Leave It To Beaver

[link to www.snopes.com]

Claim:   The first toilet ever seen on television appeared on Leave It to Beaver.

Status:   Not quite.

Origins:   Here's another one of those pesky Internet "facts," amazing but true (or so we're told). Those of us who grew up during the 1960-70s find this one remarkable because we recall that even during our own era, the six kids in TV's The Brady Bunch (1969-1974) not only shared a single bathroom, but that their bathroom didn't even have a toilet. And we remember the audience's laughing when All in the Family (1971-1979) episodes included the mere sound of a toilet's being flushed. We now find it amusing that the television industry pretended for decades that toilets and pregnant woman (save for Lucille Ball) didn't exist by declining to show either one

Thus this bit of Leave It to Beaver. trivia brings several questions to mind: Why was it that well into the 1970s the networks were so circumspect about letting viewers glimpse an actual toilet if one had already been shown on Leave It to Beaver (1957-1963), a series that had aired way back in the 1950s? Didn't an FCC restriction actually prevent networks from including toilets in programs back then? How did Leave It to Beaver get around that restriction?

The answer is that Leave It to Beaver didn't actually show a toilet in any episode, but there is a small kernel of truth to this one. The intended debut episode of Leave It to Beaver (entitled "Captain Jack") actually was shelved for a week over censorship problems back in 1957, and a different episode was run in its place instead. The difficulty with "Captain Jack" was that the plot of the episode had Wally and the Beaver ordering a "genuine Florida alligator" for $2.50 from an ad in their Robot Men of Mars comic book and being disappointed at receiving not a full-grown saurian, but an eight-inch baby gator. Determined to keep their purchase anyway, the boys visit the proprietor of the eponymous Captain Jack's Alligator Farm, who gives them some pointers on the proper care and feeding of an alligator. Wally and Beaver can't keep their reptilian pet (now christened Captain Jack) in their bedroom for fear their parents will find out it, so they hide him in the bathroom. But merely keeping Captain Jack in the sink or the bathtub would leave him too vulnerable to discovery, so they conceal him by placing him inside the toilet tank (which Wally refers to as Captain Jack's "aquarium").

Therein lay the problem. In 1957 the networks were squeamish enough about showing bathrooms on television — no way was CBS going to allow a bathroom and a toilet to appear in one of their series, but the "Captain Jack" episode as filmed required showing both. CBS refused to approve the episode, but there was no way it could be redone without the bathroom scenes, since there was nowhere else in the house the boys could reasonably hide an alligator. After several rounds of wrangling between the network and the production company, a compromise was reached: The show episode could include shots of the toilet tank, but not the toilet itself. So, in one very brief scene, we see the boys feeding their baby alligator in the middle of the bathroom floor, then Wally walks over to the toilet tank, puts Captain Jack back inside it, and places the lid back on the tank. The toilet itself is never seen, only the top portion of the tank.

So, Leave It to Beaver the first TV series to show a toilet? Not quite. Then can lay claim to being the first series to show a toilet tank, however.

I agree that Eddie Haskill is a real profligate. He was always angling to get up Mrs. Cleaver's skirt. I wouldn't put it past him to have introduced Wally to various illicit substances as well.

Also remember these were troubled times in America with blacks being told "back of the bus." In Mayfield blacks didn't excist.

Cool post, op.

Personally, I love TV Land.

I especially love Beaver and Wally.

I remember that alligator episode, but only because you reminded me.

More people should watch this stuff.

Today's episode was cool. June had to leave town to see her sister who just had a baby. Aunt Martha came to look after the boys and Ward. Of course Aunt Martha took Beaver shopping for new school clothes. End result was a suit that looked like Angus from AC/DC. Short pants and knee high socks and a cap to go along with a jacket and suspenders. Of course kids at school raze him. Fight breaks out. Oh boy.

LMAO....

I remember that one!

Angus is a good comparison. lol

Tuis pugis pignore!

Is that Italian?

I thought this was a thread for showing landing strips...I just shaved mine.

Leave it to clit just didn't sound right.

I don't know if its a myth or not, but there is talk of an episode where Momma Beaver tells Poppa Beaver Ward: "Weren't you a little rough on the beaver last night Ward?!"

:dubya:

Go away, Fawn. Please.

I don't even care if the thread goes.

Just go away.

I knew this was going to happen when I posted this thread. But getting back to today's episode Beaver being called a sissy would bring out the thought police in today's world. But O.K I will admit it June sure is MILTF.

Well, the Beav's cool.....

Reading Jerry Mathers bio when he auditioned for the role of Beaver he told them, "Hope this doesn't take too long. Don't want to be late for my Cub scout meeting." I can see why he got the role.