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 a 1950s and 1960s family-oriented American television situation comedy about a young, naïve, middle class boy and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood. Child actor Jerry Mathers stars in the title role of Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver. Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont portray his parents June and Ward Cleaver while child actor Tony Dow portrays his older brother Wallace "Wally" Cleaver. The series ran for 234 episodes over six seasons.

One of the first primetime sitcom series filmed from a child's point-of-view, Beaver's adventures range from being locked in the principal's office while snooping for her "spanking machine", to overcoming fears of riding a roller coaster to taking a six week tour of America. Episodes typically conclude with Beaver receiving moral instruction, advice, insight, and sometimes sympathy from his parents or 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 Revue Studios at Republic Studios and the Universal Studios backlot in Los Angeles, California, 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. A moderate amount of juvenile merchandise was generated during the show's first-run including board games, novels, and comic books. 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. Merchandise was produced during the period for the baby boomer and nostalgia market. 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. Although the show never broke into the Nielsen Ratings top-30 in its six-season run nor won any awards, it placed on TIME magazine's unranked 2007 list of "The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME", and is regarded today as a cultural icon.

Production

Concept, pilot, and premiere

In 1957, radio, film, and television writers Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher developed a concept for a TV show about childhood and family life featuring fictional suburbanites, Ward and June Cleaver, and their two children, twelve-year-old Wally and seven-year-old "Beaver". 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, with the series being told from the kids' point-of-view. Working titles during the show's gestation period included Wally and the Beaver and It's a Small World, which became the title of the pilot episode. On April 23 1957, the pilot was televised on Heinz Studio 57.

Six months after the pilot's broadcast, the show had acquired the title, Leave It to Beaver and debuted on CBS Friday October 4, 1957 with the episode third in production order, "Beaver Gets 'Spelled". The intended premiere (and the first episode in production order), "Captain Jack" featured the Cleaver boys hiding a baby alligator in their bathroom toilet tank. The toilet didn't pass the censor's office in time for the show's scheduled debut. "Captain Jack" aired the week following the premiere and has claimed its place in television history as the first TV show to display a toilet.

Sponsors and budget

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

Episodes were budgeted at thirty to forty thousand dollars apiece ($221,316.73 to $295,088.97 in 2007 terms), making the show one of the most expensive of its kind during its years of production. High costs were incurred with the show's many outdoor scenes. The most expensive single episode, "In the Soup", was budgeted at fifty thousand dollars ($368,861.21). Two billboards were built for the episode: one, outside on the backlot, and, the other, inside the studio.

Casting

Casting directors interviewed hundreds of child actors for the role of Beaver but kept calling back Jerry Mathers, an eight-year-old with substantial acting experience. Mathers was anxious to leave one audition for his Cub Scout meeting and told casting personnel so. Connelly and Mosher were charmed with Mather's innocent candor and cast him in the role of Beaver.

Barbara Billingsley, an actress with experience in one failed television series (Professional Father), and with several roles in B-movies to her name, was hired to play June Cleaver.

Jerry Mathers and Paul Sullivan in the pilot.

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 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.

Actress Diane Brewster appeared as Miss Simms in the pilot and was cast as Beaver's second-grade teacher, Miss Canfield, in four first season episodes. Richard Deacon portrayed Mr. Baxter in the pilot and was then hired to play Fred Rutherford, Ward Cleaver's co-worker, for the series' six-season run.

Writers and directors

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.

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, served as the model for Beaver and his fourteen-year-old son, Jay, for Wally while Eddie Haskell and Larry Mondello were based on friends of the Connelly boys. Connelly often took the boys on outings while carrying a notebook to record their conversations and activities.

Other writers who contributed to the show were Bill Manhoff, Mel Diamond, Dale and Katherine Eunson, Ben Gershman, George Tibbles, Fran van Hartesvelt, Bob Ross, Alan Manings, Mathilde and Theodore Ferro, and the team of Dick Conway and Roland MacLane, who wrote many of the shows for the last two seasons. 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 worked to create humorous characters in simple situations, rather than relying on contrived, set-up jokes. The two often adapted real-life situations in the lives of their children. "The Haircut", for example, was directly based on an incident involving Bobby Mosher, who was forced to wear a stocking cap in a school play after giving himself a ragged haircut. Fourteen-year-old Jay Connelly's preening habits became Wally's and seven-year-old Ricky Connelly's habit of dropping the initial syllables of words was incorporated into Beaver's character.

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 developed the characters of Eddie Haskell and Larry Mondello. Other directors included Earl Bellamy, David Butler (who had directed child actress Shirley Temple), Bretaigne Windust, Gene Reynolds, and Hugh Beaumont. Norman Abbott directed most of the episodes through the last three years.

Filming

For the first two seasons, Leave It to Beaver was filmed at Republic Studios/CBS Studio Center, 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California. For its final four seasons, production moved to Universal Studios. Exteriors were filmed on the Universal backlot where the façades of the two Cleaver houses stood. Stock footage was occasionally used for establishing shots.

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.

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. Scenes with children were usually filmed first, with adult actors having to wait until after 5:00 P.M. for filming.

Series cinematographers included Mack Stengler with 122 episodes between 1958-1962, Jack MacKenzie with 40 episodes between 1962-1963, and William A. Sickner with 37 episodes between 1957-1959. Fred Mandl (1962), Ray Rennahan (1958), and Ray Flin (1960) served as cinematographers on less than five episodes each.

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 introduced. 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 all 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 background as the credits roll. In the second season, Wally and Beaver are seen walking home from school with their schoolbooks and entering the house through the front door. In the third through fifth seasons, Wally and Beaver are seen walking towards the Pine Street house. Beaver is carrying a baseball glove and limping along the curbstone. Both boys go to 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 and closing sequences are accompanied by an orchestral rendition of the show's bouncy theme tune, "The Toy Parade", which was composed by David Kahn, Melvyn Leonard, and Mort Greene. For the fifth season, the tempo was quickened and the tune whistled by a male chorus over an orchestral accompaniment. 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" and "La Marseillaise" are quoted.

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 the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, references to contemporary news issues or topics are rare. Communism is mentioned in "Water, Anyone?".

Contemporary cultural references are more frequent but not overwhelming. The show acknowledges the greaser subculture and, in the last season, "The Twist", a popular song and dance craze of the early sixties. The dance's promoter, Chubby Checker, is hinted at in the episode's fictional "Chubby Chadwick" and his hit tune, "Surf Board Twist". Wally and his friends perform tepid versions of The Twist at their parties. The 1960 Kirk Douglas vehicle Spartacus is brought up, Eisenhower is mentioned and, in one episode, Beaver says Angela Valentine wore a "Jackie Kennedy wig" to class. Contemporary celebrities mentioned on the show include Rock Hudson, Tuesday Weld, Sal Mineo, Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, and Cesar Romero.

Place setting

Leave It to Beaver is set in the fictional community of Mayfield with scenes set on its streets and in its stores, schools, firehouse, and parks. The principal setting, however, is the Cleaver home. The Cleavers live in two houses over the series' run, the façades of which stood on the Universal backlot. 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.

Mapleton Drive house

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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 simply an extension of the living room which looks 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 a stairway leading 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 containing two chairs, 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 feature 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 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. Reproductions of Gainsborough's The Blue Boy and Lawrence's Pinkie hang in the front entry above graceful bergères. An upholstered wing chair at the edge of the hearth in the living room is covered in a chinoiserie print.

Pine Street house, 2003

After the move to Pine Street, the boys continue to attend the same schools and have the same friends. It is implied that the Pine Street house is in the vicinity of the Mapleton Drive house; in one episode, Beaver and Larry walk to the Mapleton Drive house to uproot a small tree and transport it to the Pine Street house in a wagon.

In the Pine Street house, Ward has a 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 for masculine get-togethers. 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.

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 film, 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.

Characters and cast

Main article: Leave It to Beaver characters and cast

Main article: List of Leave It to Beaver cast members

Leave It to Beaver universe

Format and content

Leave It to Beaver is didactical drama cast in Chutes and Ladders terms: proper behavior entails rewards while improper behavior carries consequences. The juvenile viewer finds amusement in Beaver's adventures while learning that certain behaviors and choices (such as skipping school or faking an illness in order to be the recipient of "loot" from parents and schoolmates,) are wrong and invite reprimand.

The adult viewer discovers tips for successfully handling common childhood problems and teaching children right from wrong while being reminded that children view the world from a different perspective and should not be expected to act like miniature adults. The writers generally emphasized permissive child rearing techniques and urged parents to serve as moral role models.

Episodes generally follow a simple formula: Beaver or his older brother Wally (or both) get into trouble and then face their father for a lecture regarding their misdeeds. Lectures sometimes take the form of fables, with Ward leaving the boys to discover their moral meanings and apply those meanings to their lives. Occasionally, when offenses are serious, punishments such as being grounded are dealt the miscreants.

While the earlier seasons focus on Beaver's boyhood adventures at home, in school, or about the neighborhood, the later seasons explore Wally's high school, dating, and part-time work life. The show's focus is consistently upon the children, however: no episodes examine the marital concerns of June and Ward who are depicted from one episode to the next as a happily married, untroubled couple.

Themes

Four specific themes — education, marriage, occupation, and family — are presented in Leave It to Beaver as requisites for a happy and productive life.

Beaver and Wally both attend public schools and are encouraged to pursue college educations as a means to prepare for their futures. Ward and June attended prep school and boarding school respectively and both attended college. Their sons are expected to do the same. While both boys consider prep school educations, (Wally at the Bellport Military Academy and Beaver at an eastern school called Fallbrook) the decision is made for the boys to remain at home and attend Mayfield High with their friends. School and homework are the bane of Beaver's existence. In "Beaver's Secret Life", the boy decides to become a writer in adulthood because "you don't have to go to school or know nothing ... You only have to make up adventures and get paid for it." Beaver's attitude toward education provides comic counterpoint to the ambitions of his parents.

Being happily married is the cornerstone of successful middle class life with June and Ward representing the warm, happily married, successful middle class couple settling what minor differences they have with mutual respect, consensus, a humorous, insightful phrase and an embrace or a kiss. The parents of Beaver's friend Larry Mondello fare not so well. With a husband frequently out of town on business, Mrs. Mondello is presented as an exasperated parent struggling singlehandedly to raise a son and sometimes depending on Ward to help discipline him. Spinsters like prim Aunt Martha are presented as out-of-touch and irksone while bachelors like globe-trotting, yarn-spinning Uncle Billy, free-loading Jeff, the tramp, and Andy, the alcholoic handyman are depicted from the happily married viewpoint of the series as being untrustworthy. In the one episode dealing with divorce, the event is depicted as having solely negative effects on children and family life.

Occupation is presented as important to the happy life with Ward representing the successful, college-educated, middle class professional and June the competent and happy homemaker. When Beaver expresses interests in lower class occupations (such as trash collector), his parents squirm with embarrassment and discomfort.

Family and loyalty to family values is a constant theme with June and Ward representing conscientious parents whose duty it is to impart traditional but proven middle class family values to their children. June and Ward do so by serving as examples in word and deed to their boys. Ward and June are models of late-fifties, conscientious parenting with stay-at-home June maintaining a loving, nurturing home and Ward consistently supervising the behavior and moral education of his sons. While the series portrays the world through the eyes of a young boy, it sometimes dealt with controversial and adult subjects such as alcoholism and divorce.

Signature show elements

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

Slang

The show employs contemporary kid-slang extensively. Wally and Beaver both use "gyp" (to swindle), "mess around" (to play), and "hunka" (meaning "hunk of" in relation to food portions such as "hunka cake" or "hunka milk"). "Junk" and "crummy" are frequently heard. Wally uses "sweat" to his mother's annoyance; she prefers "perspiration". The boys call enemies "rats" and "creeps". "Goofy" is one of Beaver's favourite adjectives, and it is applied to anything which lies outside the bounds of 1950's conformism.

Punishment

Physical punishment looms large in the boys' imaginations. Both boys use the phrase "Dad's gonna clobber you!" (meaning to punch, or hit) when assessing the other's misdeeds. Though there are frequent references in the show to physical punishments, such punishments never occur on the show. Ward himself mentions being the victim of his father's belt and Larry's homelife is described as one of being "hollered" at and hit. In one episode, Larry begs, "Don't hit me! Don't hit me!" when his mother discovers him reading his sister's diary. Punishment in the show though is restricted to being grounded, spending time in one's bedroom, or pulling weeds in the yard.

Beaver's speech habits

Beaver has several speech habits peculiar to himself — dropping first syllables, for example (forgot becomes "'got"), and malapropisms (consolation prize becomes "constellation prize", amulet becomes "omelet"). In the first season, Beaver often uses the phrase "kinda-sorta" to mean "somewhat". Beaver's speech habits are based on those of Joe Connelly's son, Ricky. Connelly carried a notebook to record the conversations of his sons and their friends, and then incorporated his notations into Beaver's character and the content of the show. As Beaver grows into a young teen, his errors with the English language diminish significantly, putting an end to one source of mirth for the viewer.

Cleanliness

Recurrent humor is generated on the show by contrasting the 'squeaky-clean' values and lifestyles of June and Ward with the 'grubby' values and lifestyles of Wally and Beaver. While Ward and June stress cleanliness, bathing, and good grooming, both boys generally prefer being unwashed and dressed in dirty clothes. June sometimes finds dead worms in the boys' pants pockets and, in one episode, Beaver packs his dirty clothes in a suitcase before a weekend visit to a friend. In the premiere episode, Wally and Beaver fake bathing by rumpling towels and tossing "turtle dirt" in the bathtub. In "Cleaning Up Beaver", June and Ward commend Wally on his neat appearance and chide Beaver for his untidiness. 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. Frightening shadows in the room force him back to his old bedroom and the safety of being with his brother. The two boys strike a middle ground: Beaver will be a bit tidier than he usually is and Wally will be a bit sloppier.

Bathrooms

Leave It to Beaver claims the distinction of being the first television show to display a toilet. In both Cleaver houses, Beaver and Wally have a bathroom adjoining their bedroom, and an extraordinary number of scenes are set in their bathrooms. Additionally, in almost every scene set in the boys' bedroom, the bathtub, shower curtain, or vanity can be seen through the open bathroom door. The boys use the bathroom countless times to escape one another when angry, slamming the door to express their emotions. In "Beaver's Good Deed", a scene is set in Ward and June's bathroom. A tramp takes a bath in their tub and slips away wearing one of Ward's suits and a pair of his shoes.

Beaver's misogyny

Beaver's misogyny is a thread that runs throughout the series. In first-season "Party Invitation", he is the only boy invited to Linda Dennison's all-girl birthday party and sulks. When he wins a doll in a name-drawing and the girls decide to play a kissing game, he sneaks away to another part of the house where Mr. Dennison entertains him with an antique gun collection. Beaver is not above verbally abusing his female classmates. He tells Violet Rutherford she drinks gutter water, threatens to punch Judy Hensler if she gets "mushy" on him, and calls Linda Dennison a "smelly old ape." Though loathing girls his own age, Beaver does however, have an unusual interest in adult women: he is not uncomfortable being kissed by new neighbor, Mrs. Donaldson, and cleans himself up when he thinks she wants to see him for his own adorable self. Beaver develops crushes on teachers, Miss Canfield and Miss Landers. In the later seasons, Beaver has adjusted his misogynistic outlook somewhat and finds pleasure in dating Betsy Patterson. However, he is never completely comfortable with females and a misogynistic outlook remains very much a part of his character. His misogyny plays as an effective contrast to Wally's enthusiasm for the opposite sex, his popularity with girls (something Beaver never enjoys), and his generally successful dating life.

Frequently-Asked-Questions

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 usually obscured 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. 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 says he 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 but Mayfield's location is never established on Leave It to Beaver.

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 and scenes of play and adventuire for the boys and their friends. In one episode, the boys and their friends launch a homemade kayak on Miller's Pond and, in several episodes, the boys mention "messin' around" at Metzger's Field, an athletic 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.

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.

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."

Does Wally repeat a grade?

In the first season, Wally is 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. More likely, as has been the case with many children on many sitcoms over the years, the boys were not precisely aged within the series exactly as many years as the series ran. 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.

Cancellation and subsequent developments

Last episode

First televised June 20, 1963, the series' last episode, "Family Scrapbook", offers a retrospective look at the show's six seasons as the Cleavers leaf through an old scrapbook while 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 is 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. Leave It to Beaver 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 "The Well", 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 "Lassie and the 4-H Boys", 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 called "Hanford's Point".

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 the fourth season episode "The Cub Scout".

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 is a parody of a lost season comprising 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" suggests one of the show's recurrent themes — Beaver's attempts to make money. Equipment includes a center-seamed 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".

"Leave It to Beaver Rocket to the Moon Space Game", rather than using dice or a spinner to advance players along the track, employs a rocket-shaped cone which is flipped onto a board to determine the number of spaces to be moved. "Leave It to Beaver Ambush Game" is a track game with an Old West theme.

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."

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.

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).
• Keck, William. "Leave It to Jerry 'Beaver' Mathers, Tony Dow". USA Today
• 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