Zap! You Now Live in Mayfield.

[BrandonS]

Suppose you could walk into the TV screen and live in Mayfield for the rest of your life. The people, the era, the morals, and everything else. You could even get to know the Cleavers, since they would be there. What would you like the most about it, and what would you like the least.

Most: The atmosphere is so pleasant and the morals so simple and clear.

Least: It's a technology vacuum. No computers, no Internet, no color TV, no VCRs, and only a few TV channels, and I especially wouldn't want to be limited to their medical knowledge if I got really sick.

What would you like the most and least?

[*InThisMoment*]

Well...i'd love the way things were...and of course i could get to know the cleavers! :lol: i wasn't around in the 50's so it would be really fun for me...i just think the fifties seemed like a fun time! :)

[vze3t9q9]

I could get a date with Wally Cleaver. Stop at the malt shop and gab with the girls.

[Mijada]

It would be cool to go live in Mayfield. I don't think I would miss all the technology we have today because I could find plenty of other things to do. If I was married and had kids chances are I would be home with them so that would take up most of my time.
I would love to have a nice house and yard and not have to go to work, not have to worry about violence or drugs.
A life like that could only exist in Mayfield.

[*InThisMoment*]

Originally posted by vze3t9q9
I could get a date with Wally Cleaver. Stop at the malt shop and gab with the girls.


Sure Sounds Good To me! :woohoo: :lol:

[AndreAA]

i would love living in mayfield, but i would miss the new developments in medicine and computers.i don't think i'd be bored because their would be plenty to do like hang out with friends at the movies or malt shop.

[Cashodeen]

Originally posted by vze3t9q9
I could get a date with Wally Cleaver. Stop at the malt shop and gab with the girls.


LOL, you took mine. That would be the good thing about living in Mayfield.

The bad:
Since the senerio is that we'd live there forever, that would be what I'd like the least. I wouldn't want to be stuck in one city for the rest of my life. Mayfield looks like a great place, but I would like the chance of living in big cities too. And since I know what its like living in our technology driven era now, the simplicity of life back then would bother me as well. Inadequate medical knowledge, no computers, and limited tv would bother me! Also, some "backwards" principles in society would bother me as well.

(Ohp, got to go! It's on NOW!) :wave:

[bandito]

Most - an easy layed back lifestyle.

Least - not have computers.

[Cashodeen]

Geez, could I say "bother me" enough in my last post? I was in such a hurry because the show was on, I didn't even realize what I was typing! Shucks, I also forgot to mention that, while some of the simplicities of life back then weren't the greatest, it would be neat to live an "easy laid back lifestyle," as banito said.
:wave:

[vze3t9q9]

Yes It would be different. As for tv I could make do with 3 or so stations. You seemed to know your neighbors. Althought woman today do much more than clean house.

There are new medical treatments. Gee if you think about it, polio vaccines were in the making then. But from where I live it really isn't much different. I did get the impression that State University where Ward went and Wally and pals were about to go seemed somewhat close by. Where I live It is an hour and half away. Not far but not in the area where a lot of 50's tv show colleges were. As for school teachers. Beaver had somewhat young teachers, other than Mrs Rayburn. In my day I didn't have a grammar school teacher under the age of 50. Yeah it would be neat! Other than new medical treatments I can't say today living is much better. Well people did smoke more.

[desilu #1]

I would like it because people had morals back then. I guess thats
one thing that makes that era so glamourous. The whole scene from back just looks so much cleaner. People from this generation just don't care about the world they live in all the do is trash it.
To be honest with you, I wouln't miss the computers and cell phones either, that's what made life so simple. When families were closer and together more often.

Medical Tech. might be a problem but I can't think of anything else I would really miss. I think I could go back in time and fit in completely.

[BrandonS]

I really agree with you, desilu #1. The only fly in the ointment is the Cold War, but in the world of LITB, the Cold War is only a distant shadow, so that probably wouldn't spoil the fun of living in Mayfield, which is a kind of idealized 1950s small town.

[gamblepudding]

If I am a really good person in this life, I fully expect to go to Mayfield when I die. That would be heaven to me. I wouldn't miss any of the technology of today (nope, not even computers). I'd gladly trade it all in for that simpler life. And I'd spend a good deal of my time playing pranks on Eddie, just to offer up a little payback and watch him blame everyone else.

[1954Boomer]

Good topic, BrandonS! I am the same age as you by the way, 49! Noticed that on a different post.

It's a rather tough question. I definitely agree with you and others that in many respects life was a lot easier and simpler back in the late 50s and early 60s. Moreover, there was a level of morality not found in today's society. Pretty much anything goes today, in my opinion.

What I would miss: The major thing I would miss would be the major advances in medical technology. In the last forty years, great strides have been made in the medical field with regard to serious illnesses, such as cancer and heart disease.

Kind of miss: In terms of technology, while I truthfully wouldn't miss all the gagets and gizmos we have today, I must admit I would really miss computers the Internet! Let's face it, if it wasn't for the 'net, none of us would even know each other.

What I and most people would definitely NOT miss: Addressing another area, shows like LITB, Andy Griffith, Donna Reed, and Father Knows Best never discussed the racial hatred and prejudices for other segments of society that were prevalent during those times. In that respect that time period was certainly all not nice and rosey, to say the least.

[hawaii five-o]

I would hate living in a world that was just black and white. I would miss seeing color.

Otherwise, Mayfield would be a great place to live. No crime. No snow. Everyone is very pleasant to each other.

[evermore]

No crime? how about the Cobras who stole the boat at Friend's Lake and then Larry and Beaver got arrested for stealing it.

and not to forget Richard and Gilbert who threw rocks at the MUNSTER'S HOUSE and Beaver got blamed for the incident.

all in all, harmless fun.

I would love to sit at the soda fountain back then and not have a ringing cell phone got off in the middle of the restaurant or have a huge television set on in the background playing a loud sports game or MTV. It was a simplier time.:happyface

[The Modfather]

Most: The atmosphere, the people and most of all getting to say 'gee' and not look weird!

Least: No colour t.v., computers/ internet etc.

[Mrs. Ducky]

most: a simpiler, friendlier evirment

Least: Medical technology

[MikeZ]

Having been a teenager in the 50's, I can well relate to the scripts for LITB.

I can remember when tv did not start until about 1 or 2 in the afternoon, and usually ran until about 9 or 10 at night. I remember when cars did not have AC. Nobody had color tv. Telephone numbers had letters in them; like TV-2032. You could get a soda and huge burger for about 30 cents. Gas was less than 20 cents a gallon. People respected their teachers and their parents. Everyone in the neighborhood knew everyone else. People would sit out on their porches at night, and talk with neighbors. I remember when there were only 3 channels on the tv. A first-class letter cost 2 cents, and there was mail delivery TWICE a day. I remember when there were no zip codes. I remember when we were scared to death of the Russians. I remember when milk trucks had horses in front of them. I remember when you walked down the street, and would say "hello" to people when you passed them. Now if you did that, they would probably shoot you. Would I go back to that time if it were possible? I don't know, probably not. If I could go back, it would be only to be able to see the great friends I had then.

I like my cable modem, my AC'd car, my color tv, my MTV, and many of the other great modern things available now.

I don't like that you have to put locks on everything, look out the door before you open it, have police officers standing in k-mart stores, pay $5 for a hot-dog at a ball game. I don't like that modern crime has taken some of my best friends from me. I don't like that people will kill you over a pair of tennis shoes. I don't like that most of the stuff we use in the United States comes from foreign countries, where people are starving to death because they only earn about $1 a day. Don't EVEN get me started on TV preachers!

I really think every time-frame has good, and bad, nothing is all totally good, or totally bad. You just have to make the best of it, and enjoy.

[1954Boomer]

I guess it all depends on what you would rather have. While today it is true we have a lot of 'things' we didn't have back in the 50s and 60s, we have lost a lot in terms of people knowing one another in the neighborhood; an unscrupulous media when it comes to the lives of others; a must faster-paced society; people being very wary about others. In those areas concerning people, we have really paid the price.

[junecleaver]

ahhh the 50's looked so....peaceful...i could fit perfectly! only not so good thing...no computers..thats it

[junecleaver]

oh and no straightening irons...i honestly couldn't live without my CHI

[BlueEyes1767]

I would love to sit at the soda fountain back then and not have a ringing cell phone got off in the middle of the restaurant or have a huge television set on in the background playing a loud sports game or MTV. It was a simplier time.:happyface [/B][/QUOTE]

I agree! And I remember as a child going to soda fountains, especially the ones they used to have in drugstores. I do recall that era as being slower-paced and quieter. The parents/adults had much more authority than they do now,,,,and if you got in trouble at school, you got in trouble at home, too. People lived in the same neighborhoods for years and many would leave home for hours without locking their doors. The cars back then were much cooler and there wasn't as much pressure to have everything brand new.

[BlueEyes1767]

Although the location of Mayfield was never mentioned on the old series, most of it points to Ohio. There is a Mayfield, Ohio and a Mayfield Heights, Ohio,,,,both fairly close to Cleveland. Ward has mentioned a few times that he went to Shaker Heights high school, and Shaker Heights is a suburb of Cleveland. Eddie once had an Ohio State pennant on his bedroom wall. Larry Mondello's father was always going to Cincinnati, and the Haskells went to Freeport, which is another Ohio city. Ward grew up on a farm which Ohio has many of.

I know the writer's didn't want to have a specific location so everyone could identify with it & mentioned surfing, etc. in the stories. But the mythical Mayfield for the most part seems like an idyllic midwestern town in the 1950's. And the Leave It to Beaver movie had Mayfield set it Ohio, too.