I loved Ward’s wry, knowing comment on one of Eddie’s smarmy shows of excess courtesy: “That boy’s so polite, it’s almost un-American”.
And when told by Wally that it was a dirty trick, Eddie’s reply spoke volumes about his upbringing: “Hey, my dad says nothing’s a dirty trick it it’s funny!”
I never heard this. I did hear the rumor that Ken Osmond grew up to be a well-known porn star to whom he did bear a slight resemblance. Around 1990, I read that the rumor was widespread enough that Osmond (who was apparently fairly religious) brought it up to his church to quell it.
That makes me sad. I’ve always been a LITB fan. I watched the reruns in the 70s and again and again throughout my adult life. I just started DVR-ing it a few weeks ago (2 episodes from 7-8am) and watch at least one episode every evening. I just saw the episode where Wally volunteers to coach Beaver’s football team. He asks Beaver if Eddie can coach too. Beaver says something like - “nah Eddie’s a mean guy”. Wally tells him he’ll make Eddie just stand around. Beaver says - “Eddie is one of those guys that’s mean even if he’s just standing around”.
I guess the rumor had legs because while Ken Osmond–selfless, brave, churchgoing–was about as far as you could get from the abusive, drug-addicted, porn star murderer, it’s not hard to imagine Eddie Haskell turning out like that.
The other Eddie Haskell episode I remember well is the one where he changed Beaver’s report card from a D- to a B+. When Ward told him not to come around if he ever did such a thing again, Eddie said “I probably wouldn’t have done it if Clarence [Lumpy Rutherford] hadn’t been there to urge me on.” Yeah, right. :rolleyes:
I remember that one as well, never knew Ken actually addressed it. (And good for him, say I.) If I remember correctly the Tony Dow version may have arisen because of a name similarity.
I just watched the episode (“Summer in Alaska”) where Wally, Lumpy, Eddie and Beaver are discussing summer jobs. Eddie is bragging about a job (which turns out not to be everything he says). Beaver says he may be delivering papers, to which Eddie sneers, “Delivering papers! Well, a member of the Fourth Estate!”
I once read a commentary by a woman who was a young Beatles fan during Beatlemania. She said that when she first saw them interviewed, she was struck by how they cooperated with each other: one would answer a question, another would agree and underscore that answer with additional comments, etc. She said it was a clear contrast with American boys of the time, who always seemed to be one-upping and putting each other down.
Ward’s comment (in my post #21) aside, Eddie may have been the most American boy of them all.
I often wonder what it was about Eddie that made him so appealing to us. I doubt that most of us would’ve wanted to be around him much. We wouldn’t have trusted him any farther than we could throw him. Did we see a little glimmer of ourselves in him? Or what.