So do you think Larry's been looking at his dad's "fantasy" magazines?

I don't know about that but this ep always bothers me. I don't understand how Beaver can get locked in that office when the janitor locked the door from the outside. You would think that there would have been a button or something on the doorknob which would enable someone to unlock the door from the inside. The lock should be designed to keep people from entering the room, not prevent someone from getting out.

Yes. One would think that there would be a way to lock and unlock the door from the inside. After all, the principal would want to lock herself in for one reason or another and then be able to get herself out without calling the fire department or the janitor. I can't believe there would be such a door in a school - it would be too dangerous, a child being locked in the room and then being trapped in a fire. But there are doors that have a lock in the knob on the outside - such as the one in the principal's office - but the knob on the other side of the door is fashioned in such a way that once the door is locked, one needs to push the knob in and then twist it to the right in order to unlock it. It works in the same way as a child-proof cap on a medicine bottle ... push in and twist. I have an interior door and lock at home just like the one I'm describing and the door and lock date from the 40s or 50s.

No, I never personally knew of a Principal's office where someone could be locked IN. On passenger ships, that was the case [remember the I.L.L. ep where Lucy tries to 'imprison' Ricky] because rooms might be needed as a cell to keep dangerous passengers or crewmen inside; an upgrade from clapping them in irons deep in the hull. That would also be of value if there were a drill or evacuation and a looter managed to get inside-- just lock him in. But to my knowledge, schools never had anything like "holding tanks" and it shouldn't be the Principal's main office even if they did. If unruly students refused to stay on that bench or in the room used as a detention hall, then they would move to suspend or expel them, rather than keep them there.

So I think if there were school offices where one could be locked in, it would have been a holdover from when locks were presumed to be more valuable as locking both ways, and were not upgraded to prevent cases where someone could be trapped.

I don't know about that but this ep always bothers me. I don't understand how Beaver can get locked in that office when the janitor locked the door from the outside. You would think that there would have been a button or something on the doorknob which would enable someone to unlock the door from the inside. The lock should be designed to keep people from entering the room, not prevent someone from getting out.
In addition to your thoughts, Beave picks up the phone to call for help. Why would the phone suddenly be "dead" just because it is nightime?

In addition to your thoughts, Beave picks up the phone to call for help. Why would the phone suddenly be "dead" just because it is nightime?

This one bothered me more than the locked door. But Miss Landers had a telephone on her desk in one episode, too. Maybe the phones in the school were set up for interoffice use and one had to dial 9 to get an outside line. Beaver wouldn't know that, of course.

I saw the episode where Beaver got locked in the principal's office, pulled a false fire alarm, got bawled out by Ward and had his head stuckin a fence. It goes to show you that sometimes Beaver can be stupid.