Editing Leave It to Beaver (section)

==Premise==
The show is built around young [[Theodore Cleaver|Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver]] ([[Jerry Mathers]]) and the trouble he gets himself into while navigating an often-incomprehensible, sometimes illogical world. Supposedly, when he was a baby, his older brother Wallace "[[Wally Cleaver|Wally]]" ([[Tony Dow]]) mispronounced "Theodore" as "Tweedor". Their firm-but-loving parents, [[Ward Cleaver|Ward]] ([[Hugh Beaumont (actor)|Hugh Beaumont]]) and [[June Cleaver]] ([[Barbara Billingsley]]), felt "Beaver" sounded better. Conversely, Mathers has said that the real reason for the name "Beaver" is that one of the show's writers, Joe Connelly, had a shipmate named "The Beaver" in [[World War II]]; from that came the family's name, "Cleaver."<ref name="Mathers PARADE">{{Cite web |url=http://www.parade.com/features/touchstones/071003-jerry-mathers.html |title='I've Had a Charmed Life' |work=Parade |access-date=October 8, 2007 |archive-date=March 24, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090324133248/http://www.parade.com/features/touchstones/071003-jerry-mathers.html }}</ref>

Beaver's friends include the perpetually apple-munching [[Larry Mondello]] ([[Rusty Stevens]]) in the early seasons, and, later, [[Leave It to Beaver#Supporting characters|Gilbert Bates]] ([[Stephen Talbot]]), as well as the old firefighter, Gus ([[Burt Mustin]]). His sweet-natured-but-no-nonsense elementary school teachers are [[Miss Canfield]] (to whom Beaver declares his love in the episode entitled "[[Leave_It_to_Beaver_season_1#Episodes|Beaver's Crush]]") ([[Diane Brewster]]), [[Miss Landers]] ([[Sue Randall]]) and [[Mrs. Rayburn]] ([[Doris Packer]]), the school's principal. In the early seasons, Beaver's nemesis in class is [[Judy Hensler]] ([[Jeri Weil]]).

In its first season, Wally was in eighth grade and 12 years old, while Beaver was 7 and in second grade, a five-year age difference; in real life, the two actors were only three years apart. By the series' end, the boys were inexplicably only four years apart, with Wally graduating from high school and Beaver graduating from grammar school. Wally is popular with both peers and adults, getting into trouble much less frequently than some of the other characters. He [[Letterman (sports)|letters]] in three sports. He has little difficulty attracting girlfriends, among them [[Mary Ellen Rogers]] ([[Pamela Baird]]) and Julie Foster ([[Cheryl Holdridge]]). His pals include the awkward [[Clarence Rutherford|Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford]] ([[Frank Bank]]) and smart aleck [[Eddie Haskell]] ([[Ken Osmond]]), the [[archetype]] of the two-faced wise guy, a braggart among his peers and an obsequious [[sycophant|yes man]] to the adults he mocks behind their backs. Eddie often picks on the Beaver.

The family lives in the fictional town of Mayfield. Beaver attends Grant Ave. Grammar School and Wally attends Mayfield High School (after graduating from Grant Ave. in season one).