The Beaver goes to Disneyland

“Leave it to Beaver” was a popular TV show of the 1950s, running from 1957 to 1963. During its original run, it never broke into the top 30 Nielsen ratings, but thanks to reruns, it became an even bigger hit. All I remember hearing about “Leave it to Beaver” was that my parents did not allow my older brothers to watch it, due to the character of Eddie Haskell (Ken Osmond), a wise-ass who has little respect for adults. They were afraid he might rub off on them. Jerry Mathers played the title character, and is shown here with his sister Susie at Disneyland’s Fort Wilderness. From the publicity caption:

MAPREADING BEAVER

ANAHEIM, CALIF.: As his sister Susie, 8, points helpfully, Jerry Mathers, 10, who stars as Beaver on ABC-TV’s program “Leave it to Beaver,” consults a map of Tom Sawyer’s Island at Disneyland, in Anaheim, California. Busy little star that he is, Jerry couldn’t resist taking time out for a tour of the famous Park. 1/21/59.



If you want a look at the brochure Jerry is reading, here you go:



…and the reverse side:



A color view of Fort Wilderness, from March 1959, right about the time Mathers made his visit:



A wide view of the area where Mathers was shot, October 1958:



Good thing Eddie Haskell wasn’t there; he probably would have told The Beav to jump! From July 1959, you can see kids loved to be up on “the balcony”:



In later years, Mathers and Tony Dow (who played his older brother, Wally) filmed a PSA at Disneyland City Hall encouraging people to register to vote:



See more Disneyland Fort Wilderness photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley and Bob Baker

When I first acquired the image above, I “assumed” it had something to do with “Shirley Temple’s Storybook,” the 1950s television series narrated (and sometimes starring) Shirley herself. Upon further examination, I realized the puppets didn’t match any of the episodes from that show. Frequent readers know the next step…contact Rita Dubas, Shirley expert supreme! It didn’t take long for Rita to send multiple articles clearing up the mystery that this was from an episode of the NBC Chevy (as in Chevrolet) Show, which aired March 1, 1959.

Broadcast in color from 9–10pm, here’s the description of the show:

Dinah Shore turns the Chevy Show over to four people while she vacations. Shirley Temple, Art Carney, Alfred Drake and Janis Paige take a tour through comic-strip land as the gimmick of the night. Daddy Warbucks and Orphan Annie, Harold Teen, Prince Valiant, Peanuts, Barney Google, Alley Oop and Buster Brown are among the characters involved. Songs include “How High the Moon” and “My Heart Belongs to Daddy.”

The Steve Allen Show was the lead-in; not bad, but not as good as having Ed Sullivan, which was broadcast over on CBS. From another online source:

After Art Carney, Shirley Temple, Alfred Drake, and Janis Paige sing "Just Like That," each solos to "How High the Moon" in his or her own fashion. There's a take-off on westerns by Carney and Drake, and a comic-strip sequence by the whole cast.

The Oakland Tribune’s review the next day had this to say:

THE CHEVY SHOW last night was one of a whole flock of “specials” Art Carney has just signed to appear in. In coming months his face will be as familiar as Arthur Godfrey’s on TV. Last night’s show was a happy field trip through the comic pages of U.S. newspapers taken by Carney, Shirley Temple, Alfred Drake and Janis Paige. Carney played Daddy Warbucks in one sketch and Shirley Temple was Little Orphan Annie, but she wasn’t very realistic. Her eyes were dotted.

Melissa (aka “The Colonel”) supplied this download from her files, showing Art Carney as Daddy Warbucks and Shirley as Little Orphan Annie:



From The Independent in Richmond, CA:

This variety program had everything from slapstick comedy to serious singing, topped by a spoof at the comic strips that was not only entertaining, but was at the same time a technical marvel.…Miss Paige carried the heaviest part of the comic strip number and it came off as does anything Miss Paige does—very well.…Miss Temple was along for the ride, is pretty, had charm and obviously will travel. If NBC can keep coming up with productions of this caliber, it bodes well for the rating future of the network, and for the long-suffering audience.

Another listing about the show Rita sent said, “There’s Shirley Temple doing “Shim Sham” the way Bill Robinson taught her in her “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.” Although it appears that the episode no longer exists, one Shirley Temple fan snapped this photo off the TV when it was originally broadcast!



Another image in my collection shows puppeteers Alton Wood and Bob Baker laboring above Shirley:





This closeup of Shirley is similar but slightly different from the first photo in this post. Yes, I obsess over these details.



Unfortunately, I don’t know what part these marionettes played in the final episode, but these sure are great photos! I found another Bob Baker and Shirley connection at the LA Magazine website from Baker’s 2014 obituary:

Bob Baker’s world was intertwined with the icons of 20th century popular culture, from his performances in the films of Elvis Presley and Judy Garland, to puppeteering for Steven Spielberg. A handshake deal with Walt Disney in the 1950s led to his marionettes being sold at Disneyland. I've known Bob for years, and anytime I had a question about everyday life in Los Angeles from the jazz age forward, I’d call Bob. Every time I needed to know what was once on the corner of so-and-so and such-and-such street, I’d call Bob. He was always there to help me paint a picture of old Los Angeles because he was old Los Angeles. He worked at Bullocks Wilshire, he entertained at Shirley Temple’s birthday party, and he knew where all the good downtown loft parties were held – during WWII! He was a tremendous resource and a good friend.

From The Bob Baker website, here’s some background on Bob and Alton:

In 1930, Bob Baker saw his first puppet show in his native Los Angeles and shortly thereafter established his own “Petit Theatre” in the backyard of his home on New Hampshire Avenue.



By age eight, Bob had trained with several different Los Angeles-based companies before giving his first professional performance for legendary Hollywood director Mervyn Leroy. While attending Hollywood High School, Bob began manufacturing toy marionettes that sold both in Europe and the United States. Following graduation, he began an apprenticeship at George Pal Animation Studios that resulted in a promotion to head animator of Puppetoons, a landmark studio that produced animated stop-motion puppet films.



In 1963, Bob Baker and partner Alton Wood transformed a run-down scenic shop near downtown Los Angeles into a family entertainment institution: Bob Baker Marionette Theater. Named an official Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 2009, the Theater has served over ONE MILLION children with original shows ranging from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker to a musical journey through the history of Los Angeles. After Bob’s passing in 2014 at the age of 90, the puppeteers and staff had to transition to being the stewards of both the past and the future of Bob’s beloved Theater. Each box that was packed and moved from our historic home at 1345 W. 1st Street to our new Theater in Highland Park carried a story of a puppeteer or fabricator who had contributed to the fabric of the Theater. From Morton Haack to John Leland, Tina Gainsboro to Ursula Heine… our Theater family numbers in the hundreds, if not thousands.

If you’re a Bob Baker fan, visit The Bob Baker Marionette Theatre in Los Angeles, which has plenty of events.

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Monticello Monday

In honor of the recent July 4th holiday, I am posting then (July 1954) and “now” (August 2017) shots of Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd U.S. President. The biggest difference from the above and below shots would be what appears to be a very heavy thinning of the landscape. When I visited in 2017, obviously many of the trees surrounding the home had been removed.



Back to July 1954, with another shot of the home that Jefferson designed himself:



The whites seemed whiter in 1954 vs. 2017, and there appears to have been a different color palette applied to the dome.



I have no corresponding shot for this, which shows the walkway to the side of the house:



A detailed view of the cistern:



Where the tour from July1954 must have begun:





How that side of the house looked in August 2017; again, fewer trees and I am assuming that the whiter-whites in 1954 were not considered historically accurate.



Our 1954 tour group pays a visit to the Ice House:





This 1954 shot of the breezeway along Mulberry Row shows what appears to be a replica of the Liberty Bell:



Complete with crack (the legal kind!). I don’t recall seeing this when I visited in 2017. It must either be in storage or moved elsewhere.



Another shot along Mulberry Row:



The corresponding view from August 2017:



1954 guests look inside the kitchen and read the signage outside:



The inside of the kitchen from 2017:



I have no idea what this building is; if it was there in 2017, I either missed it or it had been removed.






Jefferson died on July 4, 1826; John Adams, the 2nd President of the U.S., outlived him by a few hours, despite his final words being, “Thomas Jefferson survives.”

See more Monticello photos at my main website.