Rufe Davis Movies

When Floyd (Rufe Davis) retires as conductor-engineer of the Hooterville Cannonball, his successor turns out to be the notoriously lazy Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan). To the surprise of one and all, Joe proves to be super-efficient at his new assignment; unfortunately, he also drives everyone crazy by rigidly adhering to the CF&W Railroad's timetable. Unfortunately, the train company is looking for a quick tax write-off--and what could be quicker than selling the Cannonball? This episode includes clips from the earlier installments "The Valley Has a Baby" and "The Santa Claus Special". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In retrospect, the first episode of Petticoat Junction's fifth season, "Is This My Daughter?," is ironically amusing. Kate Bradley, widowed owner of Hooterville's Shady Rest Hotel, is astonished by how much her daughter Betty Jo (Linda Kaye Henning), has changed upon returning from a trip to Europe. This in itself is astonishing since, of the six actresses who have portrayed Kate's three daughters during the previous five seasons, Linda Kaye Henning is the only one who has been with the series since the outset! (This loyalty may or may not stem from the fact that Henning was the daughter of the "boss," Petticoat Junction executive producer Paul Henning). That said, it can be noted that Betty Jo is pretty much the entire focus of season five. After choosing among the three Bradley girls, handsome crop duster Steve Elliott (Mike Minor) decides to propose to Betty, leading inevitably to a wedding episode, cunningly designed to boost Petticoat Junction's sagging ratings. Halfway through the season, Kate Bradley goes "out of town," obliging her lazy Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) to take charge of the Shady Rest, with the occasional help of a hitherto unseen Bradley relative, Aunt Helen (played by Rosemary de Camp, who had previously co-starred in producer Paul Henning's "The Bob Cummings Show.") Kate would not return to Hooterville until the season finale, and then only briefly. The reason for her conspicuous absence was both simple and tragic: series star Bea Benaderet was seriously ill with cancer, unable to appear before the cameras for any more than a few minutes at a time. Bea Benaderet would be heard (but not seen) in only one more Petticoat Junction episode, filmed just before her death on October 13, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Hooterville telephone directory (two full pages this year!) comes out, and Oliver (Eddie Albert) is upset that Lisa (Eva Gabor) has listed him as "Attorney at Law." Oliver is worried that he will receive so many calls for his services that he'll never get his farm chores done -- and remember, every time the phone rings, he has to climb up a telephone pole to answer it! But the biggest crisis in this episode arises when Lisa tries to bake a pound cake, which turns out to be even heavier than her legendary hotcakes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When Lisa (Eva Gabor) discovers to her horror that Hooterville has no beauty parlor, she decides to set up one of her own. Not surprisingly, Lisa does a land-office business beautifying the wives of the local farmers. But her business enterprise proves to have an injurious effect on the community when the wives refuse to do any of their customary chores, for fear of ruining their glamorous new hair-dos. Wait until you see Doris Ziffel (Barbara Pepper) after she gets "the treatment." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Upon taking possession of their new farm in Hooterville, Oliver (Eddie Albert) and Lisa (Eva Gabor) discover that former owner Mr. Haney (Pat Buttram) has taken all the furniture and accessories with him. Making matters worse, the wily Haney has compiled a list of "hidden charges" to further deplete Oliver's checking account. As for Lisa, she is bound and determined to make her first day on the farm her last, and grimly prepares her return to "Pahk Ahvenue." Several Petticoat Junction regulars make crossover appearances in this episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Oliver (Eddie Albert) and Lisa (Eva Gabor) figure that it is about time their farm got some telephone service. Well and good -- except that the utilities company installs the Douglases' phone atop a nearby telephone pole, meaning that poor Oliver will have to do some serious climbing whenever that little ding-a-ling is heard! But the fun really begins when Oliver's New York law partner tries to place a call to Hooterville. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Trying her best to acclimate herself to her new Hooterville farm, Lisa (Eva Gabor) decides that what the place needs is a cosmopolitan touch -- thus she hires an expensive interior decorator. This proves to be headache enough for Oliver (Eddie Albert), but things get worse when his overbearing mother (Eleanor Audley) drops in. But the most horrendous turn of events in this episode occurs when Lisa gamely tries to prepare her first meal -- and we all know what her "hots-cakes" look like (and how much they weigh!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Strictly speaking, there are but four basic plotlines during the first season of Petticoat Junction. The first concerns the efforts by widow Kate Bradley (Bea Benaderet) to make a financial go of the Shady Rest, the quaint traveler's hotel she owns in the Illinois town of Hooterville. The second involves the romantic travails of Kate's three extremely attractive daughters, Betty Jo (Linda Kaye) , Billie Jo (Jeannine Riley), and Bobbie Jo (Patricia Woodell). The third is devoted to the limitless get-rich-quick schemes hatched by Kate's lazy uncle Joe Carson (Edgar Buchanan), in lieu of seeking out anything resembling gainful employment. And the fourth is manifested in the tireless and fruitless crusade by Homer Bedloe (Charles Lane), scheming troubleshooter for the C.F.&W. Railroad line, to shut down and scrap the Hooterville Cannonball, the line's sole surviving steam locomotive -- thereby throwing venerable engineers Charley Pratt (Smiley Burnette) and Floyd Smoot (Rufe Davis) out of work.
Worth noting this season are the various actors cast as the boyfriends of the Bradley girls, including Ken Osmond of Leave It to Beaver fame in one of his rare non-Eddie Haskell roles; and Jack Bannon, the son of series regular Bea Benaderet and later a regular on Lou Grant. In other casting notes, Elvia Allman, who in subsequent seasons played Kate Bradley's obnoxious social rival Sema Plout, appears in a different role in the episode "A Night at the Hooterville Hilton"; Dennis Hopper, five years removed from Easy Rider, plays a bearded itinerant poet in "Bobbie Jo and the Beatnik"; future Batman leading man Adam West is seen as doctor in "Hooterville vs. Hollywood"; Steve Franken, fresh from his stint as the insufferable Chatsworth Osborne Jr. on Dobie Gillis, is equally insufferable as the son of Homer Bedloe in "Bedloe & Son"; and another Dobie Gillis alumnae, Sheila James (aka Zelda Gillis), joins the three Bradley sisters to form a female version of the Beatles in "The Ladybugs." (No, her character name isn't "Bingo"!) The final episode of the season introduces Hank Patterson and Barbara Pepper as Mr. and Mrs. Ziffel, who would be firmly established as the "parents" of porcine superstar Arnold the Pig on the Petticoat Junction spinoff Green Acres. Ranking fourth in the 1963-1964 Nielsen ratings, the first season of Petticoat Junction was filmed in black-and-white -- and as such, has been removed from the series' all-color syndicated package. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gene Autry's equine sidekick Champion takes the center stage in western drama, based on a story by fellow sagebrush star Ken Maynard. Walt Bailey (Jack Holt) is teaching his young son Joe (Dickie Jones) how to break in a horse when a high-spirited steed (Champion) throws the boy, leaving him severely injured. Furious, Walt demands that the horse be killed, but instead it escapes and ranch foreman Gene (Gene Autry) decides to train the horse rather than destroy it. When Gene returns with the horse, Walt's range returns anew, but Gene senses that the newly tamed horse's spirit could help inspire Joe to overcome his handicap. This was Gene Autry's first picture in color, and (of course) featured him singing five songs of the West. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Every so often, RKO Radio got the notion to launch a series of annual musical extravaganzas a la MGM's Broadway Melody and Paramount's Big Broadcast films. Despite the disappointing results of such earlier efforts as Radio City Revels and New Faces of 1937, RKO gamely tried again with 1945's Radio Stars on Parade. The film's ostensible leading actors are played by Abbott & Costello wannabes Wally Brown and Alan Carney, who play a couple of agents attempting to bestow radio stardom upon singer Sally Baker (Frances Langford). Along the way, our heroes stumble into a broadcast of Ralph Edwards' popular comedy quiz show Truth or Consequences, easily the film's highlight. With no budget for new songs, RKO dug up several compositions heard in previous films, notably McHugh-Loesser's "Can't Get Out of This Mood" and McHugh-Adamson's "Don't Believe Everything You Dream" and "I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Riders for Justice is the TV title of the Republic "Three Mesquiteers" western Westward Ho (the change was made to avoid confusion with a 1936 John Wayne vehicle of the same name). The Mesquiteers this time out are Bob Steele as Tucson Smith, Tom Tyler as Stony Brooke and Rufe Davis as Lullaby Joslin. Former silent film leading lady Evelyn Brent chews the scenery as the villainess, who stage-manages robberies while hiding behind the respectable veneer of town banker. The presence of a "bad girl" rather than a "bad guy" distinguishes this effort from the rest of the "Mesquiteers" entries. Within a year, the series' personnel would undergo another of its periodic changes, with future Mickey Mouse Club star Jimmy Dodd replacing Rufe Davis as Lullaby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Republic's The Phantom Plainsman is another in the long-running "Three Mesquiteers" western series. The heroic triumverate are herein portrayed by Bob Steele (as Tucson Smith), Tom Tyler (Stony Brooke) and Rufe Davis (Lullaby Joslin). In keeping with a trend then prevalent in "B" westerns, the Mesquiteers are pitted against a Nazi agent, one Colonel Hartwig (Robert O. Davis, aka Rudolph Anders). Ranch owner Cap Marvin (Charles Miller) is forced by Hartwig to turn his horses over to the Third Reich, lest harm befall Marvin's son, currently held behind bars by the Gestapo. Though jailed themselves on an assault-and-battery charge, the Mesquiteers manage to escape in time to clean Hartwig's clock and make the west safe for Democracy-and more Three Mesquiteers films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide