A warm and funny memoir written from a Midwestern perspective, Ruth Henning shares the story of her husband Paul's rise from a scriptwriter on some of Kansas City's earliest radio shows to the genius behind America's beloved rural TV sitcoms and their lives together as part of Hollywood's golden inner circle.

Foreword - Jackson County Historical Society 9
What Time Is Dinner? 13

A Song, a Soda, a Sweetheart 17

The Writer, the Actress, the Blonde 24

I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby 32

Rudy Vallee 41

Gracie and Her Husband 57

London, Paris, Television 69

Dennis Day, Ray Bolger, Ed Wynn 78

The Bob Cummings Show 87

The Norwegian Connection 103

The Cinema 109

The Beverly Hillbillies 120

The Beverly Hillbillies II 132

The Beverly Hillbillies III 149

Petticoat Junction 156

Double Your Pleasure 166

A Pig, a Pancake, a Pretty Woman 172

The Coziest Studio in Hollywood 180

For Better, For Worse, For Goodness Sakes! 185

Love Comes to Hooterville 192

Up Close and Personal 198

Travelin' 214

Trial and Tragedy 223

Family Matters 229

The Real Paul Henning 242

Is the Magic Gone? 249

Epilogue - Carol Henning 259

About Woodneath Press, the Woodneath Story Center, and Libraries as Publishers 261

Index 265

Acknowledgments 277

Additional Resources 278