Episode
Petticoat Junction: Kate and the Manpower Problem
Overview
An old school chum named Emily Mapes thinks it's time Kate was married again. She tells the girls to round up some prospects to go to the Shady Rest to court Kate. The girls do this by offering special rates to single men. However, Uncle Joe thinks that if Kate finds a man, he will lose his job. Joe even pretends to be the house detective and tells guest Grover Woodstock to leave Kate alone. Kate finds out from Grover what her daughters have been up to. She comes up with a plan with all the men to teach her girls a lesson.
Details
- Series
- Petticoat Junction
- Season
- Season 1
- Episode
- Episode 26
- Air date
- 1964-03-17
- Runtime
- 25 min
Episode context
Kate and the Manpower Problem is Episode 26 in Season 1 of Petticoat Junction. It aired on 1964-03-17. The runtime is 25 min.
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Episode 25: The Talent Contest
A regional talent contest is being held in Hooterville with the winner being awarded $50 and a trip to Chicago for the television broadcast final. Kate worries that competition among the girls will affect the family. Uncle Joe has other thoughts where he wants the girls to compete their hearts out with the goal of winning. The girls agree in that they figure Kate could use the $50. With the ulterior motive of being the adult chaperon for his winning niece in going to Chicago for the final, Uncle Joe tries to convince all the credible competition not to enter the contest. Kate wants the contest to be fair and undoes all of Joe's scheming. After their performances, the girls decide they were only thinking of themselves and drop out of the competition.
Episode 27: The Ladybugs
Beatlemania has hit Hooterville by storm. Uncle Joe recruits Billy, Bobbie, and Betty Joe along with their friend Sally Ragsdale to form their own band called the Ladybugs. Colonel Partridge, a booking agent, comes to the Shady Rest to see the girls in action. Partridge likes what he hears and wants to book the girls. Sally's father, Sheriff Ragsdale, comes by and says he wants his daughter to finish school and not tour the country. Uncle Joe thinks he has a way to save the group and dresses up as a Ladybug.
More episodes from this season
Episode 24: Behind All Silver, There's a Cloud Lining
Homer Bedloe is back in Hooterville trying yet again to find a way to shut down the Cannonball. He believes there must be something in the financial books since Charley and Floyd have not submitted a report in twelve years. That plan ends up being more confusing to Bedloe than it's worth pursuing. Meanwhile, Uncle Joe is given the task of digging a drainage ditch down by the tracks. He finds the lazy way to do it by advertising that guests can dig for silver down by the tracks. He figures others will do the digging for him. Bedloe decides to sell leases all along the track from Hooterville to Pixley for people to prospect for silver. In the process, all the digging will just rip up the track, leaving the train unable to run without major repairs to the track. Kate can see through Bedloe's scheme and she devises a way to outsmart him once again to keep the Cannonball running.
Episode 28: The Hooterville Flivverball
Uncle Joe gets angry at Charlie and Floyd when he is left behind by the Cannonball. He decides to start his own transport business by using Orville Miggs' "Flivverball", an old car converted into a railway car. At first the Flivverball is a success. Kate must now deal with the feuding groups before the Cannonball goes out of business.
Episode 23: Betty Jo's First Love
Betty Jo has her first crush on a boy named Orville Miggs. But the object of her affections is more interested in tinkering with cars than he is in romance. As such, all Orville sees in Betty Jo is a mechanic's expert assistant. Kate doesn't want to see Betty Jo get hurt. Kate thinks he will see her in a different and more romantic light if she wears a dress and becomes a bit more feminine. But nothing they try makes Orville really notice Betty Jo, and ultimately give her her much wanted first kiss. If the family is able to accomplish their task, will Betty Jo ultimately think it was worth it?
Episode 29: Kate the Stockholder
Norman Curtis, President of the C&FW Railroad, is currently on vacation in Europe. He left instructions not to do anything to the Cannonball while he's gone. However, Homer Bedloe has a scheme to shut down the Cannonball for good. He hopes to do it without disobeying Curtis' orders. The plan entails Bedloe being appointed Superintendent of the Cannonball. He would then enforce an efficiency program with an impossible to meet new schedule. He expects Charley and Floyd will eventually just give up. Kate and the gang go to the stockholders meeting where she believes they've got a secret weapon to ruin Bedloe's plans.
Episode 22: The Art Game
A traveling salesman guest leaves Uncle Joe a set of six paint-by-number canvases in lieu of a cash payment. Joe decides to take up painting and hopes to make money with his new venture. Mr. Cheever, an antique dealer, buys Joe's first painting. Joe now thinks he is a new art master on his way to success. However, the dealer only wanted the valuable picture frame. Before wrapping up the painting, Joe trades the frame for one he believes is nicer. News of the painting sale spreads throughout Hooterville. People come by to see Joe's other paintings, including E. T. Gibbs from a local museum. Gibbs hates the paintings, which depresses Joe. Cheever comes back to get the original frame he bought. Kate comes up with a plan for Cheever to get the frame and for Joe to feel better.
Episode 30: Kate and the Dowager
Mr. Bunce with the bank is doing an inspection of the hotel and is not planning on extending Kate's financing. Wealthy socialite Clara Watkins checks into the hotel with her son Sonny. Bunce will only extend Kate's financing if Mrs. Watkins recommends the hotel to her friends. Meanwhile, annoying Sonny is constantly chasing after Billie Jo. Mrs. Watkins wants the two of them to get married. While Kate has done whatever she can to please Mrs. Watkins, she has to say no to that. Uncle Joe decides to romance Mrs. Watkins instead and she soon accepts his marriage proposal. Kate comes up with a plan to save Joe and the hotel.
Episode 21: The Very Old Antique
When Kate unexpectedly sees Homer Bedloe in Hooterville, she knows trouble is in store. Bedloe plans on selling the Cannonball, a seemingly one-of-a-kind antique locomotive. His buyer is millionaire retired train man and antique train aficionado, Phillip Waterhouse. Waterhouse is an old, ornery and snobbish man who generally gets what he wants. With Charley and Floyd's help, Kate hopes she can convince Waterhouse that the train is in such disrepair that it's not worth buying. Kate's plan backfires when she learns Waterhouse enjoys repairing old trains. She hopes that with the family's help, she can get through to Waterhouse the necessity of the train to the valley.
Episode 31: Charley Abandons the Cannonball
Charley begins to believe that everyone seems too busy to spend any time with him. Floyd has started to call on the widow Sarah Lawrence. Uncle Joe has a speech he has to prepare, so has no time to go fishing with him. Kate has far too much work to do around the hotel. Charley doesn't want to spend his time alone and miserable running the Cannonball. He decides to quit and move to the big city. Kate tries to manufacture ways of keeping Charley in the valley before his replacement Bill Tuttle comes and takes over his job. When Charley realizes how much he is loved and needed, he finds a way to talk Tuttle out of staying.
Episode 20: Last Chance Farm
Business is bad at the Shady Rest and Kate needs to make a $200 bank loan payment. Uncle Joe meets Henrietta Boswell and Gertrude Hawley, who are lost and looking for Madame Bovary's Hideaway Reducing Farm. He convinces them that the Shady Rest is the most exclusive reducing farm and charges them $200 for a week. The catch is that Uncle Joe provides them with a money back guarantee. Uncle Joe tries to hide from Kate why the women are staying at the hotel. With a rigged scale, Joe has to convince the two that the secret to weight loss is to eat whatever they want as long as it is combined with turnip greens. He also has them do what would normally be considered all his chores. Ultimately, the two women do whatever they can to find what they believe is Kate's miracle weight loss and youth secret.
Episode 32: Dog Days at Shady Rest
Kate receives a telegram from Railroad President Norman Curtis that he is sending Homer Bedloe with someone named Fred. Fred is actually Mr. Curtis' housekeeper's aged basset hound. Curtis believes Fred needs some good country air and space to re-energize himself. Curtis also hopes that Bedloe will soften his ways in the process. Bedloe comes up with the plan to "ruin" Fred and have him return to Curtis in worse shape than he arrived. That will hopefully sour Curtis' view of the Shady Rest and what it stands for. Kate figures out a way to bring back spirit to Fred and a way to break Bedloe's spirit.