Think Larry (Rusty Stevens), Whitey (Stanley Fafara) and Gilbert (Stephen Talbot) for Beaver and Wally’s buddies Lumpy Rutherford (Frank Bank) and Ken Osmond as the one of a kind Eddie Haskell, who became a cultural reference for his polite insincerity to adults. Parenting strategies (spiced with a mild laugh-track, of course) were often debated.Īnd then there was that roster of neighborhood kids. In this world of innocence, where the boyhoods of “Beaver” and Tony Dow as his brother Wally (who was 12 when the sitcom began) were the focus, Ward and June were not infallible. Did anyone, after all, have parents that slept in separate beds and never argued? Did your mother greet you every morning dressed to perfection (including that trademark pearl necklace) with a hearty meal? Did your father never once raise his voice to you (or, in that day and age, lift a hand for punishment)? Set in Mayfield, USA (the exact locale was never established), Leave It to Beaver, for six seasons, offered a weekly glimpse into a childhood, and a world, that was pure fiction. By episode end, the situation is rectified, Ward offers some sage advice, and good’ ol June, dressed to the nines, is always ready with some warm parental mothering. In a typical episode, “Beaver” gets himself into some kind of trouble (remember that bad haircut, that goofy outfit his aunt wants him to wear, or when he gets stuck in an advertising billboard with an enormous make-believe cup of soup?), then faces his parents - stern but sensible Ward (Hugh Beaumont) and ladylike June (Barbara Billingsley).
#Whitey on leave it to beaver series
But what set Leave It to Beaver apart was its perspective, where the comedy focused on life through the eyes of Jerry Mathers (as Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver), who was seven years old when the series began. Like other family-themed comedies of that time ( The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet and Father Knows Best, in particular), love and understanding - and a happy ending - was the recipe for any situation. But that does not mean that I, or anyone of any age, should not be familiar with the picture-perfect clan called Cleaver, which exemplified the idealized suburban family we all craved. In Leave It To Beaver’s original 1957 pilot, which resurfaced three decades later, the Haskell-type character was named Frankie and was played by future SNL, The Simpsons and This Is Spinal Tap actor Harry Shearer.Įrik Pedersen and Greg Evans contributed to this report.Full disclosure: I was not born when classic sitcom Leave It to Beaver debuted on this day in 1957.
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(Cooper, whose birth name is Vincent Furnier, would later be photographed wearing a t-shirt reading “No, I’m Not Eddie Haskell”.) In the 1970s, Osmond become the subject of a widely-circulated urban legend: That he had taken on a new persona as the rock star Alice Cooper. The series, though, would go on to be a syndication favorite and a generational touchstone. It aired in six time slots on four different nights during its six seasons, moving from CBS to ABC after its first season. The series never made the year-end top 30 among primetime programs in the three-network era. Leave It to Beaver was not a big hit during its initial 1957-63 run. He was my uncles partner and we have been working to get him a Star on Hollywood Boulevard.
#Whitey on leave it to beaver tv
Police Museum, which remembered him with a Hi Scott, I wanted to share the news that Former TV star and Decorated LAPD Officer Ken Osmond who played Eddie Haskell on Leave it to Beaver passed away last night. The actor went on to become an LAPD cop and served for 18 years, according to the L.A. Osmond also guested on such popular series as Happy Days, Lassie, Petticoat Junction and The Munsters. The actor revisited his most famous role frequently over the years in the many subsequent iterations of the show, most notably Still the Beaver, which ran from 1983-89. Cleaver, then adding a butter-wouldn’t-melt rejoinder, “My mother says it looks as though you never do any work in here.” “Gee, your kitchen always looks so clean,” he might say to Mrs. Rude and threatening to the younger kids - the Beaver and friends like Larry and Whitey - Eddie was pure smarm when adults entered his vicinity. Hugh Beaumont and Barbara Billingsley played the parents of Wally and the Beav. The Haskell character was a troublemaking friend of Wally Cleaver (Tony Dow), the older brother of Theodore, aka the Beaver (Jerry Mathers). Notable Hollywood & Entertainment Industry Deaths In 2020: Photo Gallery