# "Oh, St. Peter? I speak jive." \[RIP Barbara Billingsley\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 16, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-st-peter-i-speak-jive-rip-barbara-billingsley/557377 "2010-10-16T21:51:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-st-peter-i-speak-jive-rip-barbara-billingsley/557377/21 "2010-10-17T14:04:00Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > > [@davidm](#): > > > > June: If I know you’re father, he’s out looking for Beaver. > > That’s just as funny. but chances are she said “looking for **the** Beaver” That is not how I remember it. I remember it as “looking for Beaver” which, by the way, makes a much better double entendre. Even as I child, it puzzled me that she sometimes referred to him as “Beaver” and other times as “the Beaver”. She never referred to her older son as “the Wally”. It seems odd that any mother would refer to a son as “the” something. Especially the perfect 50s stereotype mother. Of course, I only realized what _seemed_ to be going on when I was older. It strikes me now that how she referred to him changed to whichever fit the double entendre best - “hard on the Beaver” versus “looking for Beaver”. It’s possible that the occasional double entendres were simply the accidental result of hours and hours of dialog involving a character name “Beaver”. What makes me suspect otherwise is the occasional use of the awkward phrase “the Beaver” exactly when it fit the entendre. It could all be coincidence, I don’t know, but look at the character’s name “Beaver Cleaver”. Think about that, and think about why the writer’s gave him such an odd nickname to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-st-peter-i-speak-jive-rip-barbara-billingsley/557377/22 "2010-10-17T14:08:55Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > > [@Guinastasia](#): > > > > You mean people thought this was actually said on the show? Huh, I thought it was just an obvious joke. > > I clearly remember seeing this on a TVLand rerun. I can’t prove it and I could be mis-remembering, but I do have what seems to be a clear memory of it. > > Once again, I can’t prove it and it’s possible I’m mis-remembering, but I have a clear memory of this. Yep! She said it. I remember her saying it too. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-st-peter-i-speak-jive-rip-barbara-billingsley/557377/23 "2010-10-17T17:09:33Z")
This is sad. I was working at a theater in Beverly Hills - and after a show I was told a woman lost a bracelet during the performance and I went down to look. I was in the row and didn’t notice the woman who had walked down the aisle behind me. With amazing luck, I found the bracelet on the floor where she had been sitting and said, 'Found it." “Oh, thank you so much - it has sentimental value.” My skin got chills and I felt all warm and fuzzy. I felt like I should be in my pajamas and someone was going to bring me hot chocolate and a cookie. Without turning around, I knew who it was - it was Beaver’s mom; that wonderful, reassuring, soft voice of Barbara Billingsley. I didn’t say anything, but probably had a goofy smile on my face as I handed her the bracelet and she smiled and walked away. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-st-peter-i-speak-jive-rip-barbara-billingsley/557377/24 "2010-10-17T17:40:17Z")
Awwwww… ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-st-peter-i-speak-jive-rip-barbara-billingsley/557377/25 "2010-10-17T18:43:21Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > At the time beaver was a harmless word for an animal. It was another 10 years before it assumed a sexual connotation. Not so. _Beaver_ as a term for the female genitals goes back at least to the 1920s. First cite from OED: > [@](#): > > 1927 Immortalia 166 She took off her clothes From her head to her toes, And a voice at the keyhole yelled, ‘Beaver!’ ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-st-peter-i-speak-jive-rip-barbara-billingsley/557377/26 "2010-10-17T19:30:36Z")
G’bye Nanny! ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-st-peter-i-speak-jive-rip-barbara-billingsley/557377/27 "2010-10-18T23:14:12Z")
Forget Carol Brady, June Cleaver was America’s Mom ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-st-peter-i-speak-jive-rip-barbara-billingsley/557377/28 "2010-10-19T01:48:25Z")
In memoriam: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymMBEwtRZOg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymMBEwtRZOg) ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-st-peter-i-speak-jive-rip-barbara-billingsley/557377/29 "2010-10-19T02:13:43Z")
The actors who played Wally and Beaver gave an interview and had nothing but nice things to say about her. She’ll be missed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-st-peter-i-speak-jive-rip-barbara-billingsley/557377.md?page=1)