How old do you feel today?

[donheff]

If you remember these guys well, how do you compare:

Eddie Haskel, Beaver and Wally Cleaver:

 

[ijuba]

AAAAHHHHHHHH.....it's The Beav

I watched him as a kid every day. He must be about 55 to 57 now.

Funny thing is that my 8 yo daughter and I watch the TIVO'd reruns at least 1x/wk.

I love the pearls and long dresses that June wears while making dinner!

It was the best.....I guess it's the "Outer Limits" today. 8)

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

road 9 miles today to the swim hall of fame, swam laps, biked 9 miles back. all along a1a and the beach were spring breakers. the beach was packed with eye candy. so between biking and swimming i was feeling pretty young, but all those young bodies on the beach and i wasn't feeling so young, but now seeing the clevers i'm feeling much better again. thank you.

 

[TromboneAl]

Haskel still looks like he's up to no good.

 

[MasterBlaster]

For the record...

Beaver (jerry Mathers) is now 58
Walley (Tony Lee Dow) is 61
and Eddie Haskell (Ken Osmond) is 63

 

[Fireup2020]

Beav has not aged so well. I agree - Haskel still like up to no good - probably a fun guy! Wally...well, has he had work done?

Wow - amazed that Wally is only 3 years older than the Beav! Who knew?

 

[73ss454]

My father told me about those guys. (heheh)

 

[Dawg52]

They all look horrible. It's a shame they haven't aged as well as me. 8)

 

[Outtahere]

A friend sent me that today, I didn't recognize them at all, scarey just plain scarey.

 

[Retire Soon]

"Leave It To Beaver" is my favorite TV program and I still enjoy watching the reruns to this day. It was an innocent America that probably never was, but just the same is soothing to the soul. The last I heard (which is quite a few years) Beaver was an announcer at a radio station and Eddie was a policeman. I don't know about Walley. Does anyone know what they are doing today?

 

[TromboneAl]

The Leave it to Beaver theme song is a great "Rhythm Changes" tune. That is, it uses the chord progression from "I've Got Rhythm," a commonly used Jazz progression.

Here's the early version: Theme Song

And here's the jazzed-up version: Jazzed Up

More about the show and theme.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Yet more leave it to Beaver trivia...

http://www.leaveittobeaver.org/faq.htm

some excerps

20) Did Jerry Mathers (Beaver) die in Vietnam?

This was an urban legend. Jerry Mathers served in the Air National Guard in the Vietnam War. The wire services routinely scanned the list of causalities for famous names, and a name similar to Jerry Mathers appeared on that list. Jerry’s death was then reported by the wire services. The rumor was later compounded when Shelly Winters mentioned Jerry’s death on the Tonight Show.

Jerry is alive and well.

See TV Guide's discussion on this for more information



21) Did Ken Osmond (Eddie Haskell) become a porn star?

Another urban legend. John Holmes, and adult movie star took his name and did several movies satirically under the name "Eddie Haskell". Mr. Osmond launched a $25 million suit. The suit went all the way to the California Supreme Court. The court ruled for Mr. Holmes, saying the name was protected as a satire. This case set a precedent in the matter, and is still referred by other cases in California today.

There was yet another urban legend that Ken Osmond was Alice Cooper, the rock singer. This originated from a Rolling Stones interview with Alice Cooper. Mr. Cooper stated that he was "Eddie Haskell" as a child. Mr. Cooper was speaking metaphorically, yet some readers interpreted him literally.

See TV Guide's discussion on this for more information



22) Is there a Leave It To Beaver fan club that I can join?

No, there's not. I had an opportunity to ask this question to Jerry Mathers in 1996. He said he doesn't run a fan club because it costs to much money. Apparently, it takes 1-3 full time people to run a fan club, and he didn't want to pop for the cost personally.

I also asked him if he had a web page. He said no, but Universal was going to put one up at the time of the Leave It To Beaver movie. While I have seen a Universal web page on the new Leave It To Beaver movie, there is no official Leave It To Beaver web page run by either Jerry Mathers or Universal.



23) Did Jerry Mathers publish his biography?

Jerry Mather's biography is available titled, "And Jerry Mathers As 'the Beaver" by Jerry Mathers and Herb Fagen. You can order this book right now at Amazon

Frank Bank, who played Lumpy, also published a biography, called, "Call Me Lumpy : My Leave It to Beaver Days and Other Wild Hollywood Life", by Frank Bank and Gib Twyman. Frank was quite a philanderer in the love free days of the 60's. Frank claims without exaggeration that he's experienced over 1,400 women (and that's not counting duplicate encounters!), but his publisher made him cut the number down to 1,000 to make the figure sound believable. Frank has settled down and is happily married now. This book can also be ordered from www.amazon.com.



24) How much money did Jerry Mathers make?

$500 a week, it was reported, in the early years. In the 50's, actors made good money, but not lots of money. The fact that Jerry Mathers, Tony Dow (Wally), and Ken Osmond (Eddie) all got regular jobs after college suggest whatever they made wasn't enough to live on for long. At one time or another, Jerry Mathers was a bank loan officer, Tony Dow worked in housing construction, and Ken Osmond worked as a Los Angeles traffic cop.

However, Jerry did make a deal to get a percentage of the merchandising revenue from the show, who was the first child actor to ever get such a deal. This didn't mean a lot at the time, since few products where produced. However, Universal did release a new line of Leave It To Beaver products in '95 (see the Collectibles page: commemorative plates and figurines), and Jerry Mathers did get a cut of that. Maybe this is the reason for the whopping $125 price tag for the 10 inch commemorative plate!

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

today while test driving a stang gt vertible (having trouble parting with the cash that bwm 335 requires), the sales guy looks at my license and can't believe we are the same age. he gets sad and says how he looks so old compared to me. i get similar comments a few times a year. good genes. thanx mom. so today i'm not feeling too old. i think maybe i'll go out tonight, celebrate and get laid.

 

[TromboneAl]

the sales guy looks at my license and can't believe we are the same age. he gets sad and says how he looks so old compared to me.

Did it work?

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

no. he still looks older than my ol'man.

that would have been my first thought too but seriously, this guy hasn't seen the inside of a gym since all the guys laughed him out of the high school locker room.

 

[73ss454]

It's the car business that's killing him. Man am I glad I'm out.