In a play taken straight from Beavers life, Mathers was shooting an episode where Beaver cares for a neighbors cat. Diane Brewster appears as Miss Simms, a secretary, with Richard Deacon as Mr. Baxter, Miss Simms' boss. Originally, the pilot for the show was titled "It's a Small World." Fearing bad publicity should a well-loved child star be killed in action, he was told he wouldnt be deployed. One of the shows writers, Joe Connelly, based Wally and Beaver off of his own children, whose antics he would scribble down in a notebook on the regular. (Getty Images) In May, Dow's wife Lauren Shulkind announced Dow's cancer had returned, just a month after . His dating life is sometimes frustrating as he tries to deal with the thoughts and emotions of teenaged girls. In celebration of the TV shows 60th anniversary, many of the cast members began doing interviews on many TV networks in order to discuss their time on the show. The ministry to which he was assigned happened to be extremely poor, so he needed to find another source of income. He spends school nights at home glued to his textbooks and scratching out essays in his composition tablet. Many associate June Cleavers classic pearls as the quintessential look for a 1950s housewife, but the truth is, that wasnt necessarily every mothers uniform. However, Tony Dow wasnt always a member of the fictional family. Leave It To Beaver had a curious effect on fashion trends of the era. Under their guidance, Jerry recorded two singles, Dontcha Cry and Wind Up Top. The last episode was a retrospective one called "Family Scrapbook" and has claimed its place in TV history as the first prime time sitcom episode specifically written as a series finale. Have you noticed while watching the show that the Cleavers car is missing the rear windshield? He is more astute and experienced than his brother and often puts parental communications in simpler terms for Beaver's comprehension. More than 60 years after Leave It To Beaver first began airing in 1957, it still maintains its place in the pantheon of great television. Beaver became the first program to show a toilet on screen, but were only allowed to show the tank and handle. There was good reason the boys lives were so relatable to viewers. 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Paul Sullivan, who initially portrayed Wally, was replaced by Tony Dow after going through a growth spurt following the filming of the pilot episode. Did you grow up watching the show? Unlike most TV shows today, the pilot that was shot for Leave It To Beaver featured several different actors than the ones who would later become famous for the show. Sadly, he passed away in 1982 from a heart attack at just 79 years old. Ken Osmond, who on TV's "Leave It to Beaver," played two-faced teenage scoundrel Eddie Haskell, a role so memorable it left him typecast and led to a second career as a police officer, died. In his later years, he became a stockbroker, after finding it hard to break allusions that he really was Lumpy. A number of actors who appeared in supporting roles in the pilot were later cast in recurring roles in the series. Instead, his son drove the family, but ended up in an accident on the way, which Hughs mother-in-law didnt survive. One of the shows writers, Joe Connelly, based Wally and Beaver off of his own children, whose antics he would scribble down in a notebook on the regular. Wally also acts as a foil to the shenanigans of Eddie and Lumpy, but sometimes reluctantly goes along with them. The town was Skokie, Illionis, but the footage wasnt taken for the show. While many people seek side jobs in order to support their acting dreams, Beaumont got into acting for the paycheck. 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Afterthat, series finales became a staple across American television. The pilot episode aired on April 23, 1957, but never aired as an episode within the series. There were tons of brands ranging from board games to comic books that were featured during the show. Some of that stems from the fact that Tony Dow himself was an accomplished athlete, even before he made it onto the show. For the main series, producers cast Tony Dow to take Paul Sullivans place as Wally. Despite the fact that Beavers friend Lumpy was seen as the ultimate nerd throughout the show, when the actor, Frank Bank wrote his autobiography as a result, he claimed that he was rather gifted when it came to his romantic relationships. The toilet was shown in an episode when Wally and Beaver tried to keep a baby alligator in the toilet tank. At 69, Jerry Mathers hasnt been acting much lately, but he did surprisingly end up the focus of a tragic rumor during his mid-life years. Despite the rumors, Mathers became the star ofBeaverspin off movies and TV shows in the 1980s, which was originally titled,Still The Beaver. Because of that scene, the show was almost banned from the airwaves entirely. Surprisingly, the show ran for a total of four seasons, and included many of the original cast members real children as actors on the show. Paul Sullivan, Actor: Over the Top. Bank became a stockbroker and lived his life his own way before passing away in April 2017. But after a few episodes, the character began wearing heels in every episode. Paul Sullivan Jr. is known for The Natural (1984). Fox News reports that Osmond became a Los Angeles Police Department officer for 18 years before becoming a celebrity spokesman. But the typical chores of a teen boy (mowing the lawn, carrying out the trash, washing windows), apparently are not his. It was the first series to have a true finale. | Source: Wikimedia Commons. As the best friend of Wally, Eddie Haskell was tasked with using his smooth-talking to help the Cleaver brothers out. Jimmy Hawkins. Meanwhile, what a shock to see some of the show's regulars as other people on this episode. During one 2014 interview, Mathers appeared onFox News to discuss his favorite recollections from the show. Back home, his son, Hunter, drove his mom and grandmother to work one day and lost control of the car. Luckily for Osmond, he was wearing a bullet proof vest, which ultimately saved his life. He often showed off his personal flare by coming up with constant nicknames for the other characters, most of which were improvised by Ken Osmondon the spot. In a play taken straight from Beaver's life, Mathers was shooting an episode where Beaver cares for a neighbor's cat. Instead, Mathers decided to join the United Air Force Reserve. One of the most noticeable goofs on the show was the changing age gap between Wally and Beaver. The star himself was cast as Theodore (Beaver) Cleaver at just eight years old. Jerry Mathers didnt have a normal audition. In another episode, he falls for a tennis playing "older woman" who uses him to make her estranged boyfriend jealous. She wraps Wally around her little finger, and even has him going to the library to fetch a copy of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm for her. Mathers recalled that it took nearly 5 days to find the frightened kitty. Here's a look at what became of them. That means that Eddie Haskell was the original cool kid. Not all passports are created equally. The series lasted one season on the Disney Channel before being picked up by TBS in 1986 and renamed The New Leave It to Beaver. At the time, no show had ever shown a bathroom, and the censorship authorities wanted to do more than just remove the scene from the show. In the later seasons, Wally has a few after school jobs and buys a used car. It was the first series to have a true finale. He is an athlete with track, basketball and baseball being his three favorite sports; and, he excels at all. Matthers returned to television for a reunion, "Still the Beaver" in 1983, and appeared in a few episodes of the famous series, "Lassie." In the 1980s, Wally and Beaver were brought back to screens in a TV movie that featured them as parents, with June around as a loving grandma to their kids. Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher wrote the teleplay with Jerry Hopper directing the episode. It took producers a significant amount of negotiation in order to show even that much, but eventually the executives on the Production Code Association, who were responsible for policing film and television decided to relent, so long as the scene wasnt too crude. Fans got this idea when a college newspaper editor asked Cooper what kind of kid he was, to which he answered, I was obnoxious, disgusting, a real Eddie Haskell. However, the reporter misquoted him and reported that Cooper was the real Haskell. Mathers didnt end up pursuing a music career in the end. On a whim, Tony decided to audition alongside his friend, and they filmed a pilot together, which never got off the ground. Still, that didn't happen. Ken Osmond at The Paley Center for Media on June 21, 2010 in Beverly Hills, California | Photo: Getty Images. The ministry to which he was assigned happened to be extremely poor, so he needed to find another source of income. When the war broke out in Vietnam, Jerry Mathers, who played Beaver, wanted to enlist in the Marines. The pearls would hide the scar from viewers, which made Billingsley more confident about her appearance. After the show, Ken Osmond left the acting business in order to become a police officer for the Los Angeles Police Department. It just so happened that playing Ward Cleaver was the best way to do so. The network cancelled the show, butBeavers cancellation was short lived, as it was quickly picked up again by ABC. Movies. Even before Dow was cast, the producers were looking for someone athletic to fill the role, so Dow was a perfect fit. This wasnt because cars lacked the technology for them, but rather because the glass of the windshield created a glare when filmed by the cameras. However, when she kissed Casey on the lips right off the bat, I felt she was cheating on Beaumont! It would go on to enjoy a total of six seasons before it wrapped. Keep . Hugh Beaumonts character, Ward Cleaver, was the character who was always setting good moral examples for his kids to follow. He was otherwise an ordained minister with a degree in theology from University of Southern California. Osmond passed away in May 2020. It didnt stop because of poor ratings, though. Production was shifted to a different backlot, and other than their air time changing, the show otherwise remained the same. Luckily, ABC aired the rest of the five seasons later on. He sometimes clears the dinner table for his mother (i.e., he carries a few dirty dishes to the kitchen), and in one episode is seen drying dishes. It also helped him hide his sneaky ways. Ward Cleaver: It's nothing to be alarmed about. Beaver may not have been reliant on pop culture for its storylines, but it certainly made mention of the Sputnik launch during several episodes. He also included their friends in the friends of both Beaver and Wally. Beaver's big brother, Wally, was often involved in his younger brother's mischief. Our condolences. That day, the world could have lost a great actor. Beaumonts mother-in-law was killed in the crash. Eddie might have been quite the rascal on the set ofLeave It To Beaver, but Osmonds future profession showed just how different he was from his character. Wally's age permitted the writers to place him in dating situations with his school friends. However, Barbara Billingsley didnt wear heels at the start of the show. When asked about his relationship with Dow, Mathers fondly recalled their relationship on set. He left behind wife Kathryn Adam and their three children, Mark, Kristy, and Hunter. Surprisingly, the show ran for a total of four seasons, and included many of the original cast members real children as actors on the show. Trending. The rumor spread like wildfire. We collect and tell stories of people from all around the world. Both her pearls and her heels are one of the most cited examples of what it meant to be a housewife in the 1950s. In one episode, Wally grows a moustache over the summer, thinking Julie will be enchanted with his debonair look, and then the poor boy is humiliated when she laughs at it when he arrives back to school. Wally is portrayed in the series by Tony Dow. Frank Bank (April 12, 1942 - April 13, 2013) was an American actor, particularly known for his role as Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford on the 1957-1963 situation comedy television series Leave It to Beaver.. Bank was cast in fifty episodes of Leave It to Beaver between January 24, 1958, until the series finale on May 30, 1963. June Cleaver: All right, but we respected it last summer and they set fire to the attic! In 1983, the cast got together again for the filming of the TV movie "Still the Beaver." Billingsley followed up her run with a role in the sequel, "The New Leave it to Beaver," which aired in the '80s. Ward Cleaver: Oh, no, June, don't you dare think of such a thing. It wasnt uncommon for stars of the 1950s to cross over into other artistic genres, not unlike many stars today. The episode was ranked #42 on TV Guides 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time! In the original Leave it to Beaver pilot, Wally was played by actor Paul Sullivan. Unfortunately for Paul, he grew too much in the six month break before the show went to series. After the directors decided to give the role to Dow, he would go on to be a permanent fixture on the show until its end. Hugh Beaumont might have hated the show, but he did a lot for it anyway. Brewster and Deacon would find roles in the series as Miss Canfield, Beaver's second grade teacher, and Fred Rutherford, Ward's co-worker and father of "Lumpy," Eddie Haskell's easily duped henchman/bully. Beaumont was always professional and friendly on set, but he was severely depressed while working on it. Then: Tony Dow Dow played Wally Cleaver in every episode of the show except for the pilot, when Paul Sullivan played the Beaver's polite older brother. Mathers genuinely had a cub scout meeting to go to after his audition, which he was anxious to get too. I was offended. The boys collect the bottle caps, but, in attempting to redeem them, learn they've been duped. The humor of the character rests in Wally's teenage perspective. Tony Dow wasnt an actor and had no prior acting experience when he started onLeave it to Beaver. Barbara's June wore formal attire along with pearls and heels during the show, but it wasn't all about style. Ward was originally portrayed by Max Showalter in the pilot episode, while Wally was played by Paul Sullivan. He slips into slang occasionally, which upsets his mother. We actually became much closer as adults, because in the 80s we toured together for 18 months in a play called So Long, Stanley and spent a lot more quality time together.. What happened to take him out of the spotlight? Given the character he portrayed, its hard to image Lumpy as anything akin to suave. Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wally_Cleaver&oldid=1129258944, Articles that may contain original research from April 2022, All articles that may contain original research, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, student; various after school jobs including newspaper carrier, drug store soda jerk, and ice cream vendor, This page was last edited on 24 December 2022, at 10:31. They didnt want a big laugh; they wanted chuckles. You may have wondered why the humor of the show was styled as such, so its nice that Dow provided the answer. Movies. UnlikeBeaver,Happy Days was filmed during the 1970s, even though it took place in the 1950s. The pearls would hide the scar from viewers, which made Billingsley more confident about her appearance. Ward was originally portrayed by Max Showalter in the pilot episode, while Wally was played by Paul Sullivan. "Leave It to Beaver" never made it to Nielsen's list of the top 30 shows of the time since there were a plethora of classic shows running at the time. Then, as Wally leaves the room with a parting bon mot and the canned laughter kicks in, the camera catches June's bewildered, dazed, or amused facial expression. June Cleaver: Ward, can you see any possible use for Franklin Milk bottle caps? The Cleaver family from the television program "Leave it to Beaver." One of the most curious things about the final seasons of the show is that the Cleavers car very distinctly had no back windshield.