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Petticoat Junction had one of the most recognizable TV themes ever. This is the opening from the first season (1963-64). Petticoat Junction enjoyed its best ratings during that first season and was a staple of the CBS lineup. The show suffered greatly after Bea Benaderet died in 1968 and last aired in September 1970. The black-and-white shows from the first two seasons were never put into syndication. I would have stayed at the Shady Rest Hotel just for the scenery. The scenery's names were Billie Jo, Bobby Jo and Betty Jo.
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Petticoat
Junction
theme
Added: 30th September 2007
Views: 3983
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
 
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This must be from 1968 or 1969: The cast of Petticoat Junction grace the cover of TV Guide. Note that June Lockhart is shown. Her character, Dr. Janet Craig, replaced Bea Benaderet's character, Kate Bradley, after Benaderet died in October 1968. Good rule of thumb: If the opening credits to Petticoat Junction come on and June Lockhart walks onto the porch of the Shady Rest, change the channel.
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Petticoat
Junction
cast
TV
Guide
Added: 13th September 2008
Views: 2740
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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Joseph Force Crater was an associate judge of the New York Supreme Court. On August 6, 1930, the 41-year-old Crater was in New York City, ostensibly on business, while his wife vacationed without him in Maine. While in New York, Crater spent time with his young showgirl mistress, Sally Lou Ritz. Crater dined with Ritz and a lawyer friend, then they attended a play. When the show ended, Crater's companions got into a taxi and watched Crater walk away...never to be seen again. After several days it was obvious to the judge's wife and colleagues that something was terribly amiss--especially when court reconvened on August 25 with Crater still absent. An investigation was launched. When the story hit the newspapers, a nationwide manhunt began. Naturally, foul play was suspected. On the morning of his disappearance, Crater's assistant had helped the judge cash two checks totaling more than $5,100. The money was put into two locked briefcases and taken to the judge's apartment. Speculation ran along the lines of Crater paying blackmail money. A grand jury trial followed, yielding 975 pages of testimony. It implicated Crater in shady real estate and financial deals, but the authorities had no success in finding any trace of the judge. (Sally Lou Ritz escaped much of the publicity--but not the gossip--when she herself vanished, never to be seen again.) Crater's wife did not return to her New York City apartment until January 31, 1931--where she found a manila envelope addressed to her in the judge's handwriting. It contained his will, $6,619 in cash, several checks, stocks, bonds, life insurance policies, and a hurriedly penned three-page personal note. The envelope had apparently been placed there after the police had searched the apartment. (Three checks were dated August 30--more than three weeks after the judge had vanished!) For several decades the term 'pulling a Judge Crater' was slang for vanishing or leaving an awkward situation discreetly. On August 19, 2005, authorities announced they had obtained a letter written by Stella Ferrucci-Good, who had recently died at age 91. The missive indicated that Judge Crater had been murdered by her late husband, a policeman, and a cab driver friend. Supposedly a skeleton found under the boardwalk at Coney Island in the 1950s was Crater's. An aquarium now occupies the site. The unidentified bones were interred in a mass grave on Hart Island, the usual spot where unclaimed corpses were commonly buried in unmarked plots. However, Ferrucci-Good's story has a major hole: no record exists of a body ever being found under the Coney Island boardwalk.
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Judge
Crater
disappearance
Added: 16th September 2009
Views: 2411
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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Petticoat Junction was one of CBS' rural-themed hit shows of the 1960s. Set in a quaint hotel outside of Hooterville, it fared best in the ratings during its first two seasons (1963 to 1965) when it was filmed in black and white. Although there were numerous cast changes during the show's run--for example, three different actresses played oldest daughter Billie Jo Bradley--the linchpin of Petticoat Junction was family matriarch Kate Bradley, a kindly widow played by veteran TV and radio actress Bea Benaderet. Kate was the voice of reason in most episodes who kept order in both the Shady Rest Hotel and among her family members. In early 1968 Benaderet was stricken with cancer and took a leave of absence. At one point she appeared in just three of 11 episodes. Kate's absence was explained as her being away on a long trip. After initially good medical reports, Benaderet was kept in the Petticoat Junction cast. However, when the 1968-69 season was to begin, Benaderet's cancer returned and she was too ill to continue her role as Kate Bradley. In a few episodes only her voice was heard. In some cases a double was used in scene in which Kate was only seen from the rear. Benaderet died on October 13, 1968, but her character never really died on the show. On a few episodes, she was seen in flashbacks. Although June Lockhart joined the cast as its new older female character, Kate Bradley was never mentioned as being deceased, but she was seldom mentioned after 1969. Only once in the final season was Kate even alluded to: Youngest daughter Betty Jo explained that she and her sisters were taught to swim in the train's water tank by Kate. Petticoat Junction was cancelled after the 1969-70 season. The Mary Tyler Moore Show replaced it in the CBS lineup on Saturday nights.
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TV
Petticoat
Junction
Kate
Bradley
Bea
Benederet
Added: 4th November 2014
Views: 1848
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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In honor of Mike Minor who just passed away at age 75--one of the most surprising and favorite Petticoat Junction moments: Steve Elliott and Betty Jo Bradley's first kiss. In Season #4 Steve (Mike Minor) had been added to the PJ cast as a pilot just mustered out of the Air Force who was working as a crop duster. During one of his flights, the red-blooded American male couldn't help but notice the three shapely Bradley sisters swimming in the Hooterville water tank. He quickly decides to reside at the Shady Rest Hotel where he becomes the romantic interest of eldest Bradley girl Billie Jo. However, by Season #5 youngest sister Betty Jo (Linda Kaye) begins to shed her tomboyish ways and becomes a rather fetching lass. The plot of this episode is that farmhand Eb Dawson (from the cast of Green Acres) becomes smitten with the lovely redhead. Betty Jo has no such feelings towards Eb other than friendship, so she asks Steve to pretend to be her boyfriend to dissuade Eb's romantic advances. Watch the clip to see what happens.
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Petticoat
Junction
first
kiss
Steve
Elliott
Betty
Jo
Bradley
Added: 30th January 2016
Views: 2280
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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