If there be such a thing as a "sleeper" in the hectic stream of shows that make up a TV season, a mild-mannered little situation comedy called Leave It To Beaver appears the logical candidate.
Largely unheralded at the beginning of the season, when CBS was pouring its publicity and exploitation money into bigger guns, the Beaver has quietly crept up the Nielson ladder and now is pushing a wide-eyed, innocent-faced 8-year-old boy named Jerry Mathers toward the ranks of TV stardom.
Behind young Mathers, however, stands a veritable phalanx of creative talent solidly dedicated to the proposition that a family situation comedy involving a couple of kids can be both funny and normal.
The show was created, written and produced by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, a writing team that spent 10 years with the immortal Amos ‘n’ Andy show on radio and television.
Its executive producer is Jerry Ackerman, former CBS vice president who fought the battle for I Love Lucy when everybody else at the network wanted comedienne Lucille Ball without husband Desi Arnaz.
Its director is Norma Tokar, whose prior credits include such shows as My Favorite Husband and the Bob Cummings Show.
In financing came from George Gobel, a man who was looking for a good investment for some leftover money. And its stars are Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont and June and Ward Cleaver, Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow as their sons.
The moving spirits behind Beaver are Connelly and Mosher, who between them have eight children ranging in age from 14 to one year.
"We get most of our ideas from our own kids," Mosher admits readily, "and they have now reached the point where they are beginning to hold us up. Either we raise their allowances or we get no more inside stories."
"On some stories, though, we don’t need their help. ‘Beaver’s haircut’ was based o the time one of our own boys took it into his head to cut his own right out of our house. The clip a coupon and send it to Florida somewhere, and back comes a pretty pathetic baby alligator which, fortunately for us, is not very long for this world. It doesn’t grow very long, either, which is also fortunate."
"Beaver," says Connelly, "is like Amos ‘n Andy in that both shows rely more on character than on frantic situations.
"Basically, Wally (played by Tony Dow) is a 12-year-old boy constantly trying to move away from childhood and into manhood. His brother Beaver, whom we’ve tagged at 7, is constantly pulling him back into childhood. Beaver is honest and direct, but he is in a state of confused wonderment about the world around him."
"We picked Jerry Mathers as The Beaver from over 100 applicants," Mosher puts in. "Most of the kids came in with typical actor haircuts - some of ‘em even marcelled - their mothers pushing ‘em on"
"but this one kid showed up in a Cub Scout uniform and kept fidgeting uneasily until I asked him what was wrong. He said gee, he wanted to get to his scout meeting. That ended the audition right there as far as we were concerned. He got to his meeting and he also got the job."
"We’ve asked both kids’ parents not to talk about the show at all when boys are around. The minute they turn into kid actors, the show is dead."
Largely unheralded at the beginning of the season, when CBS was pouring its publicity and exploitation money into bigger guns, the Beaver has quietly crept up the Nielson ladder and now is pushing a wide-eyed, innocent-faced 8-year-old boy named Jerry Mathers toward the ranks of TV stardom.
Behind young Mathers, however, stands a veritable phalanx of creative talent solidly dedicated to the proposition that a family situation comedy involving a couple of kids can be both funny and normal.
The show was created, written and produced by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, a writing team that spent 10 years with the immortal Amos ‘n’ Andy show on radio and television.
Its executive producer is Jerry Ackerman, former CBS vice president who fought the battle for I Love Lucy when everybody else at the network wanted comedienne Lucille Ball without husband Desi Arnaz.
Its director is Norma Tokar, whose prior credits include such shows as My Favorite Husband and the Bob Cummings Show.
In financing came from George Gobel, a man who was looking for a good investment for some leftover money. And its stars are Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont and June and Ward Cleaver, Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow as their sons.
The moving spirits behind Beaver are Connelly and Mosher, who between them have eight children ranging in age from 14 to one year.
"We get most of our ideas from our own kids," Mosher admits readily, "and they have now reached the point where they are beginning to hold us up. Either we raise their allowances or we get no more inside stories."
"On some stories, though, we don’t need their help. ‘Beaver’s haircut’ was based o the time one of our own boys took it into his head to cut his own right out of our house. The clip a coupon and send it to Florida somewhere, and back comes a pretty pathetic baby alligator which, fortunately for us, is not very long for this world. It doesn’t grow very long, either, which is also fortunate."
"Beaver," says Connelly, "is like Amos ‘n Andy in that both shows rely more on character than on frantic situations.
"Basically, Wally (played by Tony Dow) is a 12-year-old boy constantly trying to move away from childhood and into manhood. His brother Beaver, whom we’ve tagged at 7, is constantly pulling him back into childhood. Beaver is honest and direct, but he is in a state of confused wonderment about the world around him."
"We picked Jerry Mathers as The Beaver from over 100 applicants," Mosher puts in. "Most of the kids came in with typical actor haircuts - some of ‘em even marcelled - their mothers pushing ‘em on"
"but this one kid showed up in a Cub Scout uniform and kept fidgeting uneasily until I asked him what was wrong. He said gee, he wanted to get to his scout meeting. That ended the audition right there as far as we were concerned. He got to his meeting and he also got the job."
"We’ve asked both kids’ parents not to talk about the show at all when boys are around. The minute they turn into kid actors, the show is dead."
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