HaskellGirl
11-14-2004, 11:56 AM
By HARRIS BLACKWOOD
Times regional staff
Photo
David McGregor Times regional staff
Jerry Mathers said that the fame of playing the Beaver has not changed in the 47 years since "Leave it to Beaver" debuted.
He's a 56-year-old businessman dressed in a blazer and slacks, but when he walks through the lobby of an Atlanta hotel, people see a 10-year-old boy.
Jerry Mathers has a few wrinkles and a bit of a middle-age spread, but when you see that face with the toothy grin, he's still the Beaver.
It's been 41 years since Ward and June Cleaver and their sons, Wallace and Theodore lived in that always meticulously clean house at 211 Pine St. in Mayfield.
For Mathers, a former child actor who portrayed the Beaver, the public reaction has not changed.
During an interview recently over lunch at Atlanta's Hyatt Regency Hotel, Mathers reflected on his career and the character that has been indelibly etched in history.
Between bites of shrimp and salad, Mathers said that the fame of playing the Beaver has not changed in the 47 years since the series debuted.
"It's been like that ever since the show was on the air," said Mathers, who has been involved in a number of business ventures, including commercial real estate since the last first-run airing in September 1963. The show continues in syndication on cable today.
Mathers seems not to notice the steady stream of onlookers who either take a second glance or point toward the actor. Outside the hotel, bellhops acknowledge the actor and they share a laugh and a handshake.
"People on TV grow up in your living room, they're right there in your house," Mathers said. "Once they see you on TV, they think that's who you really are. In a movie, they realize that it's more like a stage play and you're an actor."
Mathers said that the television Cleavers were the "Camelot" family.
"'Leave it to Beaver' started in the '50s and ended just two months before Kennedy was assassinated. It's very much like the Camelot family, the perfect American family. I tell people it was a situation comedy and they say it isn't like that. It wasn't meant to be a documentary of the '50s, it wasn't a reality show."
But unlike today's sitcoms, Mathers said that "Beaver" had a moral to each story.
"Each show, Beaver was the innocent and is given choices. Wally was the intermediary to the adult world. Then you have the adults. What the adults do, most times, is 'Do what I say do, not what I do.' Beaver recognizes this or does this because he saw other people doing it and that's how he gets in trouble."
Mathers' debut in show business was in pictures. Actually, catalog pictures.
"When I was 2 years old my mom was walking through a department store and a lady came up to her and said that the boy who had modeled the 2-year-old clothes had outgrown them and could I model and do runway work for them. When they told my mom that I could keep the clothes and they would pay me, she said 'yes.'"
His career as a model opened other doors. He appeared as a baby spokesmodel for Pet Condensed Milk on a live television show hosted by comedic actor Ed Wynn.
After the series ended in 1963, the studio offered the 14-year-old actor a contract, but he said no, opting to attend school for the first time, after spending his early childhood being taught by studio tutors.
Mathers made the adjustment to live outside of series television without problems, unlike other child actors in the '60s.
"When you're working on a series, you have to realize that everything is catered to you," he said. "You become very, very spoiled. You have people who lay out your clothes, makeup people and a private tutor for your teacher. So suddenly, when that stops, it's a big shock. For me, I wanted to go to regular school. Most of those kids, their parents want them to work."
In high school, Mathers participated in track, football and swimming. After graduating in 1967, he enlisted in the Air Force and spent six years in the Air National Guard.
He used the money he made on "Leave it to Beaver" to finance his college education at Berkeley. He had considered going to law school, but decided to take a job offer with a California bank as a management trainee and later became a loan officer.
"When I was making really big commercial real estate loans, I started thinking to myself, 'I'm doing all the work and these guys are getting the commissions, which was a lot more than I was making.' So, I started into commercial real estate and development."
These days, Mathers spends part of his time working on an awareness campaign for psoriasis, a skin disorder he has suffered from since his college days.
"When I was at Berkeley, I noticed a rash on my rump," he said. "I thought it was from using too much bleach. It was the first time I had ever done laundry."
A campus doctor told him it was psoriasis. He tried many treatments without significant results.
While Mathers' case was mild, there are new treatments for the disease.
"There is a brand new class of treatment called biologics," Mathers said.
"They found them when they were anti-rejection drugs to liver transplant patients. One of the side effects is their psoriasis went away."
The new treatments have only been available for about 18 months.
"It's treatable, but its not curable," he said, adding that the new treatment is giving hope to patients with moderate to severe psoriasis.
Mathers makes his home in the Los Angeles area. He has two daughters, ages 18 and 21, who are in college. His son works as a soundman on a number of cable and network programs.
Mathers reprised his role as a grown-up "Beaver" in a 1983 made-for-TV movie, which was followed by a cable series, "Still the Beaver."
He already is working on plans for 50-year anniversary program to air in October 2007.
Times regional staff
Photo
David McGregor Times regional staff
Jerry Mathers said that the fame of playing the Beaver has not changed in the 47 years since "Leave it to Beaver" debuted.
He's a 56-year-old businessman dressed in a blazer and slacks, but when he walks through the lobby of an Atlanta hotel, people see a 10-year-old boy.
Jerry Mathers has a few wrinkles and a bit of a middle-age spread, but when you see that face with the toothy grin, he's still the Beaver.
It's been 41 years since Ward and June Cleaver and their sons, Wallace and Theodore lived in that always meticulously clean house at 211 Pine St. in Mayfield.
For Mathers, a former child actor who portrayed the Beaver, the public reaction has not changed.
During an interview recently over lunch at Atlanta's Hyatt Regency Hotel, Mathers reflected on his career and the character that has been indelibly etched in history.
Between bites of shrimp and salad, Mathers said that the fame of playing the Beaver has not changed in the 47 years since the series debuted.
"It's been like that ever since the show was on the air," said Mathers, who has been involved in a number of business ventures, including commercial real estate since the last first-run airing in September 1963. The show continues in syndication on cable today.
Mathers seems not to notice the steady stream of onlookers who either take a second glance or point toward the actor. Outside the hotel, bellhops acknowledge the actor and they share a laugh and a handshake.
"People on TV grow up in your living room, they're right there in your house," Mathers said. "Once they see you on TV, they think that's who you really are. In a movie, they realize that it's more like a stage play and you're an actor."
Mathers said that the television Cleavers were the "Camelot" family.
"'Leave it to Beaver' started in the '50s and ended just two months before Kennedy was assassinated. It's very much like the Camelot family, the perfect American family. I tell people it was a situation comedy and they say it isn't like that. It wasn't meant to be a documentary of the '50s, it wasn't a reality show."
But unlike today's sitcoms, Mathers said that "Beaver" had a moral to each story.
"Each show, Beaver was the innocent and is given choices. Wally was the intermediary to the adult world. Then you have the adults. What the adults do, most times, is 'Do what I say do, not what I do.' Beaver recognizes this or does this because he saw other people doing it and that's how he gets in trouble."
Mathers' debut in show business was in pictures. Actually, catalog pictures.
"When I was 2 years old my mom was walking through a department store and a lady came up to her and said that the boy who had modeled the 2-year-old clothes had outgrown them and could I model and do runway work for them. When they told my mom that I could keep the clothes and they would pay me, she said 'yes.'"
His career as a model opened other doors. He appeared as a baby spokesmodel for Pet Condensed Milk on a live television show hosted by comedic actor Ed Wynn.
After the series ended in 1963, the studio offered the 14-year-old actor a contract, but he said no, opting to attend school for the first time, after spending his early childhood being taught by studio tutors.
Mathers made the adjustment to live outside of series television without problems, unlike other child actors in the '60s.
"When you're working on a series, you have to realize that everything is catered to you," he said. "You become very, very spoiled. You have people who lay out your clothes, makeup people and a private tutor for your teacher. So suddenly, when that stops, it's a big shock. For me, I wanted to go to regular school. Most of those kids, their parents want them to work."
In high school, Mathers participated in track, football and swimming. After graduating in 1967, he enlisted in the Air Force and spent six years in the Air National Guard.
He used the money he made on "Leave it to Beaver" to finance his college education at Berkeley. He had considered going to law school, but decided to take a job offer with a California bank as a management trainee and later became a loan officer.
"When I was making really big commercial real estate loans, I started thinking to myself, 'I'm doing all the work and these guys are getting the commissions, which was a lot more than I was making.' So, I started into commercial real estate and development."
These days, Mathers spends part of his time working on an awareness campaign for psoriasis, a skin disorder he has suffered from since his college days.
"When I was at Berkeley, I noticed a rash on my rump," he said. "I thought it was from using too much bleach. It was the first time I had ever done laundry."
A campus doctor told him it was psoriasis. He tried many treatments without significant results.
While Mathers' case was mild, there are new treatments for the disease.
"There is a brand new class of treatment called biologics," Mathers said.
"They found them when they were anti-rejection drugs to liver transplant patients. One of the side effects is their psoriasis went away."
The new treatments have only been available for about 18 months.
"It's treatable, but its not curable," he said, adding that the new treatment is giving hope to patients with moderate to severe psoriasis.
Mathers makes his home in the Los Angeles area. He has two daughters, ages 18 and 21, who are in college. His son works as a soundman on a number of cable and network programs.
Mathers reprised his role as a grown-up "Beaver" in a 1983 made-for-TV movie, which was followed by a cable series, "Still the Beaver."
He already is working on plans for 50-year anniversary program to air in October 2007.