I bet you didn’t know this: Leave It to Beaver was the first US TV program to feature a toilet. A bit odd and random, I know, but interesting nonetheless. It was meant to be part of the pilot episode, but it was postponed because of the toilet. The show producers made a compromise only to show the back of the toilet.
The episode storyline entailed Wally and Beaver hiding a pet baby alligator in the toilet tank. We’ve obviously come a long way in TV and film, if toilets weren’t allowed to be shown on programs back in the ‘50s. Now, you can show just about anything if you’re on the right platform. If you watch the episode anytime soon, see if you can spot the toilet!
The ‘50s sitcom was close to being called something else: “The Adventures of Wally and Beaver.” In a MeTV interview with Tony Dow, the sole reason it was changed to what it is now is due to the fact that it sounded somewhat like a show about a young boy and his pet.
I don’t know about a boy and his pet, but the adventure title makes me picture a boy and his pet beaver going on a long journey that involves various smaller adventures throughout. The actual show title, Leave It to Beaver, sounds like a show that follows a rambunctious boy named Beaver, getting into trouble and misadventures.
Barbara Billingsley’s character, June Cleaver, wore outfits consistent with the fashion trends of the ‘50s, but she also wore a pearl necklace and high heels every time. The reason for this? Billingsley had a deep hollow in her neck, which, due to the cameras used at the time, created a distracting shadow on her collarbone and neck area.
The high heels June Cleaver always wore were because of her on-screen son’s getting taller and taller. Her character needed to appear taller than her sons, so high heels were the solution. The shoes also gave her character a sense of poise and formal sensibility.
Tony Dow’s character in Leave It to Beaver is an athletic young boy named Wallace Cleaver. It’s neat to find out that Dow was an athlete himself before starting the show. I guess starting in acting wasn’t too much of a shift for Dow, seeing that he and his character had an uncanny similarity.
Dow’s particular athletic skills were in swimming and diving. He won a couple of awards, such as one for the Junior Olympics Diving Champion. Tony was on a path towards potentially competing in the Olympics, but then he was offered an unexpected role on TV and couldn’t pass it up.
You may know of TV shows that put a bit of emphasis on humor, and it can be overwhelming at times. But there are some shows that do the opposite and keep the humor low-key. Leave It to Beaver is a sitcom that has mild, humorous jokes that don’t overpower the scene to the point that the joke isn’t even funny anymore.
The humor in the show stems from various points. The most obvious one is from the boys and their interactions and dynamics, whether that’s with each other or their friends. Then, there are the brothers' curiosity and misunderstandings that result in hilarious scenes and jokes. No matter where the humor is coming from, Leave It to Beaver knows what to do with it!
The setting of the ‘50s sitcom is up for grabs. Many are unsure of the Cleavers' location, with speculation emerging about several states or cities. Wisconsin is one location many believe the show to be set in. This isn’t without merit, though, and a couple of clues support the Wisconsin claim.
In an episode, the high school band travelled to Madison for a competition, and the Cleaver family attended a Packers game. However, there are some instances throughout the show that contradict Wisconsin as the setting. The show left the location vague on purpose, so maybe the audience isn’t meant to know what city or state the Cleavers are living in. Or perhaps the information just isn’t important.
Before getting into acting, Hugh Beaumont was a licensed Methodist preacher. According to MeTV, Beaumont had plans to join the clergy, but then he was offered the role of Mr. Cleaver and was at a crossroads. He didn’t want to merge the two professions, which, considering Hollywood, was probably for the best.
Instead, Beaumont would preach on the side when he wasn’t busy with acting. When he preaches, he goes as a preacher, not an actor, according to a MeTV article highlighting an interview with Beaumont. Whether you knew this fact or not, it’s an interesting tidbit of information about a beloved actor!
There’s always going to be mishaps or mistakes during filming that producers and cast members won’t catch until the final product is already out there. It may be a modern item found in the background of a scene that doesn’t fit the time period of the show. Or there may be a clothing mishap, where a shirt is untucked in one scene and tucked in the next.
In Leave It to Beaver, there’s one such mishap where Beaver is wearing a bald cap that is very obvious to the audience. It’s in the episode, “The Haircut,” and you can see the wrinkled edges of a bald cap. It was the 1950s, so you can’t hold the show to high expectations, but it’s a fun thing to point out.
I’m sure many of you know about the iconic show The Andy Griffith Show. There’s one episode, “The Shave,” that features a barber played by Howard McNear, who you may know was also on the ‘60s sitcom. McNear became more known as the barber, named Floyd, on Andy Griffith.
Two popular and beloved sitcoms, one from the ‘50s and another from the ‘60s, cross paths! If you know McNear from The Andy Griffith Show but didn’t know he was also in Leave It to Beaver, check out this episode; you won’t regret it and will undoubtedly have a good time.
In the episode “Captain Jack,” a Superman comic book is used as a prop. The scene that shows the ad shows a glimpse of a comic book page, which is quite obviously a flying, bulletproof Kryptonian man. You can see at the top of the page what looks like the words “Adventure Comics,” indicating the comic book “The Adventures of Superman.”
It’s a fun clue to look for the next time you watch the show, and it’s an interesting fact for comic book nerds. The Cleaver boys were looking at an ad for buying an alligator….perhaps Superman can come and save them if that situation were to get out of hand.
