Oh June!

[Madame X]

June was so weird! We have mentioned a lot about her overprotectiveness, snooping and unrealistic expectations from the boys. She should have raised girls!

On the one where Beaver gets the heirloom ring from Aunt Martha, June does something I found to be rather odd. The boys were finished eating and asked to be excused. June said yes, but "fold your napkins first."

Why would she want them to fold filthy, used napkins? I would think a better lesson would be to ask them to take their plates out to the kitchen rather than just walking away from the table.

Strange one, that June!

[tdr]

I think 'polite society' were expected to fold their napkins as a sign of being finished, or some such thing. In The Miracle Worker, for one example, one of the first things the blind and deaf child Helen is taught when Anne Sullivan, her teacher, works with her alone, is to fold her napkin after eating. Of all the things she needed to learn, you gotta admit that one's right up there .

One way in which Wally isn't too bright is also in this episode. He sees Beaver with the string tied to his belt loop and figures out that he is going to take that ring to school, knowing June and Ward told him not to [we can eliminate the Greg Brady "exact words" argument for this]. Wally says, "Okay, if you get in trouble, just don't drag me into it." Then, when the school nurse calls June and she is going to have to go to Beaver's school and tells Wally what has happened, Wally says, "I told him he'd better not take the ring to school," which of course gets June upset with him (Wally), too. This isn't the only time Wally does this-- implicates himself by saying boldly "I told him..." or "I knew there was something funny when...." like he doesn't know he is "dragging himself into it" that way.

[Madame X]

And after Beaver got the ring stuck on his finger he should have just come home and later told his parents he got the ring stuck when he was trying it on. After all, it was his ring and he should have been allowed to "try it on." The part about bringing it to school never needed to come up!

[tdr]

That's probably what he would have done if Miss Landers hadn't seen him pulling the ring and licking his finger in class, and started asking what it was about. But once she knew he had a ring he couldn't get off and his finger was swelling, I suppose she had to send him to the nurse.

You wonder, though, that Aunt Martha would send that ring to him at his age then; it seems she would have sent it before, supposing June and Ward would keep it for him, or she would wait until he was a more responsbile age. Also, when Beaver said he wanted to wear it to school and they told him not to, didn't it cross their minds he had already indicated he had to show it off or it was nothing to him? Of course, we know why they didn't put it in a safe or something-- to make for a story!.

I rather wish occasionally that we knew something about 'Uncle Theodore,' after whom Beaver was named. I gave him a little background in a multi-part fanfic I wrote about when Beaver was born, but sometimes I wish in the series they had gone over some letters he wrote, and we knew more about other relatives that put the Cleavers and Bronsons together to form what we do see.

[Ireneparalegal]

Why did they (June & Ward) allow him to even have possession of the ring? That was their stupid fault! He was too young to be responsible for such an item.

I agree with you Stacey abt the folding napking comment. That June was just "too perfect" wasn't she?

[Waterston_Fan]

Just saw the episode... I liked it...

What do you guys think June was going to say when she called Ward when he was lecturing Beaver?

I wonder if maybe she didn't want Aunt Martha to know about the ring...

Has anyone had a ring cut off their finger? Can a ring be fixed?

I did notice about the napkin but didn't think much of it...

Ward and June should have waited till Beaver was old enough I think before getting it..

What is with this trip to Paris Uncle Frank would give Wally when he went to college?

That's lame... who's uncle does Frank belong to? Ward maybe?

[tdr]

Originally Posted by Waterston_Fan

Has anyone had a ring cut off their finger?

No; I wouldn't wear one that's so tight it would cut off my finger .

[Ireneparalegal]

My sister had her wedding ring cut off her finger. She became sick and her fingers, hands and feet swelled from water rentention. She went to the jeweler who cut it off using a special tool that cuts upwards. They then repaired (welded) the ring back.

[bingbangbaby]

Originally Posted by tdr

One way in which Wally isn't too bright is also in this episode. He sees Beaver with the string tied to his belt loop and figures out that he is going to take that ring to school, knowing June and Ward told him not to [we can eliminate the Greg Brady "exact words" argument for this]. Wally says, "Okay, if you get in trouble, just don't drag me into it." Then, when the school nurse calls June and she is going to have to go to Beaver's school and tells Wally what has happened, Wally says, "I told him he'd better not take the ring to school," which of course gets June upset with him (Wally), too. This isn't the only time Wally does this-- implicates himself by saying boldly "I told him..." or "I knew there was something funny when...." like he doesn't know he is "dragging himself into it" that way.

I always wondered why they never had to take their plates to the kitchen either. I bet they would have had to do that if they were girls.

I thought Ward wasn't too bright in this episode either. He saw the string, he asked about it, he knew Beaver was changing the subject and was up to something and he let it happen anyway. I also expected June or Ward to call Wally on knowing Beaver took the ring to school and not telling them about it. It seemed unlike the usual Ward when he started balling Beaver out and then he turned to Wally and Wally said something like "gee dad, I didn't do anything." It seems like in other episodes Ward would have called Wally on that and pulled him into it for knowing and not telling. I wonder why they wrote this one different?

[tdr]

What do you guys think June was going to say when she called Ward when he was lecturing Beaver?
I wonder if maybe she didn't want Aunt Martha to know about the ring...

Yes, it was probably along that line. And I started here to write that I thought Ward had his plan in mind even then of having Beaver write the letter to Aunt Martha, then read it to him, then he would tear it up, so Beaver would at least feel remorse. But then Ward says, "...it hadn't occurred to me until just this minute, but it just could be that we could have that ring fixed." So maybe at first he did intend for Beaver to actually send the letter to Aunt Martha; and perhaps June said later to Ward, with the boys not present, what she was about to say at the end of Ward's lecture, which is to try to have the ring fixed. So Ward's discipline coupled with June's benevolence is what led to the conclusion... even though that way Ward was stretchng the truth a little with his "just this minute" clause.

I always wondered why they never had to take their plates to the kitchen either. I bet they would have had to do that if they were girls.

I can't remember another ep in which the "fold your napkins" order was given them, but I'm sure there were several in which they were told to take their plates to the kitchen.

[OH Nuts!]

Originally Posted by Madame X

June was so weird! We have mentioned a lot about her overprotectiveness, snooping and unrealistic expectations from the boys. She should have raised girls!

On the one where Beaver gets the heirloom ring from Aunt Martha, June does something I found to be rather odd. The boys were finished eating and asked to be excused. June said yes, but "fold your napkins first."

Why would she want them to fold filthy, used napkins? I would think a better lesson would be to ask them to take their plates out to the kitchen rather than just walking away from the table.

Strange one, that June!

What do you expect from a woman who wears pearls to take out the garbage.

[tanquant]

Originally Posted by Madame X

June was so weird! We have mentioned a lot about her overprotectiveness, snooping and unrealistic expectations from the boys. She should have raised girls!

On the one where Beaver gets the heirloom ring from Aunt Martha, June does something I found to be rather odd. The boys were finished eating and asked to be excused. June said yes, but "fold your napkins first."

Why would she want them to fold filthy, used napkins? I would think a better lesson would be to ask them to take their plates out to the kitchen rather than just walking away from the table.

Strange one, that June!

I work in a nursing home. These women are about 89,90 years old. When they finish their breakfast they fold up their napkins and their cloth bibs. It is the strangest thing. The napkins are dirty but they still fold them up. I guess that's how they were brought up.

[Janice]

Originally Posted by Madame X

June was so weird!
Strange one, that June!

Yeah, so weird and strange. That describes June to a T.