Leave It to Beaver

For other uses, see Leave It to Beaver (disambiguation).

Leave It to Beaver
Season-one title screen
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Joe Connelly Bob Mosher
Starring	Barbara Billingsley Hugh Beaumont Tony Dow Jerry Mathers
Theme music composer	David Kahn Melvyn Leonard Mort Greene
Opening theme	"The Toy Parade"
Composer	Pete Rugolo
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	234 (excluding pilot) (list of episodes)
Production
Producers	Joe Connelly Bob Mosher
Production locations	Republic Studios Universal Studios backlot Los Angeles, California
Running time	approx. 25 minutes (without ads) 30 minutes (with ads)
Original release
Network	CBS (season 1, 1957-1958) ABC (seasons 2-6, 1958-1963)
Release	October 4, 1957 – June 20, 1963
Related
Still the Beaver (reunion telemovie, 1983) The New Leave It to Beaver (sequel series, 1985-1989) Leave It to Beaver (feature film, 1997)

Leave It to Beaver is an iconic, six-season, 234-episode American television situation comedy about a sensitive gullible boy of above average intelligence and abilities trying to understand the world around him. The show stars child actor Jerry Mathers as Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver. Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont portray his archetypal suburban parents June and Ward Cleaver while child actor Tony Dow portrays his older brother Wallace "Wally" Cleaver.

One of the first primetime sitcom series filmed from a child's point-of-view, Beaver's adventures range from keeping a baby alligator in a toilet tank, to being being locked in the principal's office while snooping for her "spanking machine", to overcoming fears of riding a roller coaster. Episodes typically conclude with Beaver receiving moral instruction, advice, insight, and sometimes sympathy from his parents and older brother. Like several television dramas and sitcoms of the late fifties and early sixties (Lassie and My Three Sons, for example), Leave It to Beaver is a glimpse at middle class American boyhood. Parenting tips are thrown in for good measure.

Leave It to Beaver was created by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, two radio and early television writers, who found inspiration for the show's characters, plots, and dialogue in the lives, experiences, and conversations of their own children. Though the series spanned the period when television was transitioning from filming in black-and-white to filming in color, the series was a single-camera, full-screen production filmed entirely in black-and-white on 35mm film. Leave It to Beaver debuted on CBS on October 4, 1957, moved to ABC the following year, and completed its first run on June 20, 1963. The show's production companies included Gomalco Productions (1957-1961) and Kayro Productions (1961-1963), and was filmed at Republic Studios (Revue Studios) and distributed by MCA Television. Leave It to Beaver is purportedly the first primetime sitcom to have a final episode written expressly as a series finale.

Commentators were favorable to Leave It to Beaver, with one critic comparing Beaver to Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer. However, the show never broke into the Nielsen Ratings top-30 in its six-season run. The show enjoyed a renaissance in popularity during the 1980s through reruns, a reunion telemovie, Still the Beaver (1983), and a sequel series The New Leave It to Beaver (also known as Still the Beaver) that ran from 1985 to 1989. In 1997, a movie version based on the original series was released to moderate acclaim, and, in October 2007, TV Land celebrated the show's 50th anniversary with a marathon.

The show generated a moderate amount of juvenile merchandise during its first-run including Hasbro board games, novels by juvenile author Beverly Cleary, and Dell comic books. During the show's renaissance, Hallmark greeting cards, Pacific trading cards, clocks, calendars, and other items were produced for nostalgia collectors. In 2007, Hallmark created a line of retro-styled greeting cards based on the show. Each card, when opened, plays the show theme tune, "The Toy Parade". Seasons one and two were released to DVD in 2005 and 2006 respectively. Autographs, studio produced promotional photos, authenticated props, and other materials connected to the production are prized by collectors.

Plot

Leave It to Beaver follows the adventures of happy-go-lucky Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver, the younger son of Ward and June Cleaver, a suburban couple living in the community of Mayfield during the mid-to-late 1950s and the early 1960s. Episodes generally follow a simple formula: Beaver or his older brother Wally (or both) get into trouble and then face their father for a moral lecture regarding their misbehavior. Their mother is usually at hand to offer sympathy. While the earliest seasons focus on Beaver's boyhood adventures, the later seasons tend to explore Wally's high school, dating, and work life. The show's focus is consistently upon the children: no episodes examine the marital concerns of June and Ward. The two are depicted as a loving, untroubled couple.

Themes

Often referenced today as an emblem of simpler times, Leave It to Beaver expounded parental expectations for children, while moral messages stressed the importance of teaching children proper behavior. The show typically imparted a moral lesson in each episode and promoted four specific underlying themes: education, marriage, occupation and family. The show promoted education as an important means in preparing for one's future. The boys attended public schools, and were encouraged to save for college educations. Marriage was presented as the natural cornerstone of happy, middle class life with June and Ward representing the happily married, middle class couple. Mrs. Mondello, though married with a husband frequently out of town on business, was presented as an exasperated single parent struggling with child rearing and depending on neighbors to help discipline her son. In the one episode dealing with divorce, the event was presented as having solely negative effects on family life. Occupation was presented as important to the happy middle class life with Ward representing the successful, college-educated, middle class professional. College was the key to a successful occupation. Beaver often expressed an interest in lower class occupations (such as trash collector) much to the discomfort of his parents. Family and loyalty to family values was a constant theme with June and Ward representing conscientious parents whose duty it was to impart traditional but proven middle class family values to their children. June and Ward did so by serving as examples in word and deed to their boys. Ward and June became models of late-fifties, conscientious parenting with June maintaining a loving, nurturing home and Ward consistently supervising the behavior and moral education of his sons. While the series portrayed the world through the eyes of a young boy, it sometimes dealt with controversial subjects such as alcoholism and divorce.

Signature show elements

June supervises the boys and their friends, Tooey and Eddie.

The show employed contemporary kid-slang extensively. Wally and Beaver both used "gypped" (meaning swindled), and "hunk" (in relation to food portions like "hunk of cake" or "hunk of milk"). Wally used "sweat" much too his mother's annoyance; she preferred "perspiration". "Goofy" is one of Beaver's favourite adjectives, and it is applied to anything which lies outside the bounds of 1950's conformism. "Clobber" (meaning to strike, or hit) is used by both boys in the phrase, "Dad's gonna clobber you." when referring to impending punishment. (Though there are frequent references in the show to physical punishments, such punishments are never displayed on the show. Ward himself mentions being the vicitim of his father's belt and Larry's homelife is described as one of being "hollered" at and hit.)

Beaver had several speech habits peculiar to himself — dropping first syllables, for example (forgot becomes "'got"), and malapropisms (consolation prize becomes "constellation prize"). In the first season, Beaver often used the phrase "kinda-sorta" to mean "somewhat". Beaver's speech habits were based on those of Joe Connelly's son, Ricky. Connelly carried a notebook with him to record the conversations of his sons and their friends.

Much humor was generated in contrasting the 'squeaky-clean' values and lifestyles of June and Ward with the 'grubby' values and lifestyles of Wally and Beaver. Ward and June stress the importance of cleanliness while both boys generally prefer being unwashed and in dirty clothes. In the premiere episode, for example, Wally and Beaver fake taking baths by rumpling towels and tossing dirt in the bathtub. June often finds dead worms and other repulsive materials in her sons' pockets. Beaver's most prized possession is a rubber shrunken head he gives as a gift of appreciation to his teacher, Miss Canfield. In "Cleaning Up Beaver", June and Ward praise Wally for his neat appearance and tidiness and chide Beaver for his sloppiness. When Wally calls Beaver a slob, Beaver moves into the guest room where he can be his own dirty, messy self without comment or criticism from others. When frightening shadows in the room force him back to his old bedroom and the safety of being with his brother, the two boys decide to strike a middle ground: Beaver will be a bit tidier than he usually is and Wally will be a bit sloppier. The episode emphasizes several recurring themes on the show: negotiation, compromise, brotherhood, and family loyalty.

Production

Concept, development, and pilot

In 1957, radio, film, and television writers Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher developed a concept for a TV show about children. Unlike The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, Father Knows Best, and other sitcoms and domestic comedies of the era, the show would not focus upon the parents, but rather upon their children, told from the kids' point-of-view. Working titles during the show's gestation period included It's a Small World (which became the title of the pilot episode) and Wally and Beaver, a title the sponsor turned down, worrying that viewers would believe the show was a nature program.

With Mosher the father of two children and Connelly six, the two men had enough source material and inspiration for the show's dialogue and plot lines. Connelly's eight-year-old son, Ricky, and his fourteen-year-old son, Jay, served as the models for Beaver and his older brother, Wally. Connelly based Beaver's friends on Ricky's real-life friends.

On April 23 1957, the show's pilot, "It's a Small World" was televised on Studio 57.

Premiere

The first episode in production order, "Captain Jack", was the series' intended premiere. In the episode, Wally and Beaver acquire a baby alligator through the mail and, in order to keep their reptilian purchase a secret from their parents, put the alligator in their bathroom toilet. The toilet didn't immediately pass the censors, and, during the episode's review period, Leave It to Beaver was forced to debut on CBS Friday, October 4, 1957 with the episode third in production order, "Beaver Gets 'Spelled". "Captain Jack" was televised the week following the premiere but was restricted to exhibiting scenes featuring only the toilet's tank. This episode has claimed its place in television history as being the first to show a toilet.

Writing

The show's chief writers, Bob Mosher and Joe Connelly, met while working in New York City for the J. Walter Thompson Agency. Once in Hollywood, the men became head writers for the radio show, Amos 'n' Andy and continued to write the well-received show when it moved to CBS television in 1950. Although both men initially wrote all the scripts for earlier episodes of Leave It to Beaver, after becoming executive producers, they began accepting scripts from other writers, refining them if necessary.

Other writers who contributed to the show were Bill Manhoof, Mel Diamond, Dale and Katherine Eunson, Ben Gershman, George Tibbles, Fran van Hartesvelt, Bob Ross, Alan Manings, and the team of Dick Conway and Roland MacLane, who wrote many of the shows for the last two seasons.

Connelly and Mosher worked to create humorous characters in simple situations, rather than relying on contrived, set-up jokes. Beaver and Wally were allowed to age naturally. As the show progressed and Beaver entered his awkward early teens, the focus shifted to Wally who had grown into a handsome and athletic young man.

Connelly told an interviewer, "If we hire a writer we tell him not to make up situations but to look into his own background. It's not a 'situation' comedy where you have to create a situation for a particular effect. Our emphasis is on a natural story line." Connelly and Mosher often adapted real-life situations in the lives of their children. "The Haircut", for example, was directly based on an incident involving Mosher's son Bobby, who was forced to wear a stocking cap in a school play after giving himself a ragged haircut. Other real-life material worked into the show included Mosher's kids faking their baths by rumpling towels and Wally's habit of preening before his mirror, which was based on the habit of Connelly's fourteen-year-old son Jay. Beaver, Wally, Eddie Haskell, and Larry Mondello were all based on Connelly's boys and their friends. Connelly often took the boys on outings while carrying a notebook to record their conversations and activities. Connelly's son Ricky had a habit of chopping off syllables to ease their pronunciation. "Forgot", for example, became "'got" and "expelled" became "'spelled". The habit was integrated into Beaver's character.

Casting

Realizing that Beaver's portrayer was crucial to the show's success, the casting directors interviewed hundreds of child actors for the role but kept calling back Jerry Mathers, an eight-year-old with substantial acting experience. They noticed Mathers was uneasy at the auditions and asked him where he would rather be. Mathers replied that he'd rather be at his Cub Scout den meeting, where he was going after the audition. That boyish innocence got Mathers the part of Beaver.

Barbara Billingsley, an actress with experience in one failed television series (Professional Wife), and with several insignificant roles in B-movies to her name (including the role of the planetarium secretary in the 1953 sci-fi classic, Invaders from Mars) was hired to play June Cleaver.

Jerry Mathers and Paul Sullivan as Beaver and Wally Cleaver in the pilot "It's a Small World".

Billingsley and Mathers appeared in the pilot with Casey Adams (Max Showalter) as Ward and Paul Sullivan as Wally. Connelly and Mosher felt that neither Adams nor Sullivan were right for their roles, and, as production neared, Sullivan experienced a sudden growth spurt. Casting calls were sent out. Tony Dow appeared at the studio accompanying a friend auditioning for Johnny Wildlife and, although he had no aspirations to an acting career, Dow tried out for the role of Wally and was immediately hired.

After several adult candidates for the role of Ward read with Mathers, Hugh Beaumont was signed. Beaumont, a Methodist lay minister who appeared in several religious films, had worked with Mathers in one such film and the two were comfortable with each other.

Two performers who appeared in the pilot found recurring roles in the series proper. Diane Brewster (Miss Simms in the pilot) appears as Miss Canfield, Beaver's second-grade teacher, in four first season episodes and Richard Deacon (Mr. Baxter in the pilot) appears through all six seasons of the series as Fred Rutherford, Ward Cleaver's co-worker.

Filming

Norman Tokar, a director with a talent for working with children, was hired to direct most of the episodes for the first three years and also wrote many episodes. He was responsible for developing the characters of Eddie Haskell and Larry Mondello. Other directors on the show included David Butler (who had directed child actress Shirley Temple), Gene Reynolds, Hugh Beaumont, and Norman Abbott, who directed most of the episodes through the last three years.

For the first two seasons, the show was filmed at Republic Studios and then moved to Universal Studios. Filming was limited to one episode per week (rather than the two typical of television production of the period) because of the large number of child actors involved who were only allowed to work four hours a day. In addition, the child actors were required to go to school three hours a day while working.

The script for an upcoming episode would be delivered to the cast late in the week, with a read-through the following Monday, awkward lines or other problems being noted for rewrites. On Tuesday afternoon, the script would be rehearsed in its entirety for the camera and lighting crew. Over the following three days, individual scenes would be filmed with a single camera. The scenes with children were usually filmed first, with adult actors having to wait until after 5:00 P.M. for filming.

Settings

Time setting

The time setting of Leave It to Beaver is contemporary with its production — the late 1950s and the early 1960s. Though the show debuted the same day Sputnik was launched into space and left the air a few months before John Fitzgerald Kennedy's assassination, the show never references contemporary news issues or topics.

Contemporary cultural references are not frequent. The show acknowledges the greaser subculture and, in another episode, the 1960 Kirk Douglas vehicle Spartacus is brought up. In one episode, Eisenhower is mentioned and, in another episode, Beaver says Angela Valentine wore a "Jackie Kennedy wig" to class. Movie stars are referenced now and then with Eddie in one episode calling Wally, Rock Hudson. Other contemporary movie stars mentioned on the show are Tony Curtis, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, and Cesar Romero. An allusion is made to The Twist, a popular dance craze of the early sixties, while the dance's promoter, Chubby Checker, is hinted at in the same episode in the name of Beaver's favorite musician, Chubby Chadwick. Wally and his friends perform tepid versions of The Twist at their parties.

Place setting

Leave It to Beaver is set in the fictional community of Mayfield. Scenes are set on the streets of Mayfield and in the community's stores, schools, and parks. The principal setting of the show, however, is the Cleaver home.

The Cleavers live in two houses over the series' run. The first house is fictionally located at 485 Mapleton Drive (sometimes Maple Drive) and the second house at 211 Pine Street. In two first-season episodes, Beaver speaks of living in another house where he suffered the measles and also when he first became attached to "Billy," his first teddy bear, which may indicate the Mapleton Drive house is not the first Cleaver home. In another episode, however, Beaver indicates the Mapleton Drive house was the first house he lived in.

The façades of both Cleaver houses stood on the Universal backlot.

Mapleton Drive house

File:B house01.JPG

Mapleton Drive house

Surrounded by a picket fence, the Mapleton Drive house is two stories and several rooms: first floor kitchen, living room, dining room, and "den" (which is nothing more than an extension of the living room opening onto a patio) and at least three bedrooms on the second floor — one for the boys, one for the parents, and a guest room into which Beaver moves for a night. A door in the kitchen is sometimes opened to reveal a stairway to the cellar and, in one episode, Wally is seen in the cellar drying Beaver's wet clothing over the furnace vents. A kitchen door opens onto a small side yard, the driveway, and a single car garage. The garage is a frequent setting for confabs between the boys and their friends, or as a place for father and son get-togethers.

Towards the close of season two, a few episodes see the Cleavers discussing a move and looking at houses. In the season's final episode, Ward tells the boys the Mapleton Drive house has been sold. In the season three opener, the Cleavers are comfortably settled in a new house at 211 Pine Street. No episode features the actual move itself.

Pine Street house

The Pine Street house consists of several spacious rooms on the ground floor and at least three bedrooms on the second floor. None of the furnishings from the Mapleton Drive house appear in the new house; the Pine Street house is completely refurnished. The boys continue to attend the same schools and have the same friends. Beaver continues to walk to Larry Mondello's house after the move.

In the Pine Street house, Ward has a first floor den off the main entry, which serves as a setting for many scenes. Unlike the garage at the Mapleton Drive house, the Pine Street garage is used less as a scene setting. June and Ward's bedroom is seen for the first time in the Pine Street house. They have their own bath, sleep in twin beds, and have a portable TV in the room.

Pine Street house, 2003

In both houses, Beaver and Wally have a bathroom adjoining their bedroom as do their parents. This arrangement presumably totals (at least) three bathrooms on the second floor of the house: one for the boys, one for the parents, and one for guests – an unusual arrangement in the houses of the 1950s. Atypical of sitcoms for the period, Leave It to Beaver has several episodes with scenes set in the boys' bathroom including "Captain Jack", "Child Care", "The Shave", and "Beaver Takes a Bath". In almost every scene set in the boys' bedroom, the bathtub and shower curtain could be seen through the open bathroom door. In one episode, a scene is set in Ward and June's bathroom when a tramp takes a bath in their tub. In both houses, Beaver and Wally occupy a bedroom on the second story at the front of the house — a location which permits the boys to open windows to chat with friends approaching the house on the sidewalk. In one episode, Beaver watches sadly from the bedroom window as Wally leaves with his scout troop for an exciting weekend adventure far from home.

Two years before Leave It to Beaver went into production, the Pine Street façade and its neighborhood were employed extensively in the 1955 Humphrey Bogart hit, The Desperate Hours, a story about three escaped convicts terrorizing and holding hostage a four-member family. In 1969, the Pine Street house was reused for another Universal-produced television hit, Marcus Welby, M.D. This house can still be seen at Universal Studios, though the original façade was replaced in 1988 for the following year's The 'Burbs and sits in storage elsewhere on the Universal lot. The façade was replaced again for the 1996 Leave It to Beaver movie.

Filming locations

The show was filmed at Republic Studios/CBS Studio Center, 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California. Exteriors were filmed on the Universal backlot. Very occasionally, stock footage was used for establishing shots.

Opening and closing sequences

In the first season, each episode opens with a teaser featuring clips from the episode (or generic footage from other episodes) and a voice-over introduction by Beaumont briefly stating the episode's theme. The teaser is followed by the main title and credits in which only the show's four main stars are featured. In some seasons, significant crew are noted as an extension of the opening credits after a commercial break. Midway through the first season, the Beaumont voice-over introduction is discarded in favor of a brief scene extracted from the episode-at-hand, and, at the end of the first season, the teaser is entirely discarded, moving immediately to the title and credits.

Each season has an individually filmed sequence for the opening credits. In season one, for example, a cartoon-like drawing of a freshly-laid cement sidewalk is displayed with the show title and stars' names scratched into its surface, while in the final season, the Cleavers leave the house through the front door carrying items indicating a picnic is in the offing. (See List of Leave It to Beaver episodes for specific season opening sequences). Billingsley is the first to be introduced in opening sequences followed by Beaumont and Dow. Mathers is introduced last, with the voice-over line, "...And Jerry Mathers as The Beaver". The camera then zooms-in for a close-up of Mather's face. The voice-over line became the title of Mathers' 1998 memoirs.

The closing sequence for the first season features a simple, dark, textured background as the credits roll. Later seasons depict Wally and Beaver walking home from school and entering the house through the front door. In the last season, Wally chases teen Beaver around a tree and then into the house. All opening and closing sequences are accompanied by the show's theme tune.

Music

The show's opening sequence is accompanied by an orchestral rendition of the show's bouncy theme tune, "Toy Parade", which was composed by David Kahn, Melvyn Leonard, and Mort Greene. For the final season, the song was given a jazz-like arrangement by veteran composer/arranger Pete Rugolo. Though lyrics exist for the theme tune, an instrumental arrangement is used for the show's entire run. Elements of the theme tune were given a subdued musical arrangement which was used extensively throughout the series' run as background music for tender and sentimental scenes. Occasionally, a few phrases from well-known musical compositions such as Chopin's "Funeral March" are quoted.

Sponsor

Remington Rand was a potential sponsor during the show's conception period, and counselled against the show's suggested title, Wally and Beaver, believing viewers would think the show was a nature program. The show was finally sponsored by Ralston Purina, makers of Purina Dog Chow, with General Electric coming on board in the later seasons.

Frequently-Asked-Questions

How did Beaver get his name?

It isn't until the final episode, that the viewer learns the origin of Theodore's nickname. According to June and Ward, when Beaver was a newborn, five-year-old Wally mispronounced Theodore as "Tweedor." Ward and June felt "Beaver" sounded better and Theodore was known thereafter as Beaver. During the series' run, Beaver is also called "The Beaver", "Beav", and "The Beav".

Purportedly, the writers chose the name because it suggested a perky, toothy, happy-go-lucky boy. Conversely, Mathers has said that the real reason for the name "Beaver" is that one of the show’s writers, Joe Connelly, had a merchant marine shipmate called "The Beaver" in World War II. And, from that, came both Beaver's name and the family's name, "Cleaver."

Where is Mayfield located?

Mayfield's precise location is never conclusively established on the series. Addresses on envelopes and packages seen in close-ups are covered (usually with a finger). In an early episode, the Cleavers visit an alligator farm which suggests a Gulf state location, while, in another early episode, Ward says Mayfield is 20 miles (32 km) from the ocean, and most of the filming was done in or near Studio City, which is in fact located 20 miles by car to the ocean. In the later seasons, Beaver mentions his surf board and Eddie plans to work on a fishing boat headed for Alaska, suggesting a location on the west coast. Speculation, however, points most frequently to Mayfield Heights or Mayfield Village (suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio) as the Mayfield of Leave It to Beaver. The Cleavers consider moving to Madison, and Ward was raised in Shaker Heights. Both locations are in the vicinity of Cleveland. In the sequel series, The New Leave It to Beaver, Mayfield is located in Ohio.

Other locations (mainly fictional) on the show include Miller's Pond, Metzger's Field, Bellport (or, Bell Port), Crystal Falls, Friends Lake, Indian Caverns, and Riverside. Miller's Pond and Metzger's Field are within walking distance of the Cleaver house. In one episode, the boys and their friends launch a homemade kayak on Miller's Pond and, in several episodes, the boys mention "messing around" at Metzger's Field. Bellport is the scene of several outings on the show including a trip for Wally's baseball team and a jaunt for the boys to the Bellport amusement park where Beaver overcomes his fear of riding the roller coaster. Crystal Falls and Friends Lake are scenic, recreational locations, and Cleaver destinations for outdoor fun. Beaver has an old pal who lives on a farm at Crystal Falls and, in "The Broken Window", the Cleavers take a pleasure trip by car to Crystal Falls. Wally gets a job at Friends Lake as a food vendor, and Beaver and Larry row a boat on the lake. The distance between Friends Lake and Mayfield is not determined: in some episodes, Friends Lake appears to be a lengthy car drive from Mayfield, and, in other episodes, Beaver apparently walks to the lake. Aunt Martha lives a few hours from Mayfield at Riverside. In one episode, Beaver spends the weekend in Riverside with Aunt Martha, and, in another, the boys catch a train home from Riverside after visiting their great aunt. In "The Visiting Aunts", Aunt Martha and her friend, Mrs. Hathaway surprise the Cleavers by dropping in on them suddenly while taking a pleasure trip by car to Indian Caverns, an actual location in both Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Does Wally repeat a grade?

Wally is one-grade off in the series. In the first season, he's in the eighth grade at Grant Ave. Grammar School. In the second season, he's left grammar school for the ninth grade at Mayfield High. Four years later in the sixth season, he's in his senior year of high school when, in fact, he should have graduated high school at the end of the fifth season. Presumably, he repeated a grade though this is never confirmed on show. Beaver is also one-grade off in the series. In the first season, he's in the second grade, and, in the second season, the third. Four years later in the sixth season, he's leaving the eighth grade for the ninth grade at Mayfield High when, in fact, he should have been leaving the seventh grade for the eighth grade at Grant Ave. Grammar School. Presumably, Beaver "skipped a grade" though this is never confirmed on the show. Eddie Haskell is in the same grade as Wally and thus is one-grade off. In the first season, Lumpy Rutherford is ahead of Wally in school but in the later seasons, the two boys are in the same grade.

What is Ward's profession?

Ward's exact occupation is never established on the show. There are no clues around the Cleaver houses indicating his profession. In the Pine Street house, Ward has a panelled, bookcase-lined den off the front entry furnished with masculine accoutrements (such as a floor-standing globe and leather armchairs) that reveal nothing about his work. Ward's weekends are spent at home with the family or at a country club playing golf. In "Tenting Tonight", Ward is required to work over the weekend and is forced to cancel his camping plans with the boys.

On regular weekdays, he leaves home in the morning wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. It is obvious that he has a white-collar, Monday through Friday, 9-to-5 job. He occupies a corner office with a view overlooking a busy metropolitan area. Ward's secretary is named Grace. In the episode, "Beaver Plays Hooky", Ward dictates the following text for transcription by his secretary: "It is the feeling here that too much time has been spent in meaningless negotiation, and that both parties should sit down and get back to the basic concepts of the deal." It is clear that his role is in management. As the company which employs Ward maintains offices in New York City and Mexico, he is a member of a sizeable organization. That this company is involved in retailing is referenced on two occasions. In one early episode, Ward works on a women's marketing survey at home, and, in "Beaver, the Hypnotist" Ward focuses his attention on a survey for the home office, and tells June the office wants its employees to "keep a firmer hand on the pulse of the women shoppers."

Ward has two suit-wearing co-workers on the show: Fred Rutherford and Willis "Corny" Cornelius. Both men play one-upmanship games. Fred and Ward work on "accounts". In the episode "Box Office Attraction", Ward tells Marlene Holmes that he is not a lawyer. Jerry Mathers believed Ward was an accountant. However, in the second season closer, "Beaver's Hero", Ward reveals that he was an engineer in the SeaBees during World War II; and, in particular, was involved in construction of airfields and military bases. While a position in a large construction or engineering firm would be consistent with Ward's engineering background, his everyday exposure to deal-negotiations, marketing surveys, and women's shopping habits suggest a position as a corporate executive in a retail business. Ultimately, Ward's exact occupation is never defined on the show.

Characters and cast

Main article: List of Leave It to Beaver cast members

Main characters and cast

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Ward and June Cleaver in "Beaver Gets 'Spelled"

In the opening sequence, the Cleavers were introduced in the following order:

• June Cleaver (Barbara Billingsley) is a full-time housewife and the mother of two sons, Wally and "Beaver". Her outside interests include social events like weddings and her sons' school plays and sports events. She is seen frequently in the kitchen, preparing breakfast or dinner. In the later seasons, almost every episode features a brief "after-school" scene in the kitchen for June and Wally. Wally breezes through the back door and regales his mother with a short recital couched in teen-speak of his school day. The camera zooms-in on June's amusingly mystified countenance as Wally trots away with a banana or other snack. During the course of the series' run, June has several housekeepers including Minerva, Mrs. Manners (who smells like gingerbread according to Beaver), Mrs. Manners' teen daughter Margie (who becomes a romantic interest for Wally), and other unnamed women. June is a kind woman and a loving mother. She always has a hot meal, cake, or cookies and milk at hand for her sons. Throughout the series' run, June wears either a pearl necklace or a dress with a high collar to hide a surgery-inflicted hollow in her neck which would have caused on-screen shadows.

• Ward Cleaver (Hugh Beaumont) is June's husband, and father of Wally and Beaver. He is a farmer's son who grew up in Shaker Heights (a community in the vicinity of Mayfield), and attended prep school and State college. He was an engineer in the Seabees during the war and, through the show's run, works in a white collar office job though the nature of his work is never specified. He drives a Ford Fairlane and plays golf at a country club. Ward and June sleep in twin beds and have a portable television set in their bedroom -- the only TV in the house until the last few seasons at which time a console TV (rarely used) sits in Ward's first floor den/office. In one episode, Beaver allows a tramp to bathe in his parents' bathroom. The tramp then absconds from the Cleaver house wearing one of Ward's suits and a pair of his shoes. Ward is a fair and understanding man who is often called upon to give his sons some moral instruction regarding their choices and behavior. Beaumont flew from his home in Minnesota to film the premiere while his wife, son, and mother drove. An accident on the road killed his mother and severely injured his wife and son. Jerry Mathers later stated that Beaumont's entire participation in the production was seriously impaired by the tragic accident with Beaumont often walking through his part. Before he made Ward Cleaver his acting trademark, Beaumont sometimes played villains in film and television. He wrote one episode for the second season ("A Horse Named Nick") and directed a number of Leave It to Beaver episodes in the last two seasons, including the final, retrospective "Family Scrapbook." Ward was portrayed by Max Showalter (credited as Casey Adams) in the pilot episode, "It's a Small World".

Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers in the season-one episode, "Beaver's Guest"

• Wally Cleaver (Tony Dow) is the older of the two Cleaver boys. In a first season episode about joining the scouts, Wally says he is twelve. Wally is popular with his peers as well as adults, and, at the show's debut, is in the eighth grade at Grant Ave. Grammar School. He eventually letters in three sports. He is outgoing and has little difficulty attracting girlfriends, among them Mary Ellen Rogers (Pamela Baird) and Julie Foster (Cheryl Holdridge). His pals include the awkward Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford (Frank Bank) and smart-aleck Eddie Haskell (Ken Osmond). Wally comes down hard on both Lumpy and Eddie when they pick on Beaver. Wally acts as a bridge in the show between his parents and his brother, often translating parental communications into kidspeak for Beaver's benefit and keeping Ward and June informed of Beaver's feelings, plans, and whereabouts. Wally is "one-grade off" in his schooling and should have finished the series at the end of his first college year rather than the end of his senior year of high school. Presumably Wally repeated a grade, though this is never mentioned on the show, and is difficult to believe because Wally is depicted throughout the run as a top-notch scholar and athlete. Wally was portrayed by Paul Sullivan in the pilot episode.

• Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver (Jerry Mathers) is the younger son of Ward and June Cleaver and Wally's brother. When the show opens, Beaver is seven years old ("almost eight") and is in the second grade at Grant Ave. Grammar School. At home, he shares a bedroom and adjoining bath with Wally. In one episode, he moves into the guest room after a spat with Wally but returns to the safety of his old bedroom when shadows in the guest room and a yowling cat in the tree outside the window spook him. Beaver is not the athlete his brother is, but he does play football in the later seasons. He wins his team's Most Inspirational Player award. He also performs in many school plays. Beaver has several one-shot pets (an alligator, a terrier, a rabbit, pigeons named Miss Canfield and Miss Landers, and other creatures) through the series' run. Beaver also has many human friends his own age who consistently lead him down the primrose path to destruction. Beaver's best friend, however, is Gus, an old fireman in the neighborhood, who gives Beaver sound advice and tries to keep the boy on the straight and narrow. Though Beaver has a few girlfriends through the series and develops crushes on two teachers, his character is colored with a boyish misogyny. Beaver usually faces a moral lecture from his father at the end of each episode regarding some misadventure he has suffered or mistake he has made.

Recurring characters

Beaver's friends and classmates

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Jeri Weil as Judy Hensler, Stanley Fafara as Whitey Whitney, and Rusty Stevens as Larry Mondello, 1957

Beaver's principal friends include the perpetually apple-munching Larry Mondello, Gilbert Bates, and the old fireman, Gus. Except for Gus, most of Beaver's friends steer him into trouble time and again and leave him holding the bag.

• Gilbert Bates (Stephen Talbot, March 19 1959 — June 6 1963) is a boy who first challenges Beaver to a fight when Beaver believes he is trying to steal his friends. Gilbert later becomes a close pal, often leading Beaver into trouble and then ducking out. Before settling in Mayfield, the Bates family traveled a lot due to Gilbert's father's work, and "Gil," as his father John Bates calls him, tends to make up stories about his family in order to get his classmates to accept him. Gilbert's family name was changed from Gates to Bates after his first appearance in the show (in the episode "Beaver and Gilbert").
• Larry Mondello (Rusty Stevens, November 22 1957 — June 6 1963) is a chubby, scruffy, sleepy-eyed boy perpetually munching apples or candy bars. He lives with his mother, father, and older sister. Larry's mother makes frequent appearances on the series while his father makes only one. His sister is never seen. Larry, like Gilbert, is an expert in leading Beaver to trouble and then scurrying away. Stevens was forced to leave the show when his family moved east.
• Harry (Keith Taylor), is a chubby, bespectacled boy brought in after Rusty Stevens' departure.
• Richard Rickover (Richard Correll, April 30 1960 — October 18 1962), like Beaver's other friends, leads him into trouble.
• Hubert "Whitey" Whitney (Stanley Fafara, October 4 1957 — June 6 1963) appears in the premier episode and remains for the series run. He is generally a gentle boy who eggs-on Beaver in the soup bowl episode.
• Judy Hensler (Jeri Weil, October 4 1957 — October 15 1960) is Beaver's snitching, goody-goody classroom nemesis on the show. It is Judy who provides the first lines in the series proper, when she reads from a book in "Beaver Gets 'Spelled".
• Violet Rutherford, Lumpy's younger sister. Violet gives Beaver a black eye in a first season episode. She was played by Wendy Winkleman in the first season and by Veronica Cartwright from February 19 1959 to May 2 1963. Cartwright also played Peggy MacIntosh in the episode "Don Juan Beaver".
• Penny Woods (Karen Sue Trent, February 20 1960 — January 20 1962) is a snooty girl who becomes Beaver's classroom nemesis after the Judy Hensler character is dropped from the show.
• Benjie Bellamy (Joey Scott) is a small boy and a Cleaver neighbor. Beaver passes him through the bathroom window to free Puddin'.
• Chuckie Murdock (Rory Stevens) is a small boy and a Cleaver neighbor. Chuckie usually gets into some sort of trouble. Beaver takes him to buy new shoes.
• Gus the fireman (Burt Mustin, October 4 1957 — February 24 1962), head of Auxiliary Firehouse No. 7. Beaver could always rely on Gus for sympathy and good advice in times of trouble. Gus works alongside Pete, who appears in the episode "Child Care".

Wally's friends and classmates

Ken Osmond as Eddie Haskell in "Cat Out of the Bag", 1957

Wally's closest friends are Eddie Haskell and Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford. Both boys (unlike Wally's other friends) make semi-regular appearances through all six seasons. Wally has several girlfriends over the course of the show's run. A few episodes have Wally hosting parties at home for his high school friends or stepping-out to teen gatherings.

• Eddie Haskell (Ken Osmond, November 1 1957 — June 6 1963) is a wise-cracking, smart-alecky boy who plays up to the adults when they are present but mocks them once they leave the room. He is the archetypal two-faced wise guy, a braggart among his peers and an obsequious yes man to the adults he mocks behind their backs. Eddie calls Beaver "young Theodore" in front of June and Ward but addresses the boy as "squirt" or "shrimp" when they're not about. Eddie's playing up to the adults is so exaggerated that they are always wise to him. Even Beaver often reveals that he could tell Eddie wasn't being honest, though Eddie always believes that his act is working. Several episodes in the last seasons specifically feature Eddie's life: his plans to work on an Alaskan fishing boat, for example, and his troubles with a credit card.
• Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford (Frank Bank, January 24 1958 — May 30 1963) bullies Wally and Beaver in an early episode but later becomes one of Wally's close friends. He wins a football scholarship in one episode.
• Tooey Brown (Tiger Fafara, November 15 1957 — May 28 1960) wears thick-lensed glasses.
• Chester Anderson (Buddy Hart, November 8 1957 — May 28 1960) is a close pal of Wally's and hangs out with Eddie, Lumpy, and Tooey.

Wally's girlfriends

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Pamela Baird as Mary Ellen Rogers, 1958

Wally has several girlfriends through the series' run. In the sequel series, he is married to longtime girlfriend Mary Ellen Rogers.

• Kathy Gregory (Carole Wells, May 30, 1963) is Wally's date for a dressy all-night party. A drunk pushes Kathy into a fountain.
• Marlene Holmes (Diane Sayer, February 28, 1963) is Wally's "Box Office Attraction". Wally invites Marlene on a date only to discover she smokes and drinks beer.
• Carolyn (Vicky Albright, October 25, 1962) is Wally's "Double Date". The two decide to fix Beaver up with Carolyn's younger sister, Susie.
• Lori Ann (Brenda Scott, June 30, 1962) is a library worker whom Wally finds attractive. When the Cleavers take a vacation trip, Wally stays home to be near her, only to discover Lori Ann has left town with her parents on a vacation jaunt.
• Carole Martin (Cindy Robbins, May 19, 1962) is an older woman whom Wally meets at a tennis court. She uses him to make her estranged boyfriend jealous.
• Evelyn Boothby (Mary Mitchell, September 30, 1961 — December 23, 1961) becomes "Wally's Chaffeur" for a teen dance. Wally is mortified when his friends see him in a car driven by a girl.
• Gail Preston (Laraine Stephens, November 25 1961) is Wally's blind date for a school dance. She towers over Wally and changes her shoes for flats.
• Ginny Townsend (Linda Bennett, April 15, 1961) is "Wally's Dream Girl" until he discovers she is allergic to chicken and doesn't like the sun.
• Margie Manners (Candy Moore, March 4, 1961) is the teen daughter of the Cleaver's housekeeper, Mrs. Manners. Wally takes a liking to Margie and neglects his athletics and school studies to help her around the house. June puts an end to the affair.
• Julie Foster (Cheryl Holdridge, January 7 1961 — April 11 1963) is one of Wally's bubbly, talkative girlfriends and the daughter of one of his teachers during the last three seasons.
• Kitty Bannerman (Bernadette Withers, December 3, 1960) is "Wally's Glamour Girl", the daughter of June's friend. The two create fantastic tales about their backgrounds and lives.
• Alma Hanson (Cindy Carol, October 22, 1960 — November 19, 1960) is Wally's date in two fourth season episodes.
• Jill Bartlett is Wally's blind date for a school dance in "Blind Date Committee".
• Gloria Cusick (Cheryl Holdridge, February 5, 1959 — May 28, 1959) appeared in two episodes. When she says Wally has a pug nose, he buys a gadget to straighten it.
• Mary Ellen Rogers (Pamela Baird, April 16 1958 — June 6 1963) is one of Wally's first girlfriends. Wally and Mary Ellen are a married couple in the show's spinoffs.
• Penny Jamison (Carol Sydes (Cindy Carol), December 6, 1957) is "Wally's Girl Trouble", and his first girlfriend in the series.

Beaver's teachers

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Doris Packer as school principal Cornelia Rayburn

• Miss Canfield (Diane Brewster, October 4 1957 — March 21 1958) is Beaver's second grade teacher at Grant Ave. Grammar School in the first season. Miss Canfield is kind and understanding. Beaver develops a crush on her in one episode and is forced to stuff a spring snake in her desk to prove to his classmates he's not a teacher's pet. Brewster appeared in four first season episodes and also played Miss Simms in the pilot episode.
• Alice Landers (Sue Randall, October 16 1958 — June 6 1963) becomes Beaver's third grade teacher in the second season, replacing Miss Canfield. She remains his teacher for several seasons. Like Miss Canfield, Miss Landers is kind and understanding. Beaver develops a crush on her but his joy turns sour when she marries. In one episode, Miss Landers is invited to the Cleaver home for dinner at Beaver's insistence. Beaver is shocked when Miss Landers appears on the doorstep in open-toe pumps and a modest cocktail dress.
• Cornelia Rayburn (Doris Packer, October 4 1957 — June 13 1963) is Beaver's first teacher and, later, the principal of Grant Ave. Grammar School. June Cleaver had Mrs. Rayburn as a teacher when she was a girl and remembers her with a bit of trepidation. In one episode, Beaver becomes locked in Mrs. Rayburn's office while looking for her "spanking machine" and is forced to call the fire department to free him.

Beaver had several other teachers during the show's run, including Mr. Willet and Mr. Blair, both played by Wendell Holmes.

Cleaver family, neighbors, and co-workers

Ward and June mention their parents when recalling their childhoods but it's never established whether their parents are alive and well during the show's time frame. Wally and Beaver never mention gifts or visits from grandparents. June's sister Peggy and the boys' uncle Tom are alive (June leaves Mayfield to visit her sister Peggy in "Beaver's Short Pants" and Wally receives a pen from uncle Tom in "Wally's Present") but the only relatives who appear on the show are June's Aunt Martha and Ward's Uncle Billy.

Madge Kennedy as Martha Bronson in "Beaver's Short Pants", 1957

• "Aunt" Martha Bronson (Madge Kennedy, December 13 1957 — March 28 1963) is June's aunt and Beaver's great aunt. Martha is a proper old maid who wants Beaver to wear a short pants suit and attend a prep school on the east coast. Martha lives not too distant from Mayfield at Riverside. In one episode, the boys have taken a train to visit her. Beaver was named for Martha's brother, Theodore and she gives Beaver his ring. Aunt Martha appears in five episodes and is mentioned now and then in other episodes.
• Uncle Billy (Edgar Buchanan, December 30 1960 — March 21 1963) is Ward's uncle and Wally and Beaver's great uncle. Billy tells tall tales and is a fancy-free world traveller. June does not trust him completely because he fills her sons' heads with tales of irresponsible living.

Margaret Mondello and George and Agnes Haskell are Cleaver neighbors and parents of their sons' friends. They all appear in speaking roles on the show. Tooey's mother, Mrs. Brown, also appears in a speaking role in the first season episode, "Water, Anyone?". Larry Mondello's father and Judy Hensler's parents appear briefly in non-speaking roles in the second season episode, "School Play". Whitey Whitney's mother appears in a later season episode.

• Margaret Mondello (Madge Blake, June 25 1958 — February 27 1960) is Larry Mondello's mother. Mrs. Mondello is a nervous woman who finds her son's misadventures exasperating. Larry's father is often out of town on business and disciplining Larry is left to Mrs. Mondello. She usually cites her husband as a future threat in such situations, telling Larry, "Wait until your father gets home." Mrs. Mondello was a dental nurse before her marriage ("Mother's Day Composition"). Mrs. Mondello was dropped when Rusty Stevens left the show in its fourth season.
• George and Agnes Haskell are Eddie's parents and appear in a few episodes. In the first-season episode, "Voodoo Magic", George storms the Cleaver house when he believes Beaver has placed a curse on Eddie. George was played by Karl Swenson in season one and George Petrie thereafter. In one episode Mr. Haskell is named 'Frank' and is played by John Alvin. In a first-season episode, "Lonesome Beaver", it is implied that Mr. Haskell's name is 'Edward Clark Haskell, Sr'. Agnes was played by Ann Doran.

Ward has two co-workers who appear on the show, Willis Cornelius and Fred Rutherford. Cornelius appears in two early episodes and plays one-upmanship games with Ward. Fred Rutherford is a pompous, overbearing man who makes appearances throughout the series' run and refers to the workplace as the "salt mines". He sometimes drops by the Cleaver house on work related matters.

Richard Deacon as Fred Rutherford in "Lumpy Rutherford", 1957

• Fred Rutherford (Richard Deacon, October 18 1957 — May 23 1963) is married to Geraldine in the first season and Gwendolyn in the following seasons. It is not clear whether Geraldine suffered death or divorce. Fred is the father of an awkward teen son named Clarence ("Lumpy"), and a young daughter about Beaver's age named Violet. In one early episode, Fred is the father of another teen son (who never appears on the show) in addition to Lumpy. The Rutherfords socialize with the Cleavers on a couple of occasions: they play cards in the Cleaver home in the first season episode, "Lumpy Rutherford", and enjoy a picnic outing with the Cleavers in the fourth season episode, "Beaver and Violet". Fred travels widely and gives Ward a meerschaum pipe after visiting Germany. Ward has a corner office at work while Fred does not.

Special appearances

• Lyle Talbot appeared in two episodes as Mr. Dennison, the father of Beaver's first girlfriend, Linda. In one early episode, Linda is sweet on Beaver and invites him to her all-girl birthday party. Beaver suffers miserably until he sneaks off to a den in the house where Mr. Dennison entertains him with his antique gun collection. Lyle Talbot was father of Stephen Talbot, the portrayer of Beaver's friend, Gilbert Bates. Talbot had no scenes with his son.
• John Hart, the star of the syndicated 50s television series, Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans, appeared in one episode as a scoutmaster. He also appeared in a fifth season episode as a forest ranger. Hart was father of Buddy Hart, the portrayer of Wally's friend Chester Anderson. Though his son appeared in the scouting episode, the two had no scenes together.
• Former baseball player Don Drysdale appeared as himself in the episode "Long Distance Call".
• Ryan O'Neal, star of the classic tearjerker Love Story and television series Peyton Place, appeared as Tom Henderson, a young married man, in the fifth season's "Wally Goes Steady".
• Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke and Sharon Tate's co-star in the film, Valley of the Dolls, played Judy Walker in "No Time for Babysitters".
• John Hoyt, veteran film and television actor best remembered perhaps for his role as a mad scientist in the sci-fi classic Attack of the Puppet People (1958), appeared as different characters in three episodes.
• Jason Robards, Sr. appeared in the third season episode "Kite Day".
• Kim Hamilton, the only black performer to appear on the show, played a maid at a wedding reception in "The Parking Attendants".
• Richard "Dick" Simmons, portrayer of the title character in Jack Wrather's Sgt. Preston of the Yukon, played Mr. Langley in both "Beaver the Caddy" and "The Parking Attendants".
• William Schallert, Patty Duke's father on The Patty Duke Show played Mr. Bloomgarten, a schoolteacher, in "Beaver's Short Pants".
• William Fawcett, venerable performer in countless early TV westerns, played Grant Ave. Grammar School's night watchman Mr. Johnson in "Beaver's Crush".

Several The Andy Griffith Show players appeared on Leave It to Beaver. Hal Smith, Mayberry's town sot Otis Campbell, appeared as a restaurant manager in the fourth season episode, "Beaver Won't Eat" while Dorothy Neumann, Otis Campbell's wife Rita on The Andy Griffith Show, appeared in "The Community Chest" as a Mayfield housewife. Howard McNear, Mayberry's barber Floyd Lawson, played a barber in a second season Beaver episode. Burt Mustin (Mayfield's Gus, the fireman) had a long career as Jud Fletcher on The Andy Griffith Show and Will Wright (Mayfield's first season Pete, the fireman) appeared on The Andy Griffith Show as Ben Weaver, a sour, miserly Mayberry department store owner.

Adventures of Superman first season Lois Lane portrayer Phyllis Coates played Mrs. Donaldson in "New Neighbors" while Superman heavy Herb Vigran appeared in the first season episode "Brotherly Love".

Two actors playing veterinarians on the long-running CBS children's series, Lassie appeared on Leave It to Beaver. Frank Ferguson, (Dr. Peter Wilson in the early seasons of Lassie), played Jeff, the tramp, in "Beaver's Good Deed", and Arthur Space, who portrayed Doc Weaver through the Timmy years of Lassie, played Mr. Judson in "Wally's Present".

Veteran film and television character actresses appearing on the show included Maudie Prickett as Mrs. Bennett, the owner of a lost chihuahua in "Beaver and Poncho", Irene Tedrow as Mrs. Hathaway, Aunt Martha's travelling companion in "The Visiting Aunts", and Lurene Tuttle as Mrs. Evans, Eddie's landlady in "Bachelor-at-Large".

Cancellation and subsequent developments

The series' last episode, "Family Scrapbook" was televised June 20, 1963 and was a retrospective look at previous seasons as the Cleavers leaf through an old scrapbook recalling past moments. The episode closes the series at milestones in the lives of the Cleaver boys: Wally readying himself for his first year of college, and Beaver leaving grammar school for high school. The episode was directed by Hugh Beaumont, written by Connelly and Mosher, and is regarded as being one of the first sitcom episodes written expressly as a series finale. The show was not renewed for the 1963-64 season. My Three Sons moved into its time slot.

Cast appearances on Lassie

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Beaumont in Lassie with Jan Clayton and George Cleveland

Several Leave It to Beaver performers appeared on the long-running CBS television series Lassie. Hugh Beaumont had yet to snag his signature role as Ward Cleaver when he appeared in one of the two pilots filmed for the series. The episode was filmed in color and aired monochromatically in the series' first season (1954).

In 1968, Jerry Mathers appeared in an episode about two teen brothers quarreling over the disposition of a prize-winning bull, while, the same year, Tony Dow appeared with Jan-Michael Vincent as a hippie-type character in a three-part story.

Before their committments to Leave It to Beaver, "Tiger" Fafara appeared in one Lassie episode while Madge Blake made appearances in two episodes. In the 1960-1961 season, Richard Correll played Steve Johnson, one of Timmy Martin's Calverton friends in two episodes. Ken Osmond played a delivery boy in a second season episode and a smart-aleck kid whose carelessness causes a forest fire in a fourth season episode.

One Lassie episode is titled "Leave It to Lassie and the Beavers".

Reunion telemovie (1983)

A made-for-television reunion movie, Still the Beaver, appeared in 1983. The main original cast appeared, except for Beaumont, who had died the previous year. Ward Cleaver was still a presence, however: the film's story used numerous flashbacks to the original show, as it followed young-adult Beaver's struggle to reconcile divorce and newly-minted single fatherhood, straining to cope by what his father might or might not have done, while facing the possibility of his widowed mother selling their childhood home. June Cleaver is later elected to the Mayfield City Council.

Sequel series (1985-1989)

Its reception led to a new first-run, made-for-cable series, The New Leave It to Beaver (1985–1989), with Beaver and Lumpy Rutherford running Ward's old firm (where Lumpy's pompous, demanding father — played by Richard Deacon in the original series — had been the senior partner), Wally, who married his high school girlfriend Mary Ellen Rogers, as a practicing attorney and expectant father, June having sold the old house to Beaver himself but living with him as a doting grandmother to Beaver's two small sons. Eddie Haskell runs his own contracting business and has a son, Freddie, who is every inch his father's son — right down to the dual-personality.

Media information

Broadcast history

The show proved to be a scheduling challenge for CBS and ABC, airing on four different evenings (Wednesday through Saturday) during the series' run.

CBS first broadcast the show on Friday, October 4, 1957, at 7:30 P.M. (EST). Midway through the first season, Beaver was moved to Wednesdays at 8:00 P.M.

CBS dropped the show after one season. ABC picked it up and ran it for another five years, from October 2, 1958, to June 20, 1963. In his memoirs, Jerry Mathers states the move was the decision of the sponsor, Ralston Purina, who arranged a better deal with ABC than with CBS.

On ABC, the show saw several time slots over its run. From October 1958 to June 1959 it aired on Thursdays at 7:30 P.M. (EST), with summer '59 reruns airing at 9:00 P.M.. From October 1959 to September 1962 the show was televised Saturdays at 8:30 P.M., and during its last season (1962-1963) the show aired Thursdays at 8:30 P.M..

Reruns of the show became part of CBS affiliates' lineups in the mornings for several years to come. TBS showed it for many years in the late 1980s, and it currently airs on TV Land—where it has been shown since July 1998. Today, NBC Universal Television owns the syndication rights and all properties related to the series.

Marketing and merchandise

During the show's first run, merchandise including novels, records, and board games was generated for the juvenile market. With the show's renaissance in popularity decades later, merchandise produced was aimed toward the adult babyboomer/nostalgia collectors market and included pinback buttons, clocks, greeting cards, calendars, non-fiction books about the show's production, memoirs, and miscellaneous items. In 1983, Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow appeared on boxes of Kellogg's Corn Flakes. In 2007, one of the cereal boxes realized three hundred dollars at auction. Promotional photographs from the studio, autographs, original scripts, copies of TV Guide and other magazines from the period featuring articles about the show are all collectibles. Props and costumes from the show with documentation establishing provenance are highly prized.

Books

During the series' run, Little Golden Books published Leave It to Beaver (1959), an inexpensive storybook for young children. Distinguished children's author Beverly Cleary published three softcover novels based on the series, Beaver and Wally, Leave It to Beaver (1960), and Here's Beaver (1961). Whitman Publishing printed Leave It to Beaver: Fire! (1962), a hardcover novel by Cole Fanin. In 1983, The Beaver Papers (ISBN 0-517-54991-3) by Will Jacobs and Gerard Jones was published. The book was a parody of a lost season of twenty-five episodes written in the style of various authors such as Tennessee Williams.

Dell comic books

Dell Comics published six Leave It to Beaver comic books with photo covers of Beaver, Beaver and Wally, or Beaver and Ward. The first comic book (Four Color No. 912) is dated June 1958 and the last (Four Color No. 01-238-207) May-July 1962. In 2004, all six Dell Leave It to Beaver comic books in Near Mint condition were valued in excess of two hundred dollars each.

Hasbro board games

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Leave It to Beaver Money Maker board game

Three Leave It to Beaver juvenile board games were released in 1959 by toymaker Hasbro. The games were typical roll-and-move track games for two to four players. All three game box covers feature photographic portraits of Jerry Mathers as Beaver.

"Leave It to Beaver Money Maker Game" is based upon one of the show's recurring themes — that of Beaver's attempts to make money. The game includes a center-seamed game board with illustrations of Beaver and Ward, play money, 'profit and loss' cards, colored tokens, and a spinner. One player distributes and collects money as "Father". The winner is the player who accumulates the most money.

"Leave It to Beaver Rocket to the Moon Space Game", unlike "Money Maker", is unrelated to the show's themes. Rather than using dice or a spinner to advance along the track to the moon, players flip a rocket-shaped cone onto a board which determines the number of spaces to be moved.

"Leave It to Beaver Ambush Game" is a track game with an Old West theme. Old West motifs were referenced now and then in the series — Wally plays a dance-hall girl in a school play, TV western star Marshall Moran makes an appearance at a Mayfield grocery store, and the boys wear cowboy hats and bandana masks in "Lumpy Rutherford". Like "Rocket to the Moon", however, the game is unrelated to the show's themes.

Feature film adaptation

Main article: Leave It to Beaver (film)

1997's movie adaptation of the series starred Christopher McDonald as Ward, Janine Turner as June, Erik von Detten as Wally, and Cameron Finley as the Beaver. It was panned by many critics, except for Roger Ebert, who gave it a three-star rating. It performed poorly at the box office, earning only $11,713,605. Barbara Billingsley, Ken Osmond and Frank Bank made cameo appearances in the film.

DVD release

Universal Studios Home Entertainment released season one to DVD in 2005 with season two following in 2006. Season one was released in two versions: an inexpensive cardboard slipcased collection, and a costlier version in which the DVDs were contained in a retro-styled, plastic photo album tucked inside a plaid metal lunch box displaying portraits of the cast on its exterior. Netflix recently added seasons three through six to their lists, making it probable that further seasons of the show will soon be converted to DVD.

Reception

Ratings

In spite of solid and consistent ratings, Leave It to Beaver never climbed into the Neilsen's top-30 though similar sitcoms of the period like Father Knows Best, The Donna Reed Show, The Real McCoys, and Dennis the Menace managed to do so.

Leave It to Beaver faced stiff competition in its time slots. During its next to last season, for example, the show ran against The Defenders, a program examining highly charged courtroom cases about abortion and the death penalty. In its final season, the show was up against Perry Mason and Dr. Kildare but was in the ABC line-up with television greats The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Donna Reed Show, and My Three Sons.

Critical reviews

Critical reception was generally favorable. In the New York Herald Tribune, John Crosby stated the show was "charming and sincere" and featured "the wonderful candor and directness with which children disconcert and enchant you." Variety favorably compared the premier episode with the classic Tom Sawyer and noted at the fourth season's opening that the show had "never been a yock show in the sense of generating big and sustained laughs, but it has consistently poured forth warmth, wit and wisdom without condescension or pretense." TV Guide dubbed the show "the sleeper of the 1957-58 season" and later noted that the show was "one of the most honest, most human and most satisfying situation comedies on TV." The New York Times, however, found the show was "too broad and artificial to be persuasive."

Impact of show on society

In the mid 1970s, Mathers appeared on The Tomorrow Show hosted by Josh Dolan. Snyder pointed out that he hadn't worked for a long time and that there was rumor going around that he had been killed "in the war in Southeast Asia". Mathers replied that he had heard that rumor and that he had no idea how it got started. The earliest appearance of the story in print was in a student newspaper at the University of Kansas in 1972. The author later admitted that she had only heard the story from someone who had heard it a party in Omaha, Nebraska earlier that year. The paper printed a retraction, but by then the story had spread throughout the country. The story was later attributed to a member of a defunct Omaha comedy improv group whose hobby was concocting outrageous stories and then convincing people they were true. "Beaver died in Vietnam"[1] was a classic urban legend, memorable for its juxtaposition of idyllic 1950s imagery with the chaos and violence of the late 1960s.

Another urban legend has actor Ken Osmond (Eddie Haskell) becoming porn star John Holmes. Holmes performed in several movies satirically under the name "Eddie Haskell". There was some facial resemblance between the two men, which porn distributors exploited by using the name Eddie Haskell in advertising Holmes's films. Osmond brought a $25 million defamation suit against porn houses, producers and distributors. The California Supreme Court ruled for Mr. Holmes, saying the name was protected as a satire. This case set a precedent in the matter, and is still referred to in other cases in California today.

Awards and nominations

The show received two Emmy nominations in 1958 for Best New Program Series of the Year and Best Teleplay Writing - Half Hour or Less (Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher) for the premiere episode, "Beaver Gets 'Spelled". In 1985, Jerry Mathers won a Young Artists Former Child Star Special Award. In 1988, Ken Osmond and Tony Dow were nominated for Young Artists Former Child Star Lifetime Achievement Awards. In 2003, Diane Brewster was nominated for TV Land's Classic TV Teacher of the Year Award while, in 2005, Ken Osmond was nominated for TV Land's Character Most Desperately in Need of a Timeout Award. Leave It to Beaver placed on Time's "The 100 Best TV Shows of All-Time" list.

Fandom and popular culture

The show had a solid following in its first run. Evidence of its popularity was a cornucopia of merchandise produced years after the show's cancellation directed principally toward the show's aging babyboomer fans: calendars, greeting cards, wall clocks, light switches, cereal boxes featuring portraits of the show's stars, lunch boxes, star biographies and memoirs were all made available. It was during the renaissance in the show's popularity that urban legends about the show first began to circulate and the show's child stars began making guest appearances on talk shows to great acclaim. In 2007, Tony Dow was a round-table discussion guest in a television documentary about child actors that included guests Patty Duke, Billy Grey, and Melissa Gilbert among others. Leave It to Beaver continues to be popular in TV Land reruns, DVD releases, and forums devoted to the show. Frequently-asked-questions among die hard fans are: "Where was Mayfield's located?" and "What was Ward's profession?" Neither questions were answered on the show but fans enjoy searching for clues in various episodes.

References

General

• Applebaum, Irwyn. The World According to Beaver. TV Books, 1984, 1998. (ISBN 1575000520).
• Bank, Frank. Call Me Lumpy: My Leave It To Beaver Days and Other Wild Hollywood Life. Addax, 2002. (ISBN-10: 1886110298), (ISBN-13: 978-1886110298).
• Colella, Jennifer. The Leave It to Beaver Guide to Life: Wholesome Wisdom from the Cleavers! Running Press, 2006. (ISBN-10: 0762427736), (ISBN-13: 9780762427734).
• Leave It to Beaver: the complete first season. Universal Studios, 2005.
• Leave It to Beaver: the complete second season. Universal Studios, 2006. (ISBN 1417074876)
• Mathers, Jerry. ...And Jerry Mathers as "The Beaver". Berkley Boulevard Books, 1998. (ISBN 0425163709)

Specific

External links

• List of Leave It to Beaver episodes
• Leave It to Beaver on TVLand.com
• Leave It to Beaver at The Museum of Broadcast Communications
• "Leave it to Jerry 'Beaver' Mathers, Tony Dow" - 2007 interview with USA Today