Whitey

[MichaelMartinD]

Has anyone noticed an inconsistency in Whitey's characterization throughout the series? Sometimes he is a wise guy and sometimes a nerd. It's almost as if the writers changed their mind about how they wanted him to be.

[stevea]

Even in the same episode. In the Aptitude test episode, he makes a comment early on, that he's been smart for as long as he can remember. Later, he worries that he did badly on the test.

[Scrabjan1]

Yeah I noticed the writers didn’t know how to mold his character. Gilbert was always rather a troublemaker and they both liked to trick gullible Beaver. Whitey was basically a nice kid except when he got him to check the soup bowl. Whitey wasn’t as smart as he thought because back in part time genius he was as average as Beaver. Also as you mentioned in Beaver’s IQ Test he had answers left over. He did go with Larry and Gilbert to spy on Miss Landers. He took Beaver’s baseball glove but it was on a bet. He lasted longer than any other friend of Beaver. He was in Beaver’s Crush and Beaver Sees America.

[MichaelMartinD]

Originally Posted by Scrabjan1

Yeah I noticed the writers didn’t know how to mold his character. Gilbert was always rather a troublemaker and they both liked to trick gullible Beaver. Whitey was basically a nice kid except when he got him to check the soup bowl. Whitey wasn’t as smart as he thought because back in part time genius he was as average as Beaver. Also as you mentioned in Beaver’s IQ Test he had answers left over. He did go with Larry and Gilbert to spy on Miss Landers. He took Beaver’s baseball glove but it was on a bet. He lasted longer than any other friend of Beaver. He was in Beaver’s Crush and Beaver Sees America.

He lasted through the entire series, something you can't say for most of the supporting characters. He was there right from the start in Beaver Gets Spelled (although I think he had a different name then) and was still there in Beaver Sees America.

[stevea]

In newly-titled "Larry, the Turncoat", Whitey participates in getting Larry to forget Beaver, and go to the movies with him and the always-slimy Gilbert. Later Whitey turns on Larry and tells Larry he (Larry) is kind of a rat. Both he and Gilbert bow out when (after Beaver wants to beat up Larry) Larry says there are three of us.

His trademark was giving that cute-kid grin, mostly in the classroom.

[MMR]

Originally Posted by MichaelMartinD

He lasted through the entire series, something you can't say for most of the supporting characters. He was there right from the start in Beaver Gets Spelled (although I think he had a different name then) and was still there in Beaver Sees America.

Yeah, I noticed that inconsistency.

In the first episode his real name was "Herbert," but in a later episode when he called on the phone and June answered, he was "Hubert."

[Scrabjan1]

Whitey was Herbert? I never noticed. So I guess he was in Beaver Gets ‘Spelled.

[MMR]

Originally Posted by Scrabjan1

Whitey was Herbert? I never noticed. So I guess he was in Beaver Gets ‘Spelled.

Sorry, I guess I was wrong. he was "Harold."

In "Beaver Gets 'Spelled."

[stevea]

Right.

I checked the Universal DVD (with its overblown Universal opening to each episode, that makes you think you're about to see some epic--fortunately, it's in its own chapter so you can skip past it)--here's how the episode opens:

(Opens in classroom, with camera on blackboard, with messages: Your new teacher's name is Miss Canfield. Mrs. Rayburn is your principal. Camera pans to Judy, who is reading sentences about a picnic, out of a reader. She finishes).

Miss Canfield: That's very good, Judy. Now, can anyone tell us what a picnic is?

(Students' hands go up.)

Miss Canfield: Harold.

Harold (Whitey): A picnic is where you go out in the country and eat food off the dirt.

[Scrabjan1]

So little Stanley started as Harold. Never noticed. I guess they decided to make Stanley a new character called Whitey. I saw Whitey a little bit older in a Dennis the Menace intro as a kid sitting in the corner for Dennis.