Not at all ironic. I think it was the late 70’s when I saw Jerry Mathers and Ken take questions from an audience (University Of San Diego theater, I’m gessing several hundred people). Ken was very obviously the “star” of the evening. When asked how much of himself he put into playing Eddie Haskell, he said “none”; he was an actor and EH was a role. He said in truth the character he most identified with was Ward Cleaver, a straight-arrow, strict but fair, family loving husband and father.
I didn’t mean ironic in the simple sense of “gee, actors can have different personalities than the characters they play-- who woulda thunkit?”
I was just making an offhand response to Just_Asking_Questions’ post, noting the irony that Dow, who played the virtuous Wally Cleaver, went on to play a lawbreaker on a TV show, while Osmond, who played the morally ambiguous Eddie Haskell, went on to be a cop in real life.
I’m surprised Tony and Jerry are only three years apart. The Beaver in season 1 looked like a 6 year old. He was much smaller than Wally in the early seasons.
Tony was born April 13, 1945 and Jerry June 2, 1948.
MeTV revised its schedule today, to show Wally’s first shave (by the actor who went on to play Floyd the Barber on Andy Griffith) and Wally’s concern about his “pug nose” and they will have a full block of Wally-centric episodes on Sunday afternoon.
A friend of mine in elementary school lived next to Desilu Studios (the one that looks like Tara from GWTW), and I had stayed at her house once. Both (?) her parents worked in the industry, and they were friends with Tony Dow. Said what a good, nice kid he was. I was more interested in the mom’s hairdo which was one of those very elaborate 1940s do’s with all the poofed up rolls and little chiffon scarves.
Copied from Jerry Mathers web site. He has an engagement this weekend 07-30 & 31.
Obviously Tony won’t be there. Someone needs to update the web site and Box office link. It still features Tony.
November 19-20, 2022, Gallatin Comic Con, “Leave it to Beaver Reunion” Gallatin, Tennessee, (Scheduled with Tony Dow, Richard Correll, Jeri Weil, Veronica Cartwright, Pamela Baird, and Luke Farfara. Jon Provost from Lassie will also be there too!) Ticket info here: Gallatin Comic Con - Towne Square Records and Comics
there were a lot of little kids on the show. The early seasons focused more on Beaver, his classmates and teachers.
IIRC the cast got smaller after the Cleavers moved to another house. The Beav became a teenager in the last season.
I may watch the METV tribute to Wally this weekend.
There’s one episode where I always thought Ward screwed up parenting. Wally and his buddy were driving outside town. The ***Buddy’s car broke down. It needed a battery. Wally used Ward’s credit at the service station. Ward chews him out.
That bothers me because the kids are broke down and stranded at a service station. I don’t care who’s car it belongs to. Fix the car and get home safe. We’ll worry about money later. My kid means more than $100 for a battery.
It was actually Wally’s car that needed a battery. Eddie offered to buy Wally a new battery and Wally took him up on it.
The reason Wally got rebuked by Ward is because, while Wally in fact paid Eddie back the 15 dollars for the battery as soon as they got back to the house, Eddie, being Eddie and all, used that 15 dollars to buy a swank vest rather than pay off that credit card company for the battery purchase.
Eddie’s father got the bill and hit the ceiling. He called and found out his son bought a battery for Wally, and in turn called Ward and raised hell. Ward spoke to Wally and found out he did indeed pay Eddie back but basically said the whole mess could have been avoided if Wally just called Ward for help from the gas station where he was stranded.
It was really monday morning quarterbacking because the whole point was that everything could’ve worked out fine if Eddie just paid the credit card company off right away instead of playing shell games.
He was much smaller in adulthood too. Even in their 70s, the Beav looks like a kid next to Wally. And I don’t think Tony Dow was a very big man either.
Thank you for the correction. I was relying on 30 year old memories. I had several vhs that I recorded during marathons. Tapes went bad with drop outs. I eventually threw them out.
I should rewatch that episode. I may have misjudged Ward. Parenting choices aren’t easy.
there were a lot of little kids on the show. The early seasons focused more on Beaver, his classmates and teachers.