God, country, and family underpin "The Glen Tinker Caper" with quiet but firm insistence as the Vietnam War comes to the Shady Rest Hotel in the form of Glen Tinker (Glen Ash), whose music career got nipped in the bud after only one record, a flop single that only Bobbie Jo seems to have bought, when he was drafted into the US Army. Two years later, he arrives in Hooterville for his first concert in two years carrying the baggage he acquired in Vietnam.
It's not what you think. It's a Vietnamese orphan girl, Tami Kwong (Sharann Hisamoto), who stowed away in Glen's duffel bag when he shipped out from Da Nang, where Glen and his fellow soldiers in "Company K" unofficially looked after orphans in the vicinity, with Glen and Tami, whom she calls "Boss," forming an attachment strong enough to impel her to hitch a ride with him back to the States.
Complications arise when Doctor Janet, also a local official in the (fictitious) International Adoption Agency, questions Glen about the missing girl. Aware of Tami, Bobbie Jo, Billie Jo, and Uncle Joe keep mum for an uncomfortable Glen, who admits to knowing Tami while playing dumb about her disappearance, but when Tami, ensconced in Glen's bedroom at the Shady Rest during his concert, develops an upset stomach that Janet has to treat, the cat is out of the bag.
Executive producer Charles Stewart, who co-scripted "Caper" with Robert O'Brien, carefully walks a fine line with respect to how the war is framed while managing to express a position certain to raise eyebrows, if not objections, by those opposed to the war, at that point the most divisive and acrimonious event in American history since the Civil War. And while those Americans probably didn't watch "Petticoat Junction," many who still supported the war probably did.
When "The Glen Tinker Caper" premiered in November 1969, national opinion had turned decisively against American involvement in Vietnam. The January 1968 Tet Offensive by the North Vietnamese, although a military defeat, was ultimately a political victory as top US civilian and military officials became increasingly pessimistic about winning the war. After visiting Vietnam, anchorman Walter Cronkite of CBS News---the same network that aired "Petticoat Junction"---returned with a blistering editorial that reputedly helped tip President Lyndon Johnson's decision not to seek re-election.
Vietnam became a contentious issue in the 1968 general election, marked by national protests across college campuses, the assassinations of anti-war spokesmen Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy, the Democratic front-runner for president until he was killed, and violent clashes between police and protesters at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Meanwhile, even newly-elected Republican President Richard Nixon hinted at his plan to end the war. (In 1970, Nixon actually widened the war into Cambodia.)
Most relevant to "Caper," the March 1968 massacre by American infantry of well over 300 South Vietnamese unarmed civilians in the hamlet of My Lai shocked the world, which had already witnessed America's carpet bombings, napalm strikes, and chemical warfare (with Agent Orange). Among the victims were infants and children, some as young as 12 raped and mutilated. Although 26 soldiers were charged with war crimes, only one, Lieutenant William Calley, Jr., was convicted, and even his life sentence for murdering 22 civilians was commuted to three and a half years by Nixon.
In retrospect, "The Glen Tinker Caper" is a gutsy, even vital "Petticoat Junction" episode that is fascinating to watch. Seemingly already discharged from the army, Glen is in civilian clothes even as his luggage, particularly the duffel bag containing Tami, is government issue. So how long has he been carrying her around like that? Da Nang, the Vietnamese air base that was the primary transit hub for American military personnel, is mentioned a few times, but not once are the words "Vietnam" and "war," either singly or together, ever mentioned.
As Janet, after discovering Tami's presence, grills Glen on his deception, who explains that he and his fellow soldiers were just trying to help the orphans, director Elliott Lewis frames a one-shot on June Lockhart, whose Janet states, clearly and distinctly, "We're all proud about how good our boys overseas are to children"; preceding this is the scene of Glen tucking Tami in before leaving for his concert, with Tami insisting on saying her prayers for his success---and for all "our boys" back in Company K.
Of course, then-contemporary viewers did not have our luxury of hindsight, which makes seeing this episode today an instructive, even enlightening glimpse into the figurative minefield Charles Stewart chose to traverse. Contemporaneous sitcoms (in other words, not period or historical ones such as "F Troop" or "Hogan's Heroes") in the 1960s tended to exist in an undefined present that reflected current events without identifying them, giving them a timeless, seemingly eternal feel. But as products of their time, these episodes cannot help but reflect that time. The real value of bygone programming is its glimpse into the period in which it was produced, and by the end of the 1960s, even rural America was not isolated from the realities of the war in Vietnam.
No, we cannot issue a blanket condemnation of all who participated in the war, particularly soldiers who are pawns in political chess games, but neither can we issue a blanket exoneration. Stewart keeps to the spirit of "Petticoat Junction" with an average American doing the right thing, tacitly acknowledging the presence of Vietnam without explicitly stating it---because in 1969 it would have been patently obvious where Tami was from---while still determined to champion the foot soldier doing his patriotic duty, perfectly in line with the series' inherently conservative stance.
One final aspect of that conservatism. Tami addresses Glen as "Boss," which, as he explains to Judge Madison (Parley Baer) holding the informal adoption hearing, came about because he didn't think it was right for her to call him, an adult, by his first name and thus he chose Boss. When the judge questions that, Glen replies, "maybe kids today would be better off if they knew right from the beginning who's boss," to which even Billie Jo, the "feminist" Bradley sister, enthuses, "Right!" Spare the rod and all that. Nevertheless, given that Tami is Asian, "Boss" reeks of "Short Round Syndrome," Kiplingesque "white man's burden" colonialism: not only subordinate in age, but also in race. Boss.
Still, "The Glen Tinker Caper" offers a heartfelt tale made fascinating by its inability to state the obvious "V" word, Vietnam, while the final punchline neatly closes the frame about a pen that doesn't work.
It's not what you think. It's a Vietnamese orphan girl, Tami Kwong (Sharann Hisamoto), who stowed away in Glen's duffel bag when he shipped out from Da Nang, where Glen and his fellow soldiers in "Company K" unofficially looked after orphans in the vicinity, with Glen and Tami, whom she calls "Boss," forming an attachment strong enough to impel her to hitch a ride with him back to the States.
Complications arise when Doctor Janet, also a local official in the (fictitious) International Adoption Agency, questions Glen about the missing girl. Aware of Tami, Bobbie Jo, Billie Jo, and Uncle Joe keep mum for an uncomfortable Glen, who admits to knowing Tami while playing dumb about her disappearance, but when Tami, ensconced in Glen's bedroom at the Shady Rest during his concert, develops an upset stomach that Janet has to treat, the cat is out of the bag.
Executive producer Charles Stewart, who co-scripted "Caper" with Robert O'Brien, carefully walks a fine line with respect to how the war is framed while managing to express a position certain to raise eyebrows, if not objections, by those opposed to the war, at that point the most divisive and acrimonious event in American history since the Civil War. And while those Americans probably didn't watch "Petticoat Junction," many who still supported the war probably did.
When "The Glen Tinker Caper" premiered in November 1969, national opinion had turned decisively against American involvement in Vietnam. The January 1968 Tet Offensive by the North Vietnamese, although a military defeat, was ultimately a political victory as top US civilian and military officials became increasingly pessimistic about winning the war. After visiting Vietnam, anchorman Walter Cronkite of CBS News---the same network that aired "Petticoat Junction"---returned with a blistering editorial that reputedly helped tip President Lyndon Johnson's decision not to seek re-election.
Vietnam became a contentious issue in the 1968 general election, marked by national protests across college campuses, the assassinations of anti-war spokesmen Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy, the Democratic front-runner for president until he was killed, and violent clashes between police and protesters at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Meanwhile, even newly-elected Republican President Richard Nixon hinted at his plan to end the war. (In 1970, Nixon actually widened the war into Cambodia.)
Most relevant to "Caper," the March 1968 massacre by American infantry of well over 300 South Vietnamese unarmed civilians in the hamlet of My Lai shocked the world, which had already witnessed America's carpet bombings, napalm strikes, and chemical warfare (with Agent Orange). Among the victims were infants and children, some as young as 12 raped and mutilated. Although 26 soldiers were charged with war crimes, only one, Lieutenant William Calley, Jr., was convicted, and even his life sentence for murdering 22 civilians was commuted to three and a half years by Nixon.
In retrospect, "The Glen Tinker Caper" is a gutsy, even vital "Petticoat Junction" episode that is fascinating to watch. Seemingly already discharged from the army, Glen is in civilian clothes even as his luggage, particularly the duffel bag containing Tami, is government issue. So how long has he been carrying her around like that? Da Nang, the Vietnamese air base that was the primary transit hub for American military personnel, is mentioned a few times, but not once are the words "Vietnam" and "war," either singly or together, ever mentioned.
As Janet, after discovering Tami's presence, grills Glen on his deception, who explains that he and his fellow soldiers were just trying to help the orphans, director Elliott Lewis frames a one-shot on June Lockhart, whose Janet states, clearly and distinctly, "We're all proud about how good our boys overseas are to children"; preceding this is the scene of Glen tucking Tami in before leaving for his concert, with Tami insisting on saying her prayers for his success---and for all "our boys" back in Company K.
Of course, then-contemporary viewers did not have our luxury of hindsight, which makes seeing this episode today an instructive, even enlightening glimpse into the figurative minefield Charles Stewart chose to traverse. Contemporaneous sitcoms (in other words, not period or historical ones such as "F Troop" or "Hogan's Heroes") in the 1960s tended to exist in an undefined present that reflected current events without identifying them, giving them a timeless, seemingly eternal feel. But as products of their time, these episodes cannot help but reflect that time. The real value of bygone programming is its glimpse into the period in which it was produced, and by the end of the 1960s, even rural America was not isolated from the realities of the war in Vietnam.
No, we cannot issue a blanket condemnation of all who participated in the war, particularly soldiers who are pawns in political chess games, but neither can we issue a blanket exoneration. Stewart keeps to the spirit of "Petticoat Junction" with an average American doing the right thing, tacitly acknowledging the presence of Vietnam without explicitly stating it---because in 1969 it would have been patently obvious where Tami was from---while still determined to champion the foot soldier doing his patriotic duty, perfectly in line with the series' inherently conservative stance.
One final aspect of that conservatism. Tami addresses Glen as "Boss," which, as he explains to Judge Madison (Parley Baer) holding the informal adoption hearing, came about because he didn't think it was right for her to call him, an adult, by his first name and thus he chose Boss. When the judge questions that, Glen replies, "maybe kids today would be better off if they knew right from the beginning who's boss," to which even Billie Jo, the "feminist" Bradley sister, enthuses, "Right!" Spare the rod and all that. Nevertheless, given that Tami is Asian, "Boss" reeks of "Short Round Syndrome," Kiplingesque "white man's burden" colonialism: not only subordinate in age, but also in race. Boss.
Still, "The Glen Tinker Caper" offers a heartfelt tale made fascinating by its inability to state the obvious "V" word, Vietnam, while the final punchline neatly closes the frame about a pen that doesn't work.
