Even though she appears in only five episodes, I find June's maiden Aunt Martha to be one of the more annoying characters other than Eddie Haskell.
It's evident in an early episode when she makes Beaver wear a short pants suit to school, causing him to get teased unmercilly. She's too formal and old fashioned and it's noticeable when she calls Wally and Beaver Wallace and Theodore, when the boys are dressed in formal attire. Also, she's closed-minded to Ward's side of the family, always referring to the boys as Bronsons.

Feel free to post your thoughts on Aunt Martha

She was kind of annoying at the beginning but she only wanted the best for her nephews. They were all the family she had. She wasn't all bad. remember how understanding she was when Beaver changed his mind about going to Fallbrook?

While, she was rather stuffy, old-fashioned, and set in her ways, she really did love both boys, and wanted the best for them.

I certainly agree with the original post! She was annoying, condescending and snobbish in the extreme!

I have a theory about the show that might explain Aunt Martha. LITB spans the sensibilities of the late 40's to the early 60's. Even though it started in the late 50's, there was still a stylistic feel to the show that came straight out of the 40's. Look at the first house, that could have been out of a Spencer Tracy movie. And i think Aunt Martha was that 40's type of wacky old curmudgeon who the family had to love and put up with. It's interesting that they chose to keep her in the series throughout, but they did soften her a bit at the end.

Yeah, she was kinda snobbish.

Aunt Martha helped raise June, which explains why June can be an old fuddy duddy at times.

I also thought she was a complete snob. I hated the way she would disrespect Ward with her little remarks. I never did understand why he didn't make it clear that when she was in his home she needs to respect him. On the other hand, I guess it was his love for June and not wanting to hurt her that stopped him from telling her to go somewhere.

Originally posted by desilu #1
I also thought she was a complete snob. I hated the way she would disrespect Ward with her little remarks. I never did understand why he didn't make it clear that when she was in his home she needs to respect him. On the other hand, I guess it was his love for June and not wanting to hurt her that stopped him from telling her to go somewhere.

"Oh, you look just like a Bronson"

Yes Ward was too much of a gentleman to tell her off! And it would have hurt June's feelings too, if he had.

Just reading through old posts to pass the time away....

I do agree with you guys about Aunt Martha. I remember an episode where Martha and her friend came over and why couldn't June just tell Martha after an hour or so that the boys wanted to go to the carnival with their friends?

I have thought of some fan fiction that maybe Martha comes to visit the Cleavers and when she notices that Wally is angry and stuff, she tells Ward to be tough with Wally. But of course she doesn't know why he's angry and Ward uh... 'takes her advice' to not hurt her feelings.

I think it's just hard to do fan fiction for old shows like this cause things were different then.... I've written a bunch of fan fiction for 7th Heaven and Law & Order. Some are still in the works as to Law & Order..

I think that Ward just wanted to keep peace in the family, especially since it was so important to June, and she came around so rarely anyway. June sure didn't seem to want much ! As for missing the carnival, more important was the lesson Ward imparted to the boys - you can't always get what you want. And June's point - why couldn't the boys be nice to the aunt for one day, after all that June does for them.

Eddie Haskell? I don't find anything annoying about Eddie Haskell, he's one of the greatest 'best friends' characters on TV. When I think annoying I think Urkel. When Haskell was around there was never a dull moment, to me he's part of what makes the show, especially in later seasons.