APPENDIX "A": CAST OF CHARACTERS

Leave It To Beaver

Importance and Relationships of the Characters

The Cleaver Family

The program, Leave It to Beaver, revolved around the trials and tribulations of raising a family. The Cleaver's were a middle-class nuclear family residing somewhere in middle America, in the mythical town of Mayfield. Each episode had a message for both parents and children and was designed to promote understanding between adults and adolescents. Parents learned both parenting techniques and how they, as role models, were perceived by their children. Youngsters learned important moral messages and how to interpret and live up to the actions of their parents.

Beaver Cleaver was the main character around whom the series revolved. The program generally depicted Beaver in the midst of some situation in which he learned an important moral lesson, or gained insight into how his actions affected others.

Wally Cleaver was Beaver's older brother. In some instances the programs revolved around a problem encountered by Wally from which Beaver would also learn. As a general rule, however, Wally acted both as a role model, and as a facilitator between Beaver and his parents. He generally reinforced, or explained, Ward and June's reactions to Beaver's problems (and sometimes, vice versa).

June Cleaver was wife and mother. She was generally depicted in a domestic setting (preparing meals, or doing housework) although she was also active in the community either with her women's club, or with the PTA. She was a kind and understanding parent who often mediated between her husband and children.

Ward Cleaver was the husband, father and provider. In his role as husband, he and June co-operated in their efforts to ensure their sons grew up to be good, solid citizens. As the father, he was the disciplinarian who meted out the punishment when the boys did something wrong, or explained how their actions were socially unacceptable. He provided for his family by working as an accountant for a large multi-national, but un-named, corporation.

Beaver's Male Friends

Beaver's male friends were almost always the individuals responsible for Beaver's predicaments. As a general rule, Beaver would resist their suggestions until he was bullied, or badgered, into mischief.

Larry Mondello was Beaver's best friend. His life revolved around food, and he was almost always depicted eating, or trying to obtain something to eat. Larry often encouraged Beaver to misbehave by using such logical statements as: "If no one is around to see you, how will you get caught?"

Gilbert Bates is essentially a younger version of Eddie Haskell. His idea of fun is to suggest doing something wrong and then stand back and watch the results. As an example, Gilbert suggested he and Beaver make a face when the school picture was being taken. Beaver made the face while Gilbert smiled sweetly.

Whitey Whitney is a good-looking, blond haired boy who gets good grades in school. He is a naturally intelligent youngster who utilizes his native ability to breeze through life rather effortlessly. He usually was able to put Beaver into predicaments by challenging him to prove something wrong - which Whitey knew in advance, would result in Beaver's failure.

Richard Rickover is a character who is on the periphery of Beaver's group of friends. Sometimes he is accepted, and other times he is shunned. Whenever he and Beaver cross paths it usually results in a major disaster. As an example, when Richard was caught breaking windows, by the police, he gave Beaver's name as his own.

Beaver's Female Friends

Girls were the bane of Beaver's existence. They were the main protagonists. They didn't really cause trouble; they were simply a foreign species that Beaver didn't understand.

Penny Woods was essentially the female counterpart of Whitey Whitney. Blond, pretty and intelligent, Penny used her pretentious manner to put Beaver in his place on a number of occasions. There were times when Penny and Beaver almost seemed to like each other, but they were generally short-lived.

Judy Hensler was the class "goody-two-shoes". She could be counted on to the first one to put her hand up to answer a question in class, to volunteer as a monitor when the teacher left the room, (keeping a list of those who misbehaved), and to remind Miss Landers if she forgot to give a homework assignment. Like Penny, Judy's sharp tongue kept Beaver in line, although there was never any possibility of the two liking each other.

Linda Dennison was the girl who Beaver liked the most. She invited him, as the only boy, to her birthday party, and also could appeal to him as a bit of a tomboy. However, Beaver never developed the same degree of admiration for Linda as she held for him.

Wally's Male Friends

While Wally's friends occasionally managed to get him into trouble, it was primarily Wally's job to keep his friend on the straight and narrow. A strong sense of social responsibility, (primarily from Ward's lectures), coupled with a maturity beyond his years made Wally a role model for other teenagers as well as adolescents.

Why Eddie Haskell was Wally's best friend is never explained. The two boys were exact opposites. Eddie was insincere, always looking for an angle, and had none of the social responsibility displayed by Wally. Eddie very seldom managed to get Wally into trouble, through his devious plans, because Wally was smart enough to avoid falling into Eddie's traps.

Lumpy Rutherford was an older version of Larry Mondello. He was bigger than most of the boys, but he was not very bright. His father, Fred Rutherford, refused to acknowledge his son's lack of intelligence and preferred to pretend Lumpy was going to make something of himself.

Wally's Female Friends

Over the years, Wally dated a number of different girls. Some were too anxious to become attached; others were simply using Wally to make other boys jealous. No matter how many girls Wally escorted to dances, proms, or other social events, the name Mary Ellen Rogers always brought a smile to his face.

Mary Ellen Rogers was the perennial popular girl at school. All the boys hoped to date her, but Wally was the only one who came close to meeting her perceived expectations. They never actually "went steady", but she was essentially the girl of Wally's dreams - the one to whom all others were compared.

The Adults

The adult characters were used for comparison purposes. They either displayed alternate parenting techniques (Fred Rutherford and Mrs. Mondello), or they augmented the practical advice (Gus) handed out by Ward and June.

Fred Rutherford was a business colleague of Ward's. Although never specifically mentioned, it appeared that Ward was his superior. As a result, Fred was constantly attempting to improve his position in the office political structure. The two men also engaged in a degree of vicarious competition through their son's Lumpy and Wally. As noted above, Fred often overlooked Lumpy's shortcomings, while Ward noted and tried to correct Wally's deficiencies.

Mrs. Mondello, Larry's mother, was essentially a single parent. She was married, but Mr. Mondello was always out of town. Her major threat to bring Larry into line was to tell him "wait until your father gets home". For very serious matters, Mrs. Mondello wouldn't bother waiting for Mr. Mondello. On several occasions she brought Larry directly to Ward so he, as a man, could "get to the bottom of the situation".

Gus, the fireman, was essentially Beaver's friend. He provided both kindly advice, and admonishment, to Beaver when he needed an outside adult opinion. Gus, an elderly gentleman, took a grandfatherly role, and always supported the lessons delivered by Ward.

The Teachers

As the place where he spent most of the day, school played an important part in Beaver's life. The moral lessons he learned at home were acted out in the classroom and on the playground. The teachers merely reinforced the guidance he received at home.

Miss Canfield was Beaver's teacher in the first years of the program. Like most youngsters, he had great admiration and respect for his teacher. She was the person who took care of him, (a substitute mother), during the day. When she focused too much attention on him, and Beaver was accused by his peers, of being the teachers pet, both Miss Canfield and Beaver learned that teachers are people too, and they can make mistakes.

Miss Landers was the teacher who taught Beaver for the remaining episodes. It was never clearly explained why Beaver continued to have the same teacher as he progressed through different grades, but this was probably in the interests of maintaining program continuity. Like Miss Canfield, Beaver developed a special affection for Miss Landers and he appeared to be one of her favorite pupils. Miss Landers, a very strong proponent of social responsibility and civic pride, delivered a number of excellent speeches about the necessity of being a good citizen. Again, similar to Miss Canfield, Beaver learned teachers are people too, when Miss Landers came to dinner, and again when she explained why she was getting married.

Mrs. Rayburn was the school principal. A no nonsense disciplinarian, the students lived in mortal fear of being "sent to the office". Like the other teachers in the school, Mrs. Rayburn served to underscore the lessons the students were taught at home. She was not afraid to send home a note, or call parents to request an interview if she felt her students were misbehaving.

The Relatives

The relatives made few appearances, but were there to serve as alternate role models to Ward and June. There was one from each side of the family, and they were vastly different to each other, and to Wally and Beaver's parents.

Aunt Martha was June's maiden aunt. She was from another generation and had strict ideas about what was proper and what was improper behavior. Her most important contribution to "old fashioned" versus "modern" child-rearing techniques occurred when she came to look after the family during June's absence. Aunt Martha decided Beaver should wear a "proper school suit" and promptly purchased, and forced Beaver to wear, an outfit consisting of short pants and a cap. When Ward became aware of the problem, he met Beaver in the garage with a change of clothes, thus resolving the situation without upsetting or hurting anyone's feelings.

Uncle Billy was Ward's uncle, and presumably quite different from Ward's father. Uncle Billy would arrive with a flourish, hand out $10 bills to the boys, (with strict instructions the money was to be spent frivolously), and regale the family with stories of his fantastic exploits. At first Beaver believed Uncle Billy's stories, but after having his eyes opened began to rely on him simply as a source of cash for birthdays and Christmas.

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