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Leave It to Beaver: Wally and the Fraternity (1963)
Ulterior motives
Wally has decided to go to State University, and so has Eddie. Now they are both in the process of deciding upon a fraternity. Ward speaks highly of his own fraternity, Alpha Kappa, and writes a letter of recommendation for them both. But then the pair run into State U student Chuck Bradford who says that "Alpha Kappa is the worst pig house on campus". So apparently things have changed since Ward was at State, but Wally is torn between hurting his dad and being in a substandard fraternity.
Eddie does not have such torn feelings as his first concern is always himself. He thus writes a letter to Alpha Kappa asking the fraternity to withdraw his name from consideration. It turns out Chuck had alternative motives for trash talking Alpha Kappa, but Eddie has already mailed that letter. Complications ensue.
There's a rather fun scene in the middle of the episode where Eddie actually spews some wisdom that goes contrary to what Wally believes. Eddie is talking about the importance of making connections at college while Wally says all that matters is the quality of your education. In fact, both are right, but Eddie's cynical take is really ahead of his time.
I think this show could have successfully continued with the antics of Wally, Eddie and Lumpy at State University and Beaver back home as a high school student. It looks like they were maneuvering to have that as a possibility - All three seniors were going to State U the following year, but Jerry Mathers did not want to continue on with the show, wanting to have a normal high school experience, so LITB was ultimately cancelled at the end of its sixth season.
Leave It to Beaver: Wally's Haircomb (1959)
Wally comes home with a definite hair don't
Wally comes home from the barber's with a new hair style - the jelly roll. This was an actual hair fad of the late 50s along with the DA haircut. The hair is rolled up around the sides, flat in the front and the middle, and like an oil slick all over.
June thinks Wally looks like a gangster with his hair like this, and tries getting Ward to do something, who mentions that the haircut would not do if Wally is going to try out for swim team. This does make an impression on Wally as he ditches the idea of being on the swim team but keeps the hairdo. She makes an appointment with the principal at the high school. The principal is not alarmed by the hairstyle and says the fad will run its course. But when Beaver comes down to go to school one morning with a jelly roll as well, she tries the direct approach with Wally. How will this work out? Watch and find out.
Everybody seems pretty hard on June for going to such lengths to get Wally to rid himself of this hair fad, saying that she was a control freak. But you have to remember that in the 1950s about the worst thing you could be was a non-conformist. People might think you were a Communist or something! And I'm not exaggerating much when I say that. These were different less forgiving and accepting times.
I liked how every time the camera was focused on one of these guys with this jelly roll haircut that you would hear intense 50s rock and roll playing. It was as humorous as the voodoo drums playing in the background every time someone thought that maybe there was something to these voodoo curses in the season one episode, "Voodoo Magic".
Leave It to Beaver: Next Door Indians (1958)
The power of imagination
Eddie tells some tall tales around the lunch table at the school cafeteria about his family finding pirate treasure in South America. Beaver chimes in with his own tale of Indian fights across the street from his house. Eddie, not liking to be outdone in the tale telling department, calls Wally and says that he is bringing Chester and Tooey by tomorrow to dig for Indian relics in the vacant lot across the street. If they don't find any he expects Wally and Beaver to pay up their bet of a dollar fifty that a fight occurred.
The digging doesn't go on long before the boys dig up some interesting looking rocks. They determine they are garnets, used in jewelry, and all figure that they'll be rich. They each talk about what they'll do with their share of their fortune. But then Beaver shows the rocks to Gus, the fireman, who tells Beaver that they are not the kind of garnets that are used in jewelry, but are used to make sandpaper, and are worthless.
This episode doesn't have lots of laughs or bring out anything in particular about the personality or relationships of the guys, but it does show something pretty much dead today - Kids playing outside, using their vivid imagination to construct an alternate reality versus using some manufactured reality. Then there is Beaver's fascination with books that talk about military history that feed his child's imagination even more.
It's a nice look at childhood as it existed before electronics became prolific.
Still the Beaver: Perfect Candidate (1986)
Eddie seeks public office for personal gain
Eddie is planning to ruin Miller's pond by building a huge development there backed by the megabucks of a developer. One morning Eddie is perusing the morning paper and sees that June Cleaver has led an action on the city council to slow development in their town to 3% per year, thus killing the Miller's Pond development. As a result, Eddie decides to run against June for her seat on the city council with the usual abundance of Eddie Haskell dirty tricks and flattery, except now it is in pursuit of public office. Complications ensue.
Eddie's campaign is humorous, just as you'd expect. He has campaign ads where he has his wife, Gert, dressed up like Jackie Kennedy complete with pill box hat. June suggests a debate, and Eddie uses the opportunity to cast aspersions on June's character. How will this work out? Watch and find out.
There is a funny scene towards the beginning where Eddie gets up from his breakfast in bed, puts on his bathrobe, walks to June's house and wakes her up in her bed to complain about killing the Miller's Pond development. Numerous members of the Cleaver clan walk in and declare "Mom! How could you!" as though they walked in on something salacious between Eddie and June. I might add that there was a rumor at one time that Ken Osmond, who portrayed Eddie, had actually married Barbara Billingsley, who portrayed June Cleaver.
Leave It to Beaver: Eddie's Double-Cross (1960)
Eddie and his female double cross paths
Eddie tells Wally that he is "going steady" with pretty Caroline Shuster. Is this like the time in the second season where Eddie said he "had a girl" but it turned out the two of them hadn't even met? No, she knows him, she calls him "Peachy" and she even fixes her hair he way that he likes. Wally and Eddie join Caroline and her friend at the soda shop where Eddie and Caroline make plans to see a movie that night. Everything looks above board to Wally, except for Wally having to ultimately pay for the tab that Eddie picked up for Caroline and her friend.
Later, Wally is picking up some photos he had developed at the drugstore, and Caroline and her friends are in the soda fountain booth nearby, and they have not seen him. There Caroline tells her friends that Eddie is a creep, but that her regular boyfriend is grounded for two weeks so she needs somebody to take her out. This upsets Wally, but he says nothing until he gets home and talks to Ward about what he should do - Leave it alone or tell Eddie. Neither option sits well with Wally. It does appear that Eddie has met his match in Caroline - She is someone willing to use somebody else to get her own way.
June spends most of the episode worried that Wally will follow Eddie's lead and want to go steady too.
At the end, Eddie has a candid moment with Beaver. And yet he usually treats the kid so badly, or at least is free with very bad advice. Eddie comes across as a guy who badly wants to be loved but whose father's affection is transactional. If he can't be loved then he'll be the center of attention by being a wise guy, acting like nobody actually matters to him, when in fact they do.
Leave It to Beaver: Beaver's Accordion (1960)
Beaver and the sales pitch
A circular comes in the mail advertising a free five day trial for a 280 dollar accordion. Ward understands from the sales pitch that the company wants 280 dollars, not to give somebody the "cultural opportunity" mentioned in the letter. He pitches it into a box full of other things to be thrown away. Beaver finds the ad and takes it upstairs to read and ponder it.
Eddie Haskell comes into the room to wait for Wally - he's taking a shower - and gives Beaver the business. Eddie tells Beaver that he's destined for great things with his accordion - his own band, the Ed Sullivan Show, a high salary - and that Beaver's dad is afraid that he'll be forgotten by Beaver and his newfound fame. Beaver buys this spiel and writes the company for the five day trial.
But when Beaver goes to return the accordion before the five day period is up, he needs over six dollars for the shipping which neither he nor Wally has, so he decides to store the accordion in a seldom used hall closet until he can come up with the shipping costs. Expensive complications ensue.
Once again Eddie gives Beaver bad advice. You'd think he'd learn. There's a fun bit of business with Ward and Wally painting their picnic tables gray and June saying she thought they looked better green. Wally tells June that Beaver is sloppy because he's a little kid, then leaves behind a giant paint hand-print on the refrigerator. Ward tries on an old hat from his younger years, and it looks like something he would have worn during his earlier film noir years. Perhaps it was.
Leave It to Beaver: Eddie's Sweater (1963)
Two silhouettes on the shade
Wally has been spending every night this week at Cindy Andrews' house. The complicating factor is that Cindy is Eddie's girl. Rumors abound. There are furtive glances and smart remarks at the dinner table courtesy of Beaver. Lumpy overhears Wally and Cindy in the hall at school planning to get together again and clues in Eddie. Eddie and Lumpy stake out Cindy's house, see Wally come over, and then see the "two silhouettes on the shade" looking like they are in an embrace. Could Wally have gone Cassanova on us just two months before the final episode? Watch and find out.
The thing that I can't figure out is how Eddie landed such a sweet and pretty girl as Cindy. That isn't shown in any of the episodes. I guess it would take much more than a half hour to explain. Especially nice is the conversation Eddie and Beaver are having at the end. There's nothing revealing about it. It's just that Eddie is now treating Beaver as a peer of sorts as Beaver exits childhood and enters adolescence. Eddie is not the wise acre in this episode that he usually is, and is instead much calmer. Insecurity always brought out the serious side of Eddie Haskell.
Leave It to Beaver: Lumpy's Scholarship (1963)
A rare Lumpy-centric episode
Wally, a good overall athlete and excellent student, gets notice that he did not get an athletic scholarship from State U. At the same time, Lumpy gets notice that he did get an athletic scholarship from State U. Lumpy is an OK student, but he's an absolutely wonderful guard - a key position on State's football team that needs filling.
For the first time in his life Lumpy is the center of attention in a good way. The guys laud him, The girls gather round him. He's even got Eddie jealous because the new girl he likes can talk of nothing but Lumpy. Wally throws a party for Lumpy at his house complete with his classmates, presents, and a cake shaped like a football field.
Then Lumpy gets word - in the middle of the party from his own father - that the scholarship offer has been rescinded because of a D that Lumpy got in mathematics. His dad makes him feel like a bonehead over the phone, and that attitude carries into the party, because Lumpy can't bear to tell everyone what has happened, but he also feels like a fake accepting congratulations and gifts given the circumstances. How will this all work out? Watch and find out.
Lumpy started out a real malevolent bullying presence in season one, and has gradually been toned down to where even Eddie Haskell bosses him around under ordinary circumstances, even though Lumpy makes three of Eddie.
Note that June's dancing school Saturdays for the boys back in the early seasons has all been brought to naught since dancing now is mainly just gyrating to the music in free form.
Still the Beaver: Life Without Father (1987)
Can this father/son relationship be repaired?
Freddie is curious as to exactly why his dad, Eddie Haskell, is estranged from his own father. He goes to Wally and says that, for his sixteenth birthday, he'd like his paternal grandfather to be invited to the birthday party that June is throwing for him. Wally goes to Eddie and tells him of Freddie's request, but even the idea angers Eddie as he and his father have not spoken in decades. Wally convinces Eddie that to just squash this request of Freddie's could lead to a rift opening up between himself and his own son someday, and so Eddie relents and his father is invited to the party. Will this lead to a tearful reunion between Eddie and his father? Watch and find out.
The original LITB must have been a great work environment, because actors that had only a couple of appearances on this show during their careers show up in this series from time to time, including George Petrie, who only portrayed George Haskell a couple of times in season six of LITB, reprising his role as Eddie's father in this episode. There's even a humorous tie-in to the season one LITB episode "Voodoo Curse" where Eddie's father thought Beaver's name was Gopher. He repeats that mistake here.
Also note actor Ken Osmond riding around on a motorcycle in this episode. Ken was actually a real motorcycle buff and was a motorcycle cop during part of his tenure with the LAPD. A motorcycle club was also how the actor met his wife of 50 years, married from 1969 until his death in 2020.
Leave It to Beaver: Summer in Alaska (1963)
Eddie's fish story turns out to be true
The guys are discussing their summer jobs situation in Wally's room when Eddie Haskell comes in and announces that because his uncle is a friend of the owner of an Alaska fishing boat his job is going to be aboard that boat. He says he can probably wrangle jobs for Lumpy and Wally if they want one, and the guys seem intrigued. But their parents - not so much. You never see the discussion between Fred Rutherford and Lumpy, but Ward says that Wally is too young to jump into such a hard job with no turning back for the summer and says perhaps after a couple of years of college he'll reconsider.
Again, the guys are discussing the situation - Why they are not allowed permission to go to sea on this boat and Eddie is, when Beaver suggests another possibility - That Eddie is exaggerating this entire fishing boat job and perhaps it doesn't even exist given Eddie's tendency to embellish. So to prove to them that his job is real and that the boat is real, Eddie brings Lumpy and Wally with him when he goes to talk to the fishing boat captain - a real old salt. It turns out the job is not what Eddie thought it would be, and furthermore there is no shore time aboard this boat.
So Eddie wants to back out, Lumpy and Wally are glad that their parents said no, and now Eddie has to find a way to tell his father that he doesn't want to go. It's a very poignant moment between Wally and Eddie when Eddie tells Wally that he's afraid that his father will laugh at him, and worse, that he thinks his father wanted to get rid of him for the summer and will be disappointed . How will this all work out? Watch and find out. And I'll say it again - Wally is a far better friend than Eddie deserves.
You might wonder how parents could tell an adult - which Wally, Lumpy, and Eddie are at this point - that they cannot do something that they want to do. That's because the age of emancipation in most cases was still 21 at this point. The Vietnam War, in which 18 year olds fought and died in an unpopular conflict, is about to change all of that.
Still the Beaver: Shortcuts (1989)
I was expecting more...
... especially from an episode centered around the long time - I guess you call it friendship - between Eddie Haskell and Wally Cleaver, directed by Jerry Mathers. Instead it fell rather flat.
It's 102 in Mayfield and Eddie has been stalling for months concerning the installation of Wally's new air conditioner. It's actually in Canada, so Wally tells Eddie that the two of them are driving to Canada to pick up the air conditioner. Wally is going along for the sole purpose of making sure Eddie doesn't screw up, but Eddie has visions of a bachelor road trip.
Before Wally and Eddie leave, Beaver comes to Wally's house to give him a gift for his trip - a medical alert bracelet - and asks him why Eddie has been his friend all of these years and to name just one thing that Eddie's ever done for Wally. Wally comes up empty on both questions. Complications ensue.
Beaver asked these questions on the original LITB too, several times, and Wally never could come up with a definitive answer, but I think the answer must have been that Wally found Eddie to be fun and so he kept him around because of that in spite of Eddie's lack of character.
This episode came up flat for me, and that's a real disappointment considering this was an episode with so much history regarding the original LITB show. Close to the end of the series run, Eddie is being written as a very one dimensional character who speaks very disparagingly of his wife considering an entire episode was dedicated to showing just how much she means to him in season one. And I was expecting more in the way of a candid moment between Wally and Eddie after a supposed 35 years of friendship seeing this was probably one of the last chances the show would have to really explore this odd relationship that they had.
Still the Beaver: A Farewell to Freddie (1986)
There's some LITB history in this episode
Eddie gives his son, Freddie, 80 dollars to bet on "Grandma Moses", a broken-down horse that never wins. When Freddie spots the Cleaver children, upset because they don't have the 80 dollars they need to repair the window they broke in Mary Ellen's new car, Freddie generously gives them Eddie's money, because the horse never wins - except for this time, at 90 to one.
Eddie is so furious that he sends Freddie to military school to be with his other son Bomber. And then Eddie begins missing the boy. Complications ensue.
This episode hearkens back to the season one episode of LITB entitled "Broken Window" where Wally and the Beaver break the passenger window in the family car by playing baseball too close to the house. In that episode, Wally calls on Eddie to advise them as to what to do as they also did not have enough money to repair the window before their parents got home. Eddie, however, in that episode did not offer to pay for anything.
Both of Eddie Haskell's kids were portrayed by Ken Osmond's actual children, with his youngest son only occasionally showing up and oldest son Eric, as Freddie, being a regular member of the cast. Note that the slides Eddie is looking at when he begins to miss Freddie are actual slides taken of Ken Osmond and son Eric when Eric was a toddler.
Still the Beaver: Birth Announcement (1986)
Thus ends the longest pregnancy in TV history...
... at least as far as I know, and if you count the LITB TV movie back in March 1983 where Mary Ellen first announced she was pregnant, but then in the epilogue June mentions the baby, a son was born. So there is some reworking of the plot in the series.
Mary Ellen thinks she is going into labor, but it turns out to be a false alarm, as Wally contends with a nurse with the disposition of a drill sergeant and the typing skills of a four year old as far as typing in insurance information. Back home they wait, and they wait, and then the day comes when Wally must go to court in a matter where Beaver is a witness. But he has a beeper now so she should be able to reach him at will.
Also Wally has brought Eddie Haskell in to keep watch over her, so what could go wrong? Watch and find out.
Overall this was a sweet humorous episode, with a few bits of old technology that made me realize how much time had passed. When was the last time you saw or even thought about a beeper?
Leave It to Beaver: Tenting Tonight (1958)
A simple but sweet episode
Ward is sent to pick up Wally, Beaver, and their friends after they've been in the movies all day. It doesn't go well. It's basically a frustrating game of tag to get them all together in the lobby. Ward comes home short tempered, perhaps partially about that, but also about the fact that it was a beautiful Saturday and Wally and Beaver spent the entire day indoors watching less than uplifting fare. He promises to take them camping the following week to help get them out of doors. Eddie Haskell tells Wally it will be like it is at his house - His dad will promise something and then when the time comes, act like he never offered to do anything.
The weekend comes and Ward gets word that he must work the weekend, so he does end up having to postpone their promised outing. When he gets home he sees that the boys have pitched a tent in the backyard and are camping out there. It starts to rain in the middle of the night, so Ward leaves the backdoor open just in case they want to come inside, and they do come in for a few hours after the rain sends a river through their tent. It is his way of compromising between making them come in and giving them the freedom to come in, should they decide to do so.
The next day, Sunday, Eddie Haskell is incredulous that Ward did not make them come in during the pounding rainstorm. He then tries to turn it around as their dad not caring what they did. But Wally mentions to Beaver - Who do you think left the backdoor open? They realize that their dad tried to protect them without ruining their fun or completely overriding their perceived autonomy.
And let's not minimize the irony of being told by Eddie Haskell the importance of not being tardy to Sunday school!
Leave It to Beaver: Beaver's Long Night (1962)
Times sure have changed
Ward and June are going to be away for the evening, and so is Wally. Previously Ward and June have said Beaver is old enough to stay home alone without a babysitter, so they feel somewhat obligated to give Beaver a try on his own. Plus Gilbert is coming over. What could go wrong?
Beaver and Gilbert sit down to a night of watching gangster movies. But it does take its toll, even on kids as old as them. Uknown to them, Wally has told Lumpy and Bill to come to his house and they'll drive over to a masquerade party together. As luck would have it, Lumpy and Bill are dressed as gangsters, and Lumpy even has on a grotesque looking mask. They are in an unfamiliar car, so Beaver doesn't recognize it. And they are just parked there, doing nothing. This begins to scare Gilbert and Beaver, thinking that maybe these are hoodlums who have come to the wrong house and are going to "rub them out" by mistake. They call the police - the right thing to do if you are scared of strangers parked in front of your house. And since neither Bill nor Lumpy have any ID on them and are illegally parked, the police haul them into the station. This does cause problems for Ward with his colleague and Lumpy's dad, Fred Rutherford.
In 1962, Beaver is somewhat chastised for overreacting. Today, the first thing you do with a kid that's staying home alone is to go over what to do in case of menacing strangers who show up and don't belong. If they called the police and did not open the door to investigate themselves they'd generally get a pat on the back.
Peck's Bad Boy (1934)
One last memorable role for Thomas Meighan
Peck's Bad Boy, a Sol Lesser production released through Fox, is a picture whose outcome can be guessed at without too much effort and whose characters are more of the stock variety than genuine portraits, but it is an unpretentious effort and worth the required 68 minute investment.
Jackie Cooper does an acceptable job as the bad boy of the title, although he is never particularly naughty. Cooper has a habit over-reading his lines so that all the emotion is wrung out of them and the audience has no room to interpret what is left, and this makes him a somewhat obvious performer. Still, he brings a proper amount of energy and charm to the part without adopting the overbearing style of-well, certain other child actors of the time.
Thomas Meighan is the reason I watched the picture in the first place, and his performance is very good indeed. He and Cooper have a nice rapport, and in spite of having no children of his own he takes to the role of a father very kindly and memorably. His voice is perhaps 95% like I imagined it to be, neither too soft nor too gruff, a low tenor that complements his looks and personality quite well. Other latter-day reviews have commented on how tired he looks in the film, and while he does look somewhat older than in The Racket his energy is not much different than it ever was. Getting ants in his clothes is one of the worse indignities one of his screen characters ever suffered, and his reaction as he feels something odd while sitting in church is hilarious. This scene probably should have went on a bit longer to build up the comic effects.
Jackie Searl turns in a better performance than Cooper, whether because his was the superior talent or simply because nasty kids are always more fun to watch than the wholesome ones (cf. Bright Eyes and These Three). Searl gradually turns the character from a harmless nerd into a vicious usurper, and such a transformation is an impressive achievement for a 12 or 13-year-old. It's a pity that Searl never became a bigger star. The rest of the cast is generally good as well, particularly Howard and Heggie. Dorothy Peterson struck me as rather annoying, but I haven't seen enough of her work to know whether it was the performer or the character.
As to the quality of the picture overall, Peck's Bad Boy is one of many instances of a wicked step-family appearing to take over the rightful place of another relative, although since Bill is adopted Lily and Horace have no compunction about claiming what they feel is their place in the Peck home. It's odd that Henry doesn't see through their manipulation; he doesn't start to get it until his son runs away and he notices that Lily has swapped their bedrooms (Bill's was the larger and Horace had been eyeing it since he moved in). The plot is wrapped up rather quickly, and we might wonder how Lily and Horace are actually confronted. But even if this picture does not break outstandingly new ground, it does allow a great screen actor one last memorable role and a younger actor the chance to show what he could do--and should have done more of--as well.
Leave It to Beaver: Bachelor at Large (1962)
Eddie goes to the dogs
Eddie Haskell makes high school headlines when he has a huge fight with his parents and as a result moves out and rents a room of his own. He makes it sound so glamorous to the other guys - He makes every night sound like a beach movie without the sand - He talks about how the joint is always jumping and the girls who live in the rooming house argue over who will cook for him. There's even talk of him putting in a phone.
All of this talk makes the Cleavers nervous - What if Wally gets upset at them sometime and just moves out? This bachelor pad fever may be contagious. But then Wally and Beaver have occasion to visit the rooming house where Eddie lives and see just how much reality diverges from the story he's been telling. Can Eddie Haskell be persuaded to return home without damaging his delicate pride? Watch and find out.
I'm surprised the guys wouldn't think back on all of the times Eddie has embellished the details of his own feats and not realize that this was, once again, one of those times. But it might have been a case of wishful thinking - Of wanting to live adventurously through Eddie without having to leave the safety of home themselves.
And just a thought on how housing prices have changed. When the news of Eddie first moving out first hits, Wally mentions that Eddie can afford to move out since he has a job after school and on weekends. Nobody disputes that statement. So in 1962 a teenager's part time job was sufficient to put a roof over their head. Today a full time job, often that of a college graduate, is not sufficient to pay rent. Plus, so many of the old style boarding houses have ceased to exist - partially due to stricter regulations and partly because it is hard to find tenants who won't trash a place.
Safe in Hell (1931)
When you think of William Wellman you might not think of this one
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, 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, regardless of the circumstances.
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 very early sound 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.
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
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
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)
Beaver's bathroom - a familiar hideout
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)
Wally is put upon by a predatory female
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)
We should all have bosses as kind and diplomatic as Mr. Gibson
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)
What a shame to be exposed as less generous than Eddie Haskell
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.