Hooterville
Encyclopedia
Hooterville was a fictional town that was the setting of the American
television
sitcoms
Petticoat Junction
and Green Acres
.
ed over 80 acres (320,000 m²); Ben Miller, the apple
farmer; Mr. Haney
(first name disputed, Eustace or Charlton), the county con man; Hank Kimball
, the idiotic county agent; Sam Drucker
, the only shopkeeper in Hooterville; Sarah Hotchkiss Trendell, the telephone operator
; The Monroe Brothers, Alf and Ralph. Despite Ralph's name and status as a brother, Ralph, played by Mary Grace Canfield, is a woman. Alf is played by Sid Melton. Seemingly, only Oliver questions the bizarre contradiction; Fred Ziffel, a pig
farm owner; Doris "Ruthie" Ziffel, Fred's loud and nosey wife (the couple also owned an intelligent pig named Arnold
); Charley Pratt and Floyd Smoot, the engineer and conductor, respectively, of the local train
, the Hooterville Cannonball
; and Eb Dawson, the handyman for the Douglas family. Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight
was the only song that the Hooterville Volunteer Fire Department Marching Band could play—at half speed and somewhat off-key. In Green Acres, it was noted the population of Hooterville (the city) is around 40 people and falling. However, in Petticoat Junction and in Green Acres, Hooterville appears to be a somewhat larger town able to support a high school and several other institutions.
down the tracks (and apparently the sole business in the area aside from Drucker's). The Shady Rest Hotel was run by widowed Kate Bradley (played by Bea Benaderet
) and her lazy, overweight uncle "Uncle Joe" Carson (Edgar Buchanan
). Kate had three daughters, "boy crazy" Billie Jo (Jeannine Riley
-1963-65), (Gunilla Hutton
-1965-66), (Meredith MacRae
-1967-70), "book worm" Bobbie Jo (Pat Woodell-1963-65), (Lori Saunders
-1965-70), and "tomboy" Betty Jo (Linda Henning-1963-70). In addition to his storekeeping duties, Drucker was also the town's postmaster
and publisher of the local weekly newspaper
, the Hooterville World Guardian. Drucker also operated a bank, which seemed to consist largely of a cash box located under the counter in his store.
In the song The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
, singer Gil Scott-Heron
refers to "Green Acres, Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville Junction," the last presumably an error for Petticoat Junction.
couple, lawyer Oliver Wendell Douglas
(Eddie Albert
) and his diamond-clad wife, Lisa
(Eva Gabor
), who give up their Park Avenue
penthouse for a run-down farm, "The Old Haney Place". Hooterville in Green Acres
was a much more wacky, surreal place than the one in Petticoat Junction, though the shows shared characters, as the humor in Green Acres was often far broader. In the shows' later years, the major overlap between the two was Sam Drucker and his combination general store
, post office
, and newspaper office. In this series, the town was said to be named after Horace Hooter. According to Green Acres, Hooterville is in "the kangaroo state". When Oliver visits the governor, the governor gives him a stuffed kangaroo as state memorabilia.
A running gag
is that Hooterville is so remote that the only way to get there is by parachute; a plot hole
shows however that Hooterville is connected on a railroad and has a nearby airport in Pixley. Likewise Hooterville is so backward that one episode shows the most "recent" election sign urging citizens to vote for Calvin Coolidge
, while another has the Hooterville citizens still thinking the President is Herbert Hoover
.
, where Paul Henning's wife Ruth grew up, although the exact location in the show was never stated. In numerous episodes, it was said that they were close to Chicago
; in one Green Acres episode, Mr. Haney said Chicago was 300 miles (480 km) away. Another time it was said a nearby town was called Springfield, which is also the name of the capital city
of Illinois
, as well as a city
in southwest Missouri
. Hooterville may also have been in the Ozarks
. One of the working titles for Petticoat Junction had been Ozark Widow (another had been Whistle Stop).
The cast of another CBS show, The Beverly Hillbillies
, had some connection with the characters in Petticoat Junction, when Cousin Pearl contacted Granny to assist with Betty Jo Bradley's baby; the Clampetts themselves hailed from Bug Tussle, Arkansas
. The name "Hooterville" is actually first used in episode No. 6 of The Beverly Hillbillies
by supporting character Jasper "Jazzbo" Depew (Phil Gordon).
Sam Drucker, the grocer and postmaster, gives the Zip code
for Hooterville as 40516½. 40516 is a Zip code for Lexington, Kentucky
, a city 375 miles (603.5 km) from Chicago. Also, Lexington, Kentucky is exactly 55 miles (88.5 km) from Springfield, Kentucky
which further agrees with the theory of Hooterville being a rural suburb of Lexington (see above correlation regarding a town called Springfield). The Simpsons
, Guiding Light
, Father Knows Best
and G.I. Joe
have all made locales out of the ambiguity of the location of a town named Springfield. The name approximates Hooverville
- a term used for shantytowns and camptowns that emerged during the Great Depression
- but it is also the name of a bucolic town on railroad tracks in western Pennsylvania.http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Hooverville&state=PA#a/maps/l:::Hooverville:PA::US:40.4128:-79.027199:city:Westmoreland+County/m:hyb:7:40.4128:-79.027199:0:0:/io:0:::::f:EN:M:/e. One episode has an investigator from the New York District Attorney at the Douglas farm trying to find an uncle of Lisa Douglas who was running from paying alimony, implying that "Green Acres" is in rural New York state outside of New York City. However, Hank Kimball indicated in the second season episode "The Vulgar Ring Story" that he was on his lunch break at 10:00 AM, to coincide with Washington's lunch break, and since the official U.S. government lunch hour was 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM, Green Acres would have to be in Central Time, coinciding with the Midwest.
Based on character comments in the third season of Green Acres, Hooterville is not in Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, or Indiana. Each of these places is referred to by characters as being somewhere else.
The license plates used on vehicles in Green Acres are in the style of 1963-68 California plates, with the word "California" obscured. The radio announcer in the second season episode "An Old Fashioned Christmas" noted that the temperature in Pixley was 81 degrees, which would be consistent with the warm weather that California often has, at the same time that the temperature in Chicago was -2 degrees and in Schenectady was 1 degree. Further, "Greenacres" and "Pixley" are place names in the San Joaquin Valley of California.
According to the logic of the script, Hooterville may be fairly close to New York City, as characters such as Oliver Wendell Douglas, a former New York City lawyer, and his wife Lisa's mother make trips to and from New York on an occasional basis and appear to make a round trip in a day's time.
According to "Dave Stein's Official Petticoat Junction Site" (http://petticoat.topcities.com/page1.htm), the inspiration for Hooterville came from Paul Henning's wife, Ruth. As a child, Ruth traveled by train to her grandparents' hotel in Eldon, Missouri
. Eldon, Missouri is right at 300 miles (482.8 km), as the crow files, from Chicago. Other than distance and a hotel near the railroad tracks, though, there is little resemblance between Hooterville and Eldon, Missouri.
Exteriors for the twin Hooterville series were shot by Filmways near Jamestown/Sonora, California, a decidedly rural area.
, was called "Pixley", and there is an ongoing rivalry between the two communities. Pixley was the closest town from Hooterville. Other towns in the area were Crabwell Corners (about 5-8 miles (12.9 km) away), Stankwell Falls (distance never stated), Bugtussle (about 20-25 miles (40.2 km) away), Bleedswell (distance never stated), the unnamed county seat (about 75 miles (120.7 km) away), Springfield (distance never stated), Appleville (300 miles away), Chicago (300 miles away), and the unnamed state capital (500 miles away). Most of the above towns are also apparently near The Beverly Hillbillies
"back home" town of Bugtussle. One place mentioned on Hillbillies as being near the above places is Silver Dollar City
—apparently an in-joke.
In one episode of Green Acres, "How to Get from Hooterville to Pixley Without Moving", the Douglas's farmhouse is thought to be in Pixley and the barn in Hooterville. By the episode's end, we learn there was an error and the farmhouse is in Hooterville after all. The barn is in Pixley and much to Oliver's surprise the rest of his farm is in Crabwell Corners, so the three towns must be of large physical areas.
In one episode of Petticoat Junction, surveyors determined that the Shady Rest Hotel was built on top of the city boundary line between Hooterville and Pixley. This implied that the two towns were much closer together than originally thought.
(the town which Hooterville is based) was founded in 1882 and was supported schools and businesses for smaller surrounding communities.
The hotel in Hooterville was based on the Burris Hotel in Eldon.
In the popular television series Two and a Half Men
, one of the episodes is named after this town, "It never rains in Hooterville". In one scene, Alan is talking to Charlie Harper about his disastrous camp night with his son Jake when it started raining. Charlie asked him where Jake is now and Alan tells him that he went with his friends to Hooterville and Charlie replies "It never rains in Hooterville".
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
sitcoms
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction is an American situation comedy produced by Filmways which originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters created by Paul Henning; the others are The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres.The setting for the series...
and Green Acres
Green Acres
Green Acres is an American television series starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm...
.
Citizens
The town of Hooterville was founded in 1868 by Horace Hooter. Hooterville county had a population of 3,000 citizens (as of 1963), including such residents as Newt Kiley, who farmFarm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
ed over 80 acres (320,000 m²); Ben Miller, the apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
farmer; Mr. Haney
Mr. Haney
Mr. Haney was a local farmer turned salesman and con man in the rural Hooterville community who was a supporting antagonist character on the 1960s CBS television series Green Acres.Haney, portrayed by veteran character actor and longtime Western film sidekick Pat Buttram with the odd,...
(first name disputed, Eustace or Charlton), the county con man; Hank Kimball
Hank Kimball
Henry Wadsworth "Hank" Kimball was the fictitious county agent of the 1965-71 American television comedy Green Acres. The show was about a rich New York City couple who decide to buy and run a farm in the wacky and surreal town of Hooterville....
, the idiotic county agent; Sam Drucker
Sam Drucker
Sam Drucker was the operator of the general store in Hooterville in the fictional world of the 1960s American sitcoms Petticoat Junction and Green Acres and made several guest appearances on The Beverly Hillbillies, created by Paul Henning...
, the only shopkeeper in Hooterville; Sarah Hotchkiss Trendell, the telephone operator
Telephone operator
A telephone operator is either* a person who provides assistance to a telephone caller, usually in the placing of operator assisted telephone calls such as calls from a pay phone, collect calls , calls which are billed to a credit card, station-to-station and person-to-person calls, and certain...
; The Monroe Brothers, Alf and Ralph. Despite Ralph's name and status as a brother, Ralph, played by Mary Grace Canfield, is a woman. Alf is played by Sid Melton. Seemingly, only Oliver questions the bizarre contradiction; Fred Ziffel, a pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
farm owner; Doris "Ruthie" Ziffel, Fred's loud and nosey wife (the couple also owned an intelligent pig named Arnold
Arnold Ziffel
Arnold Ziffel was a pig featured in Green Acres, an American situation comedy that was produced by Filmways, Inc., and originally aired on the CBS network from 1965 to 1971...
); Charley Pratt and Floyd Smoot, the engineer and conductor, respectively, of the local train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
, the Hooterville Cannonball
Hooterville Cannonball
The Hooterville Cannonball was a fictional railroad train featured in Petticoat Junction, an American situation comedy that was produced by Filmways, Inc., and originally aired on the CBS network from 1963 to 1970...
; and Eb Dawson, the handyman for the Douglas family. Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight
There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight
"A Hot Time in the Old Town" is an American ragtime song, composed in 1896 by Theodore August Metz with lyrics by Joe Hayden. Metz was the band leader of the McIntyre and Heath Minstrels....
was the only song that the Hooterville Volunteer Fire Department Marching Band could play—at half speed and somewhat off-key. In Green Acres, it was noted the population of Hooterville (the city) is around 40 people and falling. However, in Petticoat Junction and in Green Acres, Hooterville appears to be a somewhat larger town able to support a high school and several other institutions.
Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction (1963–70) was set in the Shady Rest Hotel, which was located 25 miles (40.2 km)down the tracks (and apparently the sole business in the area aside from Drucker's). The Shady Rest Hotel was run by widowed Kate Bradley (played by Bea Benaderet
Bea Benaderet
Bea Benaderet was an American actress born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, California. She is best remembered for her wide variety of television work, which included a starring role in the 1960s television series Petticoat Junction and Green Acres as Shady Rest Hotel owner Kate...
) and her lazy, overweight uncle "Uncle Joe" Carson (Edgar Buchanan
Edgar Buchanan
Edgar Buchanan was an American actor with a long career in both film and television, most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the Petticoat Junction, Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies television sitcoms of the 1960s...
). Kate had three daughters, "boy crazy" Billie Jo (Jeannine Riley
Jeannine Riley
Jeannine Riley is an American actress.She played in numerous television series and a few feature films such as The Big Mouth...
-1963-65), (Gunilla Hutton
Gunilla Hutton
Gunilla Hutton is a Swedish-born American actress and singer, perhaps most notable for her roles as the second Billie Jo Bradley on Petticoat Junction , and as a regular cast member in the television series Hee Haw until 1992....
-1965-66), (Meredith MacRae
Meredith MacRae
Meredith Lynn MacRae was an American actress and singer.-Life and career:MacRae was best known for her television roles as Billie Jo on Petticoat Junction and as Sally Ann in My Three Sons...
-1967-70), "book worm" Bobbie Jo (Pat Woodell-1963-65), (Lori Saunders
Lori Saunders
Lori Saunders is an American film and television actress, probably best known for her role as Bobbie Jo Bradley in the television series Petticoat Junction , appearing in 147 episodes. She also appeared as Betty Gordon, one of Mr...
-1965-70), and "tomboy" Betty Jo (Linda Henning-1963-70). In addition to his storekeeping duties, Drucker was also the town's postmaster
Postmaster
A postmaster is the head of an individual post office. Postmistress is not used anymore in the United States, as the "master" component of the word refers to a person of authority and has no gender quality...
and publisher of the local weekly newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
, the Hooterville World Guardian. Drucker also operated a bank, which seemed to consist largely of a cash box located under the counter in his store.
In the song The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" is a poem and song by Gil Scott-Heron. Scott-Heron first recorded it for his 1970 album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, on which he recited the lyrics, accompanied by congas and bongo drums...
, singer Gil Scott-Heron
Gil Scott-Heron
Gilbert "Gil" Scott-Heron was an American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author known primarily for his work as a spoken word performer in the 1970s and '80s...
refers to "Green Acres, Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville Junction," the last presumably an error for Petticoat Junction.
Green Acres
Green Acres (1965–71) was about a wealthy New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
couple, lawyer Oliver Wendell Douglas
Oliver Wendell Douglas
Oliver Wendell Douglas was the major character in the 1960s CBS situation comedy Green Acres. The character's name was inspired by famed Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes and possibly also by then-Supreme Court justice William Orville Douglas....
(Eddie Albert
Eddie Albert
Edward Albert Heimberger , known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing...
) and his diamond-clad wife, Lisa
Lisa Douglas
Lisa Douglas was the leading female character in the 1960s CBS situation comedy Green Acres.Lisa , a glamorous Hungarian immigrant, was the wife of...
(Eva Gabor
Eva Gabor
Eva Gabor was a Hungarian-born socialite and actress. She was widely known for her role on Green Acres as Lisa Douglas, the wife of Eddie Albert's character, Oliver Wendell Douglas, Duchess in the 1970 Disney film The Aristocats, and Miss Bianca in Disney's The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under...
), who give up their Park Avenue
Park Avenue (Manhattan)
Park Avenue is a wide boulevard that carries north and southbound traffic in New York City borough of Manhattan. Through most of its length, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east....
penthouse for a run-down farm, "The Old Haney Place". Hooterville in Green Acres
Green Acres
Green Acres is an American television series starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm...
was a much more wacky, surreal place than the one in Petticoat Junction, though the shows shared characters, as the humor in Green Acres was often far broader. In the shows' later years, the major overlap between the two was Sam Drucker and his combination general store
General store
A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...
, post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
, and newspaper office. In this series, the town was said to be named after Horace Hooter. According to Green Acres, Hooterville is in "the kangaroo state". When Oliver visits the governor, the governor gives him a stuffed kangaroo as state memorabilia.
A running gag
Running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
is that Hooterville is so remote that the only way to get there is by parachute; a plot hole
Plot hole
A plot hole, or plothole, is a gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story's plot, or constitutes a blatant omission of relevant information regarding the plot...
shows however that Hooterville is connected on a railroad and has a nearby airport in Pixley. Likewise Hooterville is so backward that one episode shows the most "recent" election sign urging citizens to vote for Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
, while another has the Hooterville citizens still thinking the President is Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
.
Location
Hooterville was based on the Mid-Missouri town of Eldon, MissouriEldon, Missouri
Eldon is a city in Miller County, Missouri, United States. It is thirty miles southwest from Jefferson City. The population was 4,895 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Eldon is located at...
, where Paul Henning's wife Ruth grew up, although the exact location in the show was never stated. In numerous episodes, it was said that they were close to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
; in one Green Acres episode, Mr. Haney said Chicago was 300 miles (480 km) away. Another time it was said a nearby town was called Springfield, which is also the name of the capital city
Springfield, Illinois
Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...
of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, as well as a city
Springfield, Missouri
Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. According to the 2010 census data, the population was 159,498, an increase of 5.2% since the 2000 census. The Springfield Metropolitan Area, population 436,712, includes the counties of...
in southwest Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
. Hooterville may also have been in the Ozarks
The Ozarks
The Ozarks are a physiographic and geologic highland region of the central United States. It covers much of the southern half of Missouri and an extensive portion of northwestern and north central Arkansas...
. One of the working titles for Petticoat Junction had been Ozark Widow (another had been Whistle Stop).
The cast of another CBS show, The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....
, had some connection with the characters in Petticoat Junction, when Cousin Pearl contacted Granny to assist with Betty Jo Bradley's baby; the Clampetts themselves hailed from Bug Tussle, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
. The name "Hooterville" is actually first used in episode No. 6 of The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....
by supporting character Jasper "Jazzbo" Depew (Phil Gordon).
Sam Drucker, the grocer and postmaster, gives the Zip code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
for Hooterville as 40516½. 40516 is a Zip code for Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
, a city 375 miles (603.5 km) from Chicago. Also, Lexington, Kentucky is exactly 55 miles (88.5 km) from Springfield, Kentucky
Springfield, Kentucky
Springfield is a city in and county seat of Washington County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,634 at the 2000 census. It was established in 1793 and probably named for springs in the area.-Geography:...
which further agrees with the theory of Hooterville being a rural suburb of Lexington (see above correlation regarding a town called Springfield). The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, Guiding Light
Guiding Light
Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
, Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best is an American radio and television comedy series which portrayed a middle class family life in the Midwest. It was created by writer Ed James in the 1940s.-Radio:...
and G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (Marvel Comics)
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is a comic book that was published by Marvel Comics from 1982 to 1994. Based on Hasbro, Inc.'s G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero line of military-themed toys, the series has been credited for making G.I. Joe into a pop-culture phenomenon. G.I...
have all made locales out of the ambiguity of the location of a town named Springfield. The name approximates Hooverville
Hooverville
A 'Hooverville' was the popular name for shanty towns built by homeless people during the Great Depression. They were named after the President of the United States at the time, Herbert Hoover, because he allegedly let the nation slide into depression...
- a term used for shantytowns and camptowns that emerged during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
- but it is also the name of a bucolic town on railroad tracks in western Pennsylvania.http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Hooverville&state=PA#a/maps/l:::Hooverville:PA::US:40.4128:-79.027199:city:Westmoreland+County/m:hyb:7:40.4128:-79.027199:0:0:/io:0:::::f:EN:M:/e. One episode has an investigator from the New York District Attorney at the Douglas farm trying to find an uncle of Lisa Douglas who was running from paying alimony, implying that "Green Acres" is in rural New York state outside of New York City. However, Hank Kimball indicated in the second season episode "The Vulgar Ring Story" that he was on his lunch break at 10:00 AM, to coincide with Washington's lunch break, and since the official U.S. government lunch hour was 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM, Green Acres would have to be in Central Time, coinciding with the Midwest.
Based on character comments in the third season of Green Acres, Hooterville is not in Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, or Indiana. Each of these places is referred to by characters as being somewhere else.
The license plates used on vehicles in Green Acres are in the style of 1963-68 California plates, with the word "California" obscured. The radio announcer in the second season episode "An Old Fashioned Christmas" noted that the temperature in Pixley was 81 degrees, which would be consistent with the warm weather that California often has, at the same time that the temperature in Chicago was -2 degrees and in Schenectady was 1 degree. Further, "Greenacres" and "Pixley" are place names in the San Joaquin Valley of California.
According to the logic of the script, Hooterville may be fairly close to New York City, as characters such as Oliver Wendell Douglas, a former New York City lawyer, and his wife Lisa's mother make trips to and from New York on an occasional basis and appear to make a round trip in a day's time.
According to "Dave Stein's Official Petticoat Junction Site" (http://petticoat.topcities.com/page1.htm), the inspiration for Hooterville came from Paul Henning's wife, Ruth. As a child, Ruth traveled by train to her grandparents' hotel in Eldon, Missouri
Eldon, Missouri
Eldon is a city in Miller County, Missouri, United States. It is thirty miles southwest from Jefferson City. The population was 4,895 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Eldon is located at...
. Eldon, Missouri is right at 300 miles (482.8 km), as the crow files, from Chicago. Other than distance and a hotel near the railroad tracks, though, there is little resemblance between Hooterville and Eldon, Missouri.
Exteriors for the twin Hooterville series were shot by Filmways near Jamestown/Sonora, California, a decidedly rural area.
Towns and cities within 500 miles
A larger town nearby, although not the county seatCounty seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
, was called "Pixley", and there is an ongoing rivalry between the two communities. Pixley was the closest town from Hooterville. Other towns in the area were Crabwell Corners (about 5-8 miles (12.9 km) away), Stankwell Falls (distance never stated), Bugtussle (about 20-25 miles (40.2 km) away), Bleedswell (distance never stated), the unnamed county seat (about 75 miles (120.7 km) away), Springfield (distance never stated), Appleville (300 miles away), Chicago (300 miles away), and the unnamed state capital (500 miles away). Most of the above towns are also apparently near The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....
"back home" town of Bugtussle. One place mentioned on Hillbillies as being near the above places is Silver Dollar City
Silver Dollar City
Silver Dollar City is a theme park in the state of Missouri. Opened on May 1, 1960, the park is located between Branson and Branson West, Missouri, on Highway 76...
—apparently an in-joke.
In one episode of Green Acres, "How to Get from Hooterville to Pixley Without Moving", the Douglas's farmhouse is thought to be in Pixley and the barn in Hooterville. By the episode's end, we learn there was an error and the farmhouse is in Hooterville after all. The barn is in Pixley and much to Oliver's surprise the rest of his farm is in Crabwell Corners, so the three towns must be of large physical areas.
In one episode of Petticoat Junction, surveyors determined that the Shady Rest Hotel was built on top of the city boundary line between Hooterville and Pixley. This implied that the two towns were much closer together than originally thought.
Extra information
The town of Eldon, MissouriEldon, Missouri
Eldon is a city in Miller County, Missouri, United States. It is thirty miles southwest from Jefferson City. The population was 4,895 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Eldon is located at...
(the town which Hooterville is based) was founded in 1882 and was supported schools and businesses for smaller surrounding communities.
The hotel in Hooterville was based on the Burris Hotel in Eldon.
In the popular television series Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...
, one of the episodes is named after this town, "It never rains in Hooterville". In one scene, Alan is talking to Charlie Harper about his disastrous camp night with his son Jake when it started raining. Charlie asked him where Jake is now and Alan tells him that he went with his friends to Hooterville and Charlie replies "It never rains in Hooterville".