1967)
126. His Highness The Dog (1/24/1967)
127. Temperance, Temperance (1/31/1967)
128. A Star Is Born (2/7/1967)
129. Don't Call Us (2/14/1967)
130. That's Max? (2/21/1967)
131. Hey, Look Me Over (2/28/1967)
132. The Fishing Derby (3/7/1967)
133. Kate's Big Deal (3/14/1967)
134. Author! Author (3/21/1967)
135. Kate's Cousin Mae (3/28/1967)
136. That Was The Night That Was (4/4/1967)
137. The Eternal Rectangle (4/11/1967)
138. Steve's Ol' Buddy (4/18/1967)
139. A House Divided (5/2/1967)
140. Go Away, Fat (5/9/1967)

Season 5

141. Is This My Daughter? (9/9/1967)
142. It's Not Easy To Be A Mother (9/16/1967)
143. One Dozen Roses (9/23/1967)
144. Pop Goes The Question (9/30/1967)
145. You Know I Can't Hear You When The Thunder Is Clapping (10/7/1967)
146. A Cottage For Two (10/14/1967)
147. Mind If We Join Your Wedding (10/21/1967)
148. Meet The In-Laws (10/28/1967)
149. With This Gown I Thee Wed (11/4/1967)
150. Hawaii Calling (11/11/1967)
151. Kate's Birthday (11/18/1967)
152. The Honeymoon Is Over (11/25/1967)
153. A Horse On You, Mr. Bedloe (12/2/1967)
154. Kate's Day In Court (12/9/1967)
155. Uncle Joe And The Master Plan (12/16/1967)
156. All That Buzzes Ain't Bees (12/23/1967)
157. All Sales Final (12/30/1967)
158. The Power Of The Press (1/6/1968)
159. Steve, The Apple Polisher (1/13/1968)
160. The Barber Shop Quartet (1/20/1968)
161. Higgins Come Home (1/27/1968)
162. Girl Of Our Dreams (2/3/1968)
163. Uncle Joe Runs The Hotel (2/10/1968)
164. Billie Jo's First Record (2/17/1968)
165. Mae's Helping Hand (2/24/1968)
166. Bad Day At Shady Rest (3/2/1968)
167. Cannonball For Sale (3/9/1968)
168. My Pal Sam (3/16/1968)
169. Ring-A-Ding-Ding (3/23/1968)
170. Kate's Homecoming (3/30/1968)

Season 6

171. Birthplace Of A Future President (9/28/1968)
172. The Singing Sweethearts (10/5/1968)
173. Only A Husband (10/19/1968)
174. The Valley Has A Baby (10/26/1968)
175. Granny, The Baby Expert (11/2/1968)
176. Wings (11/9/1968)
177. The Lady Doctor (11/16/1968)
178. The Sneaky Ways Of A Woman Who Is Both Beautiful And Smart (11/23/1968)
179. The Strange Case Of Joseph P. Carson (11/30/1968)
180. Bye, Bye, Doctor (12/7/1968)
181. First Night Out (12/14/1968)
182. A Cake From Granny (12/21/1968)
183. The Feminine Mistake (12/28/1968)
184. The Ballad Of The Everyday Housewife (1/4/1969)
185. The Christening (1/11/1969)
186. Billy Joe And The Big Big Star (1/18/1969)
187. Steve's New Job (1/25/1969)
188. The Cannonball Bookmobile (2/1/1969)
189. A Man Called Cyrus Plout (2/8/1969)
190. Joe Saves The Post Office (2/15/1969)
191. I'm Allergic To Daddy (2/22/1969)
192. Uncle Joe Retires (3/1/1969)
193. The Organ Fund (3/8/1969)
194. The Great Race (3/15/1969)
195. Tune In Next Year (3/22/1969)
196. By The Book (3/29/1969)

Season 7

197. Make Room For Baby (9/27/1969)
198. The Game Warden (10/4/1969)
199. The Other Woman (10/11/1969)
200. One Of Our Chickens Is Missing (10/18/1969)
201. The Three Queens (10/25/1969)
202. The Glen Tinker Caper (11/1/1969)
203. The Tenant (11/8/1969)
204. A Most Momentous Occasion (11/22/1969)
205. Sorry Doctor, I Ain't Taking No Shots (11/15/1969)
206. The Camping Trip (11/29/1969)
207. Kathy Jo's First Birthday (12/6/1969)
208. The Golden Spike Ceremony (12/20/1969)
209. Goodbye, Mr. Chimp (12/13/1969)
210. But I've Never Been In Erie, PA (12/27/1969)
211. How To Arrange A Marriage (1/3/1970)
212. Selma Plout's Plot (1/10/1970)
213. With This Ring... (1/17/1970)
214. The Valley's New Owner (1/24/1970)
215. Steve's Uncle George (1/31/1970)
216. Susan B. Anthony, I Love You (2/7/1970)
217. Spare That Cottage (2/14/1970)
218. Whiplash, Whiplash (2/28/1970)
219. Last Train To Pixley (3/7/1970)
220. Love Rears Its Ugly Head (3/21/1970)
221. No, No, You Can't Take Her Away (3/28/1970)
222. Betty Jo's Business (4/4/1970)

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