Episode Reviews - "A Night in the Woods" - season 5

[stevea]

A fun episode, but why so contrived? Ward is working, Whitey's father is working, Gilbert's father is suddenly called away to a wedding. Can't remember what Alan's father is doing, but we assume he can't take the boys camping, either.

Why not just have Beaver ask Wally in front of Ward and June, and skip all the fathers stuff?

Another thing that kinda bugged me was the elaborate sound stage setup for the woods. It probably pre-existed from some movie, but picky viewers like me see backdrops in the background, etc. The cliff setup also must have existed from a movie, too--I can't imagine the budget would allow for such an elaborate setup.

So I say, why not just go on location? Surely there would be a wooded backlot they could have used.

A final unlikely thing. Can you imagine anyone falling off a cliff and not getting even a scratch? Even if you land on a ledge, you'd have some sort of injury, even if minor.

And a final grumble -- how would Eddie and Lumpy known exactly where they were camping? I guess one could say they tailed the campers.

All, and I mean all, of that aside, it was an enjoyable episode. Aside from all the coincidental fathers working, it's a slight stretch to think two teens would go to such lengths to get Wally to go on a date setup, just so their dates would work out. But they did, and Eddie gets a sound effects record that appears to be working--scaring the campers. Until a real wolf started howling. Eddie falls off a cliff, and when the ranger rescues him with his rope, what thanks does he get? Lip. But John Hart is having none of it.

[Sgt. Saunders]

I’m trying to remember if Eddie was wearing that really ugly-looking, woolen turtleneck-like sweater of his when he fell off of that cliff? That atrocious sweater could have protected the ectomorphic, young Mr.Haskell from suffering any serious injuries/abrasions when he hit that ledge.

By the way, you often see Ken Osmond wearing that same ugly sweater in several other LITB episodes. What gives? Was the LITB clothing department that cheap or just lacking in decent clothes for Ken Osmond, so that poor Eddie had to wear that sweater repeatedly on the show?

In addition, Wally and Beaver always were seen attired in good looking sports shirts, almost like LL Bean quality. And, Wally always seemed to be wearing classic khaki pants while the Beaver (and his friends) were usually seen wearing blue collar jeans with the hems tucked-up.

And, didn’t kids and teenagers wear sneakers back then? You frequently see Beaver and his friends wearing black leather shoes to go along with their plain jeans. Yet, you see Wally wearing classic loafers to go along with his khaki pants. Wally certainly knows how to dress!

No doubt, years later, Wally Cleaver, Esq., bought his suits at Brooks Brothers while The Beaver was probably a faithful Habands Mail-Order Suit purchaser.

As Mr. Jeff was wont to say, “I’m very comfortable wearing my old rags. But, I look SO much better in one of Ward Cleaver’s $300.00 suits!”

[stevea]

I happened to have that DVD still in the player, so I checked on Eddie's wardrobe.

When he and Lumpy met with Wally before school to tell him of the date plans, he had on a light color cotton jacket. Later, when stalking the campers, he had on a dark jacket.

[Sgt. Saunders]

I really liked this LITB episode, where we saw Wally and the younger kids camping in the woods. I also liked the earlier episode where the entire Cleaver family spent a weekend in the country in a cabin and Wally and the Beaver were still able to see that jungle movie by using binoculars to watch the film being shown on a somewhat nearby drive-in movie screen, much to Ward’s surprise and slight disappointment.

In fact, I saw an old interview with the late Tony Dow on YouTube in which Tony Dow said that that Cleaver family weekend in the country episode was his personal favorite LITB episode of all.

[stevea]

Yes, I enjoyed both episodes. Apart from this review of the writing and the soundstage filming of the camping episode, it was an enjoyable episode.

I can imagine the shock of seeing it for the first time in 1962. Lumpy comes back into the camp and says Eddie fell off a cliff. And the viewers are shocked when the kids start asking questions.

"Happy Weekend" was an excellent episode from earlier in the series. Back then the boys were using binoculars to watch a movie on an outdoor theater screen in the town below. I doubt they'd be doing that in today's world because there are so few drive-in theaters anymore. Or because they'd be watching a movie or playing video games on their Iphones.

I remember our family vacationing on Long Beach Island when I was a boy. This is in southern New Jersey, and there was very little to do at the shore in the evening. We could've brought a portable TV, but reception was very bad there--Philadelphia was too far away. for rabbit ears So we went to the Manahawkin Drive-In to see a movie a few times. I wonder if it's still there, but I doubt it.

[biffbronson]

Originally Posted by Sgt. Saunders

And, didn’t kids and teenagers wear sneakers back then? You frequently see Beaver and his friends wearing black leather shoes to go along with their plain jeans. Yet, you see Wally wearing classic loafers to go along with his khaki pants. Wally certainly knows how to dress!

I recall up into the mid-1970s I always wore brown "hard" shoes to grade school. Most were lace-up, but I remember others with a strap across the top that was fastened with a little brass buckle.

I don't recall the circumstances for changing, but I didn't wear tennis shoes for my classes there until 6th grade: switch to blue or black Converse Chuck Taylors, previously only for Gym class. One girl even criticized me for wearing black ones, apparently favoring other colors.

As far as pants, my mom dressed me in corduroys a lot when I was really young, "CARD-uroy" as she pronounced them. I don't remember ever wearing jeans to school, all through high school. Hand-me-downs from my brother likely would've been unacceptably worn-out if she'd have considered letting me wear his old denim.

[Sgt. Saunders]

Originally Posted by stevea

Yes, I enjoyed both episodes. Apart from this review of the writing and the soundstage filming of the camping episode, it was an enjoyable episode.

I can imagine the shock of seeing it for the first time in 1962. Lumpy comes back into the camp and says Eddie fell off a cliff. And the viewers are shocked when the kids start asking questions.

"Happy Weekend" was an excellent episode from earlier in the series. Back then the boys were using binoculars to watch a movie on an outdoor theater screen in the town below. I doubt they'd be doing that in today's world because there are so few drive-in theaters anymore. Or because they'd be watching a movie or playing video games on their Iphones.

I remember our family vacationing on Long Beach Island when I was a boy. This is in southern New Jersey, and there was very little to do at the shore in the evening. We could've brought a portable TV, but reception was very bad there--Philadelphia was too far away. for rabbit ears So we went to the Manahawkin Drive-In to see a movie a few times. I wonder if it's still there, but I doubt it.

Ah, yes, LBI used to be a spot on the New Jersey shore where families could spend a couple of leisurely weeks for a reasonable price at that really beautiful Garden State location. Today, celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and the late, great James Gandolfini have/had opulent homes on Long Beach Island; it is really upscale today, rivaling both Deal, NJ and Spring Lake, NJ (a/k/a “The Irish Riviera”) as absolutely A-1 locations on the NJ shore.

LBI is also the place where the ever-social climbing Eddie Haskell would want to vacation because the residents there were, in Eddie’s own words, “people who mattered and had lots of money.”

I’m surprised that you could not pick-up either Philadelphia or NYC television channels down on LBI. My parents had a summer home in Ocean County, NJ (about sixty miles from NYC and maybe 70 miles from Philadelphia) and even with the old analog tv signal, we’d get perfect reception from NYC and a slightly snowy picture from Philadelphia on an indoor portable tv.

Do you miss summers on the New Jersey shore?

[stevea]

Oh, yes. But a nor'easter tore through there around March 1962 and cut the island in half. I remember we drove down there maybe a month after the storm and the island was a wreck. That storm may have been the reason an old rinky-dink causeway was replaced by a newer, higher bridge that carried Route 72 over to the island. On second thought, it was probably replaced before that, maybe around 1958.

We vacationed on the southern side -- the town was called Beach Haven. The beaches were the main attraction and the rental housing for vacationers was pretty plain, small, and reasonably priced. A little further south was the end of the main north south road (Bay Avenue?) and at that location was a Coast Guard tower. You could walk a lot further south along the beach into uninhabited areas, and I don't think we were ever able to reach the end and go around to the bay side, although we tried.

The northern side had Surf City and the subject of the Jan and Dean song was aptly named. The waves were relentless.

Further north, out at the end, was Barnegat Light, which I guess is still there.

I think we brought a portable TV one time and I'm pretty sure we had trouble with Philly reception. Maybe we got one or two channels very snowy. This was many years ago.

We lived in south Jersey about an hour's drive to the shore. We were 18 miles from Phila. and even there you needed -- and we had -- a rooftop antenna for decent reception. With the rooftop I could pick up a snowy WNBC and WABC in New York.

[MichaelMartinD]

Small world. My mom spent a lot of time in Beach Haven, NJ as a kid, during that same era. I still have a lot of B&W pictures of her, her parents and brothers there during summer vacations.

As for my childhood summer vacations, we went to Wildwood at the beginning before switching to the classier Cape May.

[Sgt. Saunders]

There’s an enjoyable film from 1983, called “Eddie and the Cruisers” about a rock & roll band that played in many of the bars along the New Jersey shore during the early 1960s. Michael Pare, Tom Berenguer, Ellen Barkin and Joe Pantiliano (The pride of Hoboken, NJ) appear in the film.

Eddie Wilson is the leader the group. Eddie supposedly dies when his car crashes off of a
bridge in Somers Point, NJ. Twenty years later, Eddie’s music is discovered by a new generation of fans and his music once again becomes very popular. At the end of the film, we see a much-older Eddie, who has been living anonymously in New Jersey, looking at a documentary on him and his band on a TV set in a storefront window, very happy that young people like his music.

I wonder if Wally, Eddie, Lumpy, Julie Foster and Mary Ellen Rogers would have been big Eddie and the Cruisers fans in 1963? And, maybe Beaver ordered a number of Eddie Wilson’s records from that record company the Beaver had a “low-cost” membership with?

[stevea]

Originally Posted by MichaelMartinD

Small world. My mom spent a lot of time in Beach Haven, NJ as a kid, during that same era. I still have a lot of B&W pictures of her, her parents and brothers there during summer vacations.

As for my childhood summer vacations, we went to Wildwood at the beginning before switching to the classier Cape May.

Beach Haven had beautiful beaches. The ocean there has a good amount of undertow. The thing to do was watch where you were i relation to one of the lifeguard flags. When you get dragged down to one, plod back up to the other one.

[Tankeryanker]

Originally Posted by biffbronson

I recall up into the mid-1970s I always wore brown "hard" shoes to grade school. Most were lace-up, but I remember others with a strap across the top that was fastened with a little brass buckle

I was thinking about this the other day.
I had my patent leather mary jane shoes for church, my leather shoes for school and some kind of tennis shoe for play.

I do remember when we were jumping our stingray bikes over trash cans playing Evil Knievel, that one kid wore his old beat up leather school shoes for play.

I think I wore some kind of leather shoe to school up through high school.

[stevea]

Originally Posted by Sgt. Saunders

And, didn’t kids and teenagers wear sneakers back then? You frequently see Beaver and his friends wearing black leather shoes to go along with their plain jeans. Yet, you see Wally wearing classic loafers to go along with his khaki pants. Wally certainly knows how to dress!

Yes, but not as much as they do now. There were a limited number of brands back then. Keds were typical.

But athletic shoes were only worn for athletics, if I recall correctly.

[Tankeryanker]

Originally Posted by Sgt. Saunders

There’s an enjoyable film from 1983, called “Eddie and the Cruisers” about a rock & roll band that played in many of the bars along the New Jersey shore during the early 1960s. Michael Pare, Tom Berenguer, Ellen Barkin and Joe Pantiliano (The pride of Hoboken, NJ) appear in the film.

Eddie Wilson is the leader the group. Eddie supposedly dies when his car crashes off of a
bridge in Somers Point, NJ. Twenty years later, Eddie’s music is discovered by a new generation of fans and his music once again becomes very popular. At the end of the film, we see a much-older Eddie, who has been living anonymously in New Jersey, looking at a documentary on him and his band on a TV set in a storefront window, very happy that young people like his music.

I wonder if Wally, Eddie, Lumpy, Julie Foster and Mary Ellen Rogers would have been big Eddie and the Cruisers fans in 1963? And, maybe Beaver ordered a number of Eddie Wilson’s records from that record company the Beaver had a “low-cost” membership with?

Such a good looking man too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk0Kckv-tqQ

[Tankeryanker]

Originally Posted by stevea

Yes, but not as much as they do now. There were a limited number of brands back then. Keds were typical.

But athletic shoes were only worn for athletics, if I recall correctly.

So what did we wear for play? I am thinking I had some kind of tenni runner then.

In the Walton's, Jim Bob wears Converse high tops.

Wait, I had to be wearing tennis shoes. I remember going to Gemco and getting a red pair. They were magical and made me run faster.