Eddie Haskell

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This article is about the fictional character. For the philosopher, see Edward Haskell.
Eddie Haskell
B eddie01.JPG
Ken Osmond as Eddie Haskell
First appearance "New Neighbors" (November 1, 1957)
Last appearance "Family Scrapbook" (June 20, 1963)
Portrayed by Ken Osmond
Information
Gender Male
Family George Haskell (father)
Agnes Haskell (mother)
Spouse(s) Gert
Children Freddie (son)
Eddie Jr.(son)

Edward Clark "Eddie" Haskell (also referred to as Edward W. Haskell) is a fictional character on the Leave It to Beaver television situation comedy, which ran on CBS from October 4, 1957 to 1958 and then on ABC from 1958 to June 20, 1963. The character was also featured in the later series Still the Beaver, and in the film remake of the original series.

Contents

[edit] Character overview

The son of George and Agnes, Eddie Haskell was the smart-mouthed best friend of Wally Cleaver. The character, played in the original series by Ken Osmond, has become a cultural reference, recognized as an archetype for insincere sycophants. Ward once remarked that "[Eddie] is so polite, it's almost un-American".[1] The archetype became so well known that the term "Eddie Haskell" was adopted into everyday use.

He was known for his neat grooming[2] — hiding his shallow and sneaky character. Typically, Eddie would greet his friends' parents with overdone, good manners and often a compliment such as, "That's a lovely dress you're wearing, Mrs. Cleaver." However, when no parents were around, Eddie was always up to no good — either conniving with his friends, or picking on Wally's younger brother Beaver. Eddie's two-faced style was also typified by his efforts to curry favor by trying to talk to adults at the level he thought they would respect, such as referring to their children as Theodore (Beaver's much-disliked given name) and Wallace, even though the parents called them Beaver and Wally.

A weaselly wise guy, Eddie could be relied upon to connive and instigate schemes with his friends — schemes for which they would be in the position of blame, if (and usually when) caught. One of his most infamous pranks with the Cleaver boys involved fastening a chain around the rear axle of their friend Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford's car, causing unplanned damage as the entire third member and wheels became detached when he tried to move the car. The prank has been repeated on police and gangster cars in scenes in the films American Graffiti and Gone in 60 Seconds.

[edit] The New Leave It To Beaver

In the 1980s-remake, Eddie is now married to Gert and is the father of two sons, Freddie and Edward Jr. (played by Osmond's real-life sons, Eric and Christian, respectively). Edward Jr. (nicknamed "Bomber") is enrolled at Vicksburg Military School, the result of Bomber having spilled grape juice on the Haskells' white carpeting. Both Freddie and Bomber have taken after their father.

Eddie operates an eponymously-named contracting company. He remains an avid Woody Woodpecker cartoon fan.

[edit] Cultural references

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  • When Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, was a child, he considered Eddie Haskell to be his favorite character on Leave It To Beaver. He dreamed of giving Haskell his own show and in later interviews he sometimes pointed out that his character Bart Simpson was inspired by Haskell's behavior. Coincidentally, voice actor Harry Shearer, who does the voices of Mr. Burns, Smithers and Ned Flanders on The Simpsons, played the character Frankie (a precursor to the Eddie Haskell character) in the pilot episode of Leave It to Beaver.
  • The webcomic Achewood character Roast Beef uses the pseudonym "Ed E. Haskell", a reference to Eddie Haskell, when writing his underground zine "Man Why You Even Got To Do A Thing".
  • In Season 4, episode 10 of the HBO show The Wire, Major Colvin infers that the young delinquent Namond Brice is putting on his "Eddie Haskell" act.[3]
  • Near the conclusion of the 1992 Cameron Crowe film Singles, Matt Dillon's character, upon getting into an elevator with his recently-ex-girlfriend (played by Bridget Fonda), remarks, "That's a very nice hat you're wearing, and I don't mean that in an Eddie Haskell kind of way."
  • In "Kaisha", a season three episode of The Sopranos, a character comments on the title of the screenplay for Christopher Moltisanti's film "Cleaver" by saying "Are you sure about the title, "Cleaver"? The Eddie Haskell connection?"[4]
  • "Leave it to Beavis", episode 196 of Beavis and Butt-Head, is a spoof on the show, with Beavis as "The Beavis" and the older delinquent Todd as "Eddie".
  • In the episode titled "All about Roseanne" of the sitcom Roseanne, Roseanne makes a reference to marijuana, calling it reefer. This confuses the guest character June Cleaver, causing her to ask, "Reefer?" and Roseanne replies, "Ask Eddie Haskell.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Quote taken from the episode "Eddie's Girl".
  2. ^ The origin of Eddie's perfectly coifed curls is humorously revealed in the episode "Beaver's Doll Buggy"
  3. ^ http://www.hbo.com/thewire/episode/season4/episode47.shtml
  4. ^ http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/favoritelines/episode77.shtml

[edit] References

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Leave It to Beaver
The Cleavers
June · Ward · Wally · "Beaver"
The relatives
The friends
The girlfriends
The parents
The teachers
Episode guide
See also
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Haskell"