When Decent Teeth was NOT important in acting!

[CosmicCharlie]

Gus - Burt Mustin
Uncle Joe - Edgar Buchanan

[Chocolate Moose]

Right? That would never fly today. Even stand up comediennes have movie-star teeth and smiles!!!

[Sgt. Saunders]

It’s too bad that we didn’t get to see how Richard Rickover’s orthodontic procedure finally turned out before he and the Beaver graduated from The Grant Avenue School.

I think that orthodontic braces went for around $1000 back then in 1963. Today, they can cost a kid’s parents upwards of $8000.

Incidentally, I wonder if actor Richard Correll, who portrayed the often cynical Richard Rickover on LITB, was in a lot of pain wearing those ugly, big-@ss braces of his? Jesus, they were absolutely atrocious looking!

[stevea]

Yeah, I can relate to that mess. I had a mouthful of stainless steel and rubber bands in the 1960s, too.

[biffbronson]

Buchanan had training as ... a dentist!

[Sgt. Saunders]

I think that legendary New York Yankees manager Casey Stengel was also a dental student for a short time.

[CosmicCharlie]

Uncle Joe - Edgar Buchanan

In 1928, Edgar earned his DDS degree from North Pacific College School of Dentistry in Portland, Oregon, which later became Oregon Health & Science University School of Dentistry.[6] During his time there, he met his future wife, Mildred "Millie" Spence (1907–1987). They married in 1928 - the same year they both graduated with dental degrees. The couple adopted a son and named him William Edgar "Buck" Buchanan III.[7]

Big changes came in 1939 when the family of three relocated their dental practice from Eugene, Oregon, to Altadena, California. There, Edgar joined the Pasadena Playhouse as an actor.[8] Studio scouts spotted him performing at the playhouse and signed him into a seven-year deal in Hollywood. That same year, he appeared in his first film at age 36, and he left dentistry for good. Meanwhile, his wife, Dr. Millie Buchanan, DDS, took over the dental practice while also supporting her husband's new career as his talent manager.

Buchanan appeared in more than 100 films

[Sgt. Saunders]

Originally Posted by stevea

Yeah, I can relate to that mess. I had a mouthful of stainless steel and rubber bands in the 1960s, too.

Ah, yes, those “wonderful” rubber bands. They could almost become a lethal weapon if one popped out of your mouth with other people nearby.

You know, the LITB writers might have come up with an episode featuring Richard Rickover’s inevitable struggles with his orthodontic braces.

I could see the always thoughtful and solicitous Gilbert Bates remarking to Beaver and Whitey, “I tell you, guys. I’m glad that I don’t have to wear those ugly-looking things on my teeth like ‘Metal Mouth’ Richard Rickover has to.”

[stevea]

Idea for Episode #235 of LITB --

Richard Correll returns for the final time, as Richard Rickover. Episode description --

Richard has his first kiss as he dates Angela Valentine for an eighth grade dance. They not only lock lips in a kiss, but they also lock braces.

They make a comical trip to an orthodontist, who manages to release them from their "predicament."

[Sgt. Saunders]

Originally Posted by stevea

Idea for Episode #235 of LITB --

Richard Correll returns for the final time, as Richard Rickover. Episode description --

Richard has his first kiss as he dates Angela Valentine for an eighth grade dance. They not only lock lips in a kiss, but they also lock braces.

They make a comical trip to an orthodontist, who manages to release them from their "predicament."

That’s a wonderful idea for an LITB episode. Alas, what might have been on LITB.

[cd637299]

Hilarity ensues, when the orthodontist tells Angela that she will have to remove her Jackie Kennedy wig to clear the way.

[It was Angela, wasn’t it?]

cd

[biffbronson]

Originally Posted by stevea

Idea for Episode #235 of LITB --

Richard Correll returns for the final time, as Richard Rickover. Episode description --

Richard has his first kiss as he dates Angela Valentine for an eighth grade dance. They not only lock lips in a kiss, but they also lock braces.

They make a comical trip to an orthodontist, who manages to release them from their "predicament."

"Please release me, let me go..."

[stevea]

Originally Posted by cd637299

[It was Angela, wasn’t it?]

cd

Yes.

Originally Posted by biffbronson

"Please release me, let me go..."

Engelbert Humperdinck guests and sings over the Orthodontist unlocking their embrace.

(The fans take up a collection to pay the music rights fee, that isn't in the budget.)

[Tankeryanker]

Originally Posted by stevea

Yes.



Engelbert Humperdinck guests and sings over the Orthodontist unlocking their embrace.

(The fans take up a collection to pay the music rights fee, that isn't in the budget.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjmB9tiobXo

[Sgt. Saunders]

Originally Posted by cd637299

Hilarity ensues, when the orthodontist tells Angela that she will have to remove her Jackie Kennedy wig to clear the way.

[It was Angela, wasn’t it?]

cd

I can remember that there really were Jackie Kennedy wigs, that women wore as a joke back then during the early 1960s.

In addition, there was a comedian named Vaughn Meader who did a great impression of President Kennedy back then and he eventually released a parody album of President Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy, entitled, “The First Family.” It was an enormous hit across the United States. Although, Mrs. Kennedy was said to be very upset with Vaughn Meader’s comedic schtick.

Of course, the tragic event of November 22, 1963 put a sudden end to Vaughn Meader’s impression of the now-late President Kennedy. In fact, comedian Lenny Bruce went on stage that very same day and opined (and I’ll clean this candid quote up): “Boy, is Vaughn Meader inconvenienced!” But, Mr. Bruce used another very popular and “colorful” American word, they used a lot even back in 1963. (Maybe that was the same exact same word that the very young Beaver Cleaver let slip out of his mouth in a hallway at The Grant Avenue School, much to Miss Landers’s
great shock? )

I wonder if Ward, June and the boys got some big laughs, listening to Vaughn Meader’s comedy album on the family hi-fi in the Cleaver living room prior to November 22, 1963?

And, we’ve been all over the Mayfield, USA map in this thread, discussing LITB actors in dire need of cosmetic dental work, Richard Rickover’s orthodontic “misadventures,” Angela Valentine’s Jackie Kennedy wig and now, what possible comedy album were the Cleaver’s, the Haskell’s, the Rutherford’s and every other family in Mayfield listening to in 1963?

What’s next, a discussion about Beaver possibly pestering Ward and June to take him and Wally to New York City to attend the opening of the World’s Fair in April of 1964?