# Petticoat Junction girls - Were they bathing in the Town's drinking water supply? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 17, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149 "2005-09-17T20:31:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/1 "2005-09-17T20:31:17Z")
I (vaguely) remember the show’s intro [where they’re shown naked from the shoulders up peeking out of some water tower arrangement](http://www.petticoatdreams.co.uk/media/DIR_53902/petticoat~junction.jpg). Were they actually bathing (along with the dog) in the Town’s drinking water supply? ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/2 "2005-09-17T20:37:29Z")
It could be that they are bathing in a tank for restocking the steam engines. It’s called “Petticoat **Junction** ” after all. I seem to recall that they were easily visible from the approaching train, which means it probably isn’t a city water tower they are in. I may be misremembering though, the camera might have panned up as well as out. I found [two](http://www.tvacres.com/trains_cannonball.htm) [places](http://www.jacksonvillestory.com/Picture%20of%20Steam%20Locomotive%20One.htm) that seem to bear my theory out. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/3 "2005-09-17T21:26:31Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > It’s called “Petticoat **Junction** ” after all. And what ‘junction’ do you find under a petticoat? Hmmmm? ‘That’s Uncle Joe, he’s a-movin’ kinda slow at the **junction** ’ Which junction? the one under the petticoat? PORN, I tells ya! 😃 [sub]I think Ellison said it first.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/4 "2005-09-17T21:31:27Z")
I had always assumed it was for the train. IIRC, the train passes right next to the tank. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/5 "2005-09-17T22:13:40Z")
Although the girls peering over the top of the tank is obviously shot on a stage, later in the credits it shows the girls, now dressed, walking down a path beside a watertower where the train sits. IIRC, the latter shots of the credits (and stock shots of the train, tower, etc.) were filmed at an actual old depot outside L. A. So, jokes aisde, it is obvious that they were bathing, as noted above, in the water used for the train. Plus, they didn’t live very close to Hooterville, so it could not have been water for the town’s consumption. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/6 "2005-09-17T22:19:16Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > And what ‘junction’ do you find under a petticoat? Hmmmm? ‘That’s Uncle Joe, he’s a-movin’ kinda slow at the **junction** ’ Which junction? the one under the petticoat? PORN, I tells ya! 😃 Uncle Joe and his hot nieces, eh? Could someone pass the brain bleach, please? ---
**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:** [September 17, 2005, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/7 "2005-09-17T22:45:01Z")
One trivia tidbid: There were numberous cast changes for the Bradley girls (except the producer’s daughter \*Linda Kaye [Henning]). However, the distance shot, where the girls are walking down the ladder beside the tower used the original cast, and was never reshot, since none of the faces could be identified. \*Who was the real-life inspiration for the Elly Mae Clampett character, and supplied the voice of Jethrene in “The Beverly Hillbillies.” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/8 "2005-09-17T23:31:23Z")
Hence the phrase used by the testosterone poisoned, “Man, I’d drink her bathwater!” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/9 "2005-09-17T23:36:17Z")
And I remember pigtails, dammit. ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/10 "2005-09-18T03:15:25Z")
A wizard did it. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/11 "2005-09-18T03:30:28Z")
Admit it: You watched that opening carefully each and every time in the hope that one of these days they’d pop up a bit farther before grabbing their towels… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/12 "2005-09-18T03:57:45Z")
I was a mere lad being babysat by my Grandmother. Damn right I did. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/13 "2005-09-18T07:45:46Z")
In many rural Australian towns, it was indeed popular to bathe in the water tower that provided the drinking water. At least, thats the impression I got from childrens literature, I don’t know if it happens in RL. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/14 "2005-09-18T15:42:30Z")
> [@Earl Snake-Hips Tucker](#): > > supplied the voice of Jethrene in “The Beverly Hillbillies.” Come on- that wasn’t Max Baer Jr doing a falsetto? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/15 "2005-09-18T19:15:39Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > Admit it: You watched that opening carefully each and every time in the hope that one of these days they’d pop up a bit farther before grabbing their towels… Well it was Hooterville after all. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/16 "2005-09-18T19:21:11Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Well it was Hooterville after all. But they’re waist-deep in the water. Maybe it should be Cooterville. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/17 "2005-09-18T19:26:18Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > But they’re waist-deep in the water. Maybe it should be Cooterville. **Mr. Blue Sky** for the win! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/18 "2005-09-18T19:43:53Z")
Game, set, match 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/19 "2005-09-18T19:48:26Z")
Damn, I always get to these things too late. “Petticoat Junction” “Hooterville” I mean, _c’mon!_ ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149/20 "2005-09-18T20:12:46Z")
> [@astro](#): > > I (vaguely) remember the show’s intro [where they’re shown naked from the shoulders up peeking out of some water tower arrangement](http://www.petticoatdreams.co.uk/media/DIR_53902/petticoat~junction.jpg). Were they actually bathing (along with the dog) in the Town’s drinking water supply? It was water for the TRAIN! [sub]Sounds like your market and my market showed the same episode of _That 70s Show_ last night![/sub] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petticoat-junction-girls-were-they-bathing-in-the-towns-drinking-water-supply/322149.md?page=2)