Recurring Themes

When viewing the programs, four specific underlying themes were noted: education, marriage, occupation and family. (Please see Appendix "E" for a breakdown of each of these categories by episode.) Education was an important element of the Leave It To Beaver series. From a realistic perspective, it was necessary to incorporate schooling into the program. Beaver and Wally were both attending school and spent a major portion of their day at their respective educational institutions. On a less obvious level, the program itself was a pedagogical device. Moreover, Connelly and Mosher, as the writers, were strong proponents of post-secondary education, and used the program to promote schooling as an important part of preparing for the future. As evidence of the importance they placed upon education, reference is made to a particularly relevant speech delivered to Beaver, by Miss Landers, in the episode titled "Beaver Plays Hooky" (#060).

For analytical purposes, under the educational sub-category of recurring themes, the programs were examined solely for instances where college was mentioned. As noted above, publicly funded schooling was an essential part of the lives of the two Cleaver boys, and attendance was mandatory. However, attending college was not automatic, nor was it guaranteed. The decision required conscious thought and forward planning.

In the course of the series, Connelly and Mosher relayed the message, regarding the importance of a college education in a subtle fashion. There were three ways in which they introduced the subject. The primary method was to have the topic of college casually included in a conversation. On a more blatant level, the boys would either be encouraged to save funds for their college education, or be discouraged from withdrawing cash from their college savings account. The final method was to raise the topic in connection with school tests or grades. By using this suggestive technique, the viewer learned it was the responsibility of the parents to advocate the benefits of higher education. From this, children were to be encouraged to save money and obtain good grades which would enable them to gain admission to college.

Similar to education, marriage was presented as a natural expectation for children. Ward and June were married, as were the parents of Wally and Beaver's friends. The one notable exception was the Mondello family. Mr. Mondello was always 'out of town'. As a result, Mrs. Mondello was essentially a single parent and she was portrayed as having difficulty coping with her son. On several occasions, Mrs. Mondello actually came to Ward for help to discipline or lecture Larry. The creation of a 'single parent family' within the confines of the program would seem to suggest the writers promoted the benefits and necessity of having both a mother and a father in the home. As discussed earlier, and evidenced by the preceding example, divorce was presented as a rare occurrence that had decidedly negative effects on family life. Marriage formed the cornerstone of the family, and as such children were expected to find a suitable mate and raise a family of their own.

The introduction of the subject of marriage took a number of different forms and was dependent upon the situation and the characters involved. In most instances marriage was included in general conversation and was presented as a logical step in the course of attaining adulthood. Other situations, which generally revolved around Wally's dating activities, found June expressing concern that her eldest son was too young to be serious about a girl, or fearful that the girl was not the 'right type'. The episode which best depicts June's attitudes about dating and marriage are found in "School Sweater" (#095). In this program, June expressed her concerns about Francis to Ward by saying: "Who is she and what is she doing to our baby? … She's got him following her around. I'm just not ready to cope with this kind of thing. … I hope she stops calling, she's just not the right type for him." At the end of the program, June gives her opinion about the kind of girl Wally should marry. "…Some very sensible girl from a nice family. One with both feet on the ground that can cook and keep a nice house and see that he's happy." Whenever Wally seemed too interested in girls, June turned to Ward and he would approach Wally to offer his advice about women. Thus, to prepare children for marriage it was necessary for them to interact with members of the opposite sex and to listen to the advice provided by their parents.

For both Beaver and Wally, girls were a mystery. Beaver had a youngster's innate dislike for members of the opposite sex. Generally, boys and girls in Beaver's age group were presented as having a naturally antagonistic attitude toward one another. On those occasions which Beaver found himself attracted to, or interacting with, females, it usually resulted in being teased by his peers. Most of Beaver's preparatory lessons for marriage were learned vicariously through Wally's dating activities and supplemented by Ward's lectures.

Similar to Beaver, Wally found girls somewhat baffling, but unlike his younger sibling he was attracted to them. On a personal level, Wally was occasionally confused by the girls he met, or dated, but he always learned from the experience. Whenever Wally or Beaver had questions about females, they turned to Ward who provided fatherly advice about the ways of women and prepared them for the eventuality of marriage.

Like marriage and education, the boys were encouraged to plan for their future careers. The vast majority of jobs mentioned in the course of the program were middle-class occupations. Lower class jobs such as that of trashman, janitor or house painter were generally portrayed as less desirable. Most references to occupation were oblique and mentioned only in casual conversation.

One program, "Beaver's Secret Life", was devoted to career aspirations and there are two specific and important elements which bear mentioning. First, was Beaver's choice of career. Second, was the automatic delineation of male and female occupational roles.

When asked by Miss Landers what he would like to be when he grew up, Beaver told his teacher he would like to be a writer. While the choice was necessary for plot development, it is difficult to imagine a youngster of this age (10) thinking about a career as a writer. Beaver's stated reason for selecting writing as an occupation was: "You don't have to go to school or know nothin' [sic]. … You only have to make up adventures and get paid for it." However, it is also possible that Connelly and Mosher, as writers themselves, were either making a 'tongue in cheek' jibe at script writers in general, or conversely were making a conscious effort to promote writing as a rewarding career.

After Beaver indicated his choice of career, Penny Woods stood up and told Miss Landers that she wanted to be a nurse. While she claimed her vocational choice was prompted by a desire to help humanity, Penny also stated she wanted to meet and marry a rich doctor. While this statement is a strong indication that the writers promoted gender specific occupational roles, there is also evidence to support the idea that girls could work in non-traditional female roles. In the episode entitled "Beaver's I.Q.", June, a collegegraduate herself, told Beaver that "today's girls can be doctors or lawyers too you know. They're just as ambitious as boys are." Although the writers promoted separate occupations for girls and boys, and thus reinforced the dominant ideology of the age, there is also evidence they were aware of the changes taking place in society.

As a general rule, Connelly and Mosher did not advocated changing society. They focused primarily on retaining traditional values and promoted the family as the cornerstone of the American way of life. There were two ways in which family was presented in the programs, either as a responsibility, or as an expectation.

The writers relied heavily on June's character when advocating familial responsibility. As a mother, June was often featured comforting and protecting her sons from the outside world, or trying to instill a sense of brotherhood between Wally and Beaver. June's role was to identify problems and bring them to Ward's attention. It was Ward's responsibility to resolve the situation through a lecture, or discussion with the boys.

There was never any divergence of opinion with respect to expectations for family. Both June and Ward promoted a strong sense of social responsibility and respect for family through the application of, and adherence to, the established rules. Parents were expected to impart their concepts and ideals of family to their children by example. This would then provide their offspring with the necessary skills to carry out family responsibilities when they became adults with children of their own.

The message regarding the importance of family was also reinforced by the school system. In a particularly relevant speech, Miss Landers told her pupils,

Becoming proper men and women was the essential idea encouraged by the writers of this program who wove the recurring themes of college, marriage, occupation and family throughout the series. It is perhaps best exemplified in a speech made by Wally, to Beaver, in the episode entitled "Miss Landers' Fiancé":

This statement ties all the recurring themes into a coherent whole. A college education was the necessary step to achieve respectable middle-class status. College was the place where young people could obtain an education, and find a suitable mate. Equipped with a degree, a young man could find a job, get married, raise a family, and thus continue in his parent's footsteps to become and upstanding and responsible citizen.

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