Get The World According to Beaver Book!

[Jack1000]

Oh I just got it!

And LOVE IT!!!!! Trivia, behind the scenes quotes, rare pictures, a tough trivia section all kinds of great stuff! Some of the trivia questions are really hard!!! It's The World According to Beaver. The first edition came out in 1984, but it is a must for LITB fans. You should be able to get it at Amazon.com

Accuracy is good with a couple of small errors:

1.) It says that Ms. Landers was never mentioned by her first name, but in Ms. Landers' Engagement (episode name) her first name is revealed, "Alice."

2.) In the summery for "Beaver's Report Card, before Beaver's parents find out that Beaver's Math grade was changed from a D- to a B+ by Eddie and Lumpy, Ward buys him a model airplane kit. (The book says, "Model train set.")

I found one or two more, but don't remember them now.

Oh in Beaver's Football Award where scores the winning touchdown, the camera zooms in on the paper, bi-line, "Spectacular catch by Theodore Cleaver Wins Game For Grant Avenue School." The episode summery has a wide still shot of the paper and in big bold letters, it says, "LEAVE IT TO BEAVER!!!!" You don't see that big headline in the actual episode itself. I thought that was kind of cool.

The book says the boys worked four hours a day, and had three hours of studio school each day, often by a private tutor, as part of a five day work week.

They played basketball after lunch in the back lot quite often. Other sources say they road their bikes on breaks.

Trivia: Tony had never had to use a combination lock until joining a health club The producers kept his school locker unlocked at all times, and had Tony just rapidly move the dial back and forth to any numbers so it would open for scenes where he had to get his books out of his locker.

I'll post more in the future!

Jack

[Hughsgirl]

Originally Posted by Jack1000

Oh I just got it!

And LOVE IT!!!!! Trivia, behind the scenes quotes, rare pictures, a tough trivia section all kinds of great stuff! Some of the trivia questions are really hard!!! It's The World According to Beaver. The first edition came out in 1984, but it is a must for LITB fans. You should be able to get it at Amazon.com

Accuracy is good with a couple of small errors:

1.) It says that Ms. Landers was never mentioned by her first name, but in Ms. Landers' Engagement (episode name) her first name is revealed, "Alice."

2.) In the summery for "Beaver's Report Card, before Beaver's parents find out that Beaver's Math grade was changed from a D- to a B+ by Eddie and Lumpy, Ward buys him a model airplane kit. (The book says, "Model train set.")

I found one or two more, but don't remember them now.

Oh in Beaver's Football Award where scores the winning touchdown, the camera zooms in on the paper, bi-line, "Spectacular catch by Theodore Cleaver Wins Game For Grant Avenue School." The episode summery has a wide still shot of the paper and in big bold letters, it says, "LEAVE IT TO BEAVER!!!!" You don't see that big headline in the actual episode itself. I thought that was kind of cool.

The book says the boys worked four hours a day, and had three hours of studio school each day, often by a private tutor, as part of a five day work week.

They played basketball after lunch in the back lot quite often. Other sources say they road their bikes on breaks.

Trivia: Tony had never had to use a combination lock until joining a health club The producers kept his school locker unlocked at all times, and had Tony just rapidly move the dial back and forth to any numbers so it would open for scenes where he had to get his books out of his locker.

I'll post more in the future!

Jack

Hey Jack, Can you please post any rare photos of Hugh and Barbara? Thanks!

[Jack1000]

Originally Posted by Hughsgirl

Hey Jack, Can you please post any rare photos of Hugh and Barbara? Thanks!

Don't have a scanner!

But someday when I have time, I could look for some that I recognize from the book and link to them. One thing though, the stock-pile photos are not that great quality in some cases. They took the best they could find at the time, remember this was 1984, and some of the shots came from VHS tapes. Maybe if they do a third printing of the book, they will be able to get DVD transfers!!! (Second printing was in 1998.)

Jack

[1960'sTVfan]

I have this book, what I like best about it is the episodes section. It takes up a good portion of the book, and the episodes are listed by production order which for me is the preferred order. Leave It To Beaver is one of those shows where the episodes are better seen by order of production instead of airdate order.

[Jack1000]

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

I have this book, what I like best about it is the episodes section. It takes up a good portion of the book, and the episodes are listed by production order which for me is the preferred order. Leave It To Beaver is one of those shows where the episodes are better seen by order of production instead of airdate order.

Exactly Retro!

And they have "The Clothing Drive" where it was SUPPOSED to have aired, NOT tacked on to the end of Season 6 just before Family Scrapbook. ("Oh look! Beaver's back in school-after he has graduated!!")

Jack

[1960'sTVfan]

Originally Posted by Jack1000

Exactly Retro!

And they have "The Clothing Drive" where it was SUPPOSED to have aired, NOT tacked on to the end of Season 6 just before Family Scrapbook. ("Oh look! Beaver's Back in school-after he has graduated!!")

Jack

LOL thanks Jack I'm glad there is someone besides me who realizes the importance of this stuff.

One adjustment that needs to be made when watching LITB in production order, Beaver Runs Away from season 1 should be episode 36 not 41, and Beaver's Poem from season 2 should be episode 41 not 36.

[Jack1000]

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

LOL thanks Jack I'm glad there is someone besides me who realizes the importance of this stuff.

One adjustment that needs to be made when watching LITB in production order, Beaver Runs Away from season 1 should be episode 36 not 41, and Beaver's Poem from season 2 should be episode 41 not 36.

You're welcome!

I am probably the biggest Beaver fan EVER! In fact Seasons 5 and 6 are my favorites, because I really liked the depth and dimension of how Jerry played Beaver when he got older. I would give anything to throw myself into a time machine, and actually visualize myself as a part of the show!!! (Or at least hang out with Jerry!!!! LOL!!!) around the later seasons.

Some Beaver historians like younger Beaver better, but I like older Beaver the best!!!!! LOL!!!

Jack

[JudgeGarth]

Originally Posted by Jack1000

You're welcome!

ISome Beaver historians like younger Beaver better, but I like older Beaver the best!!!!! LOL!!!

Jack

I agree. I like the older Beaver and Seasons 5 and 6 better. Wish there'd been a Season 7 with Beaver in high school and Wally off to college, but I guess if it had to end it ended at the right time.

[Jack1000]

Originally Posted by JudgeGarth

I agree. I like the older Beaver and Seasons 5 and 6 better. Wish there'd been a Season 7 with Beaver in high school and Wally off to college, but I guess if it had to end it ended at the right time.

It would have been great for Beaver fans! I mean LITB is the series that you hate to see end. But it would have been hard for the actors and crew to do a Season 7. The greatness of Beaver was its contingency on the nuclear family being there. You have to have Beaver, Wally, Ward, and June, there most of the time for the greatness of the series to sustain what made it legendary. Beaver's friends, Wally's friends, everyone worked together to form a brilliant chemistry for this show!

They could do several episodes around Beaver and his high school years and Wally at college, but the problem is, would there be enough material for 35 episodes? There was stress on the actors too. Throughout the show, Hugh would travel back and forth from Universal to his home in Minnesota to be with his family on weekends. In fact, this travel time was hard for Hugh in season 2 and I heard that because of a terrible accident where his son Hunter lost control of the car and his Mother-in-law was killed, I think this happened in season 2, not sure, but I know that this issue and traveling for six seasons was hard.

Barbara loved doing the show, but also felt that Beaver had outgrown some of the cute antics that they still had Jerry doing in later seasons. And this is one of the reasons why some episodes in season 6 were almost, "Leave it to Wally." However, I still contend that season 5 and 6 are the best for reasons mentioned above.

Jerry wanted to go to a regular school and move away from the pressures of acting. There's a story that in the fall of 1963, a reporter was sent to Jerry's house to do a story about Beaver. Jerry went out for football his Freshmen year of high school and he was playing in the backyard with some of his friends, and he either politely declined the Beaver interview, or did it with only half-interest.

Tony probably wanted to go out and get away from acting for awhile too. That had to be really hard for both of them, as much as they loved being a part of Beaver, for Jerry to probably be asked every day in high school and at intervals throughout his life about Beaver and the same for Tony.

By mutual agreement, I just think that the cast and crew thought that it was the perfect time to end a series that was perfect in so many ways. In many OTHER SERIES, you will often see a drop in quality of writing and actor commitment when producers get strained for ideas. Thankfully that did not happen with Leave it to Beaver. They struck gold with that series, have continued to maintain a gold standard for that series for over 50 years! And part of that greatness was knowing to leave the series at the right time to keep the magic alive for future generations! And that has certainly been done!

Jack

[jarthur31]

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

I have this book, what I like best about it is the episodes section. It takes up a good portion of the book, and the episodes are listed by production order which for me is the preferred order. Leave It To Beaver is one of those shows where the episodes are better seen by order of production instead of airdate order.

I was just about to ask if anybody knew of a great reference book for LITB that included detailed summaries for each episode along with any anecdotal info. If there are other books then please reply and let me know.

The one I bought a few years ago for Andy Griffith is considered "plain" and "dry" by alot of TAGS fans because it lacks in pictures and that other small stuff but it's great with regard to the description of each episode and contains great biographical data on the main characters. Heh, it looks like a library book from the 60's even.

[Jack1000]

Originally Posted by jarthur31

I was just about to ask if anybody knew of a great reference book for LITB that included detailed summaries for each episode along with any anecdotal info. If there are other books then please reply and let me know.

The one I bought a few years ago for Andy Griffith is considered "plain" and "dry" by alot of TAGS fans because it lacks in pictures and that other small stuff but it's great with regard to the description of each episode and contains great biographical data on the main characters. Heh, it looks like a library book from the 60's even.

The World According to Beaver. It's good! Almost great, but there are some MILD errors. For instance there is a cursive writing photo shot of Beaver's "Most Interesting Character" composition! But there are two small errors in it. One line is "He (Beaver speaking of his Father) will use up a whole Saturday to make things with me in the garage." I think "things" should be either "junk" or "stuff." And I am almost positive that the great ending line, "He may not be interesting to you or someone else, because he's not your father, he's mine." I believe the writing should say, "just mine." If anyone wants to check the DVD for verification, do so when you have time!

However, it is THE BEST Beaver book out there. Jerry's book, "And Jerry Mathers as the Beaver." is loaded with spelling errors and grammatical mistakes, as well as continuity errors. Only a small part of Jerry's book has anything to do with Beaver! UGGHHH!

Frank Bank's book is filled with self-serving arrogance, like Lumpy implies, "Beaver would be nothing If I hadn't been in the show." Tony even said Frank's book is bad! For example, I heard that one of the first episodes that Frank talks about is the Barrel Hoops one. "Lumpy Rutherford." Even the summary is wrong in that episode.

The World According to Beaver is really good!

Jack

[1960'sTVfan]

There is a continuity error in the TV show regarding the school grades the boys attended. In the series 6th season, Wally graduates from 12th grade and Beaver graduates from 8th grade. Going by this pattern, Wally would have been a 7th grader in season 1 and Beaver a 3rd grader. But in the 1st season of the series, Wally is said to be an 8th grader and Beaver a 2nd grader. Following this pattern, in the 6th season Wally would have been a college freshman and Beaver a 7th grader.