TV Tractors

ERNIEB · Sep 18, 2000

Recently I saw something about famous TV cars. You know, the Batmoble and others. It got me thinking about tractors that may have appeared on a particular show on a regular basis. Most TV shows these days seem to be about neurotic people living in NYC, so I guess this is really for old timers and vintage TV fans. I thought about this longer than a normal person would have and still came up with only three. Here goes.
"Green Acres" I think there was a name on it, but I can't remember what it was. Maybe someone else can. One thing I never figured out was how come a fella with that kind of money couldn't get himself a better tractor.
"Lassie" The tractor, like all the other vehicles on the show, was a Ford. A Jubilee? 600? They probably used a brand new one every year. One thing that always amazed me was that even when Timmy's Dad came back after a long day in the fields, the tractor was always shiney and clean.
"The Real Mcoy's" A farm family, they must have had a tractor, But I don't recall it or even if it was shown.
Well, thats all I could come up with, maybe someone else can add to the list.

Bird · Sep 18, 2000

That's some trivia I never thought about, ErnieB, but I just now looked up a web site that says Oliver's tractor on Green Acres "was a Hoyt-Clagwell (Hoyt-Clagwell was a joke company, the tractor was actually a John Deere)."

Bird

scruffy · Sep 18, 2000

Bird, a John Deere was what I thought when I read ErnieB's post. All I could remember was the top of the hood, steering post and wheel....said Deere to my miniscule mind.
McCoy's? Seems to me it was a mule and plow...but believe me, I am more than likely wrong. When I went over fifty a few years back, the memory headed south...ain't seen it since. Seems like Roy Rogers shows all used an old Ford, but I don't remember if was a Jubilee or not. (we didn't have color TV - nor did Dad ever get a TV until all of us boys left home, figured he wouldn't get any work out of us!)

Thomas · Sep 18, 2000

Ernieb,
Now your starting to make me feel old by recalling those programs once again./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif
Do you remember the TV show Sky King?
He was a pilot who search the sky for danger and came to the aid,but if I recall at his hanger there was a old Massy Harris that always sat idle.

Yep now I feel like getting the rocker out and covering up with a blanket /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Take care and stay /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif

Thomas..NH

Bird · Sep 18, 2000

Scruffy, sounds like your dad waited even longer than mine to get a TV. I was 14 when we got our first one and 28 before I could afford a color TV.

And Thomas, that was a twin engine Beechcraft on Sky King, wasn't it?

Bird

scruffy · Sep 18, 2000

Bird,
I think he was just afraid to go milk them 30 to 40 milk cows on his own! We milked them by hand too! Always had a couple hundred plus beef cattle floating around and 50 acres of hay to get in every year, so he didn't want to do without the cheap labor! ;o) wouldn't trade that growing up for anything! The ol' fart waited until a year after we were gone to put an indoor toilet and tub in the house too.
He's still livin' on the old home place...85 years old now, and much, much smarter than he was when I was a teen!
P.S. - He developed that brilliance just a few years after I left home at 19. Sure is peculiar how that happens.
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by scruffy on 9/18/00 07:20 PM.</FONT></P>

Thomas · Sep 18, 2000

Bird it was a twin engine,but I'm not sure if it was a Beechcraft or a Bonanza.
Please don't start about the TV show Gun Smoke. /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Thomas..NH

gordon · Sep 18, 2000

I must say dads are alot smarter than we give them credit for. Dad used to call the tv set--the idiot box-- the only thing I can ever remember him watching on tv was the landing on the moon--we got to stay up and watch it and the olympics. It was the early to mid 70s when he bought a color tv and that was only because the black and white was beyond repair and mom said she wanted a color tv.
Back to the smartness of dads using the cheap labor thats available to them to the fullest extent!!!/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Dad would always work the heck out of us boys but my sister sure could play the game and got out of more work than a little bit---only a girl could play a dad like she used to because he would never put up with it from us boys!
I remember thinking about the truck always being so clean after running up and down all those dirt roads on lassie and the tractor just gleaming after a day in the field. The wonderful world of tv.
Gordon

Anonymous Poster · Sep 18, 2000

You old bucks can talk about me anytime you want!

Miss Kitty

Bird · Sep 18, 2000

Scruffy, you had a little more to do than I did, I guess. We only had one or two milk cows at a time but the milking and taking care of the hogs became my job when I was 10-11 years old; hot job in the summer and had to carry a kerosene lantern to the barn in the winter. I've always said one thing I have no intention of ever doing again is owning a milk cow. But we partitioned off a big bedroom to install a bathroom and piped water into the house when I was only 12-13 years old. We even celebrated by burning the outhouse./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Bird

scruffy · Sep 18, 2000

Bird, I wouldn't have a milk cow for ANY reason! Both of my brothers do though (they're nuts), one has 3, and the other runs 7 to 10 of them. Why? Nuts. He tried to get me to help him milk the last time I was up to his place, and I said I would go out and visit with him, but the cows were his. No sisters (our one died at one day old).
Burn down the outhouse? We did that twice, and blew it up with dynamite once...Dad was a little ticked about that one! Talk about pooh hitten the fan so to speak! Neighbors learned to be cautous in our area, as several outhouses got moved backwards off the holes...I wonder how that happened? Ours always had corner posts sunk 4 to 5 feet deep. I always hated feeding the calfs...them turkeys were sloppy, plus a real mess when the got scowers.

roysallis · Sep 19, 2000

Cheap labor, not my kids. I raised 2 boys and 2 girls. For what it costs to raise them I could have hired out all the work and it would have cost less than raising my kids. But I would rather have my kids even though they are still costing me. They have given me 9 grandkids so it has been worth the cost./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

ERNIEB · Sep 19, 2000

I do remember Sky King, don't know what kind of airplane he had but I think they called it "The Songbird" It had the Flying Crown emblem on the side. I don't recall the Massey Harris, but I guess all that flying, and catching evildoers didn't give him much time to use it.
Scruffy, now that you said that, I think Your right. I seem to recall in the opening credits and theme song of "The Mcoys" Walter Brennan was shown behind a mule.
Someone mentioned Roy Rogers, the only vehicle on that show I remember is "Nelly Belle" Mustard n custard! Having a hard time picturing "ole Roy" in one of his fancy outfits sitting on a Jubilee, but I guess he could have had one parked out by the corral.
I knew there was something about the name of that "green Acres" tractor.
I guess I was lucky, My Dad got our first TV about 1954. He got it from a neighbor who had bought it on credit at a White store and was about to have it repoed. A big heavy cabinet and a little bitty screen. We had that thing well over ten years.

scruffy · Sep 20, 2000

ErnieB, that was me 'bout Roy Rogers, I could be blowin' smoke here, but seems to me I remember an occassional shot of the 'hired' hand on a tractor towing a hay wagon. Usually accompanied by a moon and a Roy/Dale ballad. Am I going nuts here? Probably, both the brothers obviously have in owning milk cows! Let the neighbor do that, I'll go over there to get the fresh milk and cream!

Code_20 · Sep 21, 2000

After sitting back and reading these posts for about 2 years learning everything I can about tractors before I retire to a ranch as far away from Los Angeles as I can, I'm finally going to add my 2 cents (it figures it's not even about tractors). The original Songbird was a Cessna T-50, and Sky King's later model was a Cessna 310. And I still have a crush on Penny.

scruffy · Sep 21, 2000

Are you sure? I would've sworn it was a beechcraft like a few of the others up there!

Bird · Sep 21, 2000

Scruffy, I thought it was a Beechcraft, but my brother came over this afternoon and I asked him and he just immediately said "a Cessna 310". And since he's an old aircraft nut (and TV trivia nut), worked for awhile as an airplane salesman, and briefly owned a Cessna 310, I'll bet that's right.

Bird

scruffy · Sep 21, 2000

Bird, I would say he should know after all that! All I know about planes is if they're flying, don't jump! Also, (after Nam) if it don't have wings, I AIN'T climbing in it! I was just remembering the show, and it seems to me that it was referred to a few times as a Beechcraft, but I could easily be thinking of some other show.

LazyK · Oct 7, 2000

Scruffy, 'member this?

"Happy trails to you,
until we meet again.

Happy trails to you,
keep smiling until then.

Happy trails to you,
'til we meet again."
(a song at the end of the episode)

"...May the Good Lord take a like'in to ya."

Thought you might enjoy a step down memory lane.

Chip Kelly-Lazy K Stables, Gig Harbor, WA

Chip Kelly-LazyK

scruffy · Oct 7, 2000

Chip, sure do sir! Good ol Roy Rogers show. About (if not) the cleanest western motif show ever.
Say, you are going to have to get Harv to make you a little signature block of a tractor holding up the L (leaning of course) on your 'LazyK' for a signature block!