In the Soup

[pandabear88]

some people at the tvland board dislike this episode. I've never seen it, so what happens and why don't they like it?

[junecleaver]

i think it's funny! i don't see anything wrong with it

[Mijada]

I like this one a lot. One of my favorites. Basically what happens in this ep is Wally wants to invite some of his friends over for a party so arrangements are made for Beaver to spend the night at Whiteys house so he won't be in the way. Whitey comes by to pick Beaver up and they start walking over to Whiteys house together. On the way over they pass this huge billboard featuring a lady holding a bowl of soup. There is steam coming out of the bowl and the boys get in an arguement over whether or not there is real soup in the bowl. Beaver says that the steam is fake so Whitey dares him to climb up to the top and prove it. Beaver climbs up to the top of the bowl, looks in and falls head first into the empty bowl. When he can't get out Whitey runs home to get his father. Meanwhile Wally is at home waiting for his friends to arrive for his party. Lumpy finally shows up to tell him that some kid fell in a soup bowl up on a billboard but no one knows who it is. Everyone drives over there just as the fire dept. shows up. Eddie starts making jokes and Ward starts scolding the Beaver after the firemen rescue him. Wally is very embarressed. anyway Beaver ends up spending the night with Whitey and Wally has his party. I have no idea why people don't like this ep. Maybe it's because Whitey acts like a little smart ass. I personally love this one.

[COUGAR83159]

Yeah!!! its funny ur than heck.:lol:

[frani]

Okay, here's the reason i don't like it. It's too schmaltzy. It's trying to hard. What made LITB so special is that it was always in the realm of possibilty. It was about the small, if unlikely moments of childhood, like losing your money or believing a big kid or breaking your father's things. nearly every other ep is realistic in that way. this was just too far-fetched. that's why i don't like it.

[GeeBee]

I love that episode, although I think Whitey got off too easily after starting the whole thing. LOL

[tdr]

We really don't know that Whitey "got off too easily." That's a missing moment. But it does seem that Mr. & Mrs. Whitney would have asked more questions as they took the boys to their house and after they got there. Beaver's compulsive wish to 'not be a squealer' would have prevented him from volunteering anything about Whitey's nutty claim that it was real soup in the bowl, but if he were asked directly I think he would have said what happened. Whitey may have lied, but in the scene at his house his parents had indicated they know he can be a troublemaker ["This wasn't one of your ideas, was it, Whitey?"]

As for this ep being too "far-fetched," it may seem to be, but I don't think it goes too far. I remember once I and another boy talked this guy into climbing onto the top of my house by a redwood fence, from which he had to pull himself up on the eave-- just as a 'dare.' But it does seem that some adult(s) would have seen Beaver climbing that tall billboard and would have done or said something; either that, or a curious crowd would have assembled while he was climbing and could be seen... not after he tried to hide.

[1954Boomer]

Speaking of Whitey's parents, they looked more like his grandparents, especially his father.

[COUGAR83159]

Thats funny, I thought that too!
and that very well be, but some people look older
than they really are.

Boomer

[COUGAR83159]

I agree with you in that aspect, It's very realistic
thats why I like it so much.
but..... theres alway's a but is'nt there?

you know, that a kid or kids, not all kids mind you
will try to get another kid to do something or dare him
to do something, like climing a billboard to see if there's
soup in it or not.

yes (Frani) that episode is REALISTIC!!!!

[frani]

Hi guys

I didn't mean that it was not realistic in terms of what kids do. sorry for that misunderstanding. i meant it seemed a little off tone with the show. that all the other eps seemed to be about smaller concerns like i mentioned above and this just seemed like a "jumping the shark" kind of move, (though of course LITB never jumped the shark) but this kind of came close. i just meant it seemed a little "Bigger" than the other eps.

[BlueEyes1767]

Originally posted by boomer49
Speaking of Whitey's parents, they looked more like his grandparents, especially his father.

Larry Mondello's mother looked too old, also. But people did look older than they actually were back then. Their hairstyles and clothes made them seem older than their real age.

[vze3t9q9]

Not every one had Stella Stevens for a mother.

[BlueEyes1767]

Madge Blake, who played Mrs. Mondello, was born in 1899. So that would make her 58 years old in 1957, the first year of the series. So she really was too old to play Larry's mother. She was more believable as Aunt Harriet on Batman.

[MikeZ]

She was perfect as Aunt Harriet, but I agree she was a little old to be Larry's mom.

[Michael [hXc]]

In those days, it was considered risky to have a child later than 40. Mrs. Mondello was supposed to be around 50 on the show, but Madge Blake was older than her character.

[frani]

so it's hard to believe that a 50 year old woman couldn't have a 10 year old son, but you could believe that a kid could get stuck in a billboard sign?

[vze3t9q9]

I saw on Larry King several months ago that the actress who plays the second daughter, the middle child is age 24 in real life and plays a 15 year old on the show.

[COUGAR83159]

INTERSTING