Silence is Golden!
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I forgot to bring my own headphones on board my JetBlue flight from San Diego to JFK last week, and those little foam rubber substitutes that will no longer be provided for free after June 1 are just so uncomfortable. So, I decided instead to entertain myself by watching Leave It To Beaver without sound. Now, I have a special interest in the Beav, because while I was growing up my friend lived across the street from the kid who played Beaver's brother Wally, which made Wally and me almost best friends. I never actually met him, but I spent lots of time spying on his little Tudor house in Toluca Lake, California. We hoped he would come out and play, but he never did. Watching a show without sound can be enlightening. There is June, the goddess of motherhood that we love to disdain, dressed primly and perfectly coiffed grating potatoes (by hand) with a cheery smile, while Ward and the boys eat breakfast. She pauses briefly only to refill Ward's little flowered china coffee cup. Ward stops reading his paper long enough to join June in regarding their youngest son with a mixture of bemusement and concern as Beaver, his brow knitted, tells his parents something they are obviously not pleased to hear.Ward and the boys then walk out the door to start their day, waving a stiff goodbye to June. No hugs and kisses for the Cleaver clan.Everyone is so buttoned up: June's pearls and little hat, Ward's stiffly starched shirt and neatly knotted tie, Wally and the Beav's button-down shirts with tails tucked in and belts buckled. Even the pictures on the boys' bedroom walls are perfectly aligned. At the end of the day, Ward returns from work, hands his briefcase to June and doles out some fatherly words to the boys, his expression stern, before sitting down to dinner - tie still tight. I almost needed my oxygen mask.However, I felt better when the next show began and Andy Griffith grabbed Opie's hand affectionately as they skipped along the path for a day of fishin'. How did the Cleaver family become such icons? Personally, Andy, Barney and Aunt Bea seemed like much more fun. No wonder we acted out in the 60s! |
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