"It's a Small World" is the pilot episode from the iconic American television series Leave It to Beaver (19571963). While most of the shows back in the 1960s ended abruptly, "Leave It to Beaver" bid farewell with a look back to its previous episodes in "Family Scrapbook.". The pilot episode aired on April 23, 1957, but never aired as an episode within the series. 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. Wally is a good student, who, unlike his brother Beaver, rarely gives his parents or teachers cause for concern. Fearing bad publicity should a well-loved child star be killed in action, he was told he wouldnt be deployed. The series aired until 1989. Toilet scenes were not shown on television back then, but "Leave It to Beaver" became the first although it was just the tank. It just so happened that playing Ward Cleaver was the best way to do so. The romance ends when Beaver sends Penny a toad in a nicely wrapped box. By 1963, no TV show had ever had a proper series finale, butBeaver found itself in a bit of a pickle. [1] It never aired as an episode within the series. Dow explained,[I]f any line got too much of a laugh, theyd take it out. Instead they retitled itIts a Small World. Back home, his son, Hunter, drove his mom and grandmother to work one day and lost control of the car. Barbara's June wore formal attire along with pearls and heels during the show, but it wasn't all about style. Two of Wally's friends are pictured, and they are greasy-looking punks. During an interview for the shows 60th anniversary, Tony Dow toldToday that the shows writers didnt wantLeave It To Beaver to be filled with jokes that had audiences rolling on the floor in laughter. Billingsley followed up her run with a role in the sequel, "The New Leave it to Beaver," which aired in the '80s. The series pilot episode was originally filmed and casted by Max Showalter, and he played Ward Cleaver. He sometimes clears the dinner table for his mother (i.e., he carries a few dirty dishes to the kitchen), and in one episode is seen drying dishes. Luckily for Osmond, he was wearing a bullet proof vest, which ultimately saved his life. Wally then becomes romantically involved with Mary Ellen Rogers, though the viewer often hears about her rather than sees her. The house was constructed when the show moved its filming operations over to Universal, and the studio decided not to knock it down. 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. Some consider Mayfield to be in Wisconsin, because the town of Madison, as well as the Green Bay Packers, were mentioned. 9 of 9 found this interesting | Share this "), such punishments never occur. Throughout the series, fans debated where the show was set. Actress Barbara Billingsley was insecure about a dent in her neck, so she wore a pearl necklace to disguise it. Ward was originally portrayed by Max Showalter in the pilot episode, while Wally was played by Paul Sullivan. Yet another episode made it seem like Mayfield was in Ohio, because Wally supposedly went to a school near Shaker Heights. They've been collecting them all week. In the later seasons, Wally has a few after school jobs and buys a used car. Still, that didn't happen. One episode ofLeave it to Beaverwas actually censored by the Federal Communications Commission when it showed a toilet on screen. By the time those pesky Alice Cooper rumors spread, Ken Osmond had been a police officer for over 18 years! Hugh Beaumonts character, Ward Cleaver, was the character who was always setting good moral examples for his kids to follow. Paul Sullivan is known for The Book of Life (2014), Megamind (2010) and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019). Keep . June Cleaver: All right, but we respected it last summer and they set fire to the attic! In another episode, however, Beaver mentions being only 30 miles from the beach. The toilet was shown in an episode when Wally and Beaver tried to keep a baby alligator in the toilet tank. Mathers didnt end up pursuing a music career in the end. When the purebred show cat was put in the tree for the scene, however, it was spooked by its surroundings and ran away. 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. The house was constructed when the show moved its filming operations over to Universal, and the studio decided not to knock it down. When the war broke out in Vietnam, Jerry Mathers, who played Beaver, wanted to enlist in the Marines. It is during the course of the last episode the viewer learns how Beaver got his nickname. Simon closes the seminar, expressing his hope that this is one of many cast reunions to . The rumor spread like wildfire. At the beginning episodes of the show, Barbara Billingsley wore flat shoes. Family matriarch June Cleaver was played by the gorgeous Barbara Billingsley. Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. Due to particular relationships around the world, some Accio Potterheads! The Yucatan peninsula is a perennial favorite when it comes to travelers visiting Mexico. Have you noticed while watching the show that the Cleavers car is missing the rear windshield? There was good reason the boys lives were so relatable to viewers. In celebration of the TV shows 60th anniversary, many of the cast members began doing interviews on many TV networks in order to discuss their time on the show. However, Tony Dow wasnt always a member of the fictional family. Jimmy Hawkins. When the show opens, Beaver is seven years old ("almost . Wally - this was the weirdest and worst aspect of the pilot. While many people seek side jobs in order to support their acting dreams, Beaumont got into acting for the paycheck. Leave It to Beaver is an iconic [1] American television situation comedy about an American family of the 1950s and early 1960s. 1961-1962 Leave It to Beaver TV Series Bill Scott Scott. However, when she kissed Casey on the lips right off the bat, I felt she was cheating on Beaumont! Later on, they reunited again to film the sequel series "The New Leave It to Beaver. For his appearance, he pulled out the old interview uniform, explaining that during the shows run, he and Tony Dow would wear a Mayfield High School letterman sweater for their press appearances. Oh, who are we kidding, we don't need to summon you guys! He became a Christmas tree farmer in the '60s but was forced to retire due to a stroke in 1972. After the show, Ken Osmond went on to become a Los Angeles Police Officer. 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. The ministry to which he was assigned happened to be extremely poor, so he needed to find another source of income. The only actor who didnt return was Hugh Beaumont, who had died several years prior. Wally spends his time in the bedroom at a small desk doing school assignments, the boys entertain their friends in the bedroom, and the room is often the scene of Ward's disciplinary lectures. It was Tonys luck, however, that whenLeave It To Beaver realized they needed to recast Wally, they remembered him and gave him a call. The Cleaver family from the television program "Leave it to Beaver." June Cleaver had a different longer hairstyle and looked actually prettier with it. They didnt want a big laugh; they wanted chuckles. You may have wondered why the humor of the show was styled as such, so its nice that Dow provided the answer. In a first-season episode, Mary Ellen cultivates Beaver's friendship in order to get to Wally, then maneuvers Wally into going to a dance against his will. He ended up managing several cast members investments. The Soviet Union announced that it had launched "Sputnik I" into space on October 4, 1963, the same day the show debuted. Other cast members include Russ Thorson as Man with Milk Bottles, Leonard Bremen as Milk Bar Operator, Tim Graham as Doc, and Virginia Carroll as Nurse. Fox News reports that Osmond became a Los Angeles Police Department officer for 18 years before becoming a celebrity spokesman. Leave It To Beaver had a curious effect on fashion trends of the era. Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher wrote the teleplay with Jerry Hopper directing the episode. He occasionally makes blunt or inappropriate comments that are bewildering or embarrassing to adults. The producers wanted someone who would look younger, so they cast Tony Dow as Wally instead. The actor starred in "Leave It to Beaver" from 1957 to 1963. Mathers genuinely had a cub scout meeting to go to after his audition, which he was anxious to get too. This wasnt because cars lacked the technology for them, but rather because the glass of the windshield created a glare when filmed by the cameras. Penny has danced with college boys and thinks Wally dances just as smoothly as they do. 01:23 Tony Dow, the wholesome actor who portrayed "the perfect big brother" Wally Cleaver on the everlasting TV comedy Leave It to Beaver and its 1980s sequel, has died, his reps announced. It wasnt uncommon for stars of the 1950s to cross over into other artistic genres, not unlike many stars today. Paul Sullivan, who played Wally in the pilot and who sits in the audience, discusses his career after the pilot. Tony Dow had grown into an attractive, athletic young man and was often featured in "heartthrob"-type magazines aimed principally at teen girls. Traveling with kids can seem like a daunting prospect if youve never done it before. But after a few episodes, the character began wearing heels in every episode. One of the shows writers, Joe Connelly, based Wally and Beaver off of his own children, whose antics he would scribble down in a notebook on the regular. Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wally_Cleaver&oldid=1129258944, Articles that may contain original research from April 2022, All articles that may contain original research, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, student; various after school jobs including newspaper carrier, drug store soda jerk, and ice cream vendor, This page was last edited on 24 December 2022, at 10:31. During an interview for the shows 60th anniversary, Tony Dow toldToday that the shows writers didnt wantLeave It To Beaver to be filled with jokes that had audiences rolling on the floor in laughter. Osmond passed away in May 2020. He would later play the role in spin-offs. | Source: Wikimedia Commons. These days, he enjoys sculpting every day. He's all right. I quote, "A child's world is his own sacred domain and his privacy must at all times be respected.". It would go on to enjoy a total of six seasons before it wrapped. Mathers recalled that it took nearly 5 days to find the frightened kitty. After the series was picked up by CBS, Hugh Beaumont replaced Casey Adams as Ward Cleaver while the role of Wally went to Tony Dow after Sullivan experienced a growth spurt before the series' production. What is the broadcast (satellite or terrestrial TV) release date of It's a Small World (1957) in Australia? On a whim, Tony decided to audition alongside his friend, and they filmed a pilot together, which never got off the ground. This just proves that Beaumont was a man of many talents. Dow died Tuesday morning, his reps Frank Bilotta and Renee James said in a statement. Beaver became the first program to show a toilet on screen, but were only allowed to show the tank and handle. Apparently it was so bad, that nobody listened to it. Menu. Hugh Beaumont turned to acting for very different reasons that most performers. When the production for the show moved from the Republic Studios to Universal, they built a new version of the original house. The pearls would hide the scar from viewers, which made Billingsley more confident about her appearance. Instead, his son drove the family, but ended up in an accident on the way, which Hughs mother-in-law didnt survive. At the age of five, Wally gave a newborn Beaver his nickname while trying to pronounce his given name of Theodore. It stars Barbara Billingsley, Hugh Beaumont, Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers ("as The Beaver", as the opening credits put it). Americans have been in love with the idealistic Cleaver family for generations since. This was because Paul Sullivan had grown too tall in between pilot and series. Leave it to Beaver: Jerry Mathers Said Show Had to Move On from Original Wally Cleaver for One Reason.