The Unusual Circumstances That Made ‘Leave It To Beaver’ A TV Classic

The Lowdown On June’s High Heels

What the producers ask of you, you do. June Cleaver always looked impeccable. But housework in heels — was that necessary? It turns out this was not a symptom of a bygone era. Because her “sons” kept growing, the producers asked her to wear high-heeled shoes so that she could continue to tower over them, instead of vice versa. Is it not normal for sons be taller than their mothers, though?

At the start of the series she wore flats, but as the boys continued to grow over the filming of six seasons, she had to be taller because she was the matriarch. The producers just wanted her to always appear as the parent and nothing less. Well, appearance is one thing but actually knowing that she is the parent is another. We’re pretty sure that viewers got the idea.

TV Dad, Ward, Was Used To Teaching Life Lessons

Before taking the role as Ward Cleaver, Hugh Beaumont was an ordained minister for the Methodist Church. In fact, one of the reasons he got into show business in the first place was because he was not making enough money as a minister. It’s the job of the minister to instruct churchgoers every Sunday about life lessons. For hours at a time, you will get an earful about what is wrong and what is right to do in this thing we call life.

Before he fully pursued being a minister, he started doing radio and stage work, taking many different paths while on the road to becoming an actor. Radio and stage work is fairly related to acting but not completely. Being the role of a father does seem to fit perfectly for a former minister. You could say that Beaumont played his cards he was dealt and came out in a winning position.

Which cast member maybe kind of sort of resented the show in real life? Click “Next” to find out.