The "Leave it to Beaver" Life

Several of the boys have taken a liking to the old Leave it to Beaver TV show. I’m talking the squeaky clean, monochromatic, “Jerry Mathers as the Beaver” version.

Watching episodes with them you can’t help but notice some of the differences between the late 1950s/early 1960s world of the Cleaver family and the world of today.

For one thing, they’ve got corded telephones, tiny refrigerators, cars without seatbelts, and they have to shop in-person for almost everything. Exhausting. But I see some more impactful differences, even if they are a bit less noticeable, in the Leave it to Beaver life.

As I talk about the differences below I should note that I’m aware that the narrow presentation by Hollywood of one family at one time in history can only be representative of so much. It’s not historical in the sense of being a true look at a family in the late 50s.

However, the fact that this was depicted as the ideal and in such a way that was not inauthentic to the contemporary audience (it was a very popular show when it was airing) says something true. All families were not the way the Cleavers were depicted but it must have been generally relatable at the time.

Anyway, one of the differences I noticed were the kids use to dress up to go to school. For example, the elementary school boys might be wearing corduroys and a button down shirt. I drove past a public high school when class let out recently and saw lots of diversity in the kids’ attire, but that included such apparel as: pajamas, pants that had legs six sizes too big, and shirts that had less material on them than a swimsuit.  

There’s also a noticeable difference in manners between kids and adults and even amongst the adults. The efforts at politeness shown to visitors and rules of etiquette in letters and in phone calls that you see in the show demonstrate a time when treating others politely reflected on your character and your station in society.

I don’t think the argument that manners are purely superficial holds water even if they can be used that way (see: Eddie Haskell). The Cleavers’ manners seem to represent the decorum of an upper-middle class family. And that must have been seen as ideal even if by the middle of the century a lot of the “old” manners were starting to go by the wayside.

A society without classes is a popular aspiration but a classless society in the sense of without class or refinement seems to be where we’ve landed. At least, it’s hard to watch an episode and feel the Cleavers wouldn’t be embarrassed at what passes for public presentation and discourse today.

One of the things I like best about the show is something so different that I can barely relate to it anymore. It’s such a difference that half of the episode’s plots wouldn’t even work if they were set in today’s society.

In Leave it to Beaver, when you left the house you were out and unreachable. No portable phones or car phones much less cell phones for them. The person trying to reach you would just have to wait until you came home again. People, gasp, didn’t know your GPS coordinated location at all times

The freedom to see messages only when you’re in the office or at home must be unimaginable to Gen Z. Of course in the show this also meant Wally had to go out looking for the Beaver if his parents wanted him and didn’t know where he was – which was a lot!

Not that he was off getting into danger, but middle school kids weren’t expected to be on the leash of a cell phone to keep their parents feeling like they were in control of where they were and what they were doing. Be home for supper and don’t cross the railroad tracks. #midcentury parenting

It’s hard to see the midcentury family and not think they conducted themselves better, were politer, and had a better balance between work and home life. Of course, there’s nothing stopping individual families from resurrecting some of these virtues today. Even if we can’t entirely opt out of that digital dog leash.