The Girls From Petticoat Junction - Thirty Days Hath September (1968)

Beautiful harmonies and song. B-side of "Wheeling, West Virginia". In 1968, the actresses in the current cast of the tv show, "Petticoat Junction" recorded and released two singles. This was the b-side of the second one. The actress/singers are Linda Kaye Henning, Lori Saunders and Meredith MacRae. This song was also recorded by Robert Goulet.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Girls
• From
• Petticoat
• Junction
• thirty
• days
• hath
• september

[cmulwee001]

I just learned that on this track, the girls are backed by the group The Sunshine Company("Happy"). That info is on their brand new release The Girls From Petticoat Junction: Sixties Sounds. It also contains a solo recording of "Up Up And Away" by Linda Kaye Henning, that also uses the backing track from The Sunshine Company's original pre-5th Dimension recording, and it implies that Linda's version ALSO was record before The 5th Dimensions, though unreleased until now. How's that for info?

[CarolinaNIM]

@cmulwee001 I remember that episode but haven't seen it recently. Betty Jo enters a piglet in the fair. He prances around when Bobbie Jo sings. However, the pig's appearance is scheduled for the same time that Bobbie Jo is singing elsewhere at the fair. Betty Jo solves the problem by winning a tape recorder as a prize in Mr. Haney's game booth. That was another of the many GA/PJ crossovers that first year of GA.

[CarolinaNIM]

@cmulwee001 My understanding is that the producers realized that Sharon was not ready for a regular series role. She was under contract at Filmways and was reassigned to do bit parts in different shows like Beverly Hillbillies and Mister Ed. I remember seeing this on the E! Entertainment show about Sharon Tate. Max Baer (Jethro) went out with her a few times when she was doing BH. He was very devastated when she was murdered.

[cmulwee001]

@CarolinaNIM

The only "cast member" that was "fired" was Sharon Tate as she was the original choice for Billie. But SHE may have had a mad love affair with a married male celebrity or she may have done a nude picture(most likely the latter), and was let go even BEFORE she went before the camera's. So Hopefully that helps

[cmulwee001]

@CarolinaNIM So you see, the Gunilla/Nat affair if it really happened at all(they may have just been friends would have been in an earlier time frame, and surely before Billie Jo #2 went before the camera

Gunilla REALLY liked Meredith from what I know, I think they might have even known each other personally and were friends, and she though "Mere" would make a good Billie Jo, although Ms. MacRae's version of the character was COMPLETELY different from Jeannine's or her own ..

[cmulwee001]

@CarolinaNIM She was NOT fired. Even if she had an affair with Nat, that wouldn't have anything to do with her leaving as Nat passed on in Feb. 1965, BEFORE Gunilla got cast. The REAL reason she left is because she was offered a chance to appear in a London Stage Musical which of course would take her off the series. She hated leaving, but this was a once in a lifetime opportunity for her. Like Jeannine, and Pat Gunilla left on her own terms, because she had "other offers"...

[cmulwee001]

@bxktd

Thank you. Anyhow, don't know about you, but I find it ironic that, the Bradley girl with the highest speaking voice

Betty Jo(Linda Kaye Henning), had the deepest singing voice. Her speaking voice was rather high pitched, and very young girl sounding, but when she sang, she had this rich deep alto voice(like the honeymoon episode, or the " A Cottage for Two" episode.)

But I guess it's really not that unusual for singing and speaking voices to be stark contrast from one another.

[bxktd]

@cmulwee001 Sorry, but other than the episodes posted here on youtube, I haven't seen a season 4 episode in at least 25 years and I just don't remember. My guess was that it was gradual or sporadic and before becoming much more frequent during Bea's absence. I could be wrong. Anyway, enjoy Season 4. I'm jealous that I don't have METV.

[cmulwee001]

@bxktd

Well, maybe you COULD help me with something related to this. METV is now showing season 4 of Petticoat Junction. Now I well remember that it was the season in which singing became much more frequent than in the first 3 seasons. But so far there has only been some random singing, and then several episodes in a row with no singing at all. Maybe it's the second half or even three quarters into season 4 when the singing angle really takes off? I asked 1964 Nickel the same thing.

[cmulwee001]

At the 0:30 mark, you can hear Linda Kaye Henning hitting the low notes. It's really amazing for a woman who spoke with a high pitched young girl voice, to sing with such a deep rich alto range.

But that's why these girls sang so well, Linda's deep alto, combined with Lori's mid to high alto, and then Meredith's high soprano/mezzo-soprano resulted in heavenly harmonies!

One has to wonder what these girls could have done with the song; "Today" made popular by The New Christy Minstrels. Agreed?