The Cold War

[ProfTerguson]

Hey guys; I'm working on a Cold War unit for my students, and I'm looking for the best Leave it to Beaver episode that best exemplifies the times - can you guys help me out? thanks.

[BBF]

Hmmm...that's a toughie. That's so cool that you're going to incorporate LITB into your teaching! Sweet! I will get back to you on the episode I think shows the time best.

[BBF]

Here's what I came up with:

Episode 67 kind of deals with the simplicity of the times and how a lot more people looked up to their fathers and respected them than now.

67 - Beaver's Hero
After realizing that his father was in the war with President Eisenhower, Beaver brags about his father to all of his classmates the next day. He says he will bring in some mementos to show the kids that don't believe him, but when he goes to look for something, he learns that his father was an engineer who built bases and didn't fight during the war. Beaver still thinks his dad is a hero anyway.

This is an episode that acutally deals with things that were going on in the world. Most sitcoms avoided things like this. Episode 119 was considered a controversial episode, but it dealt with divorce honestly. I tried to pick a couple of episodes that were like that because they were more realistic of the time, most of the episodes aren't very realistic as far as the situations they involve.

119 - Beaver's House Guest
Chopper Cooper comes to spend the weekend with Beaver, who becomes fascinated with Chopper's exotic life. Chopper's parents have been divorced and married several times and fight over Chopper with expensive gifts. Beaver becomes jealous of Chopper's lifestyle until Chopper tells Beaver he would trade it all in for parents who love him and each other. Beaver then realizes how lucky he is.

I couldn't find the discription for it, but there is also an episode dealing with alcoholism called "Beaver and Andy" about Ward's old friend who has a drinking problem.

[tdr]

Although several LITB episodes touch on the Cold War, none of them make that the subject or theme. I can think 3 eps right off that make a reference to this issue of the times...

The first one, from the first season, alludes to the Cold War in a very ironic way. This is in "Water, Anyone?" in which Beaver hears from maintenance workers that the neighborhood water supply will be cut off while doing some work, and he loads up with bottles and buckets of water, while Wally and his friends are all working around their homes to try and earn money for baseball uniforms. When they discover they cannot get any water to drink from their faucets, they buy water from Beaver, while degrading him at the same time for taking advantage and selling it. One of the mothers calls Ward, Beaver's dad, to complain about Beaver's water business and calls it "communism." It's really the opposite, of course, but anything that appears unneighborly or unjust could be referred to in that way because the connotation was so negative.

The other 2 I have in mind are from season #4. The first of these is "Beaver and Kenneth," in which a boy steals items at school to give them to Beaver to attain his friendship. June finds some of the items reported missing under Beaver's bed and begins to think Beaver might be stealing. She tells Beaver "whatever you do, there's always somebody watching you." Beaver understands she talking about God, though he doesn't know her reason, and he says he would do nothing to hurt God because "He's got enough trouble with the Russians."

The final ep in this is "Beaver's Old Buddy." Beaver invites a friend over he has not seen in years, hoping they will have the same kinds of fun they used to, but both boys find out that things and people change with time. But one thing they try is playing "Korea" with their toy army helmets and weaons, rememebering "that sure was a popular war."

One other allusion worthy of mention is that on a few occasions Eddie Haskell referred to a minor conflict as a "cold war." Principally, he says "this cold war with the adults," as sort of a precursor of the generation gap which was to broaden in the coming years with VietNam and protesting the 'establishment.'

[ProfTerguson]

Thanks a ton guys; I'm going to try and get ahold of some of these - esp. the ones tdr recommended; thanks again!

Jerome