"Leave It to Beaver" New Neighbors (TV Episode 1957) Poster

(TV Series)

(1957)

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7/10
Nothing routs us but the villainy of our fears.
pensman16 June 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Ward lets us know that tonight's theme is fear. The Cleavers are getting new neighbors and June knows more about them than the FBI. Upstairs, Wally, Beaver, and Eddie Haskell are also "spying" on the new neighbors. June want Wally to take some flowers to the Donaldsons as a welcome gift, Wally doesn't want to, but Beaver is willing. When Mrs. Donaldson accepts the flowers, she gives Beaver a peck on the cheek.

Eddie convinces Wally they should give Beaver the business about the kiss. Eddie tells Beaver that Mr. Donaldson won't like it that his wife kissed Beaver. Beaver tries to sound Ward out about the "problems" of kissing a married woman, but doesn't get much useful information. Turns out the new neighbors have a niece, Julie; and they thought they might invite Beaver over to meet her.

Unfortunately, Beaver has been made to fear Mr. Donaldson; so when he says he wants to talk to Beaver, Beaver runs away. Doesn't help that Mr. Donaldson is huge, and is holding bush trimming clippers in his hands at the time. Mr. Donaldson asks his wife to call June, that might help get the little guy over.

Beaver has decided he is going to hide in his room forever. Forever is a short time, as June tells him that he has been invited over to the Donaldson's.

June is making sure Beaver is ready but she isn't mentioning the niece. Beaver says his head hurts; does he have to go. He is taking a present: yo-yo. Beaver leaves as though he is never coming back. Eddie and Wally stop Beaver on the way over and make him even more nervous. Eddie makes up such a story as to what might happen, he scares himself and takes off for home.

Outside the house, Wally is making a sound like a sick cow as a signal all is OK, but Beaver passes it off as an owl. However, the plan falls apart when Ward finds Wally with a periscope to look into the window with; he is disappointed that Wally is jealous of his brother for being invited to the Donaldson's. Wally can't explain what he is doing, so he has to go home. When Mrs. Donaldson goes to the door to let her husband and niece it, Beaver is missing upon her return.

The Donaldsons come over looking for the Beaver. Ward goes upstairs in search of his son who is hiding under the bed. Beaver is just about quaking in terror when it comes to meeting Mr. Donaldson. When Ward tries to explain, it doesn't get any better. Doesn't help that Ward doesn't have any reason he can offer or even understand himself. Now the Donaldsons think Ward is just crazy.

The next morning Ward and June figure they won't be having much to do with the Donaldsons, but when they look out the window there is Beaver shaking hands with Mr. Donaldson. When Beaver comes him they ask why the turnaround; why isn't Beaver afraid anymore. Beaver explained to Mr. Donaldson, and now Beaver can kiss his wife anytime he wants. Ward wants to ask Beaver what was all that about. June makes the biggest mistake of her life when she tells Ward to just leave it. A little digging and they would have known the "character" of Eddie Haskell and would have been ready for him.
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7/10
Enter stage left, Eddie Haskell
AlsExGal30 April 2024
This is a minor but otherwise enjoyable little episode of LITB that's made better by the first appearance of the character of Eddie Haskell as a friend of Wally's.

The Donaldsons are a new couple moving in next door. June sends Beaver over to the Donaldsons with a bouquet of flowers as a housewarming gift, and Mrs. Donaldson kisses Beaver on the cheek in return. Eddie and Wally see everything from the window, and Eddie starts kidding the Beaver about the danger of kissing married women, that being an angry jealous husband if he finds out. This gets Beaver's imagination going and it doesn't help that his introduction to Mr. Donaldson is when the muscle bound fellow pops up from behind the hedges with a huge pair of clippers in his hands. Complications ensue.

The dynamic between Eddie and Wally changes in future episodes, because in the first couple of episodes where Eddie appears, Wally seems to listen to and agree with Eddie. Later, as the true manipulating and braggart personality of Eddie's character emerges, Wally is shown to have more of a "Oh, get out of here Eddie before I pop ya one!" kind of attitude. The show couldn't have the scholarly athletic Wally, the all-American teen, take somebody like Eddie Haskell seriously!

There's a hilarious conversation between Beaver and Ward where Beaver tries to ask his father if he has any experience with married women. Ward answers in a way that makes you wonder if he was a bit of a cad in his single years before he remembers he's talking to his young son and tries to steer the conversation in a different direction.
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Fascinating when viewed as G-rated sex-tease
lor_16 June 2017
Watching the earliest episodes of this series 60 years after first viewing them as broadcast I was struck with the silly childishness of the Norman Tokar direction and especially the Mosher/Connelly writing - talking down to the family audience with the kids' mangling of the English language really sticking out. But this 5th installment raised a question I had long been wondering about: the sophistication and "double meanings" inherent in sophisticated filmmakers (or TV purveyors) creating "family entertainment".

The level of double entendres and outright sexual overtones of the show are astounding in "New Neighbors", even the title appropriate for a 21st Century porn video. The sexual slang meaning of "beaver", our darling young hero's iconic nickname, is even suggested when the neighbors' cute litte niece meets his dad (Hugh Beaumont's character) and remarks "he doesn't look like a beaver". Note that in these early shows, as compared to his buttoned-down jacket & tie habiliment in later years, Hugh is always casually dressed, with open collar shirt exposing a hairy chest beneath!

Central premise of the segment posits the neighbor lady (a sexy actress Phyllis Coates in the role, a former Lois Lane on the Superman TV series) having innocently kissed Beaver on the cheek, setting into motion all sorts of comical misunderstandings. They are staged in sniggering fashion by director Norman Tokar, a hack who almost exclusively made kiddie films mainly for Disney, as in showing Wally outside the window acting as lookout for the Beaver (Coates' hubby is due home and both brothers fear the worst from "the jealous guy") more or less explicitly shown as a Peeping Tom.

Coates is terrific in playing her part as a Cougar, but clearly G-rated, though her attentions towards the Beaver are suspect if viewed with a dirty mind (that's me!). Similarly, the eventual rapprochement with the almost angry neighbor husband (Charles Gray, not the great British "Rocky Horror" character actor but a journeyman American thesp) makes for a happy ending but also can have one wondering what this potential chicken hawk might actually be up to.

I'm intentionally trying to read into a surface-innocent piece of claptrap the most suggestive of interpretations, but the point I'm making is that the material to do so is all there on screen in the writing and direction. So as in time-honored Disney fashion and even as the late Adam West summed up the success of his "Batman" TV show, G-rated filmmakers typically set up a double game, providing humor and adventure to satisfy the target children in the audience, but also peppering the movie with adult jokes and implications designed to soar over the youngsters' heads and be appreciated by the dutiful parents or guardians taking the kids out to a movie. Clearly, the makers of "Leave It to Beaver", worldly professionals in the Entertainment biz, have exposed their hand in this particular episode.
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6/10
Beaver Meets The Donaldsons Warning: Spoilers
(*June Cleaver quote*) - "I just don't trust a 13-year-old boy (Eddie Haskell) that that's polite."

The Donaldsons are moving into the house next door to the Cleavers.

Wally, Eddie and Beaver are all watching the activities from their bedroom window.

Eddie puts the fear into Beaver that Mr. Donaldson is a big bully.

Beaver gets invited over to the Donaldsons for a small party that includes their niece, Julie.

Beaver runs and hides when Mr. Donaldson shows up.
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