Has anybody else besides me noticed that there are two dinning rooms (not including the table they eat lunch/breakfast at in the kitchen) in the Cleaver house? it seems that when they eat dinner in the dinning room, they come through the door that is located on the left side or directly across from the door leading outside to the garage. But, when you look at the other door leading out of the kitchen (the one at the back or the kitchen set) you can see a dinning room with a table and chair set, which you can see through the living room too. Also, when you walk in the front door of the cleaver house, you can see sometiems when June walks through from teh kitchen, you can see the table and chairs that they usually eat dinner at. Is it just me, or do they really have 2 dinning rooms!?!?

Sara,

You have to remember that there were two different Cleaver houses during the run of the show. The first house has the dining room beyond the door at the back of the kitchen. The house that the Cleavers occupied after the second season (I think) was a new layout.

There is a great book by Mark Bennett called "TV Sets: Fantasy Blueprints of Classic TV Homes" that has the layout of both homes. You should get this one- I think you will really enjoy it!

Take a look here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1579121071/absolutsearch05/103-2898412-6409428

Mark B.
'Mayfield Historical Society'

Here is a website that has the Cleaver floor plans by Mark Bennett. It is for the house on Pine Ave. They also have plans for some of the other classic TV houses there too.

http://classictv.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hotwired.com%2Fgallery%2F96%2F50%2Findex3a.html

no, i was wrong, it was actually only 1 dinning room in the old (1st) house, it just seemed to me that i thought that the table and chairs we could see when they open the door in their foyar was the set that was in the kitchen. HAHA! that prolly doesn't make any sense, and i'm sorry. But i LOVE how their set is very correct, there is NO fake wall when the swing door was opened from the kitchen into the foyar and you always saw the table and chairs through the kitchen into the dinning room and the same was in the living room. they had one of the most believable houses i ever saw!!!! anybody else agree?

Yea, I love that house too! Take it from someone who has been in that house (during the New LITB), it had a nice warm homey feeling in person too!



The designer did a great job on that show (both Cleaver houses). The show's sets were done like movie sets- that is they had complete rooms and the house layout actually worked. The show was also filmed like a movie (with a single camera, shot out of sequence, etc.) Many shows of the period (especially sitcoms) were 3-walled sets since they had live studio audiences and were filmed with several cameras to catch the action as is was performed live.

Mark B.

Originally posted by FOL85NatandMrsGRock
no, i was wrong, it was actually only 1 dinning room in the old (1st) house, it just seemed to me that i thought that the table and chairs we could see when they open the door in their foyar was the set that was in the kitchen. HAHA! that prolly doesn't make any sense, and i'm sorry. But i LOVE how their set is very correct, there is NO fake wall when the swing door was opened from the kitchen into the foyar and you always saw the table and chairs through the kitchen into the dinning room and the same was in the living room. they had one of the most believable houses i ever saw!!!! anybody else agree?

I was watching the show tonight and thought the same thing. There were scenes shot from the interior, from the kitchen through the dining room to outside, and outside. I was trying to find flaws and inconsistencies in the set but couldn't! They even made sure that outside walls matched the front of the house shown in long shots!

Originally posted by Mark B.
Yea, I love that house too! Take it from someone who has been in that house (during the New LITB), it had a nice warm homey feeling in person too!

You mean that was a real house and not studio sets?

No, it was a studio set. I worked on the New Beaver series where the recreated all the interior sets. It wasn't a real house, but being inside the set felt like a real house.

Mark B.

Originally posted by Mark B.
No, it was a studio set. I worked on the New Beaver series where the recreated all the interior sets. It wasn't a real house, but being inside the set felt like a real house.

Mark B.

You mean you actually WORKED on the set, as in you were an employee paid to help build the set? Dang! Did you meet anyone from the show or anything, or was your job done before the show started?

About the dining room thing. I always thought the dining room just had two entrances, one from the living room and one from the kitchen. I probably misunderstood the question anyway.

No, I didn't work on building the set- I worked (actually un-paid intern) on the New LITB show in 1989 and I got to hang out on the sets (including the Cleaver houe) quite a bit. These sets were built in 1983 for the Still the Beaver TV movie and eventual series that lasted until 1989.

The dining room has a door to the kitchen, french doors that open onto the back porch/patio, and french doors that open to the living room.

I think Sara's initial confusion stemmed from not knowing that there were two different Cleaver homes in the original series.

Originally posted by Mark B.
No, it was a studio set. I worked on the New Beaver series where the recreated all the interior sets. It wasn't a real house, but being inside the set felt like a real house.

Mark B.

I guess what I mean is how did it feel like a real house? Was it fully enclosed like a real house? Was the house shown in the exterior shots actually the same structure that housed the interior sets? Or were the interior sets located inside a studio as opposed to an outdoor lot? Thanks.

Originally posted by Mark B.
No, I didn't work on building the set- I worked (actually un-paid intern) on the New LITB show in 1989 and I got to hang out on the sets (including the Cleaver houe) quite a bit. These sets were built in 1983 for the Still the Beaver TV movie and eventual series that lasted until 1989.


Oh. Well, that's still cool. I would've loved to see the set! You're so lucky!

BBF

Originally posted by JaneTVFan


I guess what I mean is how did it feel like a real house? Was it fully enclosed like a real house? Was the house shown in the exterior shots actually the same structure that housed the interior sets? Or were the interior sets located inside a studio as opposed to an outdoor lot? Thanks.


The house shown in the exterior shots was an empty facade set on the Universal backlot.

The interior sets were in a soundstage.

It felt real because is was a complete 4-walled set as apposed to the kind of 3-walled sets you might see in something like the HOneymooners (the set was open on one side for the studio audience). The design was so complete and nicely laid-out that it felt realy and comfortable.

Originally posted by Mark B.
[B I think Sara's initial confusion stemmed from not knowing that there were two different Cleaver homes in the original series. [/B]

no, i knew that, i think i just might have been confusing waht i saw through the swing door in the FIRST house....

Originally posted by Mark B.



The house shown in the exterior shots was an empty facade set on the Universal backlot.

The interior sets were in a soundstage.

It felt real because is was a complete 4-walled set as apposed to the kind of 3-walled sets you might see in something like the HOneymooners (the set was open on one side for the studio audience). The design was so complete and nicely laid-out that it felt realy and comfortable.

Thank you. That's what I thought, but watching the show, I'm amazed at how well the house (facade) in the exterior shots matches the set used for interior shots, right down to the location and style of the living room window. It seems flawless. Other series I've seen never seem to take the care to make these sets match, like The Brady Bunch, where the set in no way matches the house in the exterior shots. The layout of that house makes no sense.

Originally posted by JaneTVFan


Thank you. That's what I thought, but watching the show, I'm amazed at how well the house (facade) in the exterior shots matches the set used for interior shots, right down to the location and style of the living room window. It seems flawless. Other series I've seen never seem to take the care to make these sets match, like The Brady Bunch, where the set in no way matches the house in the exterior shots. The layout of that house makes no sense.

Some shows do better than other. The Brady Bunch house is a good example of a really bad job matching int/ext sets.

The Beaver house is pretty good, but there are some flaws. There is a large piece of the exterior house set that sticks out in the back around where the kitchen would be that isn't accounted for on the interior set. You can see this in the episode "Beaver's Tree". Also, the right wall of the house doesn't match up at all, but then they hardly ever showed that part of the exterior house on the show.

The other glaring inconsistancy is the middle window on the second story. If you think about how the stairs, upstairs hallway,and the boys room are layed out, that window should be in the boys room. However, there is only the left most window present on the interior set of the boys room.

Originally posted by Mark B.


Some shows do better than other. The Brady Bunch house is a good example of a really bad job matching int/ext sets.

The Beaver house is pretty good, but there are some flaws. There is a large piece of the exterior house set that sticks out in the back around where the kitchen would be that isn't accounted for on the interior set. You can see this in the episode "Beaver's Tree". Also, the right wall of the house doesn't match up at all, but then they hardly ever showed that part of the exterior house on the show.

The other glaring inconsistancy is the middle window on the second story. If you think about how the stairs, upstairs hallway,and the boys room are layed out, that window should be in the boys room. However, there is only the left most window present on the interior set of the boys room.

I'll have to take your word on this. You've obviously been much more observant that I have been. And of course, lucky you, you got to visit the actual set!