In the first season of "Leave It to Beaver"

[Rezny@gmail.com]

At the very beginning of each episode that season,the late Hugh Beaumont always opened the series with a brief telling of the plot of the episodes.."And that's what's on tonight on Leave it to Beaver".Does anyone remember this opening,and why did they abandon this in the other seasons?

[Schmoopie]

I vaguely remember that, but I'm not sure why they stopped doing it. Maybe it was getting to be too time consuming? Just an off the top of my head guess.

[1960'sTVfan]

The first 16 episodes of season 1 have the narration openings with Hugh Beaumont. The remainder of season 1 shows open with a brief scene that introduces the episode. Starting with season 2, the shows begin with the opening credits. I don't know the reason behind the changes, I imagine they were trying different things out and eventually decided to start the shows with the opening credits.

[old grouch]

The openings with Hugh narrating were pretty darn sweet.

[howilu]

I liked Hugh Beaumont's opening narration in the first season and the credits that were drawn in wet cement.

[Cincy Guy]

I wonder if it had anything to do with the show moving from CBS after that initial 1957-58 season to ABC?

[mrbreezeet1]

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

The first 16 episodes of season 1 have the narration openings with Hugh Beaumont. The remainder of season 1 shows open with a brief scene that introduces the episode. Starting with season 2, the shows begin with the opening credits. I don't know the reason behind the changes, I imagine they were trying different things out and eventually decided to start the shows with the opening credits.

l didn't like it, as it sort of "gave away" part of the plot.

[tdr]

Originally Posted by mrbreezeet1

l didn't like it, as it sort of "gave away" part of the plot.

I really haven't seen/heard those H.B. intros for a long time, but I thought they just introduced the premise, which IMO is okay. For example, in "Captain Jack," it goes something like "Adults and children see the world through different eyes. To a young boy, if it says it in writing it must be true [the boys are shown at a hotdog stand that says "yard long" and they get a regular-sized hotdog]... and the first time you fall in in love, it's not necessarily with a girl [a scene from the alligator farm with a gator opening its mouth and hissing]. That's our story tonight on Leave it to Beaver." Then, right away, the boys see that comic book ad to buy an alligator for 2 dollars, showing a 6-foot gator and a man with a pit helmet. So they send for it and it's a baby. {aside: I don't doubt such offers were done; my younger brother bought a chamillian that way about 1971 LOL-- it got away and died and we found the poor thing's body weeks later}

Anyway, it they had done that type of intro for the whole run, what are some examples of what H.B. (Ward) would have said?...

For "In the Soup"... "When an older brother is growing up, sometimes he doesn't want a younger brother around [showing Wally dressed up by his party spread and Beaver taking his suitcase out the door with Whitey]. Then when the younger brother is on his own, he may feel he has to prove himself without his older and wiser sibling's guidance [Beaver and Whitey are shown looking up at something] In our story tonight, we'll take a look at what just might happen in that situation... on Leave it to Beaver."

For "Beaver Takes a Bath"--- "The first time parents take an overnight trip [June on the phone looking worried by what she just heard] and their children convince them they are old enough now to take care of themselves-- or at least one of them is old enough to take charge [Wally shown giving Beaver a firm order]-- is a time parents dread for years, for nothing is ever like the first time for anything, especially the first time your children convince you they really can do for themselves [June shown stating her concerns to Ward]. It can create a sense of apprehension in the parents [Ward and June at the site their party with June still looking worried then dialing the phone] such that they can't really enjoy themselves. We'll examine this situation in our story on Leave it to Beaver tonight."

[mrbreezeet1]

I guess I was talking about more in the middle of the 1st season.
I found this, brief scene extracted from the episode at hand


Opening and closing sequences

In the first season, each episode opens with a teaser featuring clips from the episode (or generic footage from other episodes) and a voice-over introduction by Beaumont briefly stating the episode's theme. The teaser is followed by the main title and credits in which the show's four main stars are introduced. In some seasons, significant crew are noted as an extension of the opening credits after a commercial break. Midway through the first season, the Beaumont voice-over introduction was discarded in favor of a brief scene extracted from the episode at hand, and, at the end of the first season, the teaser was entirely discarded, moving immediately to the title and credits.

[mets82]

When I saw this a while back, I was suprised. I never knew that Hugh Beaumont did the opening. I bet it was edited out when the first season would air over the years because I dont remember ever hearing his opening and I've watched the show for years.

[mrbreezeet1]

yeah, they might have taken it out. I am watching on netflix right now, and it is in there.

Originally Posted by mets82

When I saw this a while back, I was suprised. I never knew that Hugh Beaumont did the opening. I bet it was edited out when the first season would air over the years because I dont remember ever hearing his opening and I've watched the show for years.