244 replies to this topic

[libsl]

I used to watch reruns of this when I was little, and lately I've seen some of the Beverly Hillbillies crossovers that have been running on TVLand.

Does anybody know if they ever dealt with or even mentioned the death of Kate Bradley (played by Bea Benaderet)? The crossover had Granny going to the Shady Rest to help with Betty Jo's baby. The child was named Cathy Jo after grandma kate. I seem to recall Kate being in the early pregnancy episodes, so Bea must have passed away around that time. I also seem to recall a couple of mentions about Kate being out of town to help a sick relative, but that's all. Anybody remember anything more?

[prairiegirl]

I recall Bea Benaderet returning briefly, but after she passed away, she was only mentioned as having gone to visit a relative, no mention of her death ever. Which was an insult to a fine actress. I vividly recall being upset by her death because she was also the voice of Betty Rubble, and as a small child at the time, I thought Betty had died too. The shows after she passed away are pretty lame, I like June Lockhart, but Bea was needed to anchor the silliness. I love the way Billie Jo was played by 3 different actresses and Bobbie Jo two, the "Bewitched" syndrome of switching actors with no explanation began here!

[bigmonster]

I thought the redhead (Betty Jo?) was all kinds of hot. Even in the mid-90's when she was playing Quinn's mom on Sliders. And as an adult I started to notice how hot the brunette was, OMG! To quote Fez: I want to be the Hooterville dog.

[clarkins]

I barely remember this show. I remember liking Uncle Joe and not liking the pilot I think he was.
I thought it was neat that the Clampetts shopped at the same store as these folks.
Is this supposed to have been a spin off of Hillbillies?

[nothing new]

No, it wasn't a spinoff of "Beverly Hillbillies," but it was from the same creator. It was sort of a nostalgic rural show about non-hillbilly rural types.

Also, a writer from "Petticoat Junction" created "Green Acres" a couple of years later, and that was set in the same town, Hooterville, and had crossovers and shared story arcs with "Petticoat." But the two shows were so different in tone that whenever the "Petticoat" characters appeared on "Green Acres," they would be acting completely nuts like the rest of the GA characters.

There's a DVD of the early, black-and-white episodes of "Petticoat," which are probably the best. The creator's daughter, Linda Henning (who played Betty Jo for the entire run) did introductions for all the episodes.

[Inquisitionist]

I don't recall the Clampetts and the Bradleys shopping at the same store -- were the Clampetts supposed to be from near Hooterville? Wouldn't that mean "worlds colliding" for Bea Benaderet, who played Jethro's mother Cousin Pearl Bodine in the first year of The Beverly Hillbillies??

[Hank]

As I recall, there was a distant cousin relationship between the Clampetts and the Bradleys. I suppose you could make some case for Cousin Pearl and Kate Bradley being identical twins. Hey, if Cathy and Patty Lane could be identical cousins, why not Pearl and Kate?

[libsl]

I guess everyone knows the Bea was Lucille Ball's first choice to play Ethel Mertz. I can't remember why they didn't pick her, I guess it was the producers.

I guess the producer just didn't feel like the show was the proper forum to handle death. I wonder why they didn't have June Lockhart just step in as a replacement Kate the same way they kept replacing the sisters?

[nothing new]

Except when one of the two train guys -- Smiley Burnette, a former Gene Autry sidekick -- passed away, they did address it, and quite touchingly too. They didn't build an episode around it, but they had one sweet scene where the surviving train guy, Rufe Davis, mentions that he likes to do something because it makes him feel like Burnette is still with us, and Benaderet puts her hand on his shoulder and says "I know." Why couldn't they do something like that for her, instead of saying she was "off on vacation?"

[cmkrcwi]

Linda Henning also had a connection to "The Beverly Hillbillies". She did the voice of "Jethrine" -- played by Max Baer, Jr. in drag -- Jethro's sister.

Getting back to Bea Benaderet, from what I remember, she had been in ill health for a while, so it wasn't like her death was a shock. You'd think they'd have been prepared with some sort of explanation.

Maybe what happened is that they were thinking of recasting the character but wanted to take their time. June Lockhart's character may have been considered kind of a "stopgap" until they found a replacement for Miss Benaderet. Unfortunately, the show got caught in the CBS rural comedy purge so that was that.

[clarkins]

I may be wrong. The Clampetts shopped at a general store from time to time back home (BW episodes) and I thought the same guy that ran the store in Hooverville/PJ ran theirs too.

Same actor, different store perhaps.

[libsl]

They were always pretty vague about where exactly the Shady Rest was and where the Clampetts came from. The Clampetts' oil man in the BW episodes came from Oklahoma, leading me to think they were from Arkansas. Silver Dollar City that was featured in later episodes was actually an established theme park in Missouri I think.
The train featured in Petticoat Junction was actually in California, no out of state location shots were ever featured. Producer Henning allegedly fashioned the Shady Rest after an inn in Missouri.

I always thought Petticoat Junction and Green Acres were set in southern Missouri, and the Beverly Hillbillies were from northern Arkansas.

[bigmonster]

Well, Granny always thought that the South had won the Civil War, and plus they established that she was born in Tennessee. I always thought they were from the mountains in NC or TN.

[cmkrcwi]

Yes, the Clampetts were from Bug Tussle, Arkansas. Granny was from Tennessee.

[Inquisitionist]

Goodness, what a heated discussion about fictional characters!

But back to the topic at hand: Steve (Mike Minor) was a handsome guy and TALL. Here are some photos from Steve and Betty Jo's wedding.

[clarkins]

Silver Dollar City that was featured in later episodes was actually an established theme park in Missouri I think.

libsl It is and has been for over 20 years. Great vacation place for the family. Consider Branson, Missouri next vacation.


Back to topic.

[isisuptown]

Oooh, I liked Steve. That actor was on All My Children in the early 80's, as Brandon Kingsley. I don't know why the character of Steve switched from Billie Jo to Betty Jo, but I remember it being handled pretty well.

This show is fun if you don't give it too much thought.

[boomersmommy]

I don't know why the character of Steve switched from Billie Jo to Betty Jo, but I remember it being handled pretty well.

Character-wise, Billie Jo was off promoting her singing career and Steve and Betty Jo were growing closer while working on the plane together. Bobbie Jo even had a little flirtation type thing with him, so I guess it could have gone any of three ways.

Real life wise, Mike Minor and Linda Kaye Henning were together and I think they were married for awhile in real life.

[Inquisitionist]

Kaye and Minor were married a year or so after their characters. See my post on the last page for a link to photos of their real-life wedding.

[libsl]

Anybody know if Uncle Joe was Kate's brother or uncle? I know his name was Joe Carson, and Carson could be Kate's maiden name, and she always called him Uncle Joe rather than just Joe.

[oceanblue]

IIRC, he was Kate's uncle.

[bigmonster]

and she always called him Uncle Joe rather than just Joe.

Really? I'll have to watch again because I thought most the time she just called him "Joe"

[Fontaine]

The luckiest supporting character actor ever had to be the guy who played Sam Drucker. He was in all three shows, at one time or another (Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction).

[prairiegirl]

Fontaine, I just saw you over on the Andy Griffith forum and now here! Welcome! Thanks for bumping this thread up, I must admit, when I saw it bumped up after almost 5 years, I thought "someone has died". Sorry,I know that's icky. This show is very close to my heart, as it's one of the first shows I remember watching(first run) as a child, along with the other Paul Henning shows, Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres. Since we lived in the country, the "rural shows" were greatly enjoyed by our family.This one had it all:A train, a cute dog, a funny man(Uncle Joe),3 sisters I could look up to, and a sweet mom in Kate.As an adult, I hate the way the show never addressed Kate/Bea's passing.June Lockhart is a talented lady, and did a fine job, but I vividly recall seeing a newspaper picture of Bea and knowing she died, and being very upset, and I was about 7 at the time. So if I noticed, I would think the adults did too!Granted, the passing of beloved actors on successful shows just wasn't addressed then the way it is now, but it was pretty insulting to a fine actress.Would like to know what the other actors thought at the time.And only I could post a paragraph this long about a show that ended in 1970....I am a dork.

Edited by prairiegirl, Jul 7, 2010 @ 9:27 PM.

[HyeChaps]

IIRC, Bea had already passed away by the time Betty Jo gave birth on the show. They had a shot of the back of some actress to make it look like Kate had arrived at the hospital to see her daughter and the baby.

Am I old.

[RCTina]

Bea Benaderet was still on the show when Kathy Jo was born. I remember she and Linda Kaye Henning had a nice scene where Kate told Betty Jo how the baby's birth reminded her of when Betty Jo was born. As to why she was ultimately not on "I Love Lucy", I think it's because she was already a regular on "The Burns and Allen Show." Gale Gordon was the first choice to play Fred Mertz but he was also already on another series. Besides being Betty Rubble's voice, she also provided the voice for most of the female characters in the old Warner Brothers cartoons.

I did see the DVD of the first season a while back and one of the guest stars was Dennis Hopper.

[Inquisitionist]

Bea died on Oct. 13, 1968, and The Valley Has a Baby aired about two weeks later, on Oct. 26. IMDb credits only her voice in that episode. I suspect she was too ill to make a physical appearance when filming occurred, but they recorded her voice for the conversation that RCTina recounted. Like HyeChaps, I recall that we only "saw" Kate from behind, so that it was obviously a stand-in for Bea. I was 12 at the time, and I recall this pretty clearly.

[needschocolate]

I loved this show as a kid, and I really wanted a dog like theirs. I have bought a few DVDs - found in bargain bins, like $1 DVDs from Walmart - and it seems the dog is never in them. I guess he must be the only collecting royalties.

I remember as a child thinking it was so clever that the two sisters with the "boy" names - Billie Jo and Bobby Jo - were the feminine/girly ones and the tomboy - Betty Jo - had the "girl" name.

I thought the reason they had Betty Jo end up with Steve was becasue Linda Henning was pregnant or was hoping to be - so they might as well marry her of to her real life husband.

Does anyone know if the using the term "hooter" to refer to a part of the female anatomy was a result of this show, or was that it's meaning before the show started?

[Inquisitionist]

Betty Jo and Steve married on the show about a year before Linda and Mike married in real life.

[prairiegirl]

inquistionist, I remember the stand-in being used vividly, too, and I was about 3 weeks away from turning 8.But I can't find my car keys most of the time....
I wanted to live in the Shady Rest and have that cool elevator in the lobby that never seemed to be used.
When June Lockhart began on the show, and the opening theme changed to "Here's a lady MD, she's as pretty as can be, at the Junction", I thought the singer was saying, "Here's a lady,indeed, she's as pretty as can be..."
I was about 40 before I realized this.
needschoclate, aside from loving your name, I have often wondered about the "hooter" term. All I know for sure is that I loved when Eva Gabor would say "Hootersville" over on Green Acres.