From 1963 to 1970, Paul Henning’s situation comedy, Petticoat Junction, aired on CBS for seven seasons. It was the follow-up to Henning’s other successful sitcom, The Beverly Hillbillies. Paul Henning may have produced Petticoat, but the title and the concept were from his wife, Ruth. The show was so hot that a spinoff show Green Acres emerged from the popularity. The two shows shared a world where characters would often cross over, until the end of Petticoat Junction. For fans of the show, Petticoat portrayed entertainment in the ’60s like the show Friends did in the ’90s. This is everything about the cast and the show you may not already know.
25. Shady Rest Hotel
The hotel of the show, run by Kate Bradley and Uncle Joe Carson, sits just off the rail line halfway between two towns, Hooterville and Pixley. Each town is about 25 miles away from the hotel, somewhere in the Ozarks. The town of Pixley is a real town in California, but Hooterville is not a real place. In the story, Kate claims that her grandfather built the hotel there because that’s where the lumber fell from the train.
24. Bea Benaderet
Inextricably attached to the story (or so it seemed) was the character of Kate Bradley, the hotel matriarch. They mention her right in the intro: “There’s a little hotel called the Shady Rest at the junction… It is run by Kate, come and be her guest at the junction.” Then, Benaderet contracted lung cancer in the fifth season. Although she seemed to beat it for a minute, the cancer came back and eventually took her life on October 13, 1968. Still, the show continued without her for two seasons.
