Old Beaver vs Young Wally

[Cx]

Watching ( and re-re-re watching ) the continuing looping of the series I found it interesting to notice the changes as the episodes go from the end of the last season to the beginning of the first season, back-to-back. My sampling rate is the last few "real" episodes ( I excluded the flashback one ) from mid 1963 to the first few in late 1957 as the series "flipped" again over the past week.

While myself and others on this forum have noted, the exact age difference between Wally and Beaver is hard to nail down exactly because it's fuzzy and changes form time to time, but I believe it's safe to say 5 years is a nominal figure.

Anyway, while the running joke of the show is that Beaver is often portrayed as clueless for his age, I find the latest Beaver at age 12/13 to be quicker witted/tongued and "edgier" than was Wally at 12/13 early in the show.

I wonder if it's more a cultural shift/zeitgeist over the 5 years as as society evolves as well. Of course we never get to see a 7 year old Wally, so it's tough to make an exact comparison.

Any thoughts?

[stevea]

I totally agree with this--at some point midway in the sixth season, I'd imagine Connelly and Mosher meeting with the writers (at this point, mainly Conway and MacLane) and telling them, "Hey, we've noticed Jerry is really growing up. We need to soft-peddle the clueless kid and ACTUALLY grow him up. Write some scenes where he stands up to Eddie, both verbally and physically. No more situations where Gilbert talks him into silly stuff like wearing the monster shirts."

So early in the sixth season we see him swayed by his peers not to dress up for a football award banquet. But there's not much more of this go-to "clueless, naive Beaver" type script.

Season 1-Wally is supposedly an eighth grader, just as season 6 Beaver is. The actual Tony Dow age would probably make him a seventh grader at this time--who knows why the producers "aged" him? He's obviously not as mature at this point as is sixth-season Beaver.

By the sixth season they "trued up" both boys and put them in their real-life school grades. Thus after the fourth season, Wally's year of high school was fuzzy until season six, and Beaver was never referred to as having been in the seventh grade.

[Stepperry40]

Was Wally more mature at at similar age partly because he older brother? The writers also may have wanted Beaver’s character to be naive. Sometimes he was plain stupid.

[Cx]

Originally Posted by Stepperry40

Was Wally more mature at at similar age partly because he older brother?

I don't know, but my hypothesis is that Wally isn't , or at least, not necessarily more mature, at a similar age. In this case, age 12/13.

[Cx]

Stevea: Interesting observation about Beaver's fast maturation as the 6th season progresses. I could see the writers coming to the same conclusion you did.

As to standing up to Eddie:

Going forward, I can see Beaver not only holding his own, but actually initiating the exchanges and giving Eddie the business. I mean, there's no doubt he's got Eddie's number, and he is at physical parity by now as well.

[Stepperry40]

That is possible but I think Beaver was still written as naive even in the last season. However, Beaver did certainly start standing up to Eddie.

[stevea]

Originally Posted by Stepperry40

That is possible but I think Beaver was still written as naive even in the last season. However, Beaver did certainly start standing up to Eddie.

Very true. There are examples here and there--toward the end, Gilbert talking him into rifling thru the diplomas.

But watch him with not only Eddie, but the "big guys" in general. The discussion of Eddie's fishing boat job, and Beaver's talking to Wally and Lumpy about it. He convinces them Eddie may be making up the trip. Lumpy treats him like a peer.