Some of the actors and actresses | Pictures | Beaver Cleaver - Jerry Mathers | Wally Cleaver - Tony Dow | Ward Cleaver - Hugh Beaumont | Robert "Rusty" Stevens as Larry Mondello | Metzger's Field | Ward Cleaver's question? | Where the Cleavers lived | Stanley Fafara "Whitey Whitney" | Where is Mayfield? |
Ward, June, Wally, Beaver, Eddie, Lumpy
Ken Osmond, Jerry Mathers, Tony Dow, Frank Bank in 1998
The incredible cast of the legendary show, 35 years after it ended. (1998 photo)
THE CLEAVERS' HOUSE

"...and Jerry Mathers as the Beaver." Leave It To Beaver's hometown was Mayfield, U.S.A. Wally and Beaver attended Grant Ave. Grammar School through 8th grade. Wally attended Mayfield High School. The original run of Leave It To Beaver had 234 half hour episodes that aired over 6 seasons, 1957-1963.

According to Entertainment Weekly magazine The 100 Greatest TV Shows Of All Time Collector's Edition, Leave It To Beaver never entered the top 35 rated shows during the original run.

Leave It To Beaver was listed in Entertainment Weekly magazine, The 100 Greatest TV Shows Of All Time, Collector's Edition which was published by Entertainment Weekly Books, a division of Time Inc. Home Entertainment.

George Gobel (The George Gobel Show, Hollywood Squares) was the original owner of Leave It To Beaver. Gomalco Productions that did Leave It To Beaver, was named after George Gobel and David P. O'Malley.

Bob LeMond was the announcer on some of the Leave It To Beaver episodes.

Leave It To Beaver was created and produced by Joe Connelly & Bob Mosher

According to the book, ...And Jerry Mathers as "The Beaver", there are 27 Mayfields. The true location is a mystery.

Leave It To Beaver was THE situation comedy when I grew up. The great series showed a child's eye view of the world. Ward and June Cleaver lived in Mayfield, a kind of euphoric Anywhere, U.S.A. type of place. It was never revealed what state this town was in. There was so much speculation, but Ohio was the best guess. Much of Leave It To Beaver centered around the life of the young Cleaver kids,"Beaver" (Theodore) and his older brother Wally, and their observations and reactions to the everyday problems they encountered. The most colorful other regular characters were Eddie Haskell (a real joker and Wally's best friend) and Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford.

The Leave It To Beaver original pilot from 1957 came to light in 1987, with some different actors in some of the roles. The pilot was feared to be lost, but was found in an Illinois film vault.

The pilot was initially called Wally and Beaver, then It's A Small World before the final title was selected.

Joe Connelly, one of the producers, had always wanted to be a writer, and had kept a journal. When he was in World War II, and was on a destroyer in the Pacific, one of his shipmates was named the Beaver. When he came to do Leave it to Beaver and was searching for a name, he went through his list of names that he had kept. The names under the A's were searched and were passed on. The B's were read and when he came across the name of "Beaver", he made the decision to select that name for the title character. The reason was made on the show that Wally couldn't pronounce Theodore and somehow ended up with Beaver. But the real reason he was called Beaver was the name came from Joe's shipmate.

Norman Tokar, who directed most of the Leave It To Beaver episodes for the first 3 years, was a child actor who played Henry Aldrich on the radio. He also wrote many of the Leave It To Beaver shows.

Hugh Beaumont died of a heart attack in 1982 while visiting his son in Munich.

Leave it to Beaver is the 2nd longest running TV show in history.

Miss Landers first name was Alice.

Jerry Mathers was told to lose weight or he might not be around in 3-5 years. He had diabetes and high blood pressure. He went to Jenny Craig to lose the weight and did it with portion control.

For all of elementary school, Jerry had never really been to school. He had a private tutor.

When Leave it to Beaver was being filmed, they had 180 people on the set.

Leave It To Beaver plays in 180 countries and is spoken in 140 languages.

Jerry's younger brother, Jimmy Mathers, was in his own show, called Ichabod and Me, that was done by Connally and Mosher. He was also in Bewitched, playing a sickly little boy that needed help from a witch.

Jerry Mathers, Tony Dow and Ken Osmond are going to put on a new show similar to Leave it to Beaver, that the whole family can watch.
Links

Leave It To Beaver page on Tim's TV Showcase

leaveittobeaver.org

Leave It To Beaver site from the Museum of Broadcast Communications

Leave It To Beaver site from Sitcoms Online

Leave It To Beaver Dog Food Commercial

Interview on CBS with Barbara Billingsley, Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow

Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow interviewed near Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

Who wrote the music and lyrics for Leave It To Beaver?

Tony Dow says Leave It To Beaver is the only scripted show to be on the air continuously for 50 years

Picture of Leave It To Beaver cast

Jerry Mathers was told if he didn't do something about his health he'd lose his life

Jerry Mathers Leaves it to Weight Loss to Control His Diabetes

Leave It to Beaver deserves spot in U.S. Postal Service's stamp series honoring early TV

Frank Bank and Ken Osmond talk about why the SAG deal was bad for pre-1974 actors. What did happen? The SAG contract was passed, so there will be no residuals for any of the actors in TV shows prior to 1974.

In memory of the cast of Leave It To Beaver

Leave It To Beaver last updated 6/21/10