Last Laugh! Beaver Cleaver Makes a Long Distance Call
TELECOM Digest Editor
series "Leave it to Beaver" which featured Jerry Mathers as the only
above-the-credits star in the series which ran for eight years with
Barbara Billingsley (mother), Hugh Beaumont (father) and Tony Dow (big
brother) in addition to Jerry Mathers as 'The Beaver', Theodore
Cleaver. They're still running Leave it to Beaver daily on TV Land at
various times each day. In today's episode (one of several each day
on TV Land) Beaver and his friend Gilbert and some other boy are
making prank phone calls.
One of the prank calls they make is to Don Drysdale, who was a very
famous baseball player in the 1950-60's. The call went on for a few
minutes and one of Beaver's friends suggests that he 'call the
operator and find out what the call cost'. It was a call to Los
Angeles from the mythical Mayfield where they lived, and the charge
was quoted by the operator at $9.63 for the few minutes they talked.
This upsets Beaver a lot, who is afraid of his father (Hugh Beaumont)
getting angry with him for using the phone to make a long distance
call without permission.
Beaver is going to ignore telling his father about it until his father
gets the phone bill in a couple weeks, but one of the other boys
spills the beans to a buddy of his, whose father is a newspaper
reporter for the paper there in Mayfield, who writes a human interest
kind of newspaper account about it ('Local boy talks to baseball
player on phone') and Beaver's father finds out a day or two later.
I used to like that series a lot when it first aired, but any more,
when I see it (holding nose) it is really amazing how children used
to be so polite to their parents, etc. Beaver and his big brother
Wally always saying 'yes sir' and 'no sir' to their father. But
that series is *precisely* how children used to behave. Just
amazing ...
PAT
fligh...@pilots_union.org
> TELECOM Digest Editor wrote:
> PAT
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I was born in 1942 and I don't recall
ever calling my father 'sir', either. But we were taught to be polite
and respectful of all adults. PAT]
S Falke
props handled in 'the industry'? To Bell history buffs -- was there a
special agreement with some part of the Bell System?
I remember that the Cleavers had a non-black WE-500 set with coiled
handset cord in the living room, plus one of the same at the top of
the stairs, and a non-black WE-554 set with coiled handset cord on the
kitchen wall.
Three phones in a 1960's "all-American" sitcom?
s falke
TELECOM Digest Editor <ptow...@massis.lcs.mit.edu> wrote:
> Many of you will remember the period-piece television sit-com (1957-1964)
> series "Leave it to Beaver" which featured Jerry Mathers as the only
...
> One of the prank calls they make is to Don Drysdale, who was a very
> famous baseball player in the 1950-60's. The call went on for a few
> minutes and one of Beaver's friends suggests that he 'call the
> operator and find out what the call cost'. It was a call to Los
> Angeles from the mythical Mayfield where they lived, and the charge
> was quoted by the operator at $9.63 for the few minutes they talked.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not ever remember seeing a phone
at the head of the stairs. The only two I recall was one in Ward's
den (where the guys made their prank phone calls), and a light colored
wall phone by the back door in the kitchen. Whenever Beaver or Wally
had to be called from their room to the phone, they always came
downstairs and took the call in Ward's den as I recall. PAT]
Henry
> Many of you will remember the period-piece television sit-com (1957-1964)
> series "Leave it to Beaver" ...
> It is really amazing how children used
> to be so polite to their parents, etc. Beaver and his big brother
> Wally always saying 'yes sir' and 'no sir' to their father. But
> that series is *precisely* how children used to behave. Just
> amazing ...
I wonder, Pat ...
June Cleaver is considered by many people nowadays as a cliche '50s/'60s
housewife, wearing a pearl necklace while vacuuming etc. Ward is the
firm-but-loving father, etc.
Maybe the kids were idealised too, even then?
Cheers,
Henry
Jeff nor Lisa
> Many of you will remember the period-piece television sit-com (1957-1964)
> series "Leave it to Beaver" which featured Jerry Mathers
The following applies to other family shows of that era as well.
I used to watch as a kid in its later years. I found it hard to
relate to. Growing up in a city rowhouse, we didn't have the parks
and trees they had in their town, nor the big house with the fancy
living room, big kitchen, and Ward's den. From our perspective, they
were wealthy people.
The house was well equipped with phones. The den, living room, and
kitchen each one, and color models at that. (Color phones cost extra
back then). I presume the parents' bedroom had an extension as well.
Since each phone was rented ($0.90/month), that added up. When I was
growing up, many people made do with only one phone in the house and
the Bell System used to advertise the convenience of extension phones.
We had two phones; and a few people had three (the third was in the
basement.)
Back then, there was no phone in the boys' room. Today kids not only
have a phone in their room, but it's a separate line, not just an
extension. Maybe even an additional line for the computer. And many
kids have their own cell phones today.
In those old shows, it always seemed the dialing was off. Either they
didn't dial the full 7 digits, or just spun the dial loosely. I can
understand that dialing 7 digits properly would slow up the pace too
much. But it conflicted with what the Bell System representative
taught us in school of how important it was to dial carefully and
slowly. I don't think Verizon bothers to send out people to either
schools or businesses to teach proper and effective use of the
telephone.
> I used to like that series a lot when it first aired, but any more,
> when I see it (holding nose) it is really amazing how children used
> to be so polite to their parents, etc. Beaver and his big brother
> Wally always saying 'yes sir' and 'no sir' to their father. But
> that series is *precisely* how children used to behave. Just
> amazing ...
Some kids, yes, but by all means not all. We were polite, but not
with the "yes sir" business. A lot more kids were like Eddie Haskel
-- polite to adults including their parents, but pretty sleazy the
rest of the time.
While I liked June as a mom, I didn't care for Ward as a father.
While he never spanked the kids and always talked things out
reasonably, he still seemed to be pretty strict with them. That is,
the boys were always getting into some sort of trouble that the father
had to deal with.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In another episode the same day as
the 'long distance call' Wally and Beaver decide to invest in the
stock market, and instead of sticking with a conservative utility
(Mayfield Power) they go with a speculative penny stock which grows
wildly for a few days, then the bottom falls out of it. They feel
they have been 'cheated' and lost their money, but father Ward tells
them all is well: he had 'left instructions with his broker to dump
the stock if the price went too low.' Beaver asks his father,"are
we considered rich?" Ward thinks about it a minute then responds,
"we would be considered 'comfortable'." Back in the original showing
of the series, I always thought they were an upper middle class
family. PAT]
Mark J Cuccia
> Many of you will remember the period-piece television sit-com (1957-1964)
(actually thru 1963... six-seasons. 1957/58 on CBS-TV, 1958/59 thru
1962/63 on ABC-TV)
> series "Leave it to Beaver" which featured Jerry Mathers as the only
> above-the-credits star in the series which ran for eight years with
(again, SIX seasons, not seven or eight, but I know I'm just being
nitpicky! :)
> Barbara Billingsley (mother), Hugh Beaumont (father) and Tony Dow (big
> brother) in addition to Jerry Mathers as 'The Beaver', Theodore
> Cleaver. They're still running Leave it to Beaver daily on TV Land at
> various times each day. In today's episode (one of several each day
> on TV Land) Beaver and his friend Gilbert and some other boy are
> making prank phone calls.
> One of the prank calls they make is to Don Drysdale, who was a very
> famous baseball player in the 1950-60's. The call went on for a few
> minutes and one of Beaver's friends suggests that he 'call the
> operator and find out what the call cost'. It was a call to Los
> Angeles from the mythical Mayfield where they lived, and the charge
> was quoted by the operator at $9.63 for the few minutes they talked.
> This upsets Beaver a lot, who is afraid of his father (Hugh Beaumont)
> getting angry with him for using the phone to make a long distance
> call without permission.
> Beaver is going to ignore telling his father about it until his father
> gets the phone bill in a couple weeks, but one of the other boys
> spills the beans to a buddy of his, whose father is a newspaper
> reporter for the paper there in Mayfield, who writes a human interest
> kind of newspaper account about it ('Local boy talks to baseball
> player on phone') and Beaver's father finds out a day or two later.
> I used to like that series a lot when it first aired, but any more,
> when I see it (holding nose) it is really amazing how children used
> to be so polite to their parents, etc. Beaver and his big brother
> Wally always saying 'yes sir' and 'no sir' to their father. But
> that series is *precisely* how children used to behave. Just
> amazing ...
Beaver was a *GREAT* TV series, Somewhere in my VHS collection, I have
all 234 B&W half-hour episodes.... MCA/Revue/Universal made 39 episodes
for each of all if its SIX seasons, a total of 234 half-hour episodes.
I think I know where you might be counting eight seasons ... in the
course of the story over its six-season run on network television,
there *REALLY IS* an "unexplained time-lapse and conflict" regarding
the school year/grade that Beaver and Wally each are in. It might
"seem" like one or both of the boys were in eight school grades over
the course of the series, but it did only run six seasons; the first
two seasons, 1957/58 CBS and 1958/59 ABC were filmed at Republic
Studios now known as CBS Studio Center in North Hollywood, but in 1959
MCA/Revue bought out Universal-International Pictures' studio lot just
to the east at Universal City CA, and moved *ALL* of its TV production
to the new studio lots, and BEAVER was filmed there for 1959/60 thru
1962/63 which aired on ABC. That's why you see two different houses
over the course of the series, and it was explained on a few occasions
that they moved from one neighberhood to the other!
Anyhow, I did post something here to TELECOM Digest some seven years
ago about this episode of BEAVER, back in October 1996! Actually, the
recently late Ed Ellers (of Louisville KY) clue'd me into this episdoe
in July 1996 in response to a post/thread about touchtones and
telephones as they are used (or abused) in the movies/TV/etc.
My post about "Beaver's Long Distance Phone Call" appeared in TELECOM
Digest, vol.16 num.546, dated Wednesday 16 October 1996 ...
http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/back.issues/1996.volume.16/vol16.iss501-550
(the URL might break-up or word-warp in some mail readers/browsers)
and scroll down to that specific issue number/date for my post:
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Date: Mon, 14 Oct 1996 17:21:46 -0700
From: Mark J. Cuccia <mcu...@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu>
Subject: Beaver's Long Distance Phone Call
Back in late July, there was a thread about "Touchtones in Movies"
which appeared in TELECOM Digest.
I mentioned that MFKP (toll switching Multifrequency Keypulsing), and
possibly also DTMF (touchtones) could be frequently heard many years
ago when transmission facilities of The Bell System were used to
distribute programming of the nationwide coast-to-coast radio and
television networks. This was 'signal leaking' or 'crosstalk' from
switching equipment for the telephone network over into the leased
audio channels of the radio and television networks.
I also mentioned that MFKP (as well as DTMF) had been heard or
'referred to' in the dialogue of certain TV and radio programs when a
telephone call or particularly a long distance call was being placed
in the story.
I mentioned in particular:
> There is an episode of "Bewitched", where Endora picks up a telephone,
> waves her hand (instead of dialing or tapping out a number), and you
> then hear a string of MFKP (not DTMF) and then the called party's
> phone starts ringing!
I received email from Ed Ellers, who wrote:
> MFKP was also mentioned in an episode of "Leave It To Beaver" where our
> hero, and his best friend Gilbert Bates (who disappeared into a black
> hole some time between 1963 and 1983 :-), decided to call Don Drysdale
> at Dodger Stadium ... long distance, with operator assistance. As Beaver
> told the operator where he wanted to call, Gilbert said something about
> wanting to hear "the beeps and boops."
I have all 234 episodes of "Leave it to Beaver" on videotape, in
addition to all/most/many episodes of a NUMBER of TV series from the
1950's and 60's (and a lot of old movies from the 1930's through 60's
on videotape). I also collect a lot of "old-tyme-radio" on audio tape,
as well.
I finally got around to digging up the tape of the "Beaver" episode in
question, and viewing it:
'Long Distance Phone Call' on "Beaver", was originally telecast on
Saturday 16 June 1962, over the ABC Television Network, 8:30-9:00 pm
(7:30-8:00 pm Central Time). This episode was from the 5th (1961/62)
season, near the end of the season.
It is a Saturday afternoon, and Ward & June Cleaver are going somewhere.
Beaver's brother Wally also has somewhere to go, so Beaver, Gilbert Bates,
and a third boy, Allen are "home alone" at the Cleaver's.
Gilbert gets the 'bright' idea to make 'funny fone calls'. He calls up
the Butcher Shop (he spins out *four* pulls of the dial on the WECO
500 desk telephone (which is *NOT* black, but either white, ivory,
beige, or light gray. The program is in B&W, so it is a bit difficult
to determine). He asks the Butcher Shop if they have 'pig's
feet'. "Put on some shoes and no one will notice!" He then hangs-up,
laughing hysterically ...
Then Gilbert calls up the Super Market by spinning out *SEVEN* pulls
of the dial. (I don't remember offhand what stupid thing he asked
them).
THEN ... Gilbert gets the bright idea to call up Don Drysdale, whose
picture is on the front page of the sports section of Mayfield's
newspaper. Don Drysdale is in Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium.
But Beaver says that it is Long Distance and will cost his Dad
money. So, Beaver, Gilbert and Allen decide to pool togather their
pocket change to pay back Ward for the toll charges. They pool
together about $1.35.
Then, Gilbert dials '110' for the Long Distance Operator. He asks to
place a call to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. It seems to be
Station-to-Station, as he didn't tell the telco operator that he
wanted Don Drysdale, nor that it was Person-to-Person. Throughout this
scene, only one side of the conversation is actually heard. Gilbert
then says to the Operator: "Oh, KL5-4763.", while looking down at the
telephone. I assume this is the telephone number of Ward Cleaver. Only
the letters 'KL' are mentioned, and not the exchange name "KLondike".
Then Gilbert hollers:
"HEY, its makin' a soundlike 'Diddle-diddle-dumplin'! ... Wanna
listen?" We don't really *hear* the multifrequency keypulse string,
however.
There is no mention of a call to Los Angeles Information (which the
Mayfield toll operator would have reached Kp+213+131+St), so either
the Mayfield toll operator made a quick call to L.A. Information to
get the number, or she had the number of Dodger Stadium on her
multileaf bulletin of popular and important places.
Next we hear Gilbert say "Hello, Dodger Stadium? I want to talk to
Mr. Don Drysdale. Who's calling? Gilbert, Beaver and Allen. No, we're
not a law firm." Gilbert then mentions that he's being connected to
the locker room.
It turns out that Don Drysdale is in the showers, and they have to
hold on. The scene fades in a 'time lapse', which I would guess was
about ten to twenty minutes. All this time, the toll charges are
counting. Maybe it would have been better to place the call
Person-to-Person, such that while there would have been a higher
surcharge, the toll charges wouldn't have started until Don Drysdale
actually came to the telephone.
Eventually, Don Drysdale comes to the telephone, and the trio speak
with him for about three minutes. The scene cuts back and forth (not
split-screen) with Don Drydale, himself, doing this cameo appearance.
Shortly after hanging up, Beaver tells his two companions to 'fork
over the quarters to pay for the call'. They both tell him to call the
operator for the actual cost of the call, just in case it is going to
cost less than the buck-thirty-five they had planned to pool togather.
Beaver then dials 'OPERATOR' (a single zero) to inquire about the
charges. There is no mention of connection time nor conversation
time, however. Beaver tells the operator that he had just made a long
distance call to Los Angeles and wants to know how much it costs. I
would assume that the toll operator still had the hand written/punched
toll ticket at her position, and was able to find the charges right
away. Beaver then says: "Oh, KL5-4763", while looking down at his own
telephone, so this must be their own number.
Beaver's face turns 'real goofy', as it always does when he knows he
is in BIG TROUBLE. He shouts "WHAT! Okay, thank you, goodbye", and
hangs up.
He then tells the other boys "It's going to cost NINE DOLLARS AND
THRITY FIVE CENTS ... PLUS TAX!!!"
As I mentioned earlier, it was a Saturday afternoon, but I don't know
what Bell/AT&T's rate structure was in 1962. And maybe they should
have placed the call 'person'. Better yet, maybe they just shouldn't
have been playing around on his dad's phone. Kinda reminds me of 'the
kids' dialing 900 and 976 'storyline' and 'Santa' numbers just a few
years ago.
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Please note that if you go to the Archives and pull up my original post
of some 7+ years ago, I have deleted my sig-line HERE, as there is
recently some OUTDATED INFO in it. The postal mailing address is
*NO LONGER CORRECT*, but telephone/fax and even email are still good,
although you don't need the long version of the email address, the shorter
version listed below here is a new format which is simpler...
"Beaver! How could you do such a STUPID thing like that?!"
"Gee Wally, I dunno, maybe I'm just dumb, I guess?"
Mark J. Cuccia
mcu...@tulane.edu
New Orleans LA CSA
COTTP
says:
> In that period in Southern California, how were telephone sets as
> props handled in 'the industry'? To Bell history buffs -- was there a
> special agreement with some part of the Bell System?
> I remember that the Cleavers had a non-black WE-500 set with coiled
> handset cord in the living room, plus one of the same at the top of
> the stairs, and a non-black WE-554 set with coiled handset cord on the
> kitchen wall.
> Three phones in a 1960's "all-American" sitcom?
I don't know if it's representative or not, but in 1973 we had one
2554 in the kitchen, a Trimline Touch-Tone in the living room, I had a
2500 in my room, and my parents had a 2702 in their room, and a 554 in
the basement. And they were all using the four-prong jacks, with the
exception of the 2554 and 554.
Now it's a Celebrity Touch-Tone, an AT&T Answerering System/Phone in
the kitchen, a version 2 Trimline Touch-Tone in the bedroom, and a
Radio Shack cordless phone. Services now include CLID, VoiceMail,
Speed Dial, 3-Way, call forwarding, etc.
What really changed are the services. In 1973 ESS wasn't widespread in
the state. In Providence you could have all the services but it was
EXPENSIVE. In Pawtucket you couldn't because they were still running
an #5 Xbar into the early 90's. And if you lived in the Marieville
section of North Providence you were served by that crappy switch and
had your dialing area severely curtailed. Wherease a block away those
served by the 353 exchange out of Centredale had the same calling area
as Providence (All of Providence, Pawtucket, East Providence,
Cranston, Warwick, Coventry, Foster, Warwick, West Warwick, Lincoln,
Cumberland) where Pawtucket customers could call Pawtucket,
Providence, East Providence, Cranston, Lincoln, Cumberland,
Woonsocket, Bellingham-MA. Everything else was a damned toll and
still is to this day.
I don't understand how Verizon gets away with it. Granted toll rates
aren't quite as outrageous as they once were, and there are now
calling plans that reduce the overall per minute charges it still
doesn't make sense to have toll boundaries in a state as small as
Rhode Island.
Jeff nor Lisa
> Everything else was a damned toll and still is to this day.
> I don't understand how Verizon gets away with it. Granted toll rates
> aren't quite as outrageous as they once were, and there are now
> calling plans that reduce the overall per minute charges it still
> doesn't make sense to have toll boundaries in a state as small as
> Rhode Island.
Is it Verizon or the state's PUC?
For a great many years cities such as Philadelphia made use of
something called "message units" for distance calls in the
metropolitan area. A call was charged a series of message units
depending on the distance and time talked. Each phone line had a
meter in the CO which they'd photograph and bill you. This approach
allowed the phone co to eliminate costly operator handling of such
calls without the complexity of AMA and detailed billing. They still
use the system (now called "Measured Service") to this day in the
Phila area. Local calls -- within an exchange or to bordering
exchanges -- were not timed and free to flat rate customers, or one
message unit to message rate customers.
It should be noted that Verizon reduced some of the unit charges for
calls between the city and suburbs a few years ago. Don't know if the
PUC ordered it or it was easier for them.
COTTP
says:
> COTTP <c.o....@c.o.x.net> wrote
>> Everything else was a damned toll and still is to this day.
>> I don't understand how Verizon gets away with it. Granted toll rates
>> aren't quite as outrageous as they once were, and there are now
>> calling plans that reduce the overall per minute charges it still
>> doesn't make sense to have toll boundaries in a state as small as
>> Rhode Island.
> Is it Verizon or the state's PUC?
Well -- there's a great deal of collusion between Verizon and the Rhode
Island Public Utilities Commission. Same goes for National Grid, and
whatever Providence Gas calls itself today.
The PUC hasn't been public in any sense of the word. Instead, they
serve the interests of the utilities more so than the public.
> For a great many years cities such as Philadelphia made use of
> something called "message units" for distance calls in the
> metropolitan area. A call was charged a series of message units
> depending on the distance and time talked. Each phone line had a
> meter in the CO which they'd photograph and bill you. This approach
> allowed the phone co to eliminate costly operator handling of such
> calls without the complexity of AMA and detailed billing. They still
> use the system (now called "Measured Service") to this day in the
> Phila area. Local calls -- within an exchange or to bordering
> exchanges -- were not timed and free to flat rate customers, or one
> message unit to message rate customers.
> It should be noted that Verizon reduced some of the unit charges for
> calls between the city and suburbs a few years ago. Don't know if the
> PUC ordered it or it was easier for them.
Fortunately those of us with a Providence rate center can call close
to 85% of the lines in the state without incurring a toll.
If you look back at the white paper that John Levine posted you see
trending toward flat rate systems as opposed to metered systems.
The bottom fell out of telecom about four years ago. That probably
explains why we haven't seen a true decrease in price. Probably
because while there is a glut of switching capacity, the wired portion
is split between Verizon and Cox at the moment.
I'm dying to see what happens with the VOIP companies like Vonage. You
can already see legislators salivating at the potential for taxation
revenue.