Singing

[nvtlover]

Some people think all the singing made the show go downhill. What do you think? I live in a small town and my family and friends always love to sing together and I know years ago singing was a form of entertainment in the country. I don't care that on PJ it is a full orchestra sometimes playing, I love the singing. I love Mike Minor as Steve singing One Day at a Time on Beverly Hillbillies when they visited PJ for Christmas.

[Marvo301]

Personally I think the singing adds to the realistic portrayal of rural life on PJ. Like you mentioned singing is a common form of entertainment (or was anyway) in rural communities. Besides PJ had a number of cast members who were talented singers so why not make use of that.

[biffbronson]

Even in urban areas, it was traditional to gather around the piano and sing -- a thing that seemed to have been gradually diminished or replaced by radio programs in the home, followed by TV. So it had become an old-fashioned avocation, but still a fun thing. A lot of PJ was a mixture of modern and old-fashioned: Old-style decor in the hotel, while the kids did modern dancing to a portable record player, for example, or the wearing of current fashions while shopping in the old General Store. Sam still used a very old-style telephone, while Betty Jo wanted a motorized bike. Things like hairstyles were updated, but the setting remained the same.

Mike and Meredith I think were the main cast members to have singing aspirations, and there were some recordings IIRC by Meredith. Personally I'm really fond of things like when she sang "I Enjoy Being a Girl." It was also memorable when the guy who later did the "Schoolhouse Rock" features appeared and played the piano, with Lori Saunders sitting next to him.

[liane49]

Originally Posted by Marvo301

Personally I think the singing adds to the realistic portrayal of rural life on PJ. Like you mentioned singing is a common form of entertainment (or was anyway) in rural communities. Besides PJ had a number of cast members who were talented singers so why not make use of that.

I thought it was stupid when Steve and Betty Joe were on the ship on their honneymoon and they just started singing, almost like those old musical movies.

[Jezz77]

Originally Posted by liane49

I thought it was stupid when Steve and Betty Joe were on the ship on their honneymoon and they just started singing, almost like those old musical movies.

I agree, although I don't have a problem if it's done believably. If someones singing and playing a guitar or piano then that's what you should hear. I've never liked the hidden orchestra.

[TeeVeeCloset]

I love the singing and as a few posters pointed out Meredith MacRae & Mike Minor were already signed to label recording artists. There is a seldom known 2011 cd release called "The Girls From Petticoat Junction" which compiles all the released singles on Liberty/Imperial/Capitol Records remastered plus four unreleased songs which includes a version by Lori Saunders covering The Beatles 1966 "Rain". As A bonus track the cd contains Curt Massey's full single version of the theme with extra lyrics created for the Capitol single.

As for the girls breaking out in song with a full orchestra, I think they were right with the time and ahead of their time......"The Donna Reed Show", "Ozzie & Harriet" all had episodes with the actors singing. Granted Rick Nelson was a true singer and he didn't sing in the living room, Ozzie cleverly created the end of the show song and prohibited Ricky from appearing on anyother series like Ed Sullivan which did cause some friction as Rick felt it was holding back his career. Never mind "The Monkees" as well....now think of 80's singing ABC series flop "Cop Rock" and the current "Glee" cast bursting out in full song in the high school where the full production numbers with props wouldn't really be possible. It's fun fantasy.

Back to the CD, The girls of PJ actually started singing and appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" as "The Lady Bugs" which was a tie in with a season one PJ episode that aired the same week to cash in on Beatlemania. Too bad that song does not appear on the CD. And don't forget "The Hooterville Hop" which was sung and danced several times in the earlier black & white seasons.

On the negative side I feel that if CBS ever did continue with the series on DVD, the color episode songs are and would be a major problem as in one episode Rick Minor sings "When I'm 64" by The Beatles to his newborn daughter and not even a credit was given at the end!.....oh the good old days. Thank God that corporate America hasn't cracked down on television airings of these performances in todays syndication and world of greed.

Lastly because John Lennon personally gave lifetime free usage for The Monkees to use the first 20 seconds of the actual recording of The Beatles version "Good Morning, Good Morning" it actually still plays in the last episode of the series on TV and on DVD! Otherwise it would have been gone long ago!

The PJ girls all sang as well as they looked, though an album was never released, at least we have this CD to treasure. The liner notes say an actual video was shot for the song "Wheeling, West Virginia" but not a copy is in any ones archives but a picture from the video is used as the CD's cover. Under $12 and probably will be quite a collectors item when deleted.