AlsExGal Reviews

Safe in Hell (1931)

When you think of William Wellman you might not think of this one

[7/10 · 12 May 2024]

I've wanted to see Safe in Hell for a long time, thinking it was some kind of archetypal pre-Code experience, and it's tawdry enough but fatally slow. Dorothy Mackaill plays a woman who was left behind by her sailor boyfriend, turned to prostitution, and ends up killing a john she apparently had a bad experience with before the movie started. That's the first ten minutes or so, and it's pretty good. Then the sailor boyfriend, who gets over the prostitution and murder stuff pretty quickly, helps her escape and, making the same mistake with his not very strong-willed girlfriend a second time, plops her alone on a miserable little island with a group of exiled lowlifes who sit in rattan chairs all day ogling her.

This proves, ultimately if not convincingly, irresistible, and once she falls the second time, it's a short walk from there to being executed for a crime she didn't commit, or one she did, I forget, and trying hard to keep the secret of her sorry end from her sailor boyfriend, who really needs to find a nice gal he can leave alone somewhere for five minutes without her killing somebody.

I think the island stuff was originally a play, in the far-east-sleaze mode of Kongo, Shanghai Gesture, etc., and if so I think there must have been more action in it than made it to the screen, because there's a lot of suggestion that something's going to happen, but not much actually does. Mackaill is all right, she's certainly attractive and doesn't object to a pre-Code wardrobe, but she doesn't make as strong an impression as, say, Barbara Stanwyck, who was evidently Wellman's first choice.

The strongest impression is made by Nina Mae McKinney and Clarence Muse as the hotel proprietors, who exude a warmth and conviviality in their scenes that seems to have come from a different movie (and suggests that the Hell of the island was brought there by its white visitors, not intrinsic to the place). McKinney, the wonderful star of the rather dated Hallelujah!, even gets to sing a song, in the only on-screen appearance of her MGM contract (loaned out to Warners). It makes you a wish for a very different movie about her character, rather than Mackaill's.

Nothing Sacred (1937)

strong, acidic antidote to Frank Capra's movies from around the same time.

[8/10 · 12 May 2024]

Here's why I love "Nothing Sacred": in many ways, it's a really strong, acidic antidote to Frank Capra's movies from around the same time. The common people of NS are mostly unseen, but they're clearly not shown as good, noble, taken-for-granted folks--they're presented as boobs, plain and simple. They get taken in by the whole Hazel Flagg scheme just as they might get taken in by Longfellow Deeds's awful poetry. They get manipulated not by powerful, cynical urbanites but ultimately by one of their own, a horse doctor from Vermont who in turn toys with major newspapers and Viennese doctors. The people from Hazel Flagg's small town are petty, snobbish, close-minded, and inclined to bite people on the leg for absolutely no reason. Of course, Walter Connolly and his ilk don't get off the hook entirely; his reaction at learning he's been had must be one of the great comic moments of the 30s.

I'm not a Capra-hater, I'm just not totally comfortable with his veneration of "common" people in some of his pictures. For all his skill with comedy and actors, by the time we get to "Meet John Doe" I find his approach really cloying, and I'm skeptical that it's a good idea to venerate anybody based on their social class alone, whatever it may be. (Although I have wondered what a meeting between Capra and Evelyn Waugh would be like). I don't have any argument with his work through 1934, I just find some of his later work to be philosophically problematic. And that's why it's good to watch NS from time to time!

Doctor Bull (1933)

Roger's best performance

[8/10 · 12 May 2024]

I've seen this before, but having watched it after becoming more familiar with the Rogers oeuvre, I became aware of just what a radical departure it was from the Rogers formula in previous and subsequent films. He usually plays one of two characterizations: the wise and beloved father-figure putting up with his flighty family, or the wise and beloved fool-osopher putting up with silly townsfolk.

But as Dr. Bull, Rogers shows a real dark side, not the least of which comes out when he inadvertently causes a typhoid epidemic by failing to inspect the water runoff from a construction camp upstream from the town. Rogers is the town's health officer and when the townspeople justifiably accuse him of dereliction of duty, his response is, "Who has time to run around inspecting water!". When attacked by the townsfolk for his role in this catastrophe, Bull lashes back at them with real venom, telling them they are unworthy of the medical services he's provided over a lifetime. So much for never meeting a man he didn't like.

Bull quells the epidemic (cheerfully testing a veterinary vaccine meant for cows on an adult, then administering it to children), but finally decides to make good on his threat and leaves town for good.

It's a great pre-code film which manages to work in references from the recently lifted Prohibition to pre-marital sex (Andy Devine forced into a shotgun marriage). IMO this is Rogers' best performance by far and shows that he really could act when paired with a great director.

Hands Up! (1926)

Lots of sight gags in this film

[7/10 · 12 May 2024]

With all the work of the major silent comedians so readily available, it's easy to forget about the other, less-known clowns whose work isn't as easy to find. Raymond Griffith falls under this category, because so much of his work is lost, and what does survive isn't that easy to see.

What struck me immediately was the endless parade of sight gags in the film. The opening scene with Abraham Lincoln meeting with his cabinet set up a serious tone that is delightfully contrasted in the very next scene, when Ray Griffith rides up to visit General Lee. The sight gags begin immediately, and in this scene reminded me of similar battlefield gags in DUCK SOUP (shells flying through the window, etc). Thankfully, the rest of the film kept up the ingenuity and clever gags found in this scene. Griffith himself is a very fun performer to watch. His characterization of the unruffled gentleman in the silk hat played very well against the overall zaniness of the film. I would really enjoy seeing more of his work. Mack Swain, always great, turned in a memorable supporting appearance here.

The length of the film is perfect for a comedy. It's one thing that pre-WWII comedies had as a major advantage-that they could end after 60 or 70 minutes and not have to hang on a lot of exposition and plot wrap-up for the mandatory 90 minute-plus running time of today.

Leave It to Beaver: Larry Hides Out (1960) Season 3, Episode 15

Beaver's bathroom - a familiar hideout

[7/10 · 11 May 2024]

Larry Mondello has Beaver over to his house, and he gives Beaver a guided tour of his sister's room complete with a reading from her diary. But Mrs. Mondello catches Larry in the act and reads Larry the riot act in front of Beaver. As a result, Larry runs away from home. He calls Beaver and tells him he is running away to Mexico, but apparently there is some kind of compromise reached where Larry agrees to hide out in Beaver's bathroom.

Wally learns about this arrangement after the fact, and for some reason he decides to help Beaver hide Larry. This seems out of character for the usually level-headed Wally. In the meantime, Mrs. Mondello has phoned the Cleavers about the situation and told them to be on the lookout for Larry. How long can Larry successfully hideout in Beaver's bathroom? Beaver and Wally's alligator managed to hide there long enough to reach one foot in length. So I'd say watch and find out.

Poor Larry and his dysfunctional home. His father is only rarely - actually twice - spotted. The rest of the time he's elsewhere on business. And even with her son a runaway, Mrs. Mondello has time to complain about her daughter being unmarried, as though that is the cause of all of her problems, even with Larry. It can't be easy having her as a mom.

There's no Eddie Haskell sighting this week, but Wally does discuss him second hand as the planner of this Saturday's activities. He asks Wally to join him over at the high school gym to watch the girls try out for cheerleader because Eddie says that when the girls don't make the squad they will become hysterical and cry. Whether it is that Eddie enjoys watching people fail or he thinks he can swoop in and be a shoulder to cry on for some vulnerable girl is not stated. It would be typical Eddie for it to be the former, and it would be rather creepy for it to be the latter.

Leave It to Beaver: School Sweater (1960) Season 3, Episode 23

Wally is put upon by a predatory female

[8/10 · 11 May 2024]

Wally comes home from his basketball game without his sweater. The next day his parents notice its absence and demand he bring it back home with him that afternoon. The problem is that a girl, Frances, asked Wally for it saying she was cold, and now she's stalling giving it back. What Wally doesn't know is that she is using that sweater as proof to her friends that Wally is crazy about her when, in fact, he hardly knows her.

That night Ward and June are out shopping and stop in for a soda. At the counter, there is Frances, wearing Wally's jacket and telling her friends about Wally's amorous advances. Ward, and especially June, are horrified, thinking that Wally is lying about his jacket because what the girl is saying is true. When Wally is confronted with the truth of the situation he charges out of the house to go to Frances' house and retrieve his jacket. In a scene reminiscent of The Quiet Man, Eddie and Beaver run out after him, anxious to witness the dust up. How will this work out? Watch and find out.

It's not that Frances isn't pretty, it's just that she's using deception to take advantage that gets to Wally. Over the years, Wally seems a bit naive and passive when it comes to girls, and he can afford to be because he is quite the chick magnet.

Leave It to Beaver: Wally's Weekend Job (1961) Season 5, Episode 6

We should all have bosses as kind and diplomatic as Mr. Gibson

[9/10 · 11 May 2024]

Wally gets a weekend job working at Mr. Gibson's soda fountain at the local soda shop. Eddie Haskell is jealous, not because he wants a job, but because it's one more way for his father to unfavorably compare him to Wally - that Wally has a weekend job and he does not. On top of that the high school girls go to the soda fountain just to get an eyeful of Wally in his work outfit and swoon over him.

Eddie and Lumpy show up at the soda fountain one day and harass Wally at work, asking him for a complete listing of the kinds of ice cream and sandwiches that are offered there. Mr. Gibson sees what is going on and tells Eddie that before he orders he needs to pay up the fifty cents he owes him from the last time he was there. After that, Eddie doesn't have enough money to order anything and is showed up in front of the giggling high school girls a few seats down.

So Eddie plots his revenge - Through a fake phone call he sets up Wally to get caught at Mary Ellen's pajama party, where her dad has threatened to unceremoniously throw out any boy who would dare show up. Wally is just there to deliver ice cream and knows nothing about the party. Watch and find out how this works out.

Besides the main story of Eddie hating it when he is shown up to be a braggart and striking out in an underhanded way, there are some other good scenes, such as when Beaver and his two friends come to the soda shop thinking that they can get their ice cream on the house since Wally is Beaver's brother. Then there are June and Ward not wanting to mob Wally with family his first day on the job and deciding to wait a day instead.

Leave It to Beaver: Wally's Present (1959) Season 2, Episode 14

What a shame to be exposed as less generous than Eddie Haskell

[8/10 · 11 May 2024]

Wally's birthday is coming up and he has decided he wants to celebrate by going to the diner to eat hamburgers with Eddie, and most likely meet up with some girls and then go on to the movies. Obviously, the girls are central to his plans, so Beaver is not invited.

Beaver has been saving up for a very nice camera to give to Wally for his birthday, but once in the store, at the urging of Larry Mondello, he instead spends the vast majority of his money for a bow and arrow set for himself and buys Wally a token of a gift - a cheap paddle ball. Larry told Beaver to do this because he is hoping to play with the bow and arrow set too, but he succeeds by reminding Beaver about how Wally excluded him from his plans.

Once home, Beaver learns that Wally has changed his plans to be hamburgers and gifts at home and then the movies with Eddie and with Beaver now invited to all of this. Beaver feels about two feet tall, especially when it comes time to open the gifts and Wally receives a nice watch from his parents and a nifty microscope from Eddie Haskell. How will this all turn out? Watch and find out.

This is one of the few times where Eddie does not misbehave during the entire episode, even buying Wally a very nice birthday gift. This was probably done to give Beaver's selfishness maximum effect, and it worked. As for Larry Mondello - He often talks about a much older married brother and an older sister with whom his mother finds constant fault as she is not very attractive and also unmarried. So Larry is obviously the rather overlooked child of his parents' middle age, and thus doesn't have much guidance. This seems to be why he gives Beaver so much bad advice. Not an excuse but an explanation of sorts.

Leave It to Beaver: The Book Report (1963) Season 6, Episode 30

The film referenced in the episode actually does exist

[8/10 · 11 May 2024]

Beaver has a book report on "The Three Musketeers" due in two days. And even with this date looming, Ward has to command Beaver to drop his weekend plans and stay at home and read that book. Gilbert tempts Beaver with an alternative - the movie "The Three Musketeers" will be on TV on Sunday night at 8PM. It's not that Beaver isn't tempted by this, but his family being home would make this impossible. No doubt they would figure what he's doing - substituting watching the movie for reading the book.

But then, suddenly, both his parents and Wally have plans for Sunday night. With Beaver having an impossible amount of material yet to read, he gives in, watches the movie, and writes the book report based on the film. He gets about three sentences into his report the next day, before Mrs. Rayburn lets him know that the jig is up. Watch and find out how this concludes.

The film mentioned in the episode actually does exist. "The Three Musketeers" (1939) was a musical comedy misfire by Fox starring Don Ameche and the Ritz Brothers. The latter are an acquired taste. I would expect somebody Beaver's age, about to enter high school, to figure out that this plan would not work just by having read a couple of chapters of the book, seeing the ad for the movie, and having just a modicum of common sense. And what was Gilbert's motive for having Beaver go this disastrous route? It was too late to salvage the weekend. At least Larry Mondello usually had selfishness as a motive when he sent Beaver down the wrong path. Here, Gilbert is displaying an almost Eddie Haskell level of destruction for destruction's sake by giving his "friend" such bad advice.

Leave It to Beaver: Wally's Election (1960) Season 3, Episode 19

Wally and politics mix like oil and water

[7/10 · 8 May 2024]

Eddie Haskell nominates Wally for president of the sophomore high school class. Wally is very upset about this turn of events, always preferring to keep a low profile and let his actions speak for themselves. He is so upset that he almost murders June's coconut cake, but she stops him in time. Wally tells his parents that he really doesn't want to run for this office, and they both seem OK with that.

Then Fred Rutherford comes over and talks to Ward about how his son Clarence (Lumpy) is running too, and that maybe Clarence just has better leadership qualities than Wally. Now that this has become an issue of fatherly pride, Ward strongly encourages Wally to really run for the office and tells him how to go about it. All of his advice just presents itself in Wally as being unauthentic and a turn-off. Eddie thinks this new improved aggressive Wally is great, but then Eddie is so unauthentic I doubt he could spot authenticity if his life depended on it. Who will win the election? Watch and find out.

Even before election day comes, Ward thinks that maybe he has created a monster in Wally. There is a humorous scene between Ward and June when Wally first tells his parents of his nomination. June says she thinks Wally would be a good president because he is so cute. Ward replies that we don't want to start electing our presidents based on charm and looks. Oh, Ward, just you wait!

Leave It to Beaver: The Lost Watch (1958) Season 2, Episode 5

A show about a watch that's hard to watch

[7/10 · 8 May 2024]

Beaver and Larry go watch "the big kids" play baseball. The fellows all pile their wallets, jackets, and watches on Beaver for him to watch while they play. After everybody has gathered their stuff, after the game, Lumpy asks for his watch from Beaver, but Beaver doesn't have it. Lumpy threatens to thrash him or even call the police if his fifteen dollar watch is not returned. All through the next few days this giant fellow menaces the boy. He calls him at home and threatens him, he jumps out behind shrubbery on Beaver's way to school and threatens him. It's all quite hard to watch him bully Beaver, who is convinced he lost this expensive watch.

Beaver feels like he can't tell his parents because of the talk around the house about watching things in your trust and not losing stuff. But then Beaver tries to cash a savings bond his aunt got him so that he can buy Lumpy a new watch and taking the bond gets the attention of Beaver's parents. Ward is livid about what's happened, but Clarence/Lumpy is also the son of his business partner, Fred Rutherford, and so Ward needs to proceed cautiously.

Lumpy Rutherford was initially introduced as a guy two years older than Wally and Eddie, often a bully, less so to Wally as Wally began to get a growth spurt. But he must have been left back a couple of times because at the end of the series the three are graduating together. Lumpy transitions to the not too bright, sometime partner in crime to Eddie Haskell, and the three - Wally, Eddie, and Lumpy are pretty much the three musketeers by graduation.

Leave It to Beaver: The Broken Window (1958) Season 1, Episode 25

Wally and Beaver look for advice from an odd source

[7/10 · 8 May 2024]

Wally and Beaver break a window one day when playing ball too close to the house. In fact it's one of the other boys who breaks the window, but they all scatter after the window breaks and leave Wally and Beaver holding the bag. Ward gets the window fixed, but lectures them about how close they were playing, and they promise to not play that close again.

But then the next day they are going to play ball elsewhere when Beaver asks Wally to pitch just one ball to him while they are close to the garage, and they hear the sound of breaking glass - It's the passenger window of the family car. Ward and June are out house hunting, so the boys have some time. Then Wally does a weird thing - He calls Eddie Haskell for advice! Eddie's advice is to roll down the car window and then plead ignorance when the window is inevitably raised. That is what the boys decide to do when they can't raise the money to fix the window before their parents get home. How will this work out? Watch and find out.

This was early in Eddie Haskell's tenure, and even the following year Wally would never listen to advice from Eddie. Beaver would until he got a little older because Eddie offered such tempting shortcuts to problems.

Leave It to Beaver: Beaver and Chuey (1958) Season 2, Episode 4

The international language of children

[7/10 · 7 May 2024]

Beaver has a new friend from South America who only speaks Spanish - Chuey, obviously a nickname. He's been coming over to the house a lot and he and Beaver seem to understand one another to some degree, at least enough to play together.

But then Eddie gets a dastardly idea - He's taking high school Spanish and what good is a new talent as far as Eddie is concerned if you can't cause trouble with it. He goes to Beaver and teaches Beaver a phrase in Spanish that Eddie tells him means "You are a swell guy." But it actually means "You have the face of a pig". Chuey runs home crying. Beaver doesn't know what he did, and his parents are baffled too. Soon Chuey's parents arrive - also only Spanish speakers - and they are upset about their son, but don't know how to verbally convey what they are wanting to say in English. Can anybody break through this barrier and solve the mystery? Watch and find out.

It really is funny watching the parents try to wrangle what little of the other person's language they know in order to communicate. June asks Chuey's mom if she would like some tea, Chuey's mom says yes, your house is lovely. June asks Chuey's mom to have a seat on the "mesa" (table). Confused, she figures out she means "chair" and on it goes.

LITB didn't have many episodes on multiculturism, mainly because the USA was a pretty homogeneous place in the late 50s and early 60s. But this was a pretty good episode on the international language of children, and on how they are often quick to forgive one another.

The New Leave It to Beaver: Thanksgiving Day (1984) Season 1, Episode 2

Will the Cleavers all be together on Thanksgiving?

[7/10 · 6 May 2024]

This second episode of the sequel series Still the Beaver aired the night before actual Thanksgiving Day 1984.

Beaver's oldest son, Kipp, wants to accept a friend's invitation to go to his Thanksgiving, with a major plus being that the friend has a hot tub! Beaver thinks that families should be together on Thanksgiving Day, but ultimately he lets Kipp make his own decision, hoping Kipp will come around to see it his way on his own. Kipp doesn't have to wait long to learn that lesson, because his friend's mother disinvites him - although in as nice a way as possible - because she -like Kipp's dad - thinks this day is a family affair.

Kipp ends up learning the value of being with family on special occasions from, of all people, Eddie Haskell, in a scene reminiscent of one of the several times when Eddie opened up to Kipp's dad, Beaver, back when both were kids.

This episode features a nice touch of Wally coordinating a surprise visit by the Cleavers' Aunt Gloria (presumably the late Ward Cleaver's sister), played in a cameo appearance by the real-life sister of Hugh Beaumont, Gloria Beaumont Rusman. Ms. Rusman was not an actress, and according to this website this is her only acting "credit". Hugh Beaumont died in 1982, and the LITB reunion movie made in 1983 showed Ward Cleaver, Beaumont's character, as having died in 1977.

The New Leave It to Beaver: See You in Court (1987) Season 3, Episode 8

Disorder in the court

[7/10 · 5 May 2024]

Wally and Mary Ellen are overworked and cranky, so Beaver, Lumpy, and Eddie decide to chip in and send them on a vacation to Key West. The mistake Lumpy and Beaver make is allowing Eddie to make all of the arrangements. He goes to a cut-rate travel agent (remember travel agents?) and books a trip that only costs the money that Beaver and Lumpy are pitching in.

Later, when Wally and Mary Ellen go to get on their flight they find it has been cancelled. The travel agent refuses to make good on the cancelled trip. To keep the agent from saying how much was actually paid for the flight, in which case Wally and Beaver would find out Eddie shorted them, Eddie socks the travel agent. Now Eddie is going to court for assault.

The scene in the courtroom is funny, but what type of court is this anyways? Civil or criminal? Because what would normally be the prosecuting attorney in a criminal case seems to be an attorney working for the travel agent, which would make it civil court. How will all of this work out? Watch and find out.

The Boob (1926)

A David and Goliath tale during prohibition

[6/10 · 5 May 2024]

There's a minor subgenre of silents in which a small town full of country folks somehow supports a lavish speakeasy filled with hundreds of folks in tuxedos, until the country folks toss them out. This has some connection to 1920s reality, as little towns comfortably in the sticks suddenly found themselves a short drive from a big city by car, and easily corrupted by big city money; places like Cicero and Calumet City, Illinois became wholly owned subsidiaries of the Chicago mob, and even Southern Wisconsin, for instance, is dotted with roadhouses and "inns" boasting "Al Capone slept and gambled here." You rarely if ever see the big city in movies like The Country Flapper, Delicious Little Devil, The Strong Man or The Boob; the tuxedo-wearing swells seem to generate spontaneously at night, like mushrooms.

The Boob is one of these tales and it suggests that by 1926, the subgenre was familiar enough that it could be kidded and caricatured along the way; the movie is full of broad, humor as well as a special effects dream sequence that seems to have walked straight in out of Winsor McCay's Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend. George K. Arthur is The Boob, Peter Good, whose girl May has fallen for the big city swell who runs the speakeasy (which, speaking of lavish, was apparently a redressed Ben-Hur set!).

After an old-timer teaches him the rudiments of being a rootin-tootin' gunslinger, he sets out after the speakeasy and its owner like Bill Hart in Hell's Hinges, and in a farcical manner reminiscent of The Strong Man, he does bring it down, if not exactly as he planned. If you doubt that The Strong Man was the model, note that Joan Crawford turns up in the decidedly thankless, if at least impressively feminist, role of a big city law enforcement agent whose bestowal of approval on Arthur helps him eventually win May over.

The New Leave It to Beaver: Murder in Mayfield (1987) Season 2, Episode 23

a boy and his imagination

[7/10 · 5 May 2024]

Previously, Wally took it upon himself to restructure Eddie's finances in the wake of the Pizza Palace disaster. Now Eddie has bought a pool table with the money that was to go to the bank for his next payment on his restructured loan. At the same time, Beaver's youngest son, Oliver, who always has the active imagination, fancies himself a secret agent and everything as being some kind of plot or crime in progress that only he can halt.

Oliver has a heart-to-heart discussion about this with his dad in the famous Cleaver den, but yet his imagination still runs away with him. At the same time, Eddie finds a life insurance policy that Gert has taken out on herself, hidden under the floor boards of their house. These two things - Eddie needing money and not wanting to sell the pool table to get it, and Oliver letting his imagination run away with him, has Oliver believing Eddie is planning to kill his wife for the insurance money. Complications ensue.

Eddie says some pretty horrible things about his wife - things that possibly wouldn't land so well today. What in the 80s seemed clueless, today sounds pretty creepy. Again, Wally turns out to be a better friend than Eddie deserves, and yet he seems to not know that.

The New Leave It to Beaver (1983–1989)

It has a real regard for the history of the original show

[7/10 · 5 May 2024]

This look at the extended Cleaver clan and their friends had one season on Disney from 1984-1985 and three seasons on TBS from 1986 until 1989. It got things right in the sense that it had a high regard for the history of the original show upon which in was based - Leave It To Beaver, which ran from 1957-1963 and followed the exploits of Beaver and older brother Wally Cleaver.

The only thing to happen in 1983 was one TV movie, "Still The Beaver" which aired in March 1983. There are some understandable inconsistencies between the movie and the series that premiered in 1984. First, the movie has Wally and his high school sweetheart Mary Ellen Rogers marrying in their thirties and dealing with infertility as they attempt to start a family. In the series they suddenly have a tween daughter like they have been married some 15 years. In the movie, June, widowed for several years, tells Beaver at the end of the film that she is moving to a condo and is selling him the Cleaver house at a reduced price. In the series, June still lives in the Cleaver home and never mentions moving.

Beaver, now divorced, has two sons that live with him in his childhood home, with all of them pretty much being abandoned by Beaver's ex who is going to veterinary school in Italy. Beaver's oldest son, Kip, has a friendship with Eddie Haskell's oldest son, Freddie, that somewhat mirrors Wally's teen friendship with Eddie.

Eddie Haskell, still portrayed by Ken Osmond, is still the rascal he was in the original show, still with the obvious insincere flattery. Except now Eddie is married with two children, the oldest being portrayed by Ken Osmond's actual oldest son, Eric. Eddie being such the manipulator causes problems in his marriage and in his business, and yet Wally is still his best friend in spite of the lapses in Eddie's character and judgment. Likewise, Frank Bank still plays Lumpy Rutherford, with a tween daughter who is good friends with Wally's daughter.

The humor holds up forty odd years later, just like the humor holds up on the original LITB show 65 years later. This is mainly true because the emphasis is on relationships and the importance of family, and that never really changes.

Some of the episodes, at least for the first couple of seasons, are available on youtube, although they are seemingly duped from old VHS tapes and thus the video is rather fuzzy. If you are used to blu ray quality, you'll need to adjust your expectations in that regard.

Leave It to Beaver: Captain Jack (1957) Season 1, Episode 2

Ward owes Minerva an apology!

[7/10 · 5 May 2024]

Wally and Beaver order a Florida alligator from an ad in a magazine. When they pick him up at the post office, they are disappointed to see that he is only a few inches long and feel like they were had. Because of his small size, they are able to sneak him into the house and hide him in their bathroom without their parents knowing about this. But when he won't eat the insects they catch for him, they decide to consult "Captain Jack" a caretaker at a local alligator farm.

The alligator grows to a foot in length, so the boys move him to a tub in the basement that is never used, but when the housekeeper Minerva goes down there to hang out wash to dry because it is raining, she runs back upstairs screaming that there is a monster in the basement. Ward takes the fact that she is seeing monsters and that some of his brandy is missing (the boys are using it as an alligator appetite stimulant) as proof that Minerva is drinking on the job and fires her. I certainly hope Ward gave her an apology, some severance pay, and letter of recommendation after the truth came out. Minerva is never seen or heard from on LITB again.

In these early episodes, all through the first season, there's much more playful banter between Ward and June. They always talk, but the conversation is much more serious in later seasons.

The end has something happening that the writers just forget all about the following week - the appearance of a puppy that Ward and June have gotten for the boys. Earlier in the episode, Ward said that if the boys demonstrated some responsibility, then they could have a discussion about a pet. Probably raising an alligator in captivity from a few inches to a foot long proved that responsibility. However the dog is never seen or mentioned on LITB again. Perhaps he went to live with Minerva?

Interesting factoid - This was supposed to be the first episode of the series, but it was delayed as the censors had a problem with an actual toilet being shown on TV! Thus was the state of censorship in the 1950s. Only when the producers agreed to only allow the toilet tank to be shown, which is where the boys were keeping their alligator, was the episode given the green light.

Quincy M.E.: D.U.I. (1981) Season 7, Episode 5

A hybrid episode of Quincy

[7/10 · 5 May 2024]

The episode starts out with a man drinking heavily, right out of the bottle actually, running down a pedestrian. Before he hits the guy he is stopped at the curb drinking and clearly seen by a passerby. And after the accident he stops and does not run. He is charged with vehicular manslaughter after he is treated for a knee injury resulting from the crash and then released from the hospital.

Quincy performs the autopsy, and for some reason has the grieving widow of the victim in his office. He connects the widow with a counselor who is in fact a victim of a drunk driver herself - She's paralyzed from the waist down and her son was killed in that same accident.

So this starts out being one of the "social issue" episodes of Quincy where there is lots of screeching about drunk driving and the lack of criminal penalties against offenders. But then it segues into something else entirely with Quincy back in mystery solving mode like he was in earlier seasons. The hints are all there along the way, like breadcrumbs, but you need to be alert to catch them all.

So don't avoid this one because it seems like it's going to be one of the social issue episodes, because it turns out to be quite interesting. And don't ask me what a photo of actor Bret Nighman is doing attached to this episode, because although he does portray a lab technician here, he has nothing to do with the plot.

The New Leave It to Beaver: A Night in Mayfield (1987) Season 2, Episode 22

Some interesting tie ins to this episode

[7/10 · 4 May 2024]

Eddie and Wally make a late night trip to the all night pharmacy some miles away to pick up some medicine for Wally's infant son. This excursion ends with them both being arrested when Wally realizes he walked out of the house with no money after Eddie has spent the only twenty dollars he has on lottery tickets. Of course, none of them are winners. You don't see what transpired, but the last thing you see before the arrest is Eddie saying he has a way with people before trying to convince the pharmacy clerk to see things their way and let them have the medicine on account.

The first tie-in here is that Ken Osmond, the actor who portrayed Eddie Haskell, was a Los Angeles motorcycle policeman for 18 years from 1970 to 1988, and here he is being arrested. The other tie-in is that Beaver mentions to his kids that he had a rabbit as a child that ended in tragedy. The original LITB TV show did have an episode where Beaver had a rabbit, but it did not end in tragedy.

The only really odd thing in this episode - besides the very 80s clothes -is that Wally goes to the all night pharmacy in his robe and pajamas and nobody says anything about it.

The New Leave It to Beaver: A Slice of Life (1987) Season 2, Episode 20

Eddie Haskell makes a bad career choice

[6/10 · 4 May 2024]

Eddie's feeling mighty low since the house he was building would not pass inspection and he needs twenty thousand dollars he does not have to make it pass. He goes to a nearby pizza parlor and is eventually cheered up by the atmosphere, the food, and the singing waiters. He abruptly decides to buy the pizza palace as a replacement for his failed construction company.

The problem is that Eddie Haskell is not a people person. He soon loses patience with the customers and the employees and quickly runs out of both. On top of that, he bought the place by mortgaging his house and a balloon payment he does not have is due in a few days.

Unauthentic Eddie Haskell without a bone of self-awareness in his body is always good for a laugh, but it's hard to believe that the Eddie Haskell of LITB would find singing waiters anything but annoying, even as he approaches middle age.

Leave It to Beaver: The Shave (1958) Season 2, Episode 8

In a hurry to grow up

[8/10 · 4 May 2024]

Wally goes out for the freshman football team, even though June fears he'll get "wrecked". While talking with the other guys after a game, Eddie announces he's shaving. Richard says that he is as well. This gets Wally wanting to try to do so himself, but he winds up cutting himself badly. The bandages on his face at dinner alert his parents to what is going on. Ward thinks he's talked Wally out of shaving at this point in time, but in fact he's argued for the case by telling Wally that daily shaving makes one's beard stiffer and thus means you may need to continue shaving.

When Ward needs to shave one night and can't find his razor he finds Wally in the middle of shaving himself and Ward blows his top at Wally. What Ward failed to take into account is that Eddie Haskell is standing right next to Wally as this is happening, and Eddie has never failed to turn another fellow's bad moment into an opportunity to make fun of him in front of other people, even if it is his best friend. All the guys know about what happened thanks to Eddie, and Wally is getting the business at school and in the locker room.

Ward thinks Wally's bad mood and attitude are because he made him quit shaving, but Beaver knows the truth and let's his dad know that he made a fool out of him in front of the worst possible person. Ward comes up with a clever solution to resolve the situation. What is that solution? Watch and find out.

Eddie sure took Wally's friendship for granted over the years. I know why Eddie followed Wally around, what I can't figure out is why Wally reciprocated the friendship. Ward has a good moment talking to Wally about the measure of a man being what's on the inside, not what's on his chin.

Leave It to Beaver: Beaver and Poncho (1958) Season 1, Episode 23

A boy and someone else's dog

[7/10 · 4 May 2024]

Beaver trades Larry Mondello his old doorknob for a lost dog - A chihuahua. His parents insist that an ad be placed in the local paper since they are sure it belongs to someone. And they aren't sure that even if nobody comes looking that he can keep it under those circumstances either.

A couple of days later a woman calls who describes the dog to a tee, and so Beaver will have to give the dog up. Upon learning this Beaver takes the dog to school, but to what end is unclear since the woman who owns him now knows where the dog is. Beaver gets caught with the dog by Miss Canfield and Ward retrieves both boy and dog, really angry that Beaver tried to get away with keeping a dog that was not his. Or was he? Watch and find out.

This was one of many episodes in which the Cleaver boys find or otherwise interact with a diverse group of animals over the years including an alligator, this chihuahua, a couple of cats, and a rabbit. It was very progressive of LITB to emphasize the bond of love between a child and his pet as well as responsible pet ownership and stewardship.

There's a funny exchange between Ward and June in the middle of the episode in which they are discussing the dog situation while June is knitting a tiny sweater. All of a sudden Ward notices this and becomes alarmed. June reassures him she is knitting it for the dog.

Leave It to Beaver: Beaver's Report Card (1961) Season 4, Episode 27

Eddie's most despicable stunt

[9/10 · 4 May 2024]

Beaver is having trouble with math. Wally attempts to help him, and so does Ward, but Beaver is just having difficulty with basic concepts. About ten minutes of the episode is dedicated to seeing him struggle, just so it hits home.

Beaver has to leave school early the day report cards are passed out to go to the dentist, so Gilbert brings Beaver's report card over to his house. Wally is upstairs when Gilbert gets to Beaver's house, so Eddie and Lumpy end up with the report card. Eddie being Eddie, he decides to look at the grades. Grade inflation being what it has been over the past 65 years, Beaver's grades are not so bad with the exception of his math grade which is a D-. Eddie decides to play a trick on Beaver and change the grade to a B+ and leaves the report card on Ward's desk.

Beaver's parents are thrilled with the math grade and decide to get Beaver a present for doing so well. Beaver doesn't gloat because by his estimation his grade should not be so high, but he doesn't want to rock the boat, which is the same advice brother Wally gives him. But then June and Miss Lander end up speaking about something else entirely and the truth comes out about Beaver's actual math grade. So June and Ward are convinced Beaver is the one who has changed the grade and are going to punish him even more than they normally would if he does not admit it. He does not, and goes upstairs to await punishment over something he did not do.

Wally shows himself to be quite the big brother here. He's the only one who believes Beaver AND he solves the mystery of who changed the grade AND he goes over to Eddie's house and stands over him while he calls the Cleavers and confesses all. No doubt Wally was threatening to throttle Eddie if he did not come through.

What Eddie did was despicable. He didn't give a thought to what would happen to Beaver when the truth inevitably came out. He was only interested in being the wise guy of the moment. Eddie claimed Lumpy egged him on, but in fact he did not. But it is likely Eddie would not have changed the grade without an audience . We see from an adjacent episode that an audience is all that makes life bearable for Eddie.

Ward and June admit they have to apologize to Beaver, but this apology is not shown to the audience because no doubt it would be hard to craft a sufficient apology for falsely accusing Beaver as they did. I wonder - Did they not wonder or even ask how the report card got on Ward's desk if nobody in the family was around to put it there? Only good thinking by Wally saved them from committing an injustice.