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Ward Cleaver was my great inspiration
Ward Cleaver was my great inspiration
http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/14/Opinion/ Ward_Cleaver_was_my_g.shtml http://tinyurl.com/2thpd5 By Bill Maxwell, Times Columnist Published February 14, 2008 What was the most important image in your life when you were growing up?" a student asked me last year when I addressed a high school honors class in St. Petersburg. "It was Ward Cleaver's den in Leave It to Beaver," I said. Ward's den/office always caught my attention. Here, Ward disciplined his totally normal sons, Beaver and Wally, made telephone calls and balanced the family checkbook. I vividly recall the episode when Ward shared with his sons the joy of reading Mark Twain and the lessons he learned about life from Twain's books and short stories. In another episode, with Beaver and Wally at his side, Ward read from Huckleberry Finn aloud. I imagined myself one day doing the same with my children, which I did. I learned a few years ago that Ward and June, the perfect wife, rarely read anything other than newspapers and magazines. As a child, I missed this fact. The image of that wall of books and Ward's frequent allusions to the moral lessons he learned from books left me with the impression that the Cleavers read voraciously away from the cameras, a kind of enveloping reality. Since then, my living space always has been a library/den. The wonderful thing about having books around is they entice you to read them. As far as I am concerned, a home is not a home if it does not have books and, by the way, a globe. [excerpted] |
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Ward Cleaver was my great inspiration
Fred:
I learned about my love of history from a show called "Time Tunnel". It showed two scientists who went from one time zone to another in order to get back to their time. Great show and wonderful SFX. Keith |
#3
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Ward Cleaver was my great inspiration
Keith Lee wrote in
news Fred: I learned about my love of history from a show called "Time Tunnel". It showed two scientists who went from one time zone to another in order to get back to their time. Great show and wonderful SFX. I also need a special machine to get to another time zone. |
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Ward Cleaver was my great inspiration
On Feb 14, 2:36*pm, "Fred Goodwin, CMA" wrote:
"It was Ward Cleaver's den in Leave It to Beaver," I said. Ward's den/office always caught my attention. Here, Ward disciplined his totally normal sons, Beaver and Wally, made telephone calls and balanced the family checkbook. As I kid, I was not comfortable with Ward. Although he didn't yell or spank, he gave the impression of expecting absolutely perfect behavior and manners from the boys at all times and being very strict about it. He also gave the impression of being rather formal, even when he was telling the boys a story or "when I was your age". With him, everything seemed to have a moral or life lesson the boys were supposed to learn from. Nothing was fun or free spirited just for the heck of it; everything had to have a worthwhile purpose. Did Ward ever tell a joke just to tell a joke? Wally dated regularly in that show, but it was portrayed very strangely. Wally seemed to be doing it because it was one of those things boys his age were supposed to do, not like that he got any special enjoyment from a girl's company. Never any affection ever shown. Most dates didn't work out very well. An aside on how things change... Toward the end of the show, when Beaver was in 7 or 8th grade, he took a girl home from school and up to his room; June dropped off milk and cookies for them. (The girl acted as if she was interested in Beaver, but she really was into Wally and just using Beaver). Today parents would not let a girl and boy of that age up in a bedroom alone. |
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Ward Cleaver was my great inspiration
On Feb 14, 3:28 pm, wrote:
On Feb 14, 2:36 pm, "Fred Goodwin, CMA" wrote: "It was Ward Cleaver's den in Leave It to Beaver," I said. Ward's den/office always caught my attention. Here, Ward disciplined his totally normal sons, Beaver and Wally, made telephone calls and balanced the family checkbook. As I kid, I was not comfortable with Ward. Although he didn't yell or spank, he gave the impression of expecting absolutely perfect behavior and manners from the boys at all times and being very strict about it. He also gave the impression of being rather formal, even when he was telling the boys a story or "when I was your age". With him, everything seemed to have a moral or life lesson the boys were supposed to learn from. Nothing was fun or free spirited just for the heck of it; everything had to have a worthwhile purpose. Did Ward ever tell a joke just to tell a joke? Wally dated regularly in that show, but it was portrayed very strangely. Wally seemed to be doing it because it was one of those things boys his age were supposed to do, not like that he got any special enjoyment from a girl's company. Never any affection ever shown. Most dates didn't work out very well. An aside on how things change... Toward the end of the show, when Beaver was in 7 or 8th grade, he took a girl home from school and up to his room; June dropped off milk and cookies for them. (The girl acted as if she was interested in Beaver, but she really was into Wally and just using Beaver). Today parents would not let a girl and boy of that age up in a bedroom alone. I'm not sure you were paying full attention to the show. Ward was a stereotypical authority figure, but he never showed anger at his sons. He always made it clear that they were forgiven, and were given the chance to make up for whatever tbey did wrong. Yes, it was a very very old-fashioned show with the stilted type of dialogue one might expect in a soap opera. Much like a high school play in some ways. Ward did tell a lame joke in at least one episode I remember off-hand. Wally's date scenes were painful. The writers really went overboard in making every episode a sort of moralistic afterschool special type of scenario. lol |
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Ward Cleaver was my great inspiration
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#7
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Ward Cleaver was my great inspiration
Hugh Beaumont was an ordained Methodist minister while doing the show
and ran his own church, I think that accounts for a lot of the moralistic tone of the show and the way he portrayed Ward. Many times that minister demeanor came out in the way he talked. |
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Ward Cleaver was my great inspiration
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Ward Cleaver was my great inspiration
"Justin Pate" writes:
Mistakes happen when people drink. "Mistakes were made." -Miles -- Idiot, n. A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling. |
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