View source for Leave It to Beaver

{{Short description|American television sitcom (1957–1963)}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Infobox television
| image                = Beavertitlea.jpg
| caption              = Season one title screen
| genre                = {{Plainlist|
* [[Sitcom]] 
* [[Children's television series]]
}}
| creator              = [[Joe Connelly (producer)|Joe Connelly]]<br />[[Bob Mosher]]
| starring             = {{Plainlist|[[Hugh Beaumont]]<br />[[Barbara Billingsley]]<br />[[Tony Dow]]<br />[[Jerry Mathers]]}}
| theme_music_composer = David Kahn<br />Melvyn Leonard<br />Mort Greene
| opentheme            = "The Toy Parade"
| composer             = [[Pete Rugolo]] {{small|(1957–62)}}<br />[[Paul Smith (composer)|Paul Smith]] {{small|(1962–63)}}
| company              = [[Revue Studios]]<br />[[NBCUniversal Television Distribution|MCA TV]]<br />[[George Gobel|Gomalco Productions]]<br />(1957–1961)<br />(seasons 1–4)<br />Kayro Productions<br />(1961–1963)<br />(seasons 5–6)<br />[[Universal Television]]
| country              = United States
| language             = English
| num_seasons          = 6
| num_episodes         = 234
| list_episodes        = List of Leave It to Beaver episodes
| executive_producer   =
| producer             = Joe Connelly<br />Bob Mosher
| location             = [[Republic Studios]]<br />[[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]]<br />Los Angeles
| runtime              = 30 minutes
| camera               = [[Single-camera setup|Single-camera]]
| network              = [[CBS]]
| first_aired          = {{Start date|1957|10|4}}
| last_aired           = {{End date|1958|7|16}}
| network2             = [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
| first_aired2         = {{Start date|1958|10|2}}
| last_aired2          = {{End date|1963|6|20}}   
| related              = ''[[The New Leave It to Beaver#Still the Beaver|Still the Beaver]]''<br />''[[The New Leave It to Beaver]]''<br />[[Leave It to Beaver (film)|''Leave It to Beaver'' (1997 film)]] 
}}

'''''Leave It to Beaver''''' is an American television [[sitcom]] that follows the misadventures of a suburban boy, his family and his friends. It starred [[Barbara Billingsley]], [[Hugh Beaumont]], [[Tony Dow]] and [[Jerry Mathers]].

[[CBS]] first broadcast the show on October 4, 1957, but dropped it after one season. [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] picked it up and aired it for another five years, from October 2, 1958, to June 20, 1963. It proved to be a scheduling challenge for both networks, moving through four time slots (Wednesday through Saturday evenings) over the course of its run.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.tv.com/show/1422/summary.html |title=Leave It to Beaver |website=TV.com |access-date=October 8, 2007 |archive-date=December 27, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081227032438/http://www.tv.com/show/1422/summary.html }}</ref> The series was produced by [[Gomalco Productions]] from 1957 to 1961, and then by Kayro Productions from 1961 to 1963. It was distributed by [[Revue Studios]].

While ''Leave It to Beaver'' never broke into the [[Nielsen Ratings]] top 30 in its six-season run, it proved to be much more popular in [[rerun]]s. It also led to an unsuccessful 1997 [[Leave It to Beaver (film)|film of the same name]].

==Premise==
The show is built around young [[Theodore Cleaver|Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver]] ([[Jerry Mathers]]) and the trouble he gets himself into while navigating an often incomprehensible, sometimes illogical world. Supposedly, when he was a baby, his older brother Wallace "[[Wally Cleaver|Wally]]" ([[Tony Dow]]) mispronounced "Theodore" as "Tweedor". Their firm-but-loving parents, [[Ward Cleaver|Ward]] ([[Hugh Beaumont (actor)|Hugh Beaumont]]) and [[June Cleaver]] ([[Barbara Billingsley]]), felt "Beaver" sounded better. Conversely, Mathers has said that the real reason for the name "Beaver" is that one of the show's writers, Joe Connelly, had a shipmate named "The Beaver" in [[World War II]]; from that came the family's name, "Cleaver."<ref name="Mathers PARADE">{{Cite web |url=http://www.parade.com/features/touchstones/071003-jerry-mathers.html |title='I've Had a Charmed Life' |work=Parade |access-date=October 8, 2007 |archive-date=March 24, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090324133248/http://www.parade.com/features/touchstones/071003-jerry-mathers.html }}</ref>

Beaver's friends include the perpetually apple-munching [[Larry Mondello]] ([[Rusty Stevens]]) in the early seasons, and, later, [[Leave It to Beaver#Supporting characters|Gilbert Bates]] ([[Stephen Talbot]]), as well as the old firefighter, Gus ([[Burt Mustin]]). His sweet-natured-but-no-nonsense elementary school teachers are [[Miss Canfield]] (to whom Beaver declares his love in the episode entitled "[[Leave It to Beaver season 1#ep8|Beaver's Crush]]") ([[Diane Brewster]]), [[Miss Landers]] ([[Sue Randall]]) and [[Mrs. Rayburn]] ([[Doris Packer]]), the school's principal. In the early seasons, Beaver's nemesis in class is [[Judy Hensler]] ([[Jeri Weil]]).

In its first season, Wally was in eighth grade and 12 years old, while Beaver was 7 and in second grade, a five-year age difference; in real life, the two actors were only three years apart. By the series' end, the boys were inexplicably only four years apart, with Wally graduating from high school and Beaver graduating from grammar school. Wally is popular with both peers and adults, getting into trouble much less frequently than some of the other characters. He [[Letterman (sports)|letters]] in three sports. He has little difficulty attracting girlfriends, among them [[Mary Ellen Rogers]] ([[Pamela Baird]]) and Julie Foster ([[Cheryl Holdridge]]). His pals include the awkward [[Clarence Rutherford|Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford]] ([[Frank Bank]]) and smart aleck [[Eddie Haskell]] ([[Ken Osmond]]), the [[archetype]] of the two-faced wise guy, a braggart among his peers and an obsequious [[sycophant|yes man]] to the adults he mocks behind their backs. Eddie often picks on the Beaver.

The family lives in the town of Mayfield, Ohio. In the episode "The Grass is Always Greener" (Season 2, Episode 15) a major clue is seen on the side of a "Henry's Refuse" garbage truck, where the address "8102 Euclid" is seen. Euclid Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the Cleveland, Ohio area and Mayfield is a Cleveland suburb. Beaver attends Grant Ave. Grammar School and Wally attends Mayfield High School (after graduating from Grant Ave. in season one).

==Cast==
[[File:Cleaver family Leave it to Beaver 1960.JPG|thumb|upright=1|The Cleaver family]]
===Main characters===
* [[Barbara Billingsley]] as [[June Cleaver]]: Billingsley has said that June Cleaver's wardrobe was more than a fashion statement.{{Citation needed|date=July 2007}} The pearl necklace hid a hollow (caused by a surgical scar) in her neck that would have caused shadows<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=49750&cl=4369353&ch=61492&src=news |title=GMA Time Machine - "Leave It to Beaver" is 50 (5 min. 36 sec. video clip) |publisher=ABC News |date=October 4, 2007 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and [[high-heeled shoe]]s were employed to offset the boys' growing height.
* [[Hugh Beaumont]] as [[Ward Cleaver]]: Before he made Ward Cleaver his acting trademark, Beaumont sometimes played villains in film and television. He directed a number of ''Leave It to Beaver'' episodes in the last two seasons, including the final one, the retrospective "[[Family Scrapbook]]".
* [[Tony Dow]] as [[Wally Cleaver]]
* [[Jerry Mathers]] as [[Theodore Cleaver|Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver]]: The casting directors noticed that Mathers was uneasy at the auditions and asked him where he would rather be. Mathers replied that he would rather be at his [[Cub Scouting (Boy Scouts of America)|Cub Scout]] den meeting, where he was going after the audition. That boyish innocence got Mathers the part of Beaver.<ref name="Mathers PARADE"/>

===Supporting characters===
* [[Ken Osmond]] as [[Eddie Haskell]]
* Eddie Haskell's parents played by:
** [[Karl Swenson]] in two 1958 episodes, "Train Trip" and "Voodoo Magic".
** [[Ann Doran]] in the 1958 episode "Voodoo Magic".
** [[John Alvin (actor)|John Alvin]] in the 1961 episode "Eddie Spents the Night".
** [[Anne Barton (actress)|Anne Barton]] in two 1963 episodes, "Summer in Alaska" and "The Credit Card".
** [[George O. Petrie]] in two 1963 episodes, "Summer in Alaska" and "The Credit Card".
* [[Diane Brewster]] as Miss Canfield (October 4, 1957{{snd}}March 21, 1958 air dates), Beaver's first teacher at Grant Avenue Grammar School. Brewster also played Miss Simms in the pilot episode.
* [[Sue Randall]] as Miss Alice Landers (October 16, 1958{{snd}}June 20, 1963), Beaver's teacher, replacing Miss Canfield
* [[Doris Packer]] as Mrs. Rayburn, the [[Principal (school)|principal]] of Grant Avenue Grammar School
* [[Stephen Talbot]] as Gilbert Bates (March 19, 1959{{snd}}June 6, 1963): Appears first as an insecure braggart, becomes a character who constantly gets Beaver in trouble, and ends up as Beaver's best friend.
* [[Rusty Stevens]] as [[Larry Mondello]] (November 22, 1957{{snd}}1960)
* [[Madge Blake]] as Margaret Mondello, Larry's mother
* [[Richard Correll]] as Richard Rickover (April 30, 1960{{snd}}October 18, 1962)
* [[Stanley Fafara]] as Hubert "Whitey" Whitney (October 4, 1957{{snd}}June 6, 1963)
* [[Jeri Weil]] as Judy Hensler (October 4, 1957{{snd}}October 15, 1960)
* [[Burt Mustin]] as Gus the fireman, head of Auxiliary Firehouse No. 7 (October 4, 1957{{snd}}February 24, 1962)
* [[Frank Bank]] as [[Clarence Rutherford|Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford]]
* [[Richard Deacon (actor)|Richard Deacon]] as [[Fred Rutherford]], Lumpy's pompous, demanding father and Ward Cleaver's equally pompous, smug co-worker
* [[Buddy Hart]] as Chester Anderson
* [[Tiger Fafara]] (Stanley Fafara's brother) as Tooey Brown, Wally's friend
* [[Pamela Baird]] as Mary Ellen Rogers (April 16, 1958{{snd}}June 20, 1963), Wally's first girlfriend
* [[Cheryl Holdridge]] as Julie Foster (January 7, 1961{{snd}}April 11, 1963), another of Wally's girlfriends

==Episodes==
{{Main|List of Leave It to Beaver episodes}}
{{:List of Leave It to Beaver episodes}}

The [[Television pilot|pilot]], titled "It's a Small World", aired on April 23, 1957.<ref>[http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/L/htmlL/leaveittob/leaveittob.htm Orlick, Peter. ''Leave It to Beaver''] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080207010235/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/L/htmlL/leaveittob/leaveittob.htm |date=February 7, 2008 }}). Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved April 15, 2008.</ref><ref name="Mathers autobio">Mathers, Jerry (1998). ''...and Jerry Mathers as The Beaver''. Berkley Boulevard Books. {{ISBN|0425163709}}.</ref>  It featured [[Max Showalter]] (credited as Casey Adams) as Ward Cleaver, and Paul Sullivan as Wally Cleaver. [[TBS (American TV channel)|TBS]] re-aired the pilot on October 4, 1987, to commemorate the show's 30th anniversary. [[TV Land]] re-aired it on October 6, 2007, as part of their twenty-four-hour [[Marathon (media)|marathon]] to commemorate the show's 50th anniversary.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.tvland.com/marathon/beaver/ |title=Episodes of Leave It to Beaver Marathon - TV Land.com |access-date=December 15, 2022 |archive-date=November 11, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071111061729/http://www.tvland.com/marathon/beaver/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> It is also available as a bonus episode on the season-one DVD; 234 episodes followed.

The second episode, "Captain Jack", was intended to be the pilot, but as Jerry Mathers told [[Fox News]] in 2014, the episode had to show a toilet, which censors would not allow at the time. Wally and Beaver put their pet alligator in the toilet tank, since it needed to be in water. The episode was finally allowed to air with just the toilet tank showing. Mathers said the show "actually set some precedent for the television industry."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.aol.com/leave-beaver-broke-major-television-151120415.html|title='Leave It to Beaver' Broke a Major Television Rule by Showing This Household Item for the First Time, 68 Years Ago|last=Andaloro|first=Angela|work=[[People magazine|People]]|date=October 15, 2025|access-date=October 15, 2025}}</ref> 

A [[voice-over]] by Hugh Beaumont precedes each episode in the first season, providing a background to that episode's theme. These are omitted in airings on TV Land, but included in airings on [[MeTV]]. 

===Opening titles===
Season one: The characters are not shown. A drawing of a street, viewed from above, displays the credits in wet concrete.

Season two: Ward and June, standing at the bottom of the stairs, see the boys off to school as they come down the stairs and exit the front door.

Season three: Ward and June enter the boys' bedroom to wake them.

Season four: Ward and June open the front door and stand on the [[Urban stoop|stoop]]. As Wally, followed by Beaver, leave for school, June hands them their lunches; Ward gives them their jackets.

Season five: June takes refreshments to the men in the front yard.

Season six: June, carrying a picnic basket, walks from the front door towards the car. Ward, carrying a thermos jug for the picnic, is next, followed in quick succession by Wally. Beaver, lagging behind, runs out, slamming the door behind him. Ward, with June in the passenger seat and the boys in back, then reverses toward the camera.

===Musical theme===
The show's playfully-bouncy theme tune, which became as much of a show trademark as Beaver's baseball cap or Eddie Haskell's false obsequiousness, was "The Toy Parade," composed by David Kahn, Melvyn Leonard, and Mort Greene. For the final season, however, the song was given a jazz-like arrangement by veteran composer/arranger [[Pete Rugolo]].

==Syndication==
Reruns of the show became part of CBS affiliates' lineups in the mornings for several years. [[TBS (TV network)|TBS]] aired the show for many years in the late 1980s. [[TV Land]] began airing it in July 1998, [[MeTV]] in May 2013, [[Antenna TV]] in May 2015 and [[FETV]] in August 2021. MeTV currently airs it weekdays at 8am & 8:30am ET and Sundays at 1pm & 1:30pm ET,<ref>{{cite web | title=Watch Leave It to Beaver on MeTV | url=https://www.metv.com/shows/leave-it-to-beaver }}</ref> while FETV airs it weekdays at 10:30am & 11:05am ET, every night at 2am & 2:35am ET and Sundays at 6:30am & 7:05am ET.<ref>{{cite web | title=Leave it to Beaver &#124; FETV | url=https://fetv.tv/shows/leave-it-to-beaver/ }}</ref> Today, [[NBCUniversal Television]] owns the syndication rights and all properties related to the series.

==Spinoffs==
A made-for-television reunion movie, ''Still the Beaver'', appeared in [[1983 in television|1983]]. The main original cast appeared, except for Beaumont, who had died the previous year. Ward Cleaver was still a presence, however: the film's story used numerous flashbacks to the original show, as it followed young-adult Beaver's struggle to reconcile divorce and newly minted single fatherhood, straining to cope with what his father might or might not have done, as he faces the possibility of his widowed mother selling their childhood home. June Cleaver is later elected to the Mayfield City Council.

Its reception led to a new first-run, made-for-cable series, ''[[The New Leave It to Beaver]]'' (1984&ndash;1989), with Beaver and Lumpy Rutherford running Ward's old firm (where Lumpy's pompous, demanding father &mdash; played by [[Richard Deacon (actor)|Richard Deacon]] in the original series &mdash; had been the senior partner), Wally as a practicing attorney and expectant father, June having sold the old house to Beaver himself but living with him as a doting grandmother to Beaver's two young sons. Eddie Haskell runs his own contracting business and has a son, Freddie, who is every inch his father's son &mdash; right down to the dual-personality.

===Feature film===
{{main|Leave It to Beaver (film)}}
1997's movie adaptation of the series starred [[Christopher McDonald]] as Ward, [[Janine Turner]] as June, [[Erik von Detten]] as Wally, and [[Cameron Finley]] as Beaver. It was panned by many critics, except for [[Roger Ebert]], who gave it a three-star rating. It performed poorly at the box office, earning only [[United States dollar|$]]10,925,060 against a budget of $15&nbsp;million.<ref>{{Mojo title | id=0119509 | title=Leave It to Beaver}}</ref> Barbara Billingsley, Ken Osmond and Frank Bank made [[cameo appearance]]s in the film.

== Other media ==

=== Books ===

[[Beverly Cleary]] wrote three novels based on the show:<ref>[https://www.goodreads.com/series/278745-leave-it-to-beaver Leave It to Beaver Series]</ref>

*''Leave it to Beaver'' New York : [[Berkley Books|Berkley]], 1960. Berkley Medallion book, G406.<ref>[https://lccn.loc.gov/98814286 Leave it to Beaver]</ref>
*''Here's Beaver!'' New York : Berkley, 1961. Berkley Medallion book.<ref>[https://lccn.loc.gov/98808131 Here's Beaver!]</ref>
*''Beaver and Wally'' New York : Berkley, 1961<ref>[https://search.worldcat.org/title/8479768 Beaver and Wally]</ref>

Juvenile books

*''Leave It to Beaver'' by Lawrence Alson New York : [[Golden Books]], 1959
*''Leave It to Beaver: Fire'' by Cole Fannin  Racine, Wisconsin; Whitman Publishing Company 1962<ref>[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17559214-leave-it-to-beaver Leave It to Beaver]</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/leaveittobeaver0000cole/page/n5/mode/2up texts Leave It to Beaver]</ref>

There was also a novelization of the 1997 film:

*''Leave It to Beaver'' by [[Lisa Rojany-Buccieri]] Los Angeles, Calif. Price Stern Sloan 1997.<ref>[https://search.worldcat.org/title/36387204 Leave it to Beaver]</ref>

==House==
The Cleavers moved from 485 Mapleton Drive to 211 Pine Street, both in Mayfield, for the start of season three. In 1969, the house was reused for another Universal-produced television hit, ''[[Marcus Welby, M.D.]]'' This house can still be seen at [[Universal Studios Lot|Universal Studios]], though the original façade was replaced in 1988 for the following year's ''[[The 'Burbs]]'' and sits in storage elsewhere on the Universal lot. The façade was replaced again for the 1997 ''Leave It to Beaver'' movie.

==Home media==
[[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]] released the first two seasons of ''Leave It to Beaver'' on [[DVD]] in [[DVD region code|Region 1]] in 2005/2006.

On January 26, 2010, it was announced that [[Shout! Factory]] had acquired the rights to the series (under license from Universal). They subsequently released the remaining seasons on DVD as well as a complete series box set.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Leave-Beaver-The-Complete-Series/13428|title=Leave It to Beaver DVD news: Date Change for Leave It to Beaver - The Complete Series |website=tvshowsondvd.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100307223911/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Leave-Beaver-The-Complete-Series/13428|archive-date=March 7, 2010|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

On January 31, 2012, Shout! Factory released a 20-episode best-of set titled ''Leave It to Beaver: 20 Timeless Episodes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Leave-Beaver-20-Timeless-Episodes/16061|title=Leave It to Beaver DVD news: Box Art for Leave It to Beaver - 20 Timeless Episodes |website=tvshowsondvd.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114164712/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Leave-Beaver-20-Timeless-Episodes/16061|archive-date=January 14, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

[[Universal Pictures Home Entertainment]] announced a release of the complete series on [[Blu-ray]] that was released on November 14, 2023.<ref>{{cite web |title=Leave It to Beaver: The Complete Series Blu-ray |url=https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=33407 |website=blu-ray.com |access-date=18 October 2023 |date=13 October 2023}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
!DVD name
!Ep #
!Release date
!Refs
|-
| The Complete First Season
| align="center"|39
| November 22, 2005
| style="text-align:center;" | <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v4_item.asp?item_id=743807|title=Leave It To Beaver: The Complete First Season (DVD 1957) - DVD Empire}}</ref>
|-
| The Complete Second Season
| align="center"|39
| May 2, 2006
| style="text-align:center;" | <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v4_item.asp?item_id=938121|title=Leave It To Beaver: The Complete Second Season (DVD 1958) - DVD Empire}}</ref>
|-
| Season Three
| align="center"|39
| June 15, 2010
| style="text-align:center;" | <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v4_item.asp?item_id=1533244|title=Leave It To Beaver: Season Three (DVD 1959) - DVD Empire}}</ref>
|-
| Season Four
| align="center"|39
| September 14, 2010
| style="text-align:center;" | <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v4_item.asp?item_id=1546945|title=Leave It To Beaver: Season Four (DVD 1960) - DVD Empire}}</ref>
|-
| Season Five
| align="center"|39
| December 14, 2010
| style="text-align:center;" | <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v4_item.asp?item_id=1556926|title=Leave It To Beaver: Season Five (DVD 1961) - DVD Empire}}</ref>
|-
| Season Six
| align="center"|39
| March 1, 2011
| style="text-align:center;" | <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v4_item.asp?item_id=1568935|title=Leave It To Beaver: Season Six (DVD 1962) - DVD Empire}}</ref>
|-
| The Complete Series
| align="center"|234
| June 29, 2010
| style="text-align:center;" | <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v4_item.asp?item_id=1535240|title=Leave It To Beaver: The Complete Series (DVD 2010) - DVD Empire}}</ref>
|-
|}

==Urban legends==
In the mid-1970s, Mathers appeared on ''[[The Tomorrow Show]]'' hosted by [[Tom Snyder]]. Snyder pointed out that Mathers had not worked for a long time and that there was rumor going around that he had been killed "in [[Vietnam War|the war in Southeast Asia]]". Mathers replied that he heard that rumor and he had no idea how it  started. The rumor began when a Sgt. Steven Mathers was killed in Vietnam in 1968, and news wire services erroneously reported this was the Beaver. Actress [[Shelley Winters]] announced it on ''[[The Tonight Show]]''. Mathers said later the rumor was so widespread that his close friend and former costar Tony Dow sent bereavement flowers to his parents. In actuality, Jerry Mathers never set foot in Vietnam, though he did serve in the Air National Guard.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/beaver.htm |title=The Day the Beaver Died |website=KQED.com |date=October 1, 2017}} url=https://www.kqed.org/arts/13809968/jerry-mathers-died-steve-talbot  </ref>

Another urban legend was that actor Ken Osmond (Eddie Haskell) became porn star [[John Holmes (actor)|John Holmes]]. Holmes took Osmond's name and did several movies satirically under the name "Eddie Haskell".  It started because there was some facial resemblance between the two men, which porn distributors exploited by using the name Eddie Haskell in advertising Holmes's films. "It was a pain in my butt for eleven years," says Osmond,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Barnes |first1=Mike |title=Ken Osmond, the Mischievous Eddie Haskell on 'Leave It to Beaver,' Dies at 76 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/ken-osmond-dead-mischievous-eddie-haskell-leave-it-beaver-was-76-1246683/ |website=www.hollywoodreporter.com|date=May 18, 2020 }}</ref> who brought a $25 million defamation suit against porn houses, producers and distributors. The suit went all the way to the California Supreme Court. The court ruled for Holmes, saying the name was protected as a satire. This case set a precedent in the matter, and is still referred to in other cases in California today.<ref>{{cite web
  | title = Osmond v. EWAP, Inc.
  | publisher = Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 3, California
  | date = March 28, 1984
  | url = http://www.casp.net/Osmond%20v.%20EWAP.html
  | access-date = 
  | archive-date = December 17, 2007
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071217182756/http://www.casp.net/Osmond%20v.%20EWAP.html
  | url-status = dead
  }}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{reflist|2}}
; General
* Applebaum, Irwyn, ''The World According to Beaver'', TV Books, 1984, 1998. {{ISBN|1575000520}}.
* Bank, Frank, ''Call Me Lumpy: My Leave It to Beaver Days and Other Wild Hollywood Life'', Addax, 2002. {{ISBN|978-1886110298}}.
* Colella, Jennifer, ''The Leave It to Beaver Guide to Life: Wholesome Wisdom from the Cleavers!'' Running Press, 2006. {{ISBN|9780762427734}}.
* Ehrlich, John, and Richard A., ''75 Aromatic Years of Leavitt & Pierce in Recollection of 31 Harvard Men, 1883–1958''. Cambridge: Leavitt and Pierce Tobacconists, 1958.
* Genzlinger, Neil, [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/arts/television/27beaver.html "Golly, Beav, We’re Historic"]. ''The New York Times'', 5 June 2010.
* Humek, Brian, "The World Famous Beaverpedia", New Siberian Publishing, 2022. {{ISBN|9798848078985}}.
* Kassel, Michael B., [https://d.lib.msu.edu/etd/47374 ''Mass Culture, History and Memory and the Image of the American Family''], PhD dissertation, Michigan State University, 2005 65(9): 3537-A. DA3146050 613p. {{doi|10.25335/73g8-9t70}}.
* Keck, William (3 October 2007), [https://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-10-03-beaver-boys_N.htm "Leave It to Jerry 'Beaver' Mathers, Tony Dow"]. ''USA Today''.
* Osmond, Ken, ''Eddie: The Life and Times of America's Preeminent Bad Boy'', 2014. {{ISBN|0990727300}}.
* Mathers, Jerry, ''...And Jerry Mathers as "The Beaver"'', Berkley Boulevard Books, 1998. {{ISBN|0425163709}}.
* Shaffer, Jeffrey, [https://www.csmonitor.com/1999/0528/p11s2.html "Epic Beaver Cleaver"], ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'', 28 May 1999, 91:128.
* Todt, Ron, [https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=94962&page=1 "Beaver College Announces New Name"]. [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]], 6 January 2006.
* Universal Studios, ''"Leave It to Beaver:" The Complete Series—Seasons 1–6'', Los Angeles: DVD Empire, beginning 2005. {{ISBN|1417074876}}.

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Leave It to Beaver}}
*[https://archive.today/20130204220146/http://www.tvland.com/fullepisodes/leaveittobeaver/?xrs=wiki_beaver Full episodes of ''Leave It to Beaver''] on [[TV Land|TVLand.com]] (USA only)
*{{IMDb title|0050032|Leave It to Beaver}}

{{Leave It to Beaver}}
{{Beverly Cleary}}
{{Portal bar|1950s|1960s|Television|United States}}
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[[Category:Leave It to Beaver| ]]
[[Category:1950s American children's television series]]
[[Category:1950s American single-camera sitcoms]]
[[Category:1957 American television series debuts]]
[[Category:1960s American children's comedy television series]]
[[Category:1960s American single-camera sitcoms]]
[[Category:1963 American television series endings]]
[[Category:American children's television sitcoms]]
[[Category:Television series set in the 1950s]]
[[Category:Television series set in the 1960s]]
[[Category:American television series revived after cancellation]]
[[Category:Black-and-white American television shows]]
[[Category:American English-language television shows]]
[[Category:Television series about children]]
[[Category:American television series about families]]
[[Category:Television series by Universal Television]]
[[Category:Television shows adapted into films]]
[[Category:CBS sitcoms]]
[[Category:American Broadcasting Company sitcoms]]
[[Category:Pete Rugolo]]