Mr. Gus

[stevea]

Did Mr. Gus do anything for the City of Mayfield, besides knowing how to repair a typewriter with his special oil? Or counseling Mayfield boys who are at the awkward age?

[Torgo]

He kept the fire engine polished.

[PracTz]

Originally Posted by Torgo

He kept the fire engine polished.

I can't imagine him having the energy to polish off anything more strenuous than a plate of cookies.

I always thought that he'd been a fireman for decades but had been pensioned off but with the odd proviso that he'd have to show up in uniform at his old fire hall X number of days a week to maintain that pension ! I always thought it odd that no other fireman was ever seen talking to Gus but perhaps Beav could have just happened to drop by when the crew was out on call putting out actual fires.

P.S. Considering how Gus was almost always napping or ready to take one when Beaver got there, I guess he was making up for decades of lost sleep when he actually had been on the crew.

[stevea]

I think there was one episode, early on, that showed another fireman, but he was an old man, too. Probably drove a horse and buggy with a water tank.

[Scrabjan1]

Gus was only on call in the auxiliary firehouse. Once Gus was all suited up in his fireman uniform for inspection. Gus was one of my favorite characters. He told Beaver the garnets weren't valuable, came over to help with Nick the horse, told Beaver how to get Henrietta to care about her babies again, bought 2 raffle tickets, gave Beaver advice about how important it is to study and let Wally and Beaver take his boat. Gus was fabulous.

The other fireman were Pete (Will Wright) in Child Care and in The Clubhouse another fireman maybe Charlie gives Beaver money to advertise.

[stevea]

I thought it was Will Wright but I wasn't sure. I don't think there was a sitcom of that era that Will Wright wasn't in. Truly a stalwart of the character actors of that time. As was Burt Mustin.

I agree with the comments above about Mr. Gus. I think he was very important to Beaver. The only time he let Beaver down was in Nobody Loves Me, but he didn't know it.

[Torgo]

Agreed about Gus. Gus was a mentor to Beaver, he didn't talk down to kids, and like Stevea said, only let Beaver down once.

I love Burt Mustin. He's a great presence in everything I've seen him in, even later films where he shows up in very small parts like the late 60's horror film The Witchmaker. Even if he doesn't have a line of dialogue, he's entertaining like in The Ghost And Mr Chicken.

[stevea]

It probably sounds like I flip-flopped on Mr. Gus, but I just like to kind of "stir it up" when I start a thread.

Burt Mustin, like Will Wright, was probably in every TV show of the era. He looked very much the same in Beaver as he did in one of his last roles, at the bar in All in the Family. I guess you could say he aged very well.

[Torgo]

Originally Posted by PracTz

I can't imagine him having the energy to polish off anything more strenuous than a plate of cookies.

I always thought that he'd been a fireman for decades but had been pensioned off but with the odd proviso that he'd have to show up in uniform at his old fire hall X number of days a week to maintain that pension ! I always thought it odd that no other fireman was ever seen talking to Gus but perhaps Beav could have just happened to drop by when the crew was out on call putting out actual fires.

P.S. Considering how Gus was almost always napping or ready to take one when Beaver got there, I guess he was making up for decades of lost sleep when he actually had been on the crew.

I should've said he supervised as he had the neighborhood kids do the actual work.

[Mr B]

Other firemen saved Beav in "In the Soup"..........I think Gus was semi retired and just manned the phone