# Professional Athletes And Beauty Parlors (Sitcom Joke) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 8, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-athletes-and-beauty-parlors-sitcom-joke/573959 "2011-03-08T19:47:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-athletes-and-beauty-parlors-sitcom-joke/573959/1 "2011-03-08T19:47:31Z")
I was watching an episode of _Leave It To Beaver_ and Beaver is going to his school’s sports banguet. June and Ward are talking: > [@](#): > > June: Do you think Beaver will grow up to be a professsional athlete > > Ward) I doubt it, why? > > June) I just can’t picture him running a beauty parlor OK I don’t get the joke. Anyone know? The episode was from October of 1962 so I am guessing it is something from around that time ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-athletes-and-beauty-parlors-sitcom-joke/573959/2 "2011-03-08T19:54:06Z")
I think it’s more that those are two totally opposite extremes of “manhood.” One’s extremely macho and manly, the other’s a stereotypically gay profession for a male. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-athletes-and-beauty-parlors-sitcom-joke/573959/3 "2011-03-08T23:24:31Z")
No, it sounds like it’s a joke about some athlete who had just opened a beauty parlor, maybe after he retired. I can’t find a reference to that in a quick search, but the structure sounds like a topical joke and those have a limited life span. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-athletes-and-beauty-parlors-sitcom-joke/573959/4 "2011-03-09T00:12:41Z")
Probably that Beaver was known for getting into scrapes, messes and predicaments. Doesn’t go with the fastidiousness associated with beauty parlors of that era. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-athletes-and-beauty-parlors-sitcom-joke/573959/5 "2011-03-09T00:34:31Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > No, it sounds like it’s a joke about some athlete who had just opened a beauty parlor, maybe after he retired. > > I can’t find a reference to that in a quick search, but the structure sounds like a topical joke and those have a limited life span. I was thinking this too, like after Joe Namath posed in pantyhose, there was a rash of similar athletes/pantyhose jokes. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-athletes-and-beauty-parlors-sitcom-joke/573959/6 "2011-03-09T00:54:08Z")
I’m coming up empty in my Google News Archive searches for that time period. Maybe you misheard? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-athletes-and-beauty-parlors-sitcom-joke/573959/7 "2011-03-09T01:57:39Z")
Here is the episode _[Beaver’s Football Award](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfoaS_Oc0iY&feature=related)_ from YouTube. Go to 8:00 to hear the exact wording. June actually says “I just can’t picture him running a beauty parlor” ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-athletes-and-beauty-parlors-sitcom-joke/573959/8 "2011-03-09T03:19:51Z")
Did you watch the whole episode? At around the three minute mark it is stated that the former professional athlete that is presenting some of the awards is now part owner of a beauty parlor. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-athletes-and-beauty-parlors-sitcom-joke/573959/9 "2011-03-09T03:47:55Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > I think it’s more that those are two totally opposite extremes of “manhood.” One’s extremely macho and manly, the other’s a stereotypically gay profession for a male. I think that’s it. Characterizing a man as a hairdresser back then was as far as you could go in alluding to homosexuality back then. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-athletes-and-beauty-parlors-sitcom-joke/573959/10 "2011-03-09T03:50:33Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > I think it’s more that those are two totally opposite extremes of “manhood.” One’s extremely macho and manly, the other’s a stereotypically gay profession for a male. I think that’s it. Characterizing a man as a hairdresser back then was as far as you could go in alluding to homosexuality back then. ETA: And I see Lance Turbo watched the episode and picked up the basis for the joke. Still, in TV shows at the time, the intent was clear. A male hairdresser is a man doing woman’s work. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-athletes-and-beauty-parlors-sitcom-joke/573959/11 "2011-03-09T03:55:40Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > Did you watch the whole episode? > > At around the three minute mark it is stated that the former professional athlete that is presenting some of the awards is now part owner of a beauty parlor. I must’ve missed that part. Thanks mystery solved 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-athletes-and-beauty-parlors-sitcom-joke/573959/12 "2011-03-09T06:55:12Z")
Thank goodness. Not understanding the jokes in Leave It To Beaver is as bad as not understanding the day’s Family Circus. It could have caused lasting damage.