I couldn't BELIEVE how Ward and June just glossed over the fact that Beaver and his friends were actually PAYING Lumpy Dumpy to wash HIS car!

25 cents was a lotta loot back then for a kid, and if my parents knew I was paying it to somebody to DO WORK for THEM, they woulda disowned me...

Any other time, Ward and June would be telling Beaver to SAVE his money...(and at one time he had 9 bucks saved up cuz he used some of it to pay Wally's costs for selling igloo bars)

As long as Beaver didn't ask for MORE money and just accepted that he'd spent a good part of his allowance on the car washing, I don't see what the issue was! It's not as though Beaver was spending it on booze or the Fun Girls!

I couldn't BELIEVE how Ward and June just glossed over the fact that Beaver and his friends were actually PAYING Lumpy Dumpy to wash HIS car!

25 cents was a lotta loot back then for a kid, and if my parents knew I was paying it to somebody to DO WORK for THEM, they woulda disowned me...

Any other time, Ward and June would be telling Beaver to SAVE his money...(and at one time he had 9 bucks saved up cuz he used some of it to pay Wally's costs for selling igloo bars)

Lumpy was a big as#hol# to take advantage of Beaver like that. Maybe Ward & June saw it as a learning experience. But me, I’d be furious at Lumpy and speak to his “daddy” about what his son did. Of course Fred might not do much, as he’s in such denial about how much of a doofus Lumpy is.

As long as Beaver didn't ask for MORE money and just accepted that he'd spent a good part of his allowance on the car washing, I don't see what the issue was! It's not as though Beaver was spending it on booze or the Fun Girls!

I agree. Although they could teach him about being a stooge or being taken advantage of by others.

Wait, I'm kind of lost. Beaver paid Lumpy 25 cents to wash Lumpy's car?

Yep. And evidently so did Whitey and Larry. I'd say 10 or 11 year-olds would be smart enough to not do that.

Lumpy was a big as#hol# to take advantage of Beaver like that. Maybe Ward & June saw it as a learning experience. But me, I’d be furious at Lumpy and speak to his “daddy” about what his son did. Of course Fred might not do much, as he’s in such denial about how much of a doofus Lumpy is.

my point EXACTLY...My mother woulda been on the phone in LIGHTNING SPEED talking to Geraldine about this, and she woulda bypassed Fred since she would already know what a "simp" he already is....


And yeah, no kid that age would be THAT stupid to PAY to do WORK for somebody else - what's more surprising was that Whitey was the one who could smell a scam a mile away, yet even HE went along with this as well...

You have to put yourself into the minds of Beaver/Whitey/Larry, and really, many kids that age. The reason they didn't really consider themselves ill used and willing to pay a quarter for the "privilege" of washing a car was that to them, it was kind of a social boost.

It made them feel more status, and cooler, compared to other kids. They got to "hang out" with a big kid, almost a man....who had his own car. They got to wash it even. Sure, Lumpy treated them contemptuously as underlings, but they still hung out with a cool guy with a car, which was way cooler than some of their peers who were probably playing tag, watching their baby sisters, or playing catch.

Provided this doesn't harm them in a meaningful way, the learning experience(s) give them life lessons as they acquired wisdom and begin to be gradually better to learn/see/know "what's what" far better than any parental lecture would, however well meaning. Indignant parents calling the Rutherfords may temporarily "solve" the issue of Lumpy yaking advantage of them in this instance, but will just delay the youngster's getting wiser in a natural unsheltered way.

Um yeah, I WAS that age (now 62) and I can tell you that NO kid on our block back then woulda been dumb enough to give up a good 25 cents to do WORK of ANY nature when we could go around the corner and spend it at the Candy Stripe Store and come home with much "bounty"...and after speaking with Geraldine, my mother would tell you that my kid would NEVER fall for such an act ever again after me and his dad get thru talking to him about it...

And Lumpy wasn't considered a "cool kid" anyway....Most knew how inept and stupid he was...I'm amazed at the writers who claim they wrote these storylines from what their son(s) went through..I have to believe that a lot of it was embellished, lol..

Also, Beaver was enterprising even in the first season, selling water when the main was shut off, etc. In season 4 Beaver and Whitey mowed and raked at Miss Landers', who paid them; and later Beaver and Gilbert had a mowing business.

It's a matter of bad writing, that someone should have noticed in the run-through. It would have been just as easy to have these kids charging Lumpy. All they really needed was some situation where Lumpy calls Beaver "Freckles."

I see both points of view and agree with both. I used to like to hang out with my older sister and her friend, Holly and would do stuff for them. I don’t recall paying them to do a chore.

As stevea said they needed a situation where Lumpy could get Beaver’s friends to laugh at his new name, Freckles. Lumpy was rather an overgrown kid but he had a car. Hey he wouldn’t even let them sit in it. I think a dime would have been more practical.

My favorite part is when Beaver tells his parents that Whitey and Gilbert are going to wash his car. Later we see Whitey and Larry. Maybe Rusty must have been first choice and became available.

I agree they probably wanted Rusty, and didn't bother to retake the earlier scene. As I've said before it's too bad they didn't get Rusty instead of that horrible kid who played Jackie Waters. It would have made a great episode to have Larry come back and do that same basic scrpit.

It would have been a classic episode. We had never heard of Jackie Waters. I think Larry and Beaver would have still liked each other and found stuff to do. Larry would have told the Cleavers his father moved to Cincinnati with his new wife, his sister still hasn’t found a man and Mrs. Mondello is dating Andy Hadlock. When Rusty left the show Madge Blake had to leave too.

25 cents in 1959 is approximately $2.24 in 2020, still not worth it to wash a car but in the late 50's and early 60's a quarter had substantial buying power especially for a kid . If you were around then a 5 cent candy bar was a monster compared to what we have today.