Family Scrapbook
"Family Scrapbook" is the final episode of the American television series Leave It to Beaver. It last aired on ABC on June 20, 1963. It was the 39th episode in the show's sixth and final season, and the 234th episode in the complete series.
| "Family Scrapbook" | |
|---|---|
| Leave It to Beaver episode | |
 Jerry Mathers in "Beaver Gets 'Spelled". | |
| Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 39 (in season 6) Episode 234 (in complete series) |
| Directed by | Hugh Beaumont |
| Written by | Joe Connelly Bob Mosher |
| Production code | 16190 |
| Original air date | June 20, 1963 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
Pamela Baird as Mary Ellen Rogers | |
Plot summary
The episode begins with June finding an old family scrapbook while housecleaning. She gathers the family together in the living room to glance through the book. Brief highlights from the series are replayed as the Cleavers reminisce over old photographs (which are stills from earlier episodes, with no acknowledgement of, nor explanation offered, for how the photos would have been taken secretly, as in The Truman Show). Ken Osmond as Eddie Haskell, Rusty Stevens as Larry Mondello, Madge Blake as Mrs. Mondello, Pamela Baird as Mary Ellen Rogers, and Sue Randall as Miss Landers are seen in flashbacks from several episodes including "Beaver Gets 'Spelled", "New Neighbors", "My Brother's Girl", "The Shave", "Beaver Runs Away", "Larry Hides Out", "Teacher Comes to Dinner", and "Wally's Election". The episode ends with the teenage Cleaver boys playing with a wind-up toy and laughing like children. It is in the final episode that the viewer learns how Beaver got his nickname.
Cast and crew
"Family Scrapbook" stars Hugh Beaumont and Barbara Billingsley as archetypal suburban couple, Ward and June Cleaver. Along for the ride are Tony Dow as the couple's older son, Wally Cleaver, and Jerry Mathers as their younger son, Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver. All guest stars in the episode appear in clips from previous episodes in the series. The episode was written by the show's creators, Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, with series star, Hugh Beaumont directing.
Significance
"Family Scrapbook" has claimed its place in television history as the first traditional primetime series finale. No other series prior to Leave It to Beaver had a special final episode except Howdy Doody in 1960 (which didn't use flashbacks and was not a primetime sitcom). Most series ended with a general story line episode not unlike any other episode in the series.[1] Nearly twenty years later, in 1983, the cast reunited for a TV movie entitled Still the Beaver which spawned the revival series The New Leave it to Beaver which produced 100 episodes from 1984 until 1989.
See also
References
- Applebaum, Irwyn. The World According to Beaver. TV Books, 1984, 1998. (ISBN 1575000520).
- Bank, Frank. Call Me Lumpy: my Leave It To Beaver days and other wild Hollywood life . Addax, 2002. (ISBN 1886110298), (ISBN 978-1886110298).
- Colella, Jennifer. The Leave It to Beaver Guide to Life: wholesome wisdom from the Cleavers! Running Press, 2006. (ISBN 0762427736), (ISBN 9780762427734).
- Leave It to Beaver: the complete first season. Universal Studios, 2005.
- Leave It to Beaver: the complete second season. Universal Studios, 2006. (ISBN 1417074876)
- Mathers, Jerry. ...And Jerry Mathers as "The Beaver". Berkley Boulevard Books, 1998. (ISBN 0425163709)