Question for fans of I Love Lucy and Leave it to Beaver

[DarleneIllyria]

I'm not sure how many of yall watched the fandemonium over Beaver during the weekend. My father said the craziest thing about June Cleaver though. He said that Lucille Ball would've made a better June than Barbara Billingsley. That sounded absolutely crazy to me. To me Lucy is Lucy, and Barbara is June. I don't know where he got that idea at, my mom thinks he's crazy to think this too.

My question is Do you think if Lucy wasn't doing I Love Lucy and did get chosen to do LITB, do you think she would be a good June Cleaver?

My answer is no. I couldn't even begin to imagine Lucy being June. I think Barbara was a great June, plus the chemistry between Hugh Beaumont and her were terrific.

I just want everybody else's opinion on this. ....

[dawsongirl]

No, no, no! The role of June Cleaver was meant for an actress, not a comedianne. Lucy relished being in front of audiences and doing more physical comedy. LITB would have been too calm for her. Barbara did a fine job!

[Beruche]

Lucy be June Cleaver!?
I can't imagine Lucy being June Cleaver.

[DarleneIllyria]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought Barbara was a perfect June. I'm still scratching my head at his thought about Lucy being a good June though...

[TVLanFan]

I agree with the above posts totally...as great as Lucy was, there's no way she would have made as good a "June" as Barbara B... LITB was not intended to be the zany, rip-roaring comedy that I Love Lucy was, it was just a nice, fairly low key family sitcom... dawsongirl, you are totally correct in pointing out that LITB would have been way to calm for Lucy...

I would also add that, even after Little Ricky was born, Lucy just didn't seem to be as good a "mother" as June was...part of that was obviously Lucy's desire for a show business career...and that, too, made I.L.Lucy a totally different show than LITB, and Lucy a totally different kind of mother than June...

We're talking two totally different sitcom ideas here... I.L.Lucy was never about Little Ricky, and he was a pretty minor character for the most part, although he was featured in a few episodes. I Love Lucy was about LUCY, whereas LITB was about Beaver, Wally, and their friends. Lucy was always the biggest star on the screen in whatever she was in, but that would not have worked out well on LITB, especially since Lucy was already an established legend when LITB began.

[Paula]

Ditto, I agree with you Jenny and everyone else here- Lucy is Lucy and Barbara is June.

[melluvslucy]

I can't imagine Lucille Ball playing June Cleaver. She needed the comedy. June Cleaver was like your perfect 50's housewife and mother, had advice for everyone and everything, and the type that you can't picture doing anything outlandish. I always thought that she and Ward had no chemistry between them whatsoever. Lucy Ricardo was just the opposite---she did crazy things to draw attention to herself or to get her way, and she and Ricky were almost like a perfect match for each other. I just wish that he'd let her get into his act more often. Just like you guys said....Lucy is Lucy, and Barbara is June.

[TVLanFan]

Originally posted by melluvslucy
[...I always thought that she and Ward had no chemistry between them whatsoever[/B]

melluvslucy-

I have to respectfully disagree about Ward and June not having any "chemistry"...I always thought they had great chemistry on screen...however, their chemistry was different than Lucy and Ricky's...W & J had the kind of relationship that was indicative of two people who adored each other, but were kind of low-key about it...to me, their conversations always sounded natural, like they were a real couple in real life who had been married a few years, had two sons together, and who were totally comfortable with each other...they were always joking around with each other...in fact, most of their conversations ended with a joke made by one or the other (usually Ward, I think), and he'd give her arm a squeeze or give her a pat on the back as he walked out of the room (while the laugh track was still going)...I loved the conversations they would have when they would wash the dishes together...

In fact (and maybe this is hindsight, knowing how Lucy and Ricky turned out in real life), but if I knew nothing about the real lives of the couples involved, and I were to watch both shows (ILLucy and LITB) and had to guess which couple was married in real life, I would have guessed W&J, rather than L&R...I think ILLucy had more "tension" between husband and wife than LITB ever did, probably due to the fact that June was happy to be a homemaker and a mother, whereas Lucy wanted "more" out of life...and that, of course, was always one of the major sub-plots in nearly every Lucy episode.

Anyway, I think Ward and June had a great on-screen chemistry, it was just different than Lucy & Ricky...

[melluvslucy]

TVLanFan, when you put it that way, I think that I have to watch Leave It To Beaver a little bit more. I've only seen it a couple of times, and I mostly just remember the Beaver getting himself into some kind of mischief. Guess I have to do some research before I can make a judgment!

[Barnabas1]

I would like to see Barbra be a Lucy.Bilingsley fit the "June" role.

[Kellie87kp]

no, I can't really see Lucy being June Cleaver.

[TVLanFan]

melluvslucy -

I meant to reply sooner, but I forgot that this was posted on the
I Love Lucy site, rather then the Leave it to Beaver Site...I was
looking on the Leave it to Beaver area...sorry...

Anyway, you mentioned you might want to see a few episodes before you make any judgements...FYI, LITBeaver ran for 6 seasons, and you can tell which season each episode is from by the opening credits...


Season 1 - opening credits show names of cast scrawled
in wet cement

Season 2 - opening credits show interior shot of Cleaver house
entry hall, with boys coming down stairs to leave for school, first
Wally, then Beaver, who puts his baseball cap on as he exits

Season 3 - opening credits show Ward and June entering the boys' room to wake the guys, first Wally, then Beaver

Season 4 - opening credits show exterior shot of front entrance,
with Ward and June sending the boys off to school, first Wally, then Beaver

Season 5 - opening credits show June offering lemonade or iced tea to the boys, who are busy working in the yard, Wally & Beaver are cutting the grass

Season 6 - opening credits show Cleaver family (one by one) leaving the house to get into the car for a trip, first June, then Ward, then Wally, then of course, Beaver...

I think I like Seasons 2-4 the best (season 1 was good too, but I think the characters had all hit their strides by the second season). I also think that in seasons 5 and 6, Beaver began to show his age a bit, and Wally became the subject of a good many episodes.


Once you watch a few episodes, you can decide for yourself which seasons you like best, or if the show is even worth watching...I love LITB, as well as ILLucy, and can watch either show any time they're on...I never get tired of good episodes...

One other thing you might find in watching Beaver, is that Beaver and Wally's friends are much more interesting then they themselves are...

Eddie Haskell and Larry Mondello (Wally and Beaver's best friends, respectively) are my two favorite characters among the boys' friends...they both just crack me up...and the kids were all so real, and so natural, it's amazing to see..

Anyway, hope you've had time to catch a few more episodes, and hope you enjoy LITB...if not, there's always Lucy :-)

[melluvslucy]

Thanks TVLanFan! I will go check out LITB the next time it comes on.