Leave it to beaver season 3? - Page 16

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Correct Joe,

"In the Soup" is considered one of the top LITB episodes of all time. "The Clothing Drive", along with "Beaver the Bunny" are considered the least desired of the series. "Clothing Drive" was indeed filmed as a Season 5 episode, notice how Beaver's teacher is not Mrs. Rayburn, but Mr. Bailey who is most noted as Beaver's English teacher in the episode, "Beaver's Typewriter" The filming of "Clothing Drive" is very poor. The opening scene has Beaver with some friends walking around in circles and my recollection was that it just didn't work. There is an ugly looking kid in that scene and the one bright spot in this episode, a young Tim Mathison from Animal House, who also appeared in "Beaver" in the "Tell it to Ella" episode.

The dining room is filmed at different angles in this episode than is customary. Ward is made to look inept when he clearly is not, and June's "Perry Mason" inquisitions (according to Wally) regarding why Ward should get the suits back is out of character for her.

Than we have Beaver all excited about winning some stupid little plaque, which was probably worth about $.50 cents back in the day. This episode has been shown to be near the bottom of the desirable list.

Jack

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

I'm exactly the same. Although, isn't there an episode where Beav thinks there's a spanking machine in the principle's office? That's one that stuck with me...if it's a beav at all.

Talking about Eddie, when I was a kid I hated Eddie! Every time he'd come around and bother Beaver I'd get all tense. As an adult I'm completely different. Eddie is definitely among the most memorable and funny characters in TV history.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Well, I'm in the same category then because I knew immediately which episode he was talking about. And it's one of my all-time favorites as well. And like Jack, I too think seasons 5 & 6 were the best. In fact, if given my druthers this is the one show amongst all my many favorites where I would have opted for the releases to come out in backwards order. Starting with Season 6 and working back would have pleased me to no end. And it's not like I didn't love the early years, because I did. But those final two seasons, where Eddie and Lumpy became more prevalent, were just top notch in my book. And when you add Cheryl Holdridge to the list of recurring stars you've got me hooked all the way.

Darn it, now you guys got me all upset at Universal again. Oh well, that happens about 5 times a day anyhow.

Gary "I'm begging some other company - please pick this show up and finish it for us" O.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

I think "The Clothing Drive" had writers and a director who didn't work on any other episodes. It plays like their "audition film," and they didn't pass the audition! I really think that Connelly and Mosher never intended to show it, but figured they might as well after the show was cancelled, so they showed it right near the end of the series.

I also have problems with the episode where Beaver is pushing the doll carriage. I think it's Gilbert and Whitey who come along, or maybe Gilbert and Richard. Even given that Beaver is a really stupid kid, couldn't he say to these old friends of his, "Hey, I just got this from a girl and I'm going to take the wheels off to build a cool racer"?

But, no, he hides the carriage because it's too humiliating to be seen with it. But then Gilbert and Whitey (or Richard) see it and they take it. So how come THEY aren't embarrassed to be seen with it? Did that even occur to poor Beaver?

Well, I'll stop. I hate to pick on this series, which really was one of the most overall intelligent comedy series of all time, with probably the lowest percentage of clunker episodes of any of them.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

I was going to do a top ten list but that seemed impossible so here are my favorite twenty episodes. They are listed by season, not in order of preference.

Season 1 - Ep. 4 "The Haircut": After losing his lunch money for three days in a row, Ward gives Beaver one last chance, by letting him handle his haircut money. However, when he loses that too, Beaver decides to give himself a haircut just days before he's scheduled to be an angel in a play.

Season 1 - Ep. 26 "Train Trip": After a week long visit with their Aunt Martha, Wally and Beaver prepare to head home to Mayfield on a train. After talking Martha into letting them buy their own tickets, they discover they're short the money after spending it on junk food and find themselves wondering how they are going to get home.

Season 1 - Ep. 29 "Tenting Tonight": After a weekend spent at the movies goes awry for Ward, he decides the boys should spend their weekends outside and plans a camping trip. However, when Ward's called into work, Wally and Beaver decide to camp out in the backyard.

Season 1 - Ep. 33 "Wally's Job: Wally jumps at the chance to paint a couple of garbage cans for Ward, who offers 50 cents a piece. However, once Eddie tells Wally, that his father was charged $3.00 to have his painted, he becomes disinterested in the job which is when Beaver steps in and takes over the job.

Season 2 - Ep. 48 "The Pipe": Ward receives an antique pipe as a gift from Fred Rutherford and a curious Larry and Beaver decide to try it out. First they use coffee but then they try tobacco. When Ward discovers someone has used the pipe, he jumps to the conclusion that Wally is the culprit.

Season 2 - Ep. 73 "Wally's Haircomb": Wally begins combing his hair a new way, which was inspired by a fad started by Eddie that has swept his school. However, June and Ward are aghast by his hairdo and June becomes determined to get Wally to change his haircomb back to his normal style.

Season 3 - Ep. 83 "Baby Picture": Beaver's class holds a "Most Beautiful Baby" contest and each student is supposed to bring in a baby picture. To make the deadline, June picks out a cute picture of Beaver at the last minute and sends it to Miss Landers, not realizing that the cute picture may cause Beaver embarrassment.

Season 3 - Ep. 87 "Teacher Comes To Dinner": Beaver gets a surprise when June invites Miss Landers over for dinner and Larry convinces him that something bad might happen. This leads Beaver to become a nervous wreck and tries to make sure his parents don't do anything to embarrass him. Meanwhile, Larry charges a quarter to anyone who wants to spy on Miss Landers eating dinner at the Cleavers.

Season 3 - Ep. 102 "The Hypnotist": After seeing someone being hypnotized in a movie, Beaver sets out to do the same but Eddie wants to play a trick on Beaver and pretends Beaver has hypnotized him and Beaver gets scared when Eddie doesn't snap out of the trance.

Season 3 - Ep. 106 "Ward's Baseball": Ward's cherished autographed baseball becomes the object that Larry and Beaver just can't keep their hands off of. They decide to play catch with it and it ends up getting run over by a truck.

Season 4 - Ep. 121 "Wally, The Lifegaurd": Wally is all set to begin his job as a lifeguard but is let down when he learns that had been a mistake and he's not old enough to fill the position, so instead he is hired to sell candy and hot dogs.

Season 4 - Ep. 140 "Mother's Helper": A neighborhood cleaning woman, Mrs. Manners, gets a request from June asking her to help out a couple times during the week. Mrs. Manners is too busy herself but instead sends over her daughter, a girl whom Wally instantly falls for.

Season 4 - Ep. 149 "In The Soup": Wally is throwing a party and is successful in getting Beaver out of the house, who is planning to spend the night at Whitey's. However, on the way to Whitey's house, him and Beaver get into an argument over a billboard that is advertising for soup and this leads to Beaver falling into the giant soup bowl mounted at the top of the billboard.

Season 5 - Ep. 162 "Wally's Weekend Job": Wally gets a job at the ice cream parlor leaving a gaggle of girls swooning and Eddie and Lumpy feeling neglected. So to get back at him, Eddie and Lumpy concoct a plan of revenge that involves Mary Ellen Roger's slumber party.

Season 5 - Ep. 192 "A Night In The Woods": Beaver and his friends are all psyched to go on a camping trip with Gilbert's father as an escort. However, when Gilbert's father suddenly has to work and everyone is down in the dumps that is until Wally agrees to take them. Meanwhile, Eddie and Lumpy decide to secretly tag along and scare the boys with animal noises.

Season 6 - Ep. 200 "Double Date": Wally's new girlfriend Carolyn can't go out to the movies on Saturday night because she has to watch her little sister Susan. Carolyn suggests that Beaver take Susan out to the movies and that they all double date. Not wanting to let Wally down, Beaver decides to go along, despite being nervous.

Season 6 - Ep. 209 "The Party Spoiler": Wally asks June and Ward if he could have a party and with some prodding, Wally finally gets their permission. June quickly begins the plans and Beaver gets a look at the guest list and quickly finds that he's not invited. For revenge, Beaver decides to sabotage Wally's party with a variety of gags that he bought at a magic shop.

Season 6 - Ep. 210 "The Mustache": Wally's on-again off-again girlfriend, Julie Foster seems to have thrown him over for a new guy in school who just happens to have a mustache. Wally's ego is bruised when Eddie tells him that Julie thinks he's naive and immature. This is the last straw and Wally decides to grow a mustache, much to the dismay of his family.

Season 6 - Ep. 213 "More Blessed To Give": Beaver and Gilbert go to a carnival and Beaver surprisingly wins a fourteen caret gold locket in one of the carnival games. Beaver thinks about giving it to June but thanks to Gilbert, Beaver decides to give it to a girl whom he has a crush on. However, soon it becomes apparant that this was a mistake when the girl's parents discover Beaver's gift.

Season 6 - Ep. 217 "Beaver on TV": Beaver comes home with the news that he applied to appear on a local television show called Teen Forum and he has been accepted. Beaver gets out of classes for the taping and all his classmates are treated to being able to watch him on TV during class. However, what Beaver, his friends and family don't know is that the show tapes each episode a week in advance.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Pretty good list Jonathan,15 out of those 20, are on my top 20 list as well.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

How is it possible for any LITB fan to not include "Happy Weekend" (Season 2) on a list of Top 20 episodes?

I'm getting the spanking machine out of my closet to use on somebody right now, by golly!

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Agreed. That one will be in my top 25. I just could not whittle it down any more than that. They appear in no particular order and without episode descriptions:

Season 1 - Ep. 7 "Water Anyone"
Season 1 - Ep. 22 "The Perfect Father"
Season 1 - Ep. 26 "The Train Trip"
Season 2 - Ep. 47 "The Shave"
Season 2 - Ep. 52 "Happy Weekend"
Season 2 - Ep. 58 "Wally's Pug Nose"
Season 2 - Ep. 73 "Wally's Haircomb"
Season 3 - Ep. 102 "The Hypnotist"
Season 3 - Ep. 113 "Wally's Weekend Job"
Season 4 - Ep. 121 "Wally the Lifeguard"
Season 4 - Ep. 138 "Big Fish Count"
Season 4 - Ep. 142 "Wally & Dudley"
Season 4 - Ep. 149 "In the Soup"
Season 5 - Ep. 162 "Wally's Weekend Job"
Season 5 - Ep. 169 "Beaver's First Date"
Season 5 - Ep. 172 "Beaver the Bunny"
Season 5 - Ep. 192 "A Night in the Woods"
Season 6 - Ep. 196 "Wally's Dinner Date"
Season 6 - Ep. 200 "Double Date"
Season 6 - Ep. 206 "Beaver the Sheepdog"
Season 6 - Ep. 209 "The Party Spoiler"
Season 6 - Ep. 210 "The Mustache"
Season 6 - Ep. 216 "The Credit Card"
Season 6 - Ep. 224 "Eddie's Sweater"
Season 6 - Ep. 230 "Wally's Practical Joke"


Gary "you'll see that I really do like the last season the best - by far" O.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

E-gads! The agony! The humanities!

Now I'm gonna have to thrash Gary "Long Middle Name Goes Here" O. to within an inch of his LITB-lovin' life because (incredibly!) Gary has omitted "THE HAIRCUT" from a Top 25 LITB fave list.

Plus -- The Season-One classic episodic adventure called "LUMPY RUTHERFORD" hasn't been mentioned on the two lists above either (e-gads again!). This is yet another oversight that cannot be tolerated by Ward, June, Mrs. Rayburn, Edward W. Haskell, or Andy The Drunk!

The "Lumpy Rutherford"/"Barrel Hoops" episode needs to be in everyone's "Best Of" cupboard. Simple as that. And don't argue with me!

"Ward Cleaver, if my babies go to jail, it's going to be ALL YOUR FAULT! .... And don't you DARE hide up there and leave me down here with those Rutherfords!"

The above quote is from a tirade by June Cleaver, who was inserting a few verbal harpoons into hubby Ward in the "Lumpy" episode. Don't EVER cross a woman named June Bronson-Cleaver! (During Season 1 anyway.)

But keep in mind that the verbal salvos that came out of June's mouth in that S.1 ep. would never be seen in the later seasons. Just try to picture June acting in such an irate manner toward Ward in Season 6. You can't do it.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

I know, I know. What a terribly tough choice that was. Had I been working with a Top 30 then "The Haircut" most certainly would have been included. But I just love the last couple of seasons so much it takes away from the earlier ones and something has to be left out. Terrible, I know.

Gary "facing the wrath of David is not something I was looking forward to - but I figured my unbalanced Top 25 would not sit well with many fans" O.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Dear Ward in heaven!

"Beaver The Sheepdog" in a Top 25 list??

That misfire wouldn't make my Top 150 list.

(Looks like that Spanking Machine is in for quite a workout tonight on Gary.)

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Beyond entire episodes, we all have our favorite scenes or moments.

I like when Larry Mondello throws the money out of the window, and then tells Beaver it fell out of a plane.

Or when Eddie pretends his father is home and says, "I don't agree with your thinking, Father. I think we should forgive the Cleavers."

Or when June told Beaver to take Miss Landers' arm and he took the tip of her elbow.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

They're playing the last season on TV Land right now. I don't know or care about its rep, but I really enjoy the last episodes.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

What?!!! Who do you think you are? Cesar Romero or something? That episode allows Eddie to bring some of his best insults to the table. It's a great episode just for that scene alone up in the boys' room when Beaver is taking down all the insults that just roll off Eddie's tongue. Great, great stuff in my opinion.

Gary "next thing you'll be telling me that you don't like Cheryl Holdridge - and then I'll be bringing out the spanking machine" O.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

You can keep the spanking machine in the closet on this one. Cheryl's a babe.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Ahhh. Back on the same team now! Good job, my dear fellow. Cheryl is definitely a babe!

Gary "Wally should have held out for Julie in opposition to Mary Ellen" O.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Clothing Drive was actually directed, if my memory serves correctly, by Charles Haas, who also directed, "Beaver Takes A Drive." As I recall, he only worked on those two episodes. Mike Harmon (Tim Mathison) is the only redeaming character in The Clothing Drive episode. I wished he could have been in more shows! They should have brought him into more storylines after Larry (Rusty Stevens) moved away to New Jersey, (where he still lives!) Instead we got stuck with more Richard, who for some reason I CAN NOT STAND!!!

Jack

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Gilbert is the one I can't stand -- never could -- and now that I know he's a far, far, far left loon who bad mouths "Leave It to Beaver" any chance he can, I can't stand him even more.

As for Richard, he got the job through connections. He was the son of Charles Correll, who was Andy of "Amos 'n' Andy" on the radio. Connelly and Mosher wrote for "Amos 'n' Andy" before creating "Beaver".

Actually, for those who are familiar with the characters and plots of "Amos 'n' Andy," you can see a connection. Dimwitted Andy, who never learned his lesson, was always being led astray by Kingfish, even though Amos tried to talk him out of it. Substitute Beaver for Andy, Eddie or Larry or Whitey or Gilbert for Kingfish, and Wally or Mr. and Mrs. Cleaver for Amos, and you have the same exact plotlines.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Hi,

I wanted to bump this thread so that if enough people contact Universal, maybe, just maybe, they will get a hint a release the rest of the series. I am also going to snail mail them. Everyone should word process a letter to them. Sometimes this works a lot better than e-mail.

Jack

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

D'oh! Hopes dashed again.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Could this mean that there's still hope?

Amazon.com: Leave it to Beaver - Season 3: Movies & TV

There's no promised release date, only "Sign up to be notified when this item becomes available."

Under "Product Details," it does list the following:
ASIN: B001992NZG

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

I'm afraid not. That's something amazon does all along. It's not indicative of anything.

Look at THIS LINK and you'll see seasons 4 and 5 are also listed.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Maybe Arts America will pick up the slack. If they can release "Charles in Charge" they can certainly at least consider "Leave it to Beaver."

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Anyone happen to catch June Billingsley's interview on The O'Reilly Factor the other day?

She was so nice & professional & had such good things to say about the show.

I don't know her age, but the woman must not be able to age. She looked great.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

I wish I HAD seen it, David.

As I've well established in all these LitB threads, Barbara is a long-time favorite. I guess I kinda had a crush on her!

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Has anyone any idea if there are any photos of June online from the season that opened with the family doing yardwork during the opening credits?
I loved her hair in the episodes from that season.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Barbara Billingsley turned 92 last December.

Her real name is Barbara Combes (Billingsley was her first husband's name, from whom she was divorced).

Her second husband died of a heart attack in 1956 at the age of 44. In fact, when she started "Beaver," she was a very recent widow.

Her third marriage lasted 22 years, then she was widowed again.

Like June Cleaver, she also has two sons (from first husband Billingsley).

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Netflix actually has listings for seasons 3, 4, 5 and 6 now, though they have a disclaimer about there being no guarantee as to when/if they'll be available. I stumbled across all of this during a Google search that went somewhat awry last night.

"Leave it to Beaver" season one was listed at Amazon many months before it became available...guess I can always hope that lightning may eventually strike twice. Season three contains a couple of episodes featuring the infamous Duke Hathaway, who I wish they could have somehow worked into subsequent seasons.

Either Ward or June asked Duke if Mayfield High was going to have a good basketball season the next year. His response was something to the effect of, "No, I don't think so...I'm graduating!"

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Here's a 2.5 minute clip of the interview.

According to the transcript, that interview was from "several years ago."

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

I would wager the clip is at least 10 years old possibly from when Bill was hosting INSIDE EDITION. He looks much younger in the interview than he does now (notice the additional hair).

There are some video clips of Barbara from 2000 where she looks older than she did in the O'Reilly clip