“Leave It to Beaver,” which aired from 1957 until 1963, chronicled the misadventures of a suburban boy, along with his family and friends. It starred Jerry Mathers, Barbara Billingsley, Hugh. Leave It To Beaver - S06E39 - Family Scrapbook. The Cleavers reminisce when June finds a family photo album while cleaning out the cupboard.

1. Where Is The Cast Of ‘Leave It To Beaver’ Now? | Rare
2. Leave It To Beaver Season 1
3. Leave It To Beaver
4. Leave It To Beaver Family Scrapbook
5. The Leave It To Beaver Secrets You Never Knew
6. Whatever Happened To Whitey (Stanley Fafara) Of Leave It To ...
7. Leave It To Beaver Trains

One of the first sitcoms to air on American TV, Leave It To Beaver, was such a compelling and universal show, that including reruns, it hasn’t gone off the air since it first debuted in 1957. Viewers were introduced to Theodore ‘Beaver’ Cleaver and his family, which included older brother Wally, as well as model parents, June and Ward Cleaver. From the very first episode, audiences could relate to the silly predicaments the boys got themselves into, seeing either themselves or their children in the characters. In spite of its legacy, there is probably a lot you didn’t know about what went on behind the scenes of Leave It To Beaver. Now, the remaining cast members are telling it all.

When the war broke out in Vietnam, Jerry Mathers, who played Beaver, wanted to enlist in the Marines. Fearing bad publicity should a well-loved child star be killed in action, he was told he wouldn’t be deployed. Instead, Mathers decided to join the United Air Force Reserve.

Even though Mathers wasn’t quite doing what he wanted, he still felt good that he was contributing to the war effort in some form or another. He even got to wear his own uniform!

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. Ward was originally portrayed by Max Showalter in the pilot episode, while Wally was played by Paul Sullivan.

Unfortunately for Paul, he grew too much in the six-month break before the show went to series. The producers wanted someone who would look younger, so they cast Tony Dow as Wally instead.

There was a very specific reason producers found the young Jerry Mathers endearing when he showed up to audition for Beaver. Mathers was dressed in his cub scout uniform, however, it wasn’t just a costume choice.

Mathers genuinely had a cub scout meeting to go to after his audition, which he was anxious to get too. He was so worried about being late for the meeting, he informed the casting team that he had somewhere to be, which they absolutely loved.

On the show, Wally was often portrayed as the successful older brother, who not only was smooth with the ladies, but was admired for his athletic prowess.

Some of that stems from the fact that Tony Dow himself was an accomplished athlete, even before he made it onto the show. He had been a Junior Olympian swimmer before he began acting. Even before Dow was cast, the producers were looking for someone athletic to fill the role, so Dow was a perfect fit.

Hugh Beaumont turned to acting for very different reasons that most performers. While many people seek side jobs in order to support their acting dreams, Beaumont got into acting for the paycheck.

He was otherwise an ordained minister with a degree in theology from University of Southern California. The ministry to which he was assigned happened to be extremely poor, so he needed to find another source of income. It just so happened that playing Ward Cleaver was the best way to do so.

The series premiered on a notable day in history, though it had nothing to do with the show that would become an icon in its own right later on.

The day the series began running was October 4, 1957, which was the same day that the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the very first satellite into space. Beaver may not have been reliant on pop culture for its storylines, but it certainly made mention of the Sputnik launch during several episodes.

During an interview for the show’s 60th anniversary, Tony Dow told Today that the show’s writers didn’t want Leave It To Beaver to be filled with jokes that had audiences rolling on the floor in laughter.

Dow explained, “[I]f any line got too much of a laugh, they’d take it out. They didn’t want a big laugh; they wanted chuckles.” You may have wondered why the humor of the show was styled as such, so it’s nice that Dow provided the answer.

One of the most noticeable goofs on the show was the changing age gap between Wally and Beaver. When the show first began, Beaver was only in second grade, making him around 7 years old.

Wally, on the other hand was in 8th grade, meaning there was a six year gap between the boys. By the end of the show, however, Beaver was set to begin high school, while Wally was graduating, meaning the gap had reduced to only a four year difference.

Though show may have been more internally consistent than most TV programs in history, but the fictional Mayfield’s general location seemed to be in flux. Some consider Mayfield to be in Wisconsin, because the town of Madison, as well as the Green Bay Packers, were mentioned.

In another episode, however, Beaver mentions being only 30 miles from the beach. Yet another episode made it seem like Mayfield was in Ohio, because Wally supposedly went to a school near Shaker Heights.

One would have imagined that booking such a popular show like Leave It To Beaver would have been an exciting event, however, for Hugh Beaumont, it led to tragedy. After he was cast as Ward Cleaver, he had to get himself to California pronto, which meant flying.

His usual routine was to drive with his wife, son, and mother-in-law from Minnesota, but didn’t have the time. Instead, his son drove the family, but ended up in an accident on the way, which Hugh’s mother-in-law didn’t survive.

When Leave It To Beaver first debuted on CBS, strict censorship laws governed what could and couldn’t be shown on TV. Beaver became the first program to show a toilet on screen, but were only allowed to show the tank and handle.

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 wasn’t too crude.

At 69, Jerry Mathers hasn’t been acting much lately, but he did surprisingly end up the focus of a tragic rumor during his mid-life years.

Somehow, a myth was begun and perpetuated that Mathers had in fact been killed in Vietnam, which is ironic because the military wouldn’t let him serve for that reason. Despite the rumors, Mathers became the star of Beaver spin off movies and TV shows in the 1980s, which was originally titled, Still The Beaver.

When asked about any on set mishaps in his Fox News interview, Mathers had one very particular story that wasn’t well known otherwise. In a play taken straight from Beaver’s life, Mathers was shooting an episode where Beaver cares for a neighbor’s cat.

When the purebred show cat was put in the tree for the scene, however, it was spooked by its surroundings and ran away. Mathers recalled that it took nearly 5 days to find the frightened kitty.

In celebration of the TV show’s 60th anniversary, many of the cast members began doing interviews on many TV networks in order to discuss their time on the show.

During one 2014 interview, Mathers appeared on Fox News to discuss his favorite recollections from the show. For his appearance, he pulled out the old interview uniform, explaining that during the show’s run, he and Tony Dow would wear a Mayfield High School letterman sweater for their press appearances.

There’s more to the tale of the toilet on Leave It To Beaver than simply being censored for wanting to show a toilet. 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.

The first episode of the main series revolved around Wally and Beaver buying an alligator, which they needed to put in water. Because of that scene, the show was almost banned from the airwaves entirely.

Leave It To Beaver had a curious effect on fashion trends of the era. Many associate June Cleaver’s classic pearls as the quintessential look for a 1950s housewife, but the truth is, that wasn’t necessarily every mother’s uniform.

Barbara Billingsley chose pearls as part of her regular costume because she had a small scar on her neck that she deemed unsightly for the cameras. 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. In the 1980s, Osmond was shot three times while he was on duty during a chase with a criminal.

Luckily for Osmond, he was wearing a bullet-proof vest, which ultimately saved his life. Eddie might have been quite the rascal on the set of Leave It To Beaver, but Osmond’s future profession showed just how different he was from his character.

Hugh Beaumont wasn’t content to simply act on the show. It’s clear from his profession as a minister, as well as the fact that he had gotten a Master’s degree, he was interested in more serious pursuits.

To that end, Beaumont was able to play a part in writing for several episodes of Leave It To Beaver, as well as to also direct some of the episodes. This just proves that Beaumont was a man of many talents.

Many audience members reminisce about how June Cleaver was always pristine, even while engaging in all sorts of housework. Both her pearls and her heels are one of the most cited examples of what it meant to be a housewife in the 1950s.

However, Barbara Billingsley didn’t wear heels at the start of the show. She only began wearing heels as the two boys began growing, so she could better appear to tower over them, especially when dealing with their many misdeeds.

Tony Dow almost didn’t make it into the acting business, but rather decided to tag along with a friend of his who was a lifeguard at one of the pools he swam in.

On a whim, Tony decided to audition alongside his friend, and they filmed a pilot together, which never got off the ground. It was Tony’s luck, however, that when Leave It To Beaver realized they needed to recast Wally, they remembered him and gave him a call.

The Cleaver house that was shown on screen for most of the series is still standing in the Universal backlot. The house was constructed when the show moved its filming operations over to Universal, and the studio decided not to knock it down.

Instead, it became the house that was used for a number of other shows as well. If you were to go on a tour of the Universal lot, there’s still a chance you too could visit the Cleaver house.

When the show first debuted in 1957, its ratings were only so so, which caused executives at CBS to rethink their commitment to the program. The network cancelled the show, but Beaver’s cancellation was short lived, as it was quickly picked up again by ABC.

Production was shifted to a different backlot, and other than their air time changing, the show otherwise remained the same. It would go on to enjoy a total of six seasons before it wrapped.

Many of the scenarios that Beaver and Wally found themselves in throughout the show often seemed to hit very close to the concerns of other children and teenagers their age. There was good reason the boys’ lives were so relatable to viewers.

One of the show’s writers, Joe Connelly, based Wally and Beaver off of his own children, whose antics he would scribble down in a notebook on the regular. He also included their friends in the friends of both Beaver and Wally.

When considering the most iconic 1950s cool guy, most people think of Fonzy from Happy Days before remembering Leave It To Beaver. Unlike Beaver, Happy Days was filmed during the 1970s, even though it took place in the 1950s.

Where Is The Cast Of ‘Leave It To Beaver’ Now? | Rare

That means that Eddie Haskell was the original cool kid. 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.

Wally and Beaver may have been the center of the show, but the story certainly wouldn’t have been the same without having Eddie Haskell in the mix.

Eddie was played by the actor Ken Osmond, but due to a little mix up in an interview, many viewers believed Eddie Haskell grew up to become Alice Cooper, the rock musician. What Cooper had meant was that he behaved a lot like the character of Haskell as a child, not that he portrayed him.

It wasn’t uncommon for stars of the 1950s to cross over into other artistic genres, not unlike many stars today. To that end, executives attempted to make a pop star out of Jerry Mathers in addition to being a TV star.

Under their guidance, Jerry recorded two singles, “Don’tcha Cry” and “Wind Up Top”. Neither song got very much air time, which was fortunate, because they weren’t considered to be that good. Mathers didn’t end up pursuing a music career in the end.

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. The movie was developed into a new series titled The New Leave It To Beaver.

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. The only actor who didn’t return was Hugh Beaumont, who had died several years prior.

One of the most curious things about the final seasons of the show is that the Cleavers’ car very distinctly had no back windshield.

This wasn’t because cars lacked the technology for them, but rather because the glass of the windshield created a glare when filmed by the cameras. In order to be able to see the boys sitting in the back seat of the car, the glass was therefore removed, which solved the problem of glare.

Despite the fact that Beaver’s 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.

Given the character he portrayed, it’s hard to image Lumpy as anything akin to suave. In his later years, he became a stockbroker, after finding it hard to break allusions that he really was Lumpy. He ended up managing several cast members’ investments.

Leave It To Beaver Season 1

By 1963, no TV show had ever had a proper series finale, but Beaver found itself in a bit of a pickle. Jerry Mathers wanted to take a break from acting in order to focus on going to high school.

The producers weren’t able to figure out a way for the show to go on without him, so they decided it would be best for Leave It To Beaver to go off the air. It was the first series to have a true finale.

In the episode, “Long Distance Call,” Don Drysdale tells Gilbert that Mayfield is a “quite a distance to be calling from.”

Leave It To Beaver

The Leave it to Beaver Mystery

Leave It To Beaver Family Scrapbook

Okay, if you haven’t figured out where the real location of Mayfield is, you’re an absolutely normal person. If you would like to know where the real location of Mayfield is, then you’re also a very normal Leave it to Beaver fan. It’s a normal question to ask and as I mentioned in the post, “Where is Mayfield?”, that is a question that is answered probably more times than it is asked. So, if you’ve found this post on the real location of Mayfield, go read the previous post first.

The following are more observations from Leave it to Beaver expert Scott Hettrick.

Possible locations outside Ohio

* Oregon or Washington because… Eddie goes to the dock to interview for a summer job on a fishing boat in Alaska and we see a boat in the water, so it must be the coast, and since the fishing boat is going to Alaska (as opposed, for example, to Nova Scotia), this suggests the port is on the West Coast; In episode about Lumpy’s football scholarship to “State,” his friend asks for tickets if they go to Rose Bowl this year – in those years the Rose Bowl game was between winners of Big Ten and Pacific Coast Conferences, which included Oregon State, and Washington State; June mentions Ward’s fishing trips to Minnesota and Seattle, suggesting Seattle is nearby; reference to fishing with salmon eggs, which suggests the Pacific Northwest; also there’s a pennant on the wall with a “W” suggesting Washington; Wally’s License episode shows license plate on training car with an “E” inside an “O,” a design Oregon has used in the past.

The Leave It To Beaver Secrets You Never Knew

* Connecticut because… In The Boat Builders episode, Ward says “We’re 20 miles from the ocean” – no front license plates eliminates 19 states, leaving only five states 20 miles from the ocean and Beaver and Richard talk about spotting a New Jersey license plate; Ward born and raised in Mayfield and used to get poison ivy as a kid (an east coast plant vs poison oak, a west coast plant) and they say “soda” vs “pop” or “coke”; they can take train to their Aunt Martha’s, who’s very proud of her east coast heritage; the rival town of Madison is in Connecticut on the coast; and the bottom of Ward’s trash cans has CAFT, and only two states start with C. Also, Ward and June take an overnight trip to Freeport and leave at 4 pm to get there before dark –Freeport in New York is 2-hours from Connecticut; they go to an NFL game in 1960 (Green Bay vs random opponent); Connecticut was close to NY Giants stadium.

Whatever Happened To Whitey (Stanley Fafara) Of Leave It To ...

* Baltimore because… In Beaver’s Secret life episode Wally refers to the Colts football team which at the time was the Baltimore Colts; When Beaver was going to be on TV, Gilbert said his aunt in Pennsylvania was watching and TV antennas only get reception for a limited radius; Rt 7 runs northeast of Baltimore In Baltimore County and Harford counties.

Leave It To Beaver Trains

* Michigan because… Pennant in boys’ bedroom; Crystal Falls is in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula; In the episode about Lumpy’s football scholarship to “State,” his friend asks for tickets if they go to Rose Bowl this year – in those years the Rose Bowl game was between winners of Big Ten and Pacific Coast Conferences, which included Michigan State.

* The Coast (one of them) because… In The Boat Builders episode, Ward says “We’re 20 miles from the ocean”; Wally got a job selling ice cream on the beach; Season 6 opening has family running out front door to get into car with June carrying a picnic basket, Ward carrying a thermos and Wally carrying beach towel
— NOT EAST COAST because… Aunt Martha says Cleaver home “is such an eastern-looking home so far west.”

* Wisconsin because… In a season 3 episode Fred brags to Ward that Lumpy played in school band “for the Governor in Madison”; The Her Idol episode has a letter from Mrs. Rayburn mentioning a home run by the Milwaukee Braves in the World Series; Crystal Falls is said to be 90 miles away, which could be Coleman, Wi.; Uncle Billy said the Green Bay Packers need a half back; Madison, the State college where Lumpy may have gone played in the Rose Bowl; The W pennant above Beaver’s bed similar to Wisconsin Badgers logo; In the Don Drysdale episode, Beaver had a Warren Spahn glove (Milwaukee Braves 1946-64); The Cleveland references could also be Cleveland, Wisconsin – Mayfield Wisconsin is about exactly 20 miles from Lake Michigan, which may have seemed like the ocean in Tooey’s refernece

* Pennsylvania because… In the episode, Perfect Father, Ward says he use to play Mulhlenberg in basketball – Mulhenberg township (Berks County) and Muhlenberg College (Allentown, Lehigh County) are in Pennsylvania

* Tennessee because… While attending school in Chattanooga Tennessee, Hugh Beaumont worked at the Mayfield Dairy, where he said the name of the town of Mayfield came from.

* North of Texas because… Wally says “they’ve got it all [oil] down in Texas.”

Where is Mayfield? Here is the answer, NOT

* NOT Pennsylvania because… in the episode “Nobody Loves Me” it took Richard hours to find a car with a New Jersey license plate, and Beaver mentioned he saw a Pennsylvania plate which was close.
* NOT CALIFORNIA because… Ward mentions June’s parents live in California; In Box Office Attraction episode, Marlene’s parents are said to live in California; owners of the old house in the “Mistaken Identity” episode moved to California.
* NOT LOS ANGELES because… Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale says it’s a “long way” from there and it was a long distance call from Mayfield.
* NOT NEAR ST. LOUIS because… Ward had to fly there and stay for a few days on business.
* NOT NEAR WASHINGTON D.C. because… Beaver said (lying) that his dad was “flying to Washington to see the president.”
* NOT THE SOUTH because… No one talks with a southern, an Appalachian, or a New England accent (except visiting Aunt Martha).
* NOT DESERT AREAS because… no arid or desert terrain and sometimes you can see mountains; characters sometimes seen wearing jackets and coats
* NOT AGRICULTURAL AREAS because… does not seem to be an important/prominent local industry.
* NOT NEW ENGLAND because… Ward told beaver that New England was “just a few hours away by plane.”
* NOT INDIANA or NEARBY STATES because… The new young blonde girl student who Wally had a crush on when June invited her to picnic at Friends Lake, was from Indianapolis Indiana or “one of those states.”

Now you know the real location of Mayfield

I hope this post or our previous post about the real location of Mayfield has satisfied your interest in the subject. If not, there will be no satisfying the desire to know, but I will be writing much more in one of my upcoming Leave it to Beaver books. So, be on the look out for that. Until then, you can always check out my most recent Leave it to Beaver book which has its own 70 page season 1 encyclopedia. You’ll love it.

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