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mahatmakanejeeves

(57,572 posts) Wed Oct 4, 2017, 01:06 PM Oct 2017

Happy 60th birthday, Leave It to Beaver. Sputnik too, but who cares about that science stuff?

Leave It to Beaver is an American television sitcom about ...

{snip the part about what Leave It to Beaver is. Really, you don't know?}

Leave It to Beaver ran for six full 39-week seasons (234 episodes). The series had its debut on CBS on October 4, 1957.

Okay, now for the inevitable videos. In the first season, it was "Leave It to Beaver."

The next year, it became "Leave it to Beaver." And thus the great schism began.

Jerry Mathers:

Later career

Jerry Mathers in US Air Force uniform

As he moved into his teenage years, Mathers retired from acting to concentrate on high school. He attended Notre Dame High School, in Sherman Oaks, California. During this time he led a musical band called Beaver and the Trappers. While he was still in high school, Mathers joined the United States Air Force Reserve, in 1966. Wearing his dress uniform, Mathers and child actress Angela Cartwright presented an Emmy award to Gene Kelly in 1967. After graduating from high school in 1967, Mathers continued to serve in the Reserve and made the rank of Sergeant. In December 1969, a rumor began that Mathers was killed in action in the Vietnam War. Although the origin of the rumor is unclear, Mathers never saw action and was never stationed outside of the United States. Years later, in 1980, Mathers and Dow appeared with Bill Murray on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update segment, making fun of the Vietnam War death rumor.

In 1973, Mathers attended the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy. He then worked as a commercial loan officer at a bank before using well-invested savings from his acting career, which began at $500 a week, to begin a career in real estate development.
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