Leave It to Beaver: Difference between revisions
===Feature film===
===Feature film===
{{main|Leave It to Beaver (film)}}
{{main|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 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 [[United States dollar|$]]11,713,605{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}. Barbara Billingsley, Ken Osmond and Frank Bank made [[cameo appearance]]s in the film.
1997’s movie adaptation of the series starred [[Christopher McDonald]] as Ward, [[Janine Turner]] as June, [[Erik von Detten]] as Wally, and [[Cameron Finley]] as Beaver. It was panned by many critics, except for [[Roger Ebert]], who gave it a three-star rating. It performed poorly at the box office, earning only [[United States dollar|$]],,{{ |= }} Barbara Billingsley, Ken Osmond and Frank Bank made [[cameo appearance]]s in the film.
==House==
==House==
American sitcom from the 1950s and 1960s
American TV series or program
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy that follows the misadventures of a suburban boy, his family and his friends. It stars Barbara Billingsley, Hugh Beaumont, Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers (“as The Beaver”, as the opening credits put it).
CBS first broadcast the show on October 4, 1957, but dropped it after one season. ABC picked it up and aired it for another five years, from October 2, 1958, to June 20, 1963. It proved to be a scheduling challenge for both networks, airing on four different evenings (Wednesday through Saturday) throughout its run.[1] The series was produced by Gomalco Productions from 1957 to 1961, and then by Kayro Productions from 1961 to 1963. It was distributed by Revue Studios.
Leave It to Beaver never broke into the Nielsen Ratings top 30 in its six-season run. However, it proved to be much more popular in reruns. It also led to an unsuccessful 1997 film of the same name.
Premise[edit]
The show is built around young Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver (Jerry Mathers) and the trouble he gets himself into while navigating an often-incomprehensible, sometimes illogical world. Supposedly, when he was a baby, his older brother Wallace “Wally” (Tony Dow) mispronounced “Theodore” as “Tweedor”. Their firm-but-loving parents, Ward (Hugh Beaumont) and June Cleaver (Barbara Billingsley), felt “Beaver” sounded better. Conversely, Mathers has said that the real reason for the name “Beaver” is that one of the show’s writers, Joe Connelly, had a shipmate named “The Beaver” in World War II; from that came the family’s name, “Cleaver.”[2]
Beaver’s friends include the perpetually apple-munching Larry Mondello (Rusty Stevens) in the early seasons, and, later, Gilbert Bates (Stephen Talbot), as well as the old fireman, Gus (Burt Mustin). His sweet-natured-but-no-nonsense elementary school teachers are Miss Canfield (to whom Beaver declares his love in the episode entitled “Beaver’s Crush“) (Diane Brewster), Miss Landers (Sue Randall) and Mrs. Rayburn (Doris Packer), the school’s principal. In the early seasons, Beaver’s nemesis in class is Judy Hensler (Jeri Weil).
In its first season, Beaver’s brother Wally was in eighth grade and 13 years old, while Beaver was 7 and in second grade–a six-year age difference; in real life, the two actors were only three years apart. By the series’ end, the boys were inexplicably only four years apart, with Wally graduating from high school and Beaver graduating from grammar school. Wally is popular with both peers and adults, getting into trouble much less frequently than some of the other characters. He letters in three sports. He 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), the archetype of the two-faced wise guy, a braggart among his peers and an obsequious yes man to the adults he mocks behind their backs. Eddie often picks on the Beaver.
The family lives in the fictional town of Mayfield. Beaver attends Grant Ave. Grammar School, and Wally, Mayfield High School (after graduating from Grant Ave. in season one).
Main characters[edit]
- Barbara Billingsley as June Cleaver: Billingsley has said that June Cleaver’s wardrobe was more than a fashion statement.[citation needed] The pearl necklace hid a hollow (caused by a surgical scar) in her neck which would have caused shadows[3] and high-heeled shoes were employed to offset the boys’ growing height.
- Hugh Beaumont as Ward Cleaver: Before he made Ward Cleaver his acting trademark, Beaumont sometimes played villains in film and television. He directed a number of Leave It…