MovieChat Forums > Petticoat Junction (1963) Discussion > Pat Woodell's mysterious disappearance n...

Pat Woodell's mysterious disappearance near end of first season...

posted 10 years ago by diof09
3 replies | jump to latest

Near the end of season 1 was a very dated and sexist episode called "Local Girl Makes Good". Elena Verdugo plays a savvy New York business person who was returning for a visit to Hooterville. She was very much in charge and had an effect on the Bradley ladies. The ending was a let down when Kate had a "talking to her" and Elena becomes submissive to her male assistant when Kate finds out they both were secretly in love with each other.

After that episode I noticed Pat Woodell mostly missing in action. Oh, she pops up here and there but I wouldn't be surprised she had a very strong disagreement over that particular episode and was already starting to look for the nearest exit.

It would be interesting to know why her profile was definitely lowered during the rest of the season.

[–] carolineno 10 years ago

I have no idea, but I noticed this too. I always liked Bobbie Jo best, no matter who portrayed her.

[–] accountinggeek2003 10 years ago

As a cost-saving move, CBS used to film certain scenes of different episodes of a TV show on the same day. This means that if a certain set is used in several episodes (like Sam Drucker's store), then the cast and crew might spend all day filming scenes on the Sam Drucker's store set, and these scenes would then be editted into the appropriate episodes they were intended for. This saved money because the crew did not have to waste time setting up a shot just to film a single 3-minute scene. This also helps explain why you see the actors all wearing the same clothes in a scene in one episodes that you see them wearing in scenes from different episodes. It also meant that a single episode may actually be filmed in parts over several weeks (maybe months).

This method of filming is painfully obvious if you go back and watch some episodes of "My Three Sons" and see how some of the kid's appearances change (especially Dodie's teeth) in the same episode. It also helps explain why some characters seem to have very small parts in certain episodes.

[–] FlyboyLA 10 years ago

I also recall Pat talking to Linda Henning about how she was performing many engagements during the hiatus from Petticoat Junction and perhaps she was written out of several episodes to allow her to pursue her singing engagements.