Leave It to Beaver (season 1)

Beaver and Wally collect 1,000 bottle caps thinking they can redeem them for a bicycle at the Franklin Milk Company. Mr. Baxter, a company executive, has heard nothing about such an offer and his call to the home office returns no information. Nevertheless, he sends the boys to a shop to select a bicycle at the company's expense. Mr. Baxter later learns no offer was ever extended and reclaims the bicycle. Ward buys the boys a new bicycle.

Miss Canfield wants Beaver to play Smokey Bear in a school pageant and gives him a note to take home requesting parental permission. Beaver believes he's going to be expelled. With Wally's help, he concocts a letter from "Mrs. Ward Cleaver" assuring his teacher he's been punished for his offense. His teacher is mystified and calls June to school. The confusion is resolved. Beaver, however, has climbed a tree to escape punishment and, after much ado, is coaxed to descend.

Guests: Burt Mustin as Gus the Fireman, Doris Packer as Mrs. Cornelia Rayburn, Diane Brewster as Miss Canfield, Ralph Sanford as Fats Flannaghan, Stanley Fafara as Whitey Whitney, Jeri Weil as Judy Hensler, Gary Allen as First Man in Park, Alan Reynolds as Second Man in Park, Steve Paylow as Boy in Park.

Wally and Beaver order a baby alligator through the mail and hide him in their toilet tank. They treat friends to viewings in their bedroom. When the alligator grows too large for the toilet tank, they move him to a laundry tub in the basement. Minerva the housekeeper finds the reptile. Ward congratulates the boys for taking good care of the alligator but decides he must be sent to a local alligator park. Ward surprises the boys with a terrier.

Guests: Irving Bacon as Postal Clerk, Edgar Buchanan as Captain Jack, Connie Gilchrist as Minerva, Penny Carpenter as Neighborhood Girl.

"Captain Jack" was the first in production order and the intended premiere but was held up in the censors' office regarding scenes displaying a toilet. The show was forced to debut with "Beaver Gets 'Spelled". "Captain Jack" was televised the week following the premiere. The episode has taken its place in television history as the first to display a toilet.^[1] The terrier never returns to the show after this episode. In a later episode, Ward reminds Beaver the dog was given away when he neglected to care for him. It's difficult to believe that a show about a middle class household with two boys wouldn't have a dog, but, in real life, dogs and other animals in films and television can be difficult, time-consuming, and expensive to work with — which accounts for the fact that very few sitcoms feature family pets with regularity. The alligator and the terrier are Beaver's first of several "one-shot" pets over the course of the series.

Beaver gets a black eye from Violet Rutherford. Ward decides Beaver should learn to defend himself and begins boxing lessons in the garage. Beaver is knocked to the floor by a punching bag. Nonetheless, he heads to Violet's house. Violet doesn't want to fight and the two have a day of fun. Ward and Violet's father believe the children are fighting and set off in search. They find the two sitting on the steps quietly chewing gum.

Guests: Wendy Winkelman as Violet Rutherford, Richard Deacon as Fred Rutherford, Burt Mustin as Gus the Fireman, Jeri Weil as Judy Hensler, Julie Bennett as Waitress, Philip Greisman as First Neighborhood Boy, Lonnie Thomas as Second Neighborhood Boy, Tommy Berwald as Third Neighborhood Boy, Richard Smiley as Fourth Neighborhood Boy.

Beaver loses his haircut money and is afraid to explain the loss to his parents. He gives himself a ragged haircut with Wally's help. The two wear stocking caps to dinner, saying the caps are part of a secret club initiation. Later, Ward and June lift Beaver's cap while he sleeps and discover the truth. June tells Ward Beaver was afraid to come to them after losing his money so they have no one but themselves to blame for his deception.

Guests: Benny Baker as Barber, Gilbert Frye as Mr. Tyne.

The Donaldsons move in next door and Beaver carries a bouquet to Mrs. Donaldson. She gives him a kiss. Eddie and Wally give Beaver the business over the kiss and warn him of jealous husbands. Mrs. Donaldson invites Beaver to her niece's birthday party but Beaver is afraid of Mr. Donaldson and hides under his bed. When explanations are offered, Mr. Donaldson tells Beaver he can kiss his wife whenever he likes.

Guests: Charles H. Gray as Harry Donaldson, Phyllis Coates as Betty Donaldson, Yolanda White as Julia, Ken Osmond as Eddie Haskell.

After a fight, June makes the boys create a friendship pact, promising to have fun together. Both boys get separate invitations from friends and try to get the other to break the pact first without revealing his invitation. When they accuse each other of being "sneaks", another fight explodes. Ward settles things by telling the boys that the good times they have together will far outweigh the bad times.

Guests: Burt Mustin as Gus the Fireman, Buddy Hart as Chester Anderson, Herb Vigran as Stanley the Barber.

When workmen turn the water off for the afternoon, Beaver gets rich selling water to Wally and his friends. The boys are angry, saying Beaver has swindled them out of their money. When the electric power is shut off, Beaver gives his earnings to the boys to buy candles which they then sell at exorbitant prices in the neighborhood. With enough money earned from candle-selling, the boys buy baseball uniforms and welcome Beaver to the team.

Guests: "Tiger" Fafara as Tooey Brown, Katharine Warren as Mrs. Brown, Francis De Sales as Mr. Anderson, Buddy Hart as Chester Anderson, Eddie Marr as First Water Worker, Norm Alden as Second Water Worker.

Beaver has a crush on Miss Canfield and his classmates tease him. To prove he's not the teacher's pet, he puts a spring-action snake in her desk drawer. He tries to retrieve it later, but fails. The next day, Miss Canfield tells him she found the snake early in the morning. She blames herself for the prank saying she shouldn't favor one student over another. She assures him he'll find a nice girl his own age.

Guests: Diane Brewster as Miss Canfield, Doris Packer as Mrs. Rayburn, William Fawcett as Mr. Johnson, Jeri Weil as Judy Hensler, Stanley Fafara as Whitey Whitney, Rusty Stevens as Larry Mondello.

Wally, Eddie, and Tooey plan to build a clubhouse, charging eighth graders one dollar to join and second graders (Beaver) three dollars. Beaver makes a sandwich board, renting his front for 50 cents and his back for 75 cents. He also charges passers-by 10 cents to spit off a nearby bridge. He makes two dollars but gives it to a seedy gent in the park with a sob story. Back home, Wally and his friends have forgotten all about a clubhouse.

Wally meets pretty Penny Jamison and thereafter has little time for his brother. Beaver mows the lawn for Wally, hoping to win his companionship back. When Penny then calls and asks Wally over to her house, he tells her he can't because he has a commitment to take the Beaver fishing. Penny reacts violently, telling Wally she won't have anything to do with "grubby infants". Ward tells Beaver one way to win a woman's favor is to give her a sentimental gift. Beaver gives Penny his pet frog, Herbie, which ends her relationship with both boys.

Aunt Martha arrives to tend house when June goes out of town. She buys Beaver a short pants suit and expects him to wear it to school. He does, and his classmates ridicule him. The next morning, Beaver is once again dutifully wearing his short pants suit but Ward ambushes him at the garage and dresses him in his regular clothes. When Aunt Martha leaves for home, Beaver wears the suit, thinking the gesture will please her.

Beaver and Wally try to sell bad-smelling perfume to win a movie projector but no one is interested. Ward then secretly calls members of June's Women's Club and offers to reimburse the ladies if they will buy the perfume from the boys. The boys sell all the perfume. When the movie projector arrives, Ward is disappointed to find it's a cheap plastic toy. He quietly buys the boys a real projector and the boys are thrilled.

Eddie talks the Cleaver boys into seeing a scary movie, even though they promised their parents they wouldn't. Beaver blames Eddie for getting him into trouble with his parents so he makes a voodoo doll and sticks a nail in it. Later, Beaver learns Eddie is sick and tells him about the curse but Eddie laughs, telling Beaver he's just feigning sickness to avoid school. When Beaver leaves, Eddie suddenly has stomach pains. Mr. Haskell storms the Cleaver house and insists that Beaver remove the curse. Ward sends Beaver to the Haskell house with a genuine voodoo curse remover that includes three hairs plucked from a small boy's head.

After Beaver takes an intelligence test at school, Miss Canfield informs Ward and June that he received the highest grade of all. Mrs. Rayburn arranges an interview at a school for geniuses. At home, Miss Canfield arrives with Beaver's new classmate, Charles Fredericks. Charles switched Beaver's test paper with his own because he always scores high on tests and his classmates shun him. Ward and June are glad Beaver is just Beaver.

Linda Dennison is sweet on Beaver and invites him to her all-girl birthday party, which he then tries to avoid. Wally tries to tell Mrs. Dennison that Beaver is ill, but he is caught in the act by Ward. Ward takes Beaver to Linda's house and makes him go inside. When the girls want to play a kissing game called "post office", Beaver scoots off to another part of the house where Mr. Dennison entertains him with the antique gun collection in his den. That night, Ward apologizes to Beaver. Beaver writes a note to Linda asking permission to walk her home after school. He tells Wally he really wants to see the gun collection again.

Lumpy Rutherford bullies the boys after school. Ward tells his sons about booby-trapping a bully when he was a boy. The boys try the same booby-trapping method, but Fred Rutherford becomes its victim rather than Lumpy. When the Rutherfords arrive at the Cleaver house to play cards, Fred mentions the incident. Ward suspects his sons. They confess. Fred says he will speak to his son about the bullying.

Guests: Richard Deacon as Fred Rutherford, Frank Bank as Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford, Helen Parrish as Geraldine Rutherford.

The boys get a paper route to earn money for a new bike. Ward and June help out with the workload. One afternoon, June discovers a pile of papers in the garage, and, not realizing they're last week's papers, folds and delivers them around the neighborhood with Ward's help. Customers complain to the newspaper offices. The boys are fired. Ward tries to get them reinstated but the boys have found jobs as grocery bag-boys.

Wally and Beaver babysit Puddin', the four-year-old daughter of family friends. Puddin' locks herself in the bathroom and won't come out. Beaver passes Benjie Bellamy through the bathroom window but Benjie is unable to open the door. The boys call the Fire Department to rescue the children. Later, neighbors tell the Cleavers that firemen were at the house, but Ward and June decide to wait until the boys are ready to speak.

The boys borrow from their school savings accounts and leave school to secretly buy their father a hunting jacket. Mrs. Rayburn informs Ward of the withdrawal. Ward is furious, believing the boys are skipping school to buy themselves new baseball gloves. When the package arrives from an unusually expensive sporting goods store, Ward calls everyone around to see if the boys' purchase is a worthwhile one. He is rendered speechless to find the boys have bought him a gift.

When Wally joins the scouts, Beaver is left home alone. Ward finds Beaver wandering idly about the neighborhood and tells him that Wally can't keep him company forever. At home the two discover Wally's trip was rained out and Wally is home. Beaver is glad to have Wally at home. Later, when Wally attends a scout meeting, Beaver goes to bed early, using Wally's official scout sleeping bag in preparation for the day when he'll be a scout.

Ward and June praise Wally for his neat appearance. Beaver is told he could follow his brother's example. Following an outburst, Beaver moves into the guest room where he can be his untidy self without criticism. That night, shadows in the room spook Beaver and force him back to the safety of his old room. The brothers strike a middle ground: Wally will be a little less neat and Beaver will be a little less untidy.

Ward is jealous when the boys want to play at the Dennison house so he installs a basketball hoop on the garage. The boys and their friends play basketball until Ward joins them, delivering criticisms and comments on how to play like a pro. The boys leave. At the country club, Mr. Dennison tells Ward he doesn't interfere with the boys' play. Later, Ward tells June the secret of being close to your children is to stay away from them.

Beaver brings home a lost chihuahua and the Cleavers put an ad in the newspaper. Mrs. Bennett calls to claim her "Poncho". The next day, Beaver carries the dog to school in his coat. Mrs. Bennett arrives at the Cleaver house, and grows distressed when Poncho cannot be found. Beaver returns from school and tells Mrs. Bennett he only took Poncho to school because he wanted the dog to remember him a little longer.

Ward helps the boys build a kart with a one-cylinder lawnmower motor. When Beaver rides the kart in the street against his father's orders, he receives a ticket for driving without a license. Wally acts as Beaver's "guardian" in court so Beaver won't have to tell his father about the incident. Beaver gets worried when the judge begins sentencing people to jail. He cries and the judge sends the boys home, saying they've been punished enough.

After Eddie accidentally hits a baseball through the Cleavers' window, Ward forbids anyone from playing ball near the house. Then, the boys crack a window in the car door with their baseball and roll the window down, hoping the damage won't be noticed immediately. The next day, when Ward takes the family on an outing, the boys find the damage repaired. Ward says he slammed the car door the night before and heard glass shattering. Believing he broke the window, he had it repaired. The boys confess to their part and Ward is glad they told the truth.

Returning home from a visit to Aunt Martha, the boys spend their train ticket money on treats. They board the train without tickets and tell the conductor a fantastic tale about their father falling from an airplane. That evening, Mr. Haskell tells Ward he was on the train and heard the boys' fantastic tale. As Ward tucks the boys in, he slyly tells them he is feeling much better after falling from the airplane.

Wally decides to go to a dance without a date but Mary Ellen Rogers has different plans for him. She tells Beaver he can come to her house to see her father's train set if he brings Wally with him. The boys go to Mary Ellen's house where she entertains them with ginger ale and donuts. She then wants Beaver to sit in the kitchen so she can manipulate Wally into going to the dance with her. Beaver realizes he was used to get to Wally and leaves.

Beaver wants the bigger boys to notice him so he tells a fib about an Indian battle occurring in a field near his house. The bigger boys dig for artifacts in the field and find garnets. They dream of becoming "jillionaires". Beaver's balloon is burst when he learns the garnets are not precious jewels but the worthless kind used for making sandpaper. Ward points out the risks of making up stories and trying to be a "make-believe big guy".

Dismayed by the amount of time the boys spend at the movies, Ward plans a camping trip, only to get called into the office. So, the boys camp out in the backyard on their own. It rains heavily and June is worried about the boys but Ward assures her they can take care of themselves. The next morning, June finds water spots in the house. Ward tells her the boys made the spots when they left their tent in the storm and carried their sleeping bags up to their bedroom. He had left the back door unlocked for the two.

Beaver feels neglected when his parents make such a big deal out Wally making the baseball team, so he sets out to impress the family with his own talents. Beaver takes clarinet lessons but performs poorly and fails to make the school band, but he pretends otherwise, to hide his humiliation from the family. On the night of a school concert, Beaver plans to continue the charade to the last possible moment but the Cleavers have discovered his status and tell him something has come up so they must remain at home. Beaver is relieved and later thanks his father for sparing him the concert.

Wally is showered with attention and gifts from family and friends when he stays home from school sick. Beaver then feigns illness expecting he'll get some loot, too. However, he is disappointed in his expectations. When the new doctor arrives and finds Beaver well, he tells him the story of the boy who cried wolf. Beaver tells his parents he'll never pretend to be sick again. Ward tells him to eat his ice cream.

Beaver finds his old teddy bear, Billy, while he, Ward, and Wally clean out the garage. When Beaver's teddy bear is carried away by the trash truck, he scurries after the truck and retrieves the bear. Ward and Wally had chided Beaver about his fondness for the toy and, having saved Billy, he now hides him. June finds the bear and has him dry-cleaned. Beaver recalls the comfort the bear offered him when he was sick and gives the bear to a sick little boy across the street, hoping he'll be comforted, too.

Wally gets excited when Ward offers him a dollar to paint two garbage cans, until he finds out that Eddie's father paid someone three dollars for a similar job. Wally wants three dollars. Ward refuses and Wally turns the job down. Beaver offers to do the job. Wally is angry, thinking he should have been given another opportunity to do the job. Ward finally settles the quarrel by having each boy paint one can for fifty cents. When Ward and the boys run off to see a fire, June finishes the job and buys a hat.

Beaver rips his pants playing with Larry at a worksite and tells his parents a dog was the cause. His parents believe he is lying and punish him. Another day, Beaver rips his pants again and a dog is the cause this time. Wally tries to save him. His parents once again believe he is lying. Ward is furious and sends both Wally and Beaver upstairs. Mrs. Mondello calls and confirms Beaver's story. Ward prepares to apologize to Beaver.

Johnny Franklin, a former student at Wally's school, visits the Cleavers during his break at military academy. The boys love his stories and Wally asks his parents if he can attend the academy. Ward agrees to consider an application. Eddie says Wally's parents want to send him to military academy because they want to get rid of him. Wally and his father decide Wally should remain at home and go to Mayfield High with his friends.

The Cleavers set a trap to catch the animal that's been chewing on June's flowers. A rabbit is caught in the trap, is caged, and soon has babies. Beaver is told not to touch the babies because the mother will reject them. He has touched the babies, however. Gus tells him to put talcum powder on the rabbits and the mother won't notice the human odor. Ward detects the talcum. Beaver confesses and Ward is disappointed he wasn't consulted. Beaver says his father is better at telling him what not to do rather than what to do.

Beaver gets into trouble when he's pressured by Larry to use Ward's new drill and damages the garage wall. Beaver is determined to run away and Ward bids him farewell. When he doesn't return, June, furious, presses Ward to begin a search. Ward stubbornly refuses but June leaves the house, finds Beaver, and brings him home. Beaver apologizes to his father and asks him how he felt as boy when he ran away and his father didn't come looking for him. Ward says he forgot for a moment what it was like when he was a boy.

The Cleavers are setting up to have barbecue outside. Larry Mondello arrives for a weekend stay but the boys fight and Larry wants to go home. Ward calls a taxi but the boys become pals again and Larry decides to stay. Late that night, Beaver rouses his parents. Larry has a stomach ache. June discovers the remains of four candy bars under his pillow and Ward says Larry has simply overeaten. The next day, when Mrs. Mondello arrives to take Larry home, Ward breathes a sigh of relief.

The Donaldsons leave their cat Puff Puff in the care of the boys for a few days. Due to the boys' neglect, the cat runs away. Late in the night, the boys find him in a tree. With Ward's help, they bring the cat safely down. Later, Mr. Donaldson tells the Cleavers the boys have told him of their troubles and have refused payment. He says they're a couple of little characters. June says the two are a couple of "nice" little characters.