Regarding the show's title, Petticoat Junction, the hotel is located at a water stop, not a junction (where two or more railroad lines meet). In a 1966 interview, Bea Benaderet said, "I suspect that Vince is better at cooking things like mother used to than anybody's mother ever was." Meals were prepared for the show by property master Vince Vecchio. Kate Bradley cooks sumptuous meals on a wood-burning stove, and her specialty is chicken 'n' dumplings. The Shady Rest is an old-fashioned, Victorian-style hotel, accessible primarily by train (and a poorly-maintained fire road), where guests share bathing facilities and eat together with the family at a large dining-room table. Indeed, clues given to the location of Hooterville often conflict with each other, but nearby mentions of towns and counties place it in Southwest Missouri. The exact location of Hooterville is never mentioned on Petticoat Junction or Green Acres. A number of location shots were filmed in the real Pixley. The town of Pixley, at one end of the Cannonball's route, was named for Pixley, California. Kate Bradley says that her stubborn grandfather built the hotel there because that was where the lumber fell off the train. Each of these towns is about 25 miles (40 km) away from the hotel, which is located roughly at the midpoint of the line. Due to a trestle demolition many years ago, the line now is entirely unconnected to any other railroad it runs between the rural farm community of Hooterville and the small town of Pixley. The Shady Rest Hotel is located at a water stop along the isolated branch line of the C. Sam Drucker is the postmaster and his telephone is a lifeline for the Bradleys, Uncle Joe, and others. Drucker's is the local hub, where menfolk come to play checkers and chat. Trips on the Cannonball usually include a stop in Hooterville at Drucker's Store run by Sam Drucker ( Frank Cady). Occasionally, youngest daughter Betty Jo can be found with her hand on the Cannonball's throttle running the train is one of her favorite pastimes, as she is something of a tomboy with an interest in mechanics. Many plots involve railroad executive Homer Bedloe's futile attempts to cease operation and scrap the Hooterville Cannonball. Charlie and Floyd are alternately depicted as retired employees of the railroad receiving pensions and salaried railroad workers. The single-tracked Hooterville to Pixley spur line was cut off from the rest of the railroad 20 years before the start of the show by the demolition of a trestle. It was not uncommon for the Cannonball to make an unscheduled stop for the crew to go fishing, or to pick fruit for Kate's apple butter and pies. Uncle Joe, when he is not idling in his favorite porch chair, frequently comes up with half-baked get-rich-quick schemes and ill-conceived hotel promotions which end up with him making a fool of himself.Įarly on, much of the show also focuses on the Hooterville Cannonball, an 1890s vintage steam-driven train run more like a taxi service by engineer Charley Pratt ( Smiley Burnette) and fireman/ railway conductor Floyd Smoot ( Rufe Davis). Her lazy but lovable Uncle Joe Carson ( Edgar Buchanan) supposedly helps her in the day-to-day running of the hotel, while she serves as a mediator in the various minor crises that befall her three beautiful daughters: redhead Betty Jo ( Linda Kaye Henning) brunette Bobbie Jo (first Pat Woodell, later Lori Saunders) and blonde Billie Jo (first Jeannine Riley, then Gunilla Hutton, and finally Meredith MacRae). Widowed Kate Bradley ( Bea Benaderet) is the proprietor. The show centers on the goings-on at the rural Shady Rest Hotel. 11.2 Petticoat Junction Cafeteria and Shady Rest Hotel.6 Green Acres and Beverly Hillbillies crossovers.
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