Leave it to Beaver - Summary and Analysis

Leave it to Beaver – Season 1

Season 1 episode 1 does not exist, I assume that it was a lost pilot episode?

Season 1 Episode 2

            Best things were ice cream and an auto graphed baseball. The worst was a note from the teacher to the parents. Beaver talks funny and doesn’t like that his new teacher calls him Theodore. Wally and Beaver trick their parents into thinking that they took a bath. They don’t open the note because that would be dishonest. Beaver runs away because his mother was going to down to his school to talk to his principal. The mother washes the dishes while the father dries them. Beaver feared the teacher because of her role as a teacher. Tried to impress his teacher by showing her a shrunken head. In the end the note was asking to have beaver play Smokey the bear in the fire awareness week play.

Season 1 Episode 3

            The boys believe everything they see in print and send away for an eight-foot alligator for $2.50. Moms clothing is modest and cooks dinner for the family. Dinner is ready when dad gets home. A cleaning lady comes three times a week. Mom notices missing eggs and beauty cream. Dad is missing brandy. Neither parent believes that their children are at fault. The singing housekeeper raises suspicion about the missing brandy. Dads job is to deal with the children and the alligator they bought. To talk to their dad the boys get out of bed and stand at attention. When Mother and house keeper see the alligator they scream and are hyper scarred. When father sees the alligator he is surprised when it bites him, he thought it was fake and was not scarred. The mother is the enforcer of the father. The boys got a puppy to replace the alligator.

Season 1 Episode 4

            Beaver got a black eye, it is seen as normal and ok. Father is proud of his son for getting a black eye until he learned that his son ran away after he got hit. Father wants to teach beaver to defend himself, mother is upset by this and doesn’t want her son to fight. A girl hit beaver and gave him a black eye. Beaver got hit for laughing at a sign that was on the back of a girl, the sign said that she drank gutter water. Beaver knew that he was not allowed to hit a girl but he only told his brother who it was that hit him. His father assumed that it was a boy that hit him. Wally told his father about the fight and that it was a girl. Panic sets in when Beaver goes over to Violets house and there is anticipation that Beaver is going to fight her. They have diffused their situation and are friends. The fathers repeat the same behavior. The girls father is aggressive and is the boss of beavers father at work so Beavers father is docile and lets the aggressive behavior continue.

Season 1 Episode 5

            Beaver is going to play an angel in the play. The father wonders if that is masculine enough for his son to do. Playing an angel is seen as a feminine role. Beaver lost his money and didn’t go eat lunch. The teacher told his mother about Beaver not eating. Mother came home from shopping for food and complained about inflation. Money is scarce and beaver keeps loosing it. Mother makes Beavers costumes for the school play. Wally complains that the costume makes him look like a sissy when his mother makes him fit the angel costume. Mother is distraught about Beavers bald hair cut and that he has to look foolish in the play. She feels embarrassed and had to be taken by the hand by her husband to lead her to the couch. She cries out when she thinks of Beavers hair cut. Mother can’t stand looking at beaver and puts the hat back on his head. Mother is there to talk the father out of punishing the children. She feels that they are to blame for his actions and the father agrees that they might be harsh on the boys even though the boys are not subjected to physical discipline.

Season 1 Episode 6

            New neighbors moved in when mother asked what father found out about the neighbors he gave a quaint answer that was far from detailed. Mother seemed disappointed and frustrated and quickly rattled off all the things she knew about the new family next door. The father was surprised by how much she had figured out in such a short time. The ladies set up an appointment for Beaver to dress up and see the little girl next door. The ladies are already establishing bonds within the first few days of being there. Mother gave beaver a present to give to the neighbor. The neighbor woman had mints, toffee, and cake ready for beaver when he arrived to play with her niece. The beaver was scarred of the neighbor man and refused to come down and play. The women tried to diffuse the embarrassing situation while the men were at a loss for words. The women seem to talk sense into situations so that the men can understand.

Season 1 Episode 7

            Mother reads a sentimental book given to them for an anniversary. The boys are fighting and the father seems it to be normal, the mother is appalled. The mother expects brotherly love to be the norm and that fighting is disgraceful. Mother gets in the middle of them and imposes a friendship pact between the boys. Father thinks this is a silly idea. Father offends mother and tells her to drop it immediately the situation is diffused just like that. Father sarcastically chides mother and she quietly takes it. A woman gets responses using her heart not her head. Mother is made to look naive and scarred about the boys fighting. Father steps in and takes control of the situation.

Analysis

I was to young to remember this era, or this television show, but based on some online searches I found that it was one of the most watched shows. The leave it to beaver series was a classic show that was supposed to outline the perfect American family. The father was the head of the household and the breadwinner, while the mother took care of the house and the children. The children were seen as troublesome but light troubles that were seen as the nature of children.

            Father was seen reading the newspaper and coming home from work and dinner would be ready on the table. Father is seen making remarks that were taken as lightly offensive, but mother was never allowed to throw a fit or voice that she did not like the sarcastic comments. There was never a fight or disagreement in the show, if there was a slight discrepancy father knew best. Father was seen as insensitive when it came to women’s things like literature and poetry. Father was the strong-arm who disciplined the boys if he felt that they needed it. Father was depicted as not really understanding his children. Father would send the boys to their room when he did not want their company. Some of the actions of the boys had to be interpreted by mother. Father was seen as a typical man in many cases including in conversation. Father was not detail oriented about personal matters, like the neighbors next door. When Beaver came home with a black eye father was proud of his son for participating in a manly activity. He took a deep investment in the children and started to make sure that they could defend themselves. The boys respected their father, and he was neither questioned by the boys, nor by mother, without question, he was the head of the house.

           

Mother was seen as an all American woman. She stayed home with her children and kept the house clean. She was available to go speak to Beavers teacher during the day. Dinner was ready when father got home. Lunches were made for the boys before the school and made sure that they caught the bus for school. Mother was seen as a soft and gentle woman who was a nice complement for her somewhat rigid husband. Mother liked to read literature and played a key roll in establishing relationships. Mother knew a large amount of information about the new neighbors the day they moved in. Both mother and the new neighbor wife made an attempt to get further acquainted by setting up a play date with the children. When there was a conflict between the men the women interjected and smoothed things over because the men could not seem to communicate with each other. Mother hated the idea of her boys fighting with each other or anyone else. Mother was also distraught about Beaver giving himself a haircut. She cried out many times and ran into fathers arms. Mother could sew and made costumes for Beaver for the school play.

Over all, mother was seen as strictly a housewife, she did not have other friends that she associated with or participate in any activities outside of the house. She was completely consumed with the chores of the house and the housewife role. She needed no other thing to keep her satisfied other than her house. I think things have definitely changed as far as the dynamics of what a woman’s life now contains. True, many women are still depicted as having a large role in the house, but usually there is another dynamic involved in the life of the television housewife.

-Nichole