Wally Cleaver
Encyclopedia
Wallace "Wally" Cleaver is a fictional character
in the icon
ic American television sitcom Leave It to Beaver
. Wally is the thirteen-year-old son of archetypal 50s suburban parents, Ward
and June Cleaver
and the older brother of the seven-year-old ("almost eight") title character, Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver
. The characters grew older along with the actors.
Wally is portrayed in the series by Tony Dow
. Dow portrays an adult Wally Cleaver in both the reunion telemovie, Still the Beaver (1983), and, in the sequel series The New Leave It to Beaver
(1985–1989). Child actor Paul Sullivan, however, portrays the character in the series pilot, "It's a Small World"
which aired in April 1957. In the 1997 film adaptation of the original series, Leave It to Beaver
, Wally is portrayed by Erik von Detten
.
Leave it to Beaver was created by writers Joe Connelly
and Bob Mosher
who found inspiration among their own children for plot lines and dialogue. Wally is based on Connelly's son, Jay.
, basketball
and baseball
being his three favorite sports. His friends, Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford
and Eddie Haskell
, have a knack for getting into trouble and taking Wally along for the ride. Unlike his brother Beaver (who thinks girls are "creepy"), Wally has many girlfriends during the course of the series' run. In the later seasons, Wally has a few after school jobs and buys a used car.
The humor of the character rests in Wally's teenage perspective. He occasionally makes blunt or inappropriate comments that are bewildering or embarrassing to adults. He slips into slang occasionally, which upsets his mother. He sometimes humorously regards his parents as clueless squares.
Wally serves as a bridge between Ward, June and Beaver. He is more astute and experienced than his brother and often puts into kidspeak parental communications for Beaver's comprehension. At other times, he clues the parents in on Beaver's activities, plans and feelings. Wally was a five year old when he gave his newborn brother, Theodore, the nickname, "Beaver".
Wally is rarely seen doing regular chores around the house. He sometimes clears the dinner table for his mother (i.e., he carries a few dirty dishes to the kitchen), and in one episode is seen drying dishes. But the typical chores of a teen boy (mowing the lawn, carrying out the trash, washing windows), apparently are not his. After school time is spent practicing sports, and, once home, Wally spends most of his time doing schoolwork in his bedroom. In one episode, however, Ward is out of town and Wally is asked to play the man of the house. He carves the roast at dinner and monitors Beaver's behavior.
Many episodes have a very brief "after school" scene in the kitchen between June and Wally. Wally arrives home and finds his mother preparing dinner; he regales her with teenspeak banter about the day's events at school. Then, as Wally leaves the room with a parting bon mot and the canned laughter kicks in, the camera catches June's bewildered, dazed, or amused facial expression.
A few episodes deal with Wally's teen taste in hairstyles and clothing. In one episode, he infuriates his mother by wearing his hair in a greasy "tango dancer" style and in another episode he irks both his parents when he buys a garish suit in a men's wear store.
lessons to enter a dance contest with Mary Ellen. Even though Mary Ellen was Wally's principal romantic interest, Wally dated several other girls during his high school years. In one episode, he declines a vacation trip with his family to stay at home near his current flame, then discovers she has left town with her parents for a vacation trip. In another episode, he falls for a tennis playing "older woman" who uses him to make her estranged boyfriend jealous. One high-school friend who made five "romantic" appearances was Julie Foster. In one episode, Wally grows a moustache, thinking Julie will be enchanted with his debonair look, and then the poor boy is humiliated when she laughs at it.
and has claimed its place in TV history as the first prime time sitcom episode specifically written as a series finale. In the episode, the Cleavers reminisce over old photos in a scrapbook while flashback clips are played from previous episodes. It is during the course of the last episode the viewer learns how Beaver got his nickname. The show ends with Beaver and Wally playing with a wind up toy and laughing like children.
. The series aired until 1989.
In Still the Beaver and The New Leave It to Beaver, Wally is married to high school-sweetheart Mary Ellen and is an attorney engaged in private practice. Although it is not specified what Wally's exact specialties are, he did serve as Beaver's attorney during his brother's divorce and was able to win Beaver custody of his two sons. When the sequel series begins in 1985, Wally and Mary Ellen are the parents of a 10-year-old daughter, Kelly (Kaleena Kiff). In 1987, Mary Ellen gives birth to their second child, Kevin (who was age advanced to 3 years old in the fall 1987 season and played by Troy Davidson). The family lives at 213 Pine Street ... next door to his widowed mother June, Beaver, and Beaver's sons; Ward had died shortly before the events of Still the Beaver take place (series star Hugh Beaumont had died in 1982).
In 1997, the feature film Leave It to Beaver
was released with young Erik von Detten as Wally.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
ic American television sitcom Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
. Wally is the thirteen-year-old son of archetypal 50s suburban parents, Ward
Ward Cleaver
Ward Cleaver is a fictional character in the American television sitcom Leave It to Beaver. Ward and his wife, June, are often invoked as archetypal suburban parents of the babyboomer 1950s. The couple are the parents of Wally, a thirteen-year-old in the eighth grade, and seven-year-old ...
and June Cleaver
June Cleaver
June Evelyn Bronson Cleaver is a principal character in the American television sitcom Leave It to Beaver. June and her husband, Ward, are often invoked as the archetypal suburban parents of the 1950s. The couple are the parents of two sons, Wally and "Beaver"...
and the older brother of the seven-year-old ("almost eight") title character, Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver
Theodore Cleaver
Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver is the fictional title character in the American television series Leave It to Beaver. Seven-year-old Beaver is son to June and Ward Cleaver and sibling to thirteen-year-old Wally Cleaver .Beaver prefers "messin' around" with his pals and reading comic books to...
. The characters grew older along with the actors.
Wally is portrayed in the series by Tony Dow
Tony Dow
Tony Lee Dow is an American film producer, director, sculptor, and a television child actor of the 1950s and 1960s.Dow is best known for his role in the television sitcom Leave It to Beaver, which ran in primetime from 1957 to 1963...
. Dow portrays an adult Wally Cleaver in both the reunion telemovie, Still the Beaver (1983), and, in the sequel series The New Leave It to Beaver
The New Leave It to Beaver
The New Leave It to Beaver is an American sitcom sequel to the 1950s and '60s series, Leave It to Beaver. The New Leave It to Beaver began with the 1983 CBS TV movie Still the Beaver, and was picked up in 1984 as a Disney Channel series with the same name; however, it only lasted one season...
(1985–1989). Child actor Paul Sullivan, however, portrays the character in the series pilot, "It's a Small World"
It's a Small World (Leave It to Beaver episode)
"It's a Small World" is the pilot episode from the iconic American television series Leave It to Beaver . The pilot was first televised April 23, 1957 on a syndicated anthology series, Studio 57, without a laugh track nor the series' well known theme song, "The Toy Parade"...
which aired in April 1957. In the 1997 film adaptation of the original series, Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver (film)
Leave It to Beaver is a 1997 film that is a remake of the TV series of the same name. There are many in-jokes related to the original series within the movie.-Plot:...
, Wally is portrayed by Erik von Detten
Erik von Detten
Erik Thomas von Detten is an American actor. He is known for his roles in Escape to Witch Mountain, Toy Story, Brink!, The Princess Diaries, and So Weird.-Personal life:Von Detten was born in San Diego, California...
.
Leave it to Beaver was created by writers Joe Connelly
Joe Connelly (producer)
Joe Connelly was a television and radio scriptwriter born in New York City. He was best known for his work on Amos and Andy, Meet Mr...
and Bob Mosher
Bob Mosher
Robert "Bob" Mosher was a television and radio scriptwriter born in Auburn, New York. He was best known for his work on Amos and Andy, Meet Mr. McNutley, Leave It To Beaver, Ichabod and Me, Bringing Up Buddy, and The Munsters, along with his co-writer Joe Connelly who is buried in Culver City's...
who found inspiration among their own children for plot lines and dialogue. Wally is based on Connelly's son, Jay.
Overview
Wally is an intelligent, polite teenage boy, who is trusted by his parents, popular with his peers, and liked by his teachers. He is an athlete with trackTrack and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
and baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
being his three favorite sports. His friends, Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford
Clarence Rutherford
Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford is a fictional character in the television sitcom Leave It to Beaver. The show aired from October 4, 1957 to June 20, 1963. Lumpy is a bit of a bully and, with Eddie Haskell, is one of Wally Cleaver's friends....
and Eddie Haskell
Eddie Haskell
Edward Clark "Eddie" Haskell is a fictional character on the Leave It to Beaver television situation comedy, which ran on CBS from October 4, 1957 to 1958 and then on ABC from 1958 to June 20, 1963...
, have a knack for getting into trouble and taking Wally along for the ride. Unlike his brother Beaver (who thinks girls are "creepy"), Wally has many girlfriends during the course of the series' run. In the later seasons, Wally has a few after school jobs and buys a used car.
The humor of the character rests in Wally's teenage perspective. He occasionally makes blunt or inappropriate comments that are bewildering or embarrassing to adults. He slips into slang occasionally, which upsets his mother. He sometimes humorously regards his parents as clueless squares.
Wally serves as a bridge between Ward, June and Beaver. He is more astute and experienced than his brother and often puts into kidspeak parental communications for Beaver's comprehension. At other times, he clues the parents in on Beaver's activities, plans and feelings. Wally was a five year old when he gave his newborn brother, Theodore, the nickname, "Beaver".
Home life
Though there are four bedrooms in the Cleaver house, Wally and Beaver share a bedroom. Their bedroom is a principal setting on the show. Wally spends his time in the bedroom at a small desk doing school assignments, the boys entertain their friends in the bedroom, and the room is often the scene of Ward's disciplinary lectures. Though Wally sometimes warns Beaver he will suffer some sort of physical punishment from Ward ("Dad's gonna clobber you!"), such punishments never occur.Wally is rarely seen doing regular chores around the house. He sometimes clears the dinner table for his mother (i.e., he carries a few dirty dishes to the kitchen), and in one episode is seen drying dishes. But the typical chores of a teen boy (mowing the lawn, carrying out the trash, washing windows), apparently are not his. After school time is spent practicing sports, and, once home, Wally spends most of his time doing schoolwork in his bedroom. In one episode, however, Ward is out of town and Wally is asked to play the man of the house. He carves the roast at dinner and monitors Beaver's behavior.
Many episodes have a very brief "after school" scene in the kitchen between June and Wally. Wally arrives home and finds his mother preparing dinner; he regales her with teenspeak banter about the day's events at school. Then, as Wally leaves the room with a parting bon mot and the canned laughter kicks in, the camera catches June's bewildered, dazed, or amused facial expression.
A few episodes deal with Wally's teen taste in hairstyles and clothing. In one episode, he infuriates his mother by wearing his hair in a greasy "tango dancer" style and in another episode he irks both his parents when he buys a garish suit in a men's wear store.
Wally's high-school days
In the first season of Leave It to Beaver, Wally is a thirteen-year-old in his final year (8th grade) at Grant Avenue Grammar School. In the second season, Wally attends Mayfield High School, and remains there for the show's last five seasons, despite the fact that he should have graduated. Wally is a good student, who, unlike his brother Beaver, rarely gives his parents or teachers cause for concern. He spends school nights at home glued to his textbooks and scratching out essays in his composition tablet. In one episode, Wally runs for class president but loses the election. In another episode, Eddie "slugs" Wally in the school corridor when he believes Wally is moving in on his girl, and in another episode, Wally is caught by the coach throwing towels around the locker room. The series ends with Wally a high-school graduate preparing for State college and Beaver looking forward to entering Mayfield High.Wally's teen romances
Wally's age permitted the writers to place him in dating situations with his school friends. Wally's first girlfriend on the show is Penny Jamison, a New York girl he meets during ballroom lessons at Miss Spencer's School of the Dance. Penny has danced with college boys and thinks Wally dances just as smoothly as they do. She wraps Wally around her little finger, and even has him going to the library to fetch a copy of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm for her. The romance ends when Beaver sends Penny a toad in a nicely wrapped box. Wally then becomes romantically involved with Mary Ellen Rogers, though the viewer often hears about her rather than sees her. In a first season episode, Mary Ellen cultivates Beaver's friendship in order to get to Wally, then maneuvers Wally into going to a dance against his will. In another episode, Wally takes cha-chaCha-cha-cha (dance)
The Cha-cha-cha is the name of a dance of Cuban origin.It is danced to the music of the same name introduced by Cuban composer and violinist Enrique Jorrín in 1953...
lessons to enter a dance contest with Mary Ellen. Even though Mary Ellen was Wally's principal romantic interest, Wally dated several other girls during his high school years. In one episode, he declines a vacation trip with his family to stay at home near his current flame, then discovers she has left town with her parents for a vacation trip. In another episode, he falls for a tennis playing "older woman" who uses him to make her estranged boyfriend jealous. One high-school friend who made five "romantic" appearances was Julie Foster. In one episode, Wally grows a moustache, thinking Julie will be enchanted with his debonair look, and then the poor boy is humiliated when she laughs at it.
Later seasons
As Beaver grew into an awkward young teen, he sometimes took a back seat to his older brother Wally, a student in his final years of high school. Tony Dow had grown into an attractive, athletic young man and was often featured in "heartthrob"-type magazines aimed principally at teen girls. Producers took advantage of Dow's popularity and scripted episodes delving into Wally's dating life, his after school jobs, his pals, and his car. Beaver was relegated to the background.Finale
In June 1963, the series came to a close at milestones in the lives of Wally and Beaver: high school grad Wally preparing for State college and Beaver looking forward to entering Mayfield High. The last episode was a retrospective one called "Family Scrapbook"Family Scrapbook (Leave It to Beaver episode)
"Family Scrapbook" is the final episode of the iconic American television series Leave It to Beaver. It first aired on ABC on June 20, 1963. It was the 39th episode in the show's sixth and final season, and the 234th episode in the complete series....
and has claimed its place in TV history as the first prime time sitcom episode specifically written as a series finale. In the episode, the Cleavers reminisce over old photos in a scrapbook while flashback clips are played from previous episodes. It is during the course of the last episode the viewer learns how Beaver got his nickname. The show ends with Beaver and Wally playing with a wind up toy and laughing like children.
Subsequent history
In 1983, CBS aired the reunion telemovie Still the Beaver starring Jerry Mathers. Other members of the original series cast, including Dow, reprised their roles. In 1985, a sequel to the original series was produced called Still the Beaver, again starring Jerry Mathers and other original cast members. The series lasted one season on the Disney Channel before being picked up by TBS in 1986 and renamed The New Leave It to BeaverThe New Leave It to Beaver
The New Leave It to Beaver is an American sitcom sequel to the 1950s and '60s series, Leave It to Beaver. The New Leave It to Beaver began with the 1983 CBS TV movie Still the Beaver, and was picked up in 1984 as a Disney Channel series with the same name; however, it only lasted one season...
. The series aired until 1989.
In Still the Beaver and The New Leave It to Beaver, Wally is married to high school-sweetheart Mary Ellen and is an attorney engaged in private practice. Although it is not specified what Wally's exact specialties are, he did serve as Beaver's attorney during his brother's divorce and was able to win Beaver custody of his two sons. When the sequel series begins in 1985, Wally and Mary Ellen are the parents of a 10-year-old daughter, Kelly (Kaleena Kiff). In 1987, Mary Ellen gives birth to their second child, Kevin (who was age advanced to 3 years old in the fall 1987 season and played by Troy Davidson). The family lives at 213 Pine Street ... next door to his widowed mother June, Beaver, and Beaver's sons; Ward had died shortly before the events of Still the Beaver take place (series star Hugh Beaumont had died in 1982).
In 1997, the feature film Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver (film)
Leave It to Beaver is a 1997 film that is a remake of the TV series of the same name. There are many in-jokes related to the original series within the movie.-Plot:...
was released with young Erik von Detten as Wally.