# Drucker's General Store closes for good (Frank Cady, 1915 - 2012) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 10, 2012, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764 "2012-06-10T23:09:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/21 "2012-06-11T15:01:40Z")
Wow-Sam Drucker did well! Sam Drucker’s store was a place in a time warp-I remember when Oliver went there to buy a newspaper-Sam had the Dec. 8,1941 Edition of the NY Times. The local theater featured Howard Hughs’ “Wings” Question: did anybody ever actually BY anything at Drucker’s? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/22 "2012-06-11T15:03:24Z")
I watched Green Acres as a kid and thought it was funny. It wasn’t till I watched it as an adult that I realized just how funny it was. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/23 "2012-06-11T15:09:53Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I watched Green Acres as a kid and thought it was funny. It wasn’t till I watched it as an adult that I realized just how funny it was. Kind of like _Rocky and Bullwinkle_. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/24 "2012-06-11T15:15:25Z")
[QUOTE=lost4life] Sorry, but the hottest couple on the show was Fred & Doris Ziffel, with their love-child Arnold 😉 [/QUOTE] Trivia: Fred and Doris Ziffel’s daughter was mentioned in one episode. They did not speak to her. Why? Answer: She ran off with another goat without their permission A corny gag I loved anyway was everybody telling Oliver “Be sure to see the Eiffel Tower!” when he went to D.C.. Each time, of course, he corrected them. When he got to his hotel in D.C. he opens the window and, of course, it has a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/25 "2012-06-11T15:25:40Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > …A corny gag I loved anyway was everybody telling Oliver “Be sure to see the Eiffel Tower!” when he went to D.C.. Each time, of course, he corrected them. When he got to his hotel in D.C. he opens the window and, of course, it has a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower. Seeing Washington’s Eiffel Tower was always a treat for someone from the Kangaroo State. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/26 "2012-06-11T15:26:38Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > A corny gag I loved anyway was everybody telling Oliver “Be sure to see the Eiffel Tower!” when he went to D.C.. Each time, of course, he corrected them. When he got to his hotel in D.C. he opens the window and, of course, it has a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower. God I love that show. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/27 "2012-06-11T15:30:08Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Question: did anybody ever actually BY anything at Drucker’s? I think he accepted only Confederate money. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/28 "2012-06-11T15:37:26Z")
I don’t even play, but I still want a genuine Stradivarius piano. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/29 "2012-06-11T15:41:22Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I don’t even play, but I still want a genuine Stradivarius piano. [Mr. Haney] “It’s yer lucky day, Ah gots two or three of those right here on my truck, and for an extry $300, I’ll throw in the very pi-anner bench that Douglas Fairbanks sat on when he proposed to Mary Pickford!” [/Mr. Haney] ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/30 "2012-06-11T15:52:01Z")
[**Green Acres**](http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=green+acres+full+episodes&oq=green+acres+full+ep&aq=0&aqi=g6&aql=&gs_l=youtube.1.0.0l6.5517.6905.0.11892.8.4.0.4.4.0.99.345.4.4.0...0.0.jlsc9e52SdA) full episodes. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/31 "2012-06-11T15:59:37Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > _Green Acres_–I will go to my grave proclaiming–was one of the most brilliant, absurdist, po-mo shows of all time. “Vould you like a ‘directed by’ egg zis morning, dahling?” The incidental music, all by itself, can still make me laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/32 "2012-06-11T15:59:46Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > [**Green Acres**](http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=green+acres+full+episodes&oq=green+acres+full+ep&aq=0&aqi=g6&aql=&gs_l=youtube.1.0.0l6.5517.6905.0.11892.8.4.0.4.4.0.99.345.4.4.0...0.0.jlsc9e52SdA) full episodes. Oh lordie, there goes my weekend. Look for “Love Comes to Arnold Ziffel” (["Green Acres" Love Comes to Arnold Ziffel (TV Episode 1967) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0960393/)) or “Son of Drobny” ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0592751/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0592751/)). ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/33 "2012-06-11T16:58:10Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Betty Jo, Billie Jo, or Bobbie Jo? You mean Betty Jo, Billie Jo I, Billie Jo II, Billie Jo III, Bobbie Jo I or Bobbie Jo II? > [@ralph124c](#): > > Question: did anybody ever actually BY anything at Drucker’s? Only at Petticoat Junction Drucker’s, never at Green Acres Durcker’s. > [@Eve](#): > > I always have to tell people who are only vaguely familiar with it that it is not _Beverly Hillbillies_ or _Petticoat Junction_, it is a brilliantly insane \*parody \*of them. > > (Remember every time Oliver started on one of his How Great Is the American Farmer speeches, a fife started playing some patriotic theme, which everyone could hear but him?) Sorry, **Eve** , you’re wrong. Much like The Twilight Zone and Outer Limits, Green Acres offered a horrifying glimpse into a parallel universe. The gate between the two universes was Hooterville. In our universe (seen in Petticoat Junction) it was simply a quiet rural outpost with nice people. However, Green Acres showed a darkly dysfunctional Bizzaro World version of the same place and even the same people. But in the Green Acres universe, pigs were smart, people thought and spoke in complete non sequitors, institutions (the Agricultural Extension Service, the phone company) and skilled craft workers we depend on were completely incompetent and hotcake batter was both edible and a substitute for a head gasket. As did the other shows, Green Acres featured a main protagonist who was aware he was stuck in this dystopia, could occasionally even see across the abyss but like Gregor Samsa, was never able to cross back into our world. And this went on week after week, season after season until CBS recognized the damage it was doing to our collective psyche and pulled the plug on it. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/34 "2012-06-11T17:03:00Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Sorry, **Eve** , you’re wrong. Much like The Twilight Zone and Outer Limits, Green Acres offered a horrifying glimpse into a parallel universe. The gate between the two universes was Hooterville. In our universe (seen in Petticoat Junction) it was simply a quiet rural outpost with nice people. I’d love to see a horror-movie trailer made with _Green Acres_, like they just did with _Mrs. Doubtfire_. “Meet Oliver Wendell Douglas . . . a man who thinks he is moving to paradise . . .” [cue \*Psycho \*theme] ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/35 "2012-06-11T18:30:51Z")
Hooterville was an ancestor of Springfield from _The Simpsons_ in being deliberately vague about its location. It’s funny listening to recordings of Pat “Mr. Haney” Buttram’s nightclub and roastmaster act; he did blue material even by modern standards and it’s very nonsequitur. Did anybody see the truly godawful 1990 reunion movie? It never should have happened, but as the majority of the cast was still alive at the time it was inevitable. It didn’t have the divine absurdity of the original. (IIRC, one of the actors who played one of Eb’s many kids went on to some fame, but I can’t remember who it was and they’re not in [the credits](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100481/).) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/36 "2012-06-11T18:34:56Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Did anybody see the truly godawful 1990 reunion movie? It never should have happened . . . Why are all TV-series reunions so horribly written? _Green Acres, Dick Van Dyke, Patty Duke_, etc., etc.–they all seem to completely forget whatever it was that made the original shows funny or charming or quirky. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/37 "2012-06-11T18:43:40Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I’d love to see a horror-movie trailer made with _Green Acres_, like they just did with _Mrs. Doubtfire_. “Meet Oliver Wendell Douglas . . . a man who thinks he is moving to paradise . . .” [cue \*Psycho \*theme] Interestingly, the producers for the reunion movie were also the producers for the TV series “Tales from the Darkside.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/38 "2012-06-11T19:35:26Z")
The strength of the show was that it had the same creative team for its entire run: Jay Sommers got a writing credit for every episode and Dick Chevillat got one for 152 of the 170 shows. Director Richard L. Bare did all but two of the episodes. That allows for the many running gags and variations on them. They would bring up the same things – the phone on the telephone pole, Lisa’s hotcakes, the door to the bedroom – over and over, with some nice variations that made them funny every time they showed up. Bare also wrote and directed the “Joe Macdoakes” series of short films, which also had the same sort of absurdist humor. Some members of the cast were especially long-lived. Cady lived to 96; Eddie Albert was 98. Hank Patterson (Fred Ziffle) was 89. Mary Grace Canfield is 86, and Richard Bare is 98 now. I did love the Eiffel tower episode, which also included them meeting their senator (played by Lyle Talbot) and Lisa asking him what actor he was. His answer: “Lyle Talbot.” ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/39 "2012-06-11T20:02:46Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > …Lisa’s hotcakes, … That’s “Hotscakes.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764/40 "2012-06-11T20:08:02Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Why are all TV-series reunions so horribly written? _Green Acres, Dick Van Dyke, Patty Duke_, etc., etc.–they all seem to completely forget whatever it was that made the original shows funny or charming or quirky. I blame rustiness of the cast (they’d probably be better if they had some time to get some chemistry going again), the fact they usually use different and cheaper writers, and, of course, Obama. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/druckers-general-store-closes-for-good-frank-cady-1915-2012/624764.md?page=3)