Why do Wally and the Beaver have to share a bedroom?

[Jeebo]

In the opening-credits sequence on "Leave It To Beaver" there is a shot of the Cleaver house from the front. That is a BIG house with only four people living in it. There must be at least four or five bedrooms in that house. So, I always wonder, WHY do Wally and the Beaver have to share a bedroom? I would've been really pissed about not having my own room. -- Ron

[malthaussen]

1. Because the producers of the show didn't want to create another set?

Well, they reasonably could have re-dressed the same set for scenes if they wanted to, I suppose, but maybe having the two share a bedroom provided for more dramatic possibilities. After all, it was a TV show, not real life.

Re-dressing the set would have taken some production time, though, and that might have been a consideration. Perhaps it wasn't seen as cost-effective.

-- Mal

[virtualobserver]

2. Sharing a room allows for a lot of dialogue,especially sarcastic Eddie Haskell remarks to "the Beav"

They would have to talk to themselves in the separate bedroom scenario.

[The Second Stone]

3. Boys of that era shared a bedroom

My brother and I did in the 60s just a few years later.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

17. Indeed

I shared with three brothers!

[Recursion]

4. Because houses in the late 1950s and early 1960s were absurdly small by today's standards

Like, would probably be illegal to live in today.

[Iris]

19. I live in one now. n/t

[raccoon]

23. I couldn't have said it better myself. nt

[Miles Archer]

27. I lived in one about 5 years ago.

Garage barely fit my car. Tiny bathroom. Three bedrooms. Tiny. The third one legally could not be called a bedroom because it had a sliding glass door but no closet (has to have a closet to be classified as a "bedroom&quot . "Master" bedroom had just enough room for my king size bed and a couple of dressers. Walking room around the bed of about a foot or two but that was the total available floor space. Living room was about the size you'd see in a one bedroom apartment. Kitchen was tiny. Built in 1956.

[hamsterjill]

5. Well, Ward had to have his "study"

Probably had a den, etc. Children were, in some ways, an after thought back then. As the youngest of four siblings from that era, heck, I was happy to have a bed!!! LOL

But we DID have dinner every evening with everyone around the table. There was, like just about anything, both good and bad.

[Kaleva]

6. It's most every teenage boy's dream

[lunatica]

7. There were hundreds of scenes of Wally and Beaver talking in their room

[hibbing]

8. Why does June Cleaver say this to Ward?

You were awfully hard on the beaver last night.


Peace

[lastlib]

16. The first case of sex abuse ever shown on television!

. .

[DawgHouse]

9. Same reason the six Brady kids had to share one bathroom.

[Special Prosciuto]

12. The Bradys had three kids per bedroom. Until Greg turned 'hippie' and moved to the attic.

[jmowreader]

10. Well, let's see now

Assume the house has four bedrooms.

Ward and June have one.

One is being used as Ward's den.

In the 1950s, EVERYONE had a guest bedroom.

This leaves one bedroom.

Unless the Beav is going to sleep on the couch in the living room, he has to live in the same room as Wally.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

18. I remember Ward's den being on the 1st floor, off the main entrance.

You come in and turn left, you're in his den, turn right and you're in the living room.
Cool house. I think Marcus Welby used the same exterior.

[murielm99]

11. They had their own bathroom upstairs.

There are a few scenes where they are cleaning up and talking together in the bathroom.

There was one episode where Beaver went through elaborate deceptions to avoid taking a bath. He put water in the tub, spread dirt around to create a ring, got towels wet, etc.

[Coventina]

13. "Leave It To Beaver" broke new ground by showing a toilet on screen.

First TV show to do so.


People make fun of it, but it was actually a really progressive show for its time.

It tackled issues like divorce, animal rights, and child abuse. Not subjects of "polite society" of the time.....

[murielm99]

14. Now and then I watch reruns on Antenna TV.

Eddie Haskell will be forever iconic.

But on "All in the Family," we actually hear the "terlet" being flushed!

[KamaAina]

15. Ward! Ward! Those noises are coming from the boys' room again!

[Iris]

20. Because June wanted a nice guest room. n/t

[greendog]

21. Ward and June had separate bedrooms. Also, June needed a room for her vast collection...

...of poisonous spiders.

[raccoon]

22. Back in those difficult times, MOST kids had a share a bedroom with one or more sibs.

A room of our own is something most of us--including me--didn't have.

Nowadays people seem to take it for granted.

[kairos12]

24. Spare room was for when Eddie Haskel stayed over.

[Orrex]

25. A similar question can be asked of the Brady house.

Six kids crammed into two rooms. Way to architect, Mike Brady.

[liberal N proud]

26. They never showed Wards man cave