# Ward Cleaver's Occupation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 18, 2001, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241 "2001-06-18T19:06:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2001, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/1 "2001-06-18T19:06:57Z")
Yes, folks, its been one of those days at the office… Jim Anderson - Insurance Executive Mike Brady - Architect Darren Stevens - Advertising Executive Wilbur Post - Architect Fred Flintstone - Dinosaur Operator for Slate Sand & Gravel Ralph Kramden - Bus Driver So, what did Ward Cleaver do for a living beside read the paper, look swell in a cardigan, and bang the hell out of Barbara Billingsley? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2001, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/2 "2001-06-18T20:10:55Z")
I don’t know why, but the first thought that came to my mind was “architect”. Maybe I’m confusing him with Mr. Brady. In any case, I know he worked with Lumpy’s dad, whatever he did. I remember at least one episode where it showed them in the office together. Insurance, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2001, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/3 "2001-06-18T21:17:27Z")
google is your friend from [http://www.litb.com/LITBFAQ.HTM](http://www.litb.com/LITBFAQ.HTM) "Question: What was Ward Cleaver’s Occupation? Here again the producers of the show kept Ward’s occupation a secret. On purpose. So you wouldn’t know." ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2001, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/4 "2001-06-18T23:52:56Z")
In an episode I saw today, Ward mentions something about commissions in the office and getting people to sell more (exactly what was not mentioned). So he sells something, and insurance would be one of many possibilities. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2001, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/5 "2001-06-20T04:06:12Z")
They also never said what Ozzie did. And what did the **My Three Sons** dad do? ---
**Author:** ![Road\_Rash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Road\_Rash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Road_Rash)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2001, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/6 "2001-06-20T04:50:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rilchiam \* > \*\*They also never said what Ozzie did. And what did the **My Three Sons** dad do? \*\* The “My Three Sons” dad was an engineer. Not the railroad type. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2001, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/7 "2001-06-20T13:05:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zgystardst \* > \*\*In an episode I saw today, Ward mentions something about commissions in the office and getting people to sell more (exactly what was not mentioned). So he sells something, and insurance would be one of many possibilities. \*\* He could possibly be a pimp or drug dealer. This is why they never mentioned his job on air. Oh, the possibilities. 😃 Incidentally, anybody recall the episode of SCTV where the cast of Leave it to Beaver reunite for a 25 year anniversary episode. Ward is an alcoholic who eats his Wheaties in the morning with Jack Daniels instead of milk. Beaver shoots his neighbor and winds up going to jail. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2001, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/8 "2001-06-20T13:17:07Z")
I always assumed Ward was an engineer in light of the fact that he was a SeaBee (like my dad, not to mention John “Wedge” Wayne in **The Fighting SeaBees**!) ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2001, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/9 "2001-06-20T13:45:32Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by slortar \* \*\* > [@](#): > > Incidentally, anybody recall the episode of SCTV where the cast of Leave it to Beaver reunite for a 25 year anniversary episode. Ward is an alcoholic who eats his Wheaties in the morning with Jack Daniels instead of milk. Beaver shoots his neighbor and winds up going to jail. \*\* I recall that episode. Joe Flaherty was Ward and John Candy was the Beaver. Beaver shoots Eddy Haskell. More info at [http://www.magma.ca/~ddhodge/SCTVHOME.HTM](http://www.magma.ca/~ddhodge/SCTVHOME.HTM) ---
**Author:** ![us66man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@us66man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/us66man)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/10 "2011-01-31T01:44:34Z")
Ward cleaver was a stock broker. In the episode where Lumpy wants to join the merchant marine Fred and Ward are talking in Wards office. The certificate on the wall in Wards office reads ``` STOCK EXCHANGE CERTIFICATE OF BROKERSHIP WARD CLEAVER ``` ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/11 "2011-01-31T01:47:55Z")
> [@Road\_Rash](#): > > The “My Three Sons” dad was an engineer. Not the railroad type. An aeronautical engineer, IIRC. Also IIRC, I think Ozzie was supposed to be a bandleader, though it was seldom mentioned. After I grew older and understood the life of a bandleader I began to wonder how Ozzie could have been home all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/12 "2011-01-31T02:15:04Z")
> [@slortar](#): > > Incidentally, anybody recall the episode of SCTV where the cast of Leave it to Beaver reunite for a 25 year anniversary episode. Ward is an alcoholic who eats his Wheaties in the morning with Jack Daniels instead of milk. Beaver shoots his neighbor and winds up going to jail. As long as this zombie has been resurrected… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/M9dKYxkYYXM/maxresdefault.jpg "John Candy, Catherine O'Hara, Joe Flaherty | SCTV | Leave it to Beaver 25th Anniversary Party") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9dKYxkYYXM) (NB: He’s eating Weetabix.) ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/13 "2011-01-31T02:19:33Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > And what did the **My Three Sons** dad do? Serial killer, and possibly cult leader. Seriously, go back and look at how many characters departed from the show in sudden and mysterious ways, with explanations provided by Douglas that wouldn’t hold up to the light of day to an actual investigation, starting with the off-screen death of Steven Douglas’ wife. The abrupt departure from fictional Chicago suburb Bryant Park to North Hollywood just after the suspicious and never-again to be referenced departure of the oldest Douglas son and kidnapping of the neighbor child Ernie just goes with the pattern of controlling, manipulative sociopaths. Although Douglas later takes a “beard” wife and adopts the daughter into this increasingly tenuous family, only the most obtuse viewer can fail to acknowledge that cast members have disappeared with frightening regularity, often to be mentioned rarely, as “building a bridge in Peru”, “In the Army”, if at all. Ward Cleaver, on the other hand, was just some mid-level executive at a perfectly normal insurance or investment company whose most controversial trait is that he occasionally likes to wear women’s knickers under his pants. What he and the audience didn’t know is what June is up to during the day. Those pearls and the ever-present vacuum were just a sham; June was the high priestess of a coven of hot lesbian witches in the neighborhood. The Beaver is actually a tamer 'Fifties t.v. version of the creepy future stalker kid Glen on _Mad Men_ and will eventually be elected to the US Senate before getting exposed in a Congressional page molestation scandal. And Wally is so obviously, flamingly homosexual that the only people who don’t get it are Ward and Beav. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/14 "2011-01-31T02:42:02Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Serial killer, and possibly cult leader. > > Seriously, go back and look at how many characters departed from the show in sudden and mysterious ways, with explanations provided by Douglas that wouldn’t hold up to the light of day to an actual investigation, starting with the off-screen death of Steven Douglas’ wife. The abrupt departure from fictional Chicago suburb Bryant Park to North Hollywood just after the suspicious and never-again to be referenced departure of the oldest Douglas son and kidnapping of the neighbor child Ernie just goes with the pattern of controlling, manipulative sociopaths. Although Douglas later takes a “beard” wife and adopts the daughter into this increasingly tenuous family, only the most obtuse viewer can fail to acknowledge that cast members have disappeared with frightening regularity, often to be mentioned rarely, as “building a bridge in Peru”, “In the Army”, if at all.Stranger This was examined in detail in an article in the October 1987 issue of _Spy_ magazine, “Situation Tragedy”. “Bub” disappeared suddenly, said to be visiting his mother in Ireland. Robbie, Katie’s husband, went on a ‘business trip’ and never returned. And yes, **Starving Artist** , Steve Douglas was an aerospace engineer, or as he said during an interview to hire a maid (which comically misunderstood that he was looking for a wife), a “missile engineer”. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/15 "2011-01-31T02:54:43Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > “Bub” disappeared suddenly, said to be visiting his mother in Ireland. Which is curious as Frawley himself (and presumably the character he played) was in his seventies and unlikely to have a living mother. Furthermore, if I recall correctly he ended up eloping with some woman he’d met there and stayed in Ireland despite having no occupation, apparent skill, or assets. “Uncle Charley” conveniently enters from stage right in the same episode to become the caretaker. It was all very suspicious, even at the tender age of eight when I first put it together. And then there is poor Gilligan, the designated fall guy who was always so curiously placed in a linchpin role to foil the characters’ plans for escape. And who placed him in that role or saw to it that Gilligan would be in a position to appear responsible for failure? Could it be the same character that had the only private hut on the island? Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/16 "2011-01-31T02:57:45Z")
Well we know Ward is not a lawyer, 'cause Wally brings a date over and Wally’s dates asks Ward if he is a lawyer and he says, “no.” ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/17 "2011-01-31T02:57:50Z")
> [@us66man](#): > > Ward cleaver was a stock broker. > In the episode where Lumpy wants to join the merchant marine Fred and Ward are talking in Wards office. The certificate on the wall in Wards office reads > > ``` > STOCK EXCHANGE > CERTIFICATE OF BROKERSHIP > WARD CLEAVER > > ``` Sounds like a one-off prop. Similar to the badge in a Columbo episode that upon close inspections reveals his first name to be “Frank.” ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/18 "2011-01-31T03:25:10Z")
There was an episode where Ward finds his old Seabees trunk. Tells Beaver about being in the Seabees. I always thought he was an Architect or some kind of construction engineer. It seems unlikely he would have been in the Seabees unless he had construction experience prior to the war. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/19 "2011-01-31T03:43:53Z")
> [@plnnr](#): > > bang the hell out of Barbara Billingsley? In other words, he was a beaver cleaver? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241/20 "2011-01-31T05:02:44Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > …and possibly cult leader. You’re thinking of _Follow Me, Boys!_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ward-cleavers-occupation/69241.md?page=2)