The best American family of all time? Mr. Feeney thinks so.
Hey there Lumpy Dumpy and all you meat heads, this week I’m traveling back to 1957 to review Leave it to Beaver. How can I know anything about a show that started when neither of my parents were born (which none of you asked)? Well, TV Land started when I was 7, so that should take care of that. I remember getting that channel and my dad being excited to watch these shows. I was mainly watching things like All That and whatever else at the time, so I was into zany, little kids things. I thought these old black and white shows would be boring. I loved this one though. It captured the wide eyed innocence of a little boy in the suburbs with very small problems that may result in my pain at the end of a belt. As an adult I still love the show, mainly because they seemed to get away with saying some things that, even in today’s raunchy little world, would not fly. We show dead hookers and bloody battles, but no naughty words! Like when Beaver said that Violet Rutherford drank gutter water; talk about gutter mouth! (WAKKA WAKKA)
Note* This girl does not drink gutter water.
Theodore and his brother Wally did a lot to teach me to do the right thing as a child. Like a little boy with Alzheimer’s, I watched Beav do stupid thing after stupid thing, and learned not to do them myself. He taught me to be a good Christian. Granted, his teachings didn’t last long, but they affected me at the time. I realized that I should behave and do what is right, because god had too much on his plate. Beav said, “I wouldn’t wanna do anything to hurt God. He’s got enough trouble with the Russians and all.” If that isn’t sage advice, I’ve never heard any.
I made a slight reference to this before, but never has parental abuse been taken so lightly. People saw a girl get hit with a belt a few times and said it was a travesty. Really America? A hurricane or an earthquake killing people is a travesty. She was being dealt with like Fred Rutherford would have.
"My Clarence answered me back the other day. I smacked him right in the mouth. None of this psychology for me."
While Ward Cleaver and his wife June were very understanding, they were quick to calm down their boys with the threat of a beat down. It was a simpler time, one that I and Pepperidge Farm remembers.
You can bet Theo remembers it too.
Beaver also taught me that growing up meant dealing with a lot of tough issues and that it wasn’t always bad. You have to learn from issues and better yourself….or rake in the dough. Take for instance the time Beaver learned that the water was going to be shut off on a warm day. He gathered as much water as he could, and sold it to people in need. That’s free market economics kids! Beaver also had fun when adult situations were thrown in his face. One day he and his best fat friend Larry were fishing. They didn’t catch anything but, “Larry and I saw a man slip on a wet rock and heard everything he said.” Cursing and the sense of defeat? Jesus Beaver, is there nothing you can’t teach?
I also learned from Beaver that a lot can be learned from animals. Take this entry into his journal after a long day. “Went to school. Ate lunch. Saw dead cat. Came home.” This in addition to a cat eating his pet birds, I’m thinking the cat must have been a metaphor for death in Beaver’s little head. This show is so complex, I love it so much.
Knock it off with that junk. Get too sappy and I'll clobber ya.
Okay, I’ll stop gushing. This show was great though. Two reasons I appreciate it now are a little odd. Leading off with the weirder one; they acknowledged that a bathroom was in the house. I shit you not (pun absolutely intended) that bathrooms were not allowed on television. It was taboo. Not only did this show tear down the walls, they had an episode set entirely in the bathroom. Beaver would go there to cry or hide, mainly both, and I would venture to say a lot of kids did that. It’s where likely no one will barge in.
The second reason comes from a quote from Tony Dow, the actor portraying Wally Cleaver. He said that, “”if any line got too much of a laugh, they’d take it out. They didn’t want a big laugh; they wanted chuckles.” That is amazing. When I tell jokes I prefer loud groans, but aiming for “slightly amusing” is nice. Not over the top, just funny enough. Kind of makes it more real feeling right? Thanks for agreeing. If you don’t, Ward Cleaver will have to have a word with you.
Shooter McGavin ain't got nothing on my crazy!
Anyone who gets that reference wins a prize. To claim it, you’ll just have to read my articles every week until I tell you how. Along with a movie adaptation, there was another series spun from this one. Both of my parents would have been 20ish when it was on, but never heard of it. It sounds interesting enough. Beaver and Lumpy run a law firm with Wally’s help (the one their dad’s worked at) and Eddie Haskell does something sleazy I’m sure. Beaver has to live with his widowing mother since he is divorced. Leave it to this show to tackle divorce in 1980 before it was cool.
Things may have been a little weird back then. The fat kid would be called Larry, and the slightly chubby one is called Lumpy. You were allowed to sock people and your friends could be called “Whitey” and no one thought another second about it. Your biggest threat was a jerk named Judy and even if you were a creepy looking 12 year old, you were still that cute, rascal Beaver. There are 234 episodes of this goodness, and TV Land needs to knock it off with these crappy sitcom actors from the 90’s bonanza and start showing them again!
Or they'll have to learn the hard way that Ward Cleaver is as tough as I say.
Credits go to Wikipedia.com, Myspace.com and Sitcomsonline.com