| Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver | |
|---|---|
Jerry Mathers as "Beaver" Cleaver in the premiere episode. |
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| First appearance | "It's a Small World" (pilot) (April 23, 1957) |
| Last appearance | Leave It to Beaver (1997 film adaptation) |
| Created by | Joe Connelly Bob Mosher |
| Portrayed by | Jerry Mathers |
| Information | |
| Aliases | "Beaver" |
| Gender | Male |
| Family | Ward Cleaver (father) June Cleaver (mother) Wally Cleaver (older brother) |
| Spouse(s) | Kimberly (divorced) |
| Children | Kip (son) Oliver (Son) |
| Relatives | Uncle Billy Aunt Martha Bronson Peggy (aunt) Infant cousin, Peggy's child |
Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver is the fictional title character in the American television series Leave It to Beaver. Seven-year-old ("almost eight") Beaver is son to June and Ward Cleaver (Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont) and sibling to thirteen-year-old Wally Cleaver (Tony Dow).
Beaver prefers "messin' around" with his pals and reading comic books to attending church or taking dance lessons. Most episodes in the series feature Beaver getting into some sort of trouble at home, in school, or around the neighborhood and then receiving timely and appropriate moral instruction from his father regarding his misbehavior.
Leave It to Beaver was created by writers Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, who found inspiration for dialogue and plot lines among their own children. Beaver was based on Connelly's son Ricky.
Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver is portrayed by Jerry Mathers in the pilot "It's a Small World", the original series, the spinoff telemovie, Still the Beaver and the sequel series, The New Leave It to Beaver. In the reunion telemovie and the sequel series, Beaver is a divorced father of two children living at home with his widowed mother, June. In the 1997 feature film adaptation of the original series Leave It to Beaver, Beaver is played by Cameron Finley.
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Beaver is the seven-year-old son to suburbanites Ward and June Cleaver, and brother to thirteen-year-old Wally. The Cleavers live in fictional Mayfield. Ward is a white-collar, brief case-toting professional; he states he is an engineer, and one would imply a civil engineer based on his experience in the Seabees. June is a full-time homemaker. In the second season, Wally is a high schooler, and, being five years older than Beaver, often acts as a bridge between his parents and Beaver. He puts communications from the parents into kidspeak for Beaver, and keeps his parents apprised of Beaver's plans, feelings, and activities. The Cleavers dwell in a spacious house on Mapleton Drive during the first two seasons, then move to a similar house on nearby Pine Street for the remaining four seasons. The family drives a Ford Fairlane.Some episodes show a Plymouth as the Cleavers' family car.
Beaver has a paternal great uncle, Billy (Edgar Buchanan), who makes a few appearances in the series. Billy, a world traveller, is not entirely trusted by June because he fills her sons' heads with fancies of irresponsible living. Beaver also has a maternal great aunt, Martha Bronson (Madge Kennedy), who buys Beaver a short pants suit and wants him to attend a hoity toity prep school on the east coast. Beaver was named for Martha's brother, Theodore, and, in one episode, Martha gives Beaver Theodore's heirloom ring. Beaver also has a maternal aunt named Peggy, and an infant cousin (neither of whom appear on the show). No grandparents or other relatives appear on the show, though Ward and June occasionally mention their parents while recalling incidents from their childhoods.
Beaver's best friends are Larry Mondello, Gilbert Bates, Whitey Whitney, and the elderly Gus, a fireman. While Beaver's peers cannot always be trusted or relied on in times of trouble, Gus can always be counted on to be sympathetic to Beaver's woes and to steer the boy along the straight and narrow.
Beaver is sometimes led astray by his school friends. In one episode, for example, Larry Mondello tells Beaver the principal has a spanking machine in her office and Beaver steals in to take a peek. He is accidentally locked in the office and calls the fire department to be freed. His parents are furious.
Beaver's enemies are loud-mouthed, snitching classmate Judy Hensler in the early episodes, and, in the later seasons, snooty Penny Woods. Wally's obnoxious pals, Eddie Haskell and Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford pick on Beaver at every opportunity (though Lumpy seems to be more friendly towards Beaver in the final season). Wally ably defends his brother against their nasty onslaughts.
Beaver is often exploited by others or becomes the victim of malicious persons. In one episode, Wally's classmate Mary Ellen Rogers makes friends with Beaver in order to snaggle a date with Wally. As soon as Mary Ellen has the date settled, she drops Beaver. In another episode, Beaver kindly lets a strange boy ride his bike — only to have the boy steal it.
Beaver has several pets on the show — none, however, lasting longer than an episode. In "Captain Jack", he has both an alligator and a terrier. In another episode, he becomes attached to a lost chihuahua until his owner comes to claim him. He has a horse named Nick for a night, a rabbit (first named Henry and then Henrietta when she gives birth), a toad called Herbie, a monkey named Stanley, and a pigeon who dies and is buried in the back yard. Beaver also has a sapling which he digs up and moves from the Mapleton Drive house to the new house on Pine Street. In one episode, he retrieves his old Teddy Bear from a trash can after Ward has cleaned the garage.
Beaver is a good, average student at Grant Avenue Grammar School who struggles with his homework but gets it done. His teacher in the first season is Miss Canfield. Miss Alice Landers takes over for the next several seasons. In the late seasons, Beaver has male teachers and occasionally, Mrs. Cornelia Rayburn, the principal. Beaver takes clarinet lessons in one episode, and ballroom dancing lessons at a studio on Saturdays. He appears in school plays as a mushroom and a Dutch boy. He reads several classic novels during the show's run including The Last of the Mohicans and Tom Sawyer. In one episode, he tries to pull the wool over his teacher's eyes by watching The Three Musketeers on TV rather than reading the book. In one episode, he takes part in a TV quiz show. He plays football and receives the team's "Most Inspirational" award.
Beaver suffers crushes on his Grant Avenue Grammar School teachers, Miss Canfield (Diane Brewster) in the first season and Miss Alice Landers (Sue Randall) in the remaining seasons. In one early episode, he is so smitten with Miss Landers he persuades his parents to invite her for dinner. He is shocked beyond words when she shows up on the doorstep in a cocktail dress and a pair of open-toed pumps. Eventually, Miss Landers disappoints Beaver by marrying. In another early episode, Beaver's classmate Linda Dennison becomes sweet on him and invites him to her all-girl birthday party. He wins a big doll in a party game and retreats from the feminine frills and furbelows to the den where Linda's father (Lyle Talbot) entertains him by exhibiting his gun collection.
As Beaver grew into an awkward young teen, he sometimes took a back seat to his older brother Wally, a student in his final years of high school. Tony Dow had grown into an attractive, athletic young man and was often featured in magazines aimed principally at teen girls. Producers took advantage of Dow's popularity and scripted episodes delving into Wally's dating life, his after school jobs, his pals, and his car. Beaver was relegated to the background.
In June 1963, the series came to a close at milestones in the lives of Wally and Beaver: high school grad Wally preparing for State college and Beaver looking forward to entering Mayfield High. The last episode was a retrospective one called "Family Scrapbook" and has claimed its place in TV history as the first prime time sitcom episode specifically written as a series finale. In the episode, the Cleavers reminisce over old photos in a scrapbook while flashback clips are played from previous episodes. It is during the course of the last episode the viewer learns how Beaver got his nickname. The show ends with Beaver and Wally playing with a wind up toy and laughing like children.
In 1983, CBS aired the reunion telemovie Still the Beaver starring Jerry Mathers. Other members of the original series cast reprised their roles. In 1985, a sequel to the original series was produced called Still the Beaver, again starring Jerry Mathers and other original cast members. The series lasted one season on the Disney Channel before being picked up by TBS in 1986 and renamed The New Leave It to Beaver. The series aired until 1989. In 1997, the feature film Leave It to Beaver was released starring young Cameron Finley as Beaver.
In Still the Beaver and The New Leave It to Beaver, Beaver is divorced from Kimberly (played by Joanna Gleason); the couple had two sons, Ward (named after his grandfather; he goes by the nickname, "Kip") and Oliver (whose nickname is "Ollie"). Kimberly and Beaver had clashed over her dream of becoming a veterinarian, and that plus other problems had strained their marriage to its breaking point. Beaver (who is unemployed) wins custody of his sons, although they have a stormy relationship because they resent having to move to Mayfield. He and his sons move in with their widowed mother and grandmother June (Ward had died several years earlier) until he can get back on his feet. Eventually, Beaver finds work at Fred Rutherford's company, but even when he begins collecting regular paychecks, he decides that he appreciates the living arrangement and continues to live with his mother.
By the time The New Leave It to Beaver began, Beaver was partners with Lumpy Rutherford at the Cleaver and Rutherford Co.; what exactly they did was never clearly explained. Kip, the older of Beaver's sons, is a student at Mayfield High School while the younger Oliver attends Grant Avenue School.
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