Leave It to Beaver (1962)

 

As with the 1961 episodes for Leave It to Beaver, the episodes for 1962 centered on Beaver and Wally trying to adjust to the pressures of growing up and getting into trouble due to bad advice and unreasonable requests from "friends" like Eddie Haskell, Lumpy Rutherford, Gilbert Bates, and Richard Rickover. The hardest lesson for the Cleaver boys to learn is to just say "no" when they are asked or pressured to do something they know is wrong but end up doing anyway. While Wally has no trouble telling Beaver not to follow Eddie Haskell's advice, he is not always as successful doing it himself. In "Lumpy's Car Trouble" (March 31, 1962), Wally is supposed to ride in Lumpy's car to an out-of-town track meet with Beaver getting permission to go along and Eddie getting picked up as team manager, but on the day of the meet Lumpy's car won't run, and since Ward is not using his own car, having ridden to work with Lumpy's father Fred, Ward gets talked into letting Lumpy, who has already received his driver's license while Wally has not, drive the Cleaver car to the track meet. Despite Ward's stern instructions to Wally to have Lumpy only drive straight to the meet and back, Eddie and Lumpy decide to try a shortcut on the way back and wind up crashing through a large mud hole on an unpaved section of road, causing the car to die and requiring the boys to push it to the nearest service station. Though the boys have enough money between them to pay to get the car fixed and get it home without having to tell Ward what happened, he finds out about it anyway from a work colleague who just happened to drive past them while they were pushing the car to the service station. Ward tells Wally he will not get to use the car again for a long time but refuses to tell him how he found out about it so that he won't think he can figure out how to get away with things in the future. But the lesson doesn't stick with Wally because after he gets his license in the Season 6 episode "Wally's License" (October 11, 1962), he gets talked into misusing Ward's brand new car in "Wally's Car Accident" (November 29, 1962) after being given permission to drive his date Shirley Fletcher to the prom while his parents are out of town. Once again Ward gives Wally the ground rules of not picking up any other riders and only going to the dance and back, but once again he is pressured by Eddie and Wally, who have ridden to the dance together and are now stranded because Lumpy's car won't start, to use Ward's car to push Lumpy's to get it started. Even Wally's date Shirley knows that Wally shouldn't help them, but after they promise to wrap Ward's bumper with a blanket Wally gives in only to have Lumpy still make an unexpected maneuver and smash the front headlight on Ward's car. As in the earlier episode, the boys cobble enough money together to get the car fixed good as new and almost pull off slipping the ruse past Ward, but this time Lumpy phones the Cleaver home with the intention of urging Wally not to tell his father about the accident, only Ward picks up the phone and Lumpy starts talking before realizing he is not speaking to Wally. Wally can tell Ward knows about the accident just from his expression after getting off the phone and ends up confessing to the whole mess without having to be prompted. But it remains to be seen if Wally has finally learned not to get into such messes in the first place.

Speaking of Eddie Haskell, as we covered in our last post, we began to get a bit of backstory for his annoying behavior due to a botched hair experiment his mother gave him when he was in kindergarten, and for the first time we saw his vulnerability behind his overconfident bluster when he is afraid to stay at home alone while his parents are out of town. The 1962 episodes continue this theme with more stories about the pathetic reality behind Eddie's two-faced hustler facade. In "Beaver's Fear" (February 24, 1962), Beaver gets his parents to pressure Wally to take him along when he, Eddie, and Lumpy go to an amusement park which has a terrifying new rollercoaster. Beaver needs a pep talk from Gus the fireman to get over his fear of heights and actually go on the rollercoaster, but for all of Eddie's tough talk and swagger, he is the one who winds up getting sick on the rollercoaster. In "A Night in the Woods" (June 9, 1962), Eddie is annoyed that Wally has committed to taking Beaver and his friends camping out in the woods on the same night that Eddie needs him on a triple date that will only work if Wally agrees to take out Mary Denton in exchange for Eddie and Lumpy getting to take out her two visiting cousins. When Wally refuses to back out on his camping promise, Eddie recruits Lumpy to try to scare the campers to abandon their overnight stay in time to still make the dates but winds up getting frightened himself and then stranded on the side of a cliff, requiring him to be rescued by a forest ranger who quickly shuts down his face-saving flippancy after he has been pulled to safety. In "Eddie Quits School" (March 10, 1962), Eddie drops out of high school after a run-in with the track coach and boasts to Wally and Lumpy about how enslaved they are with all their high school responsibilities while he will be making $80 a week working at a car repair garage. Not long afterward Eddie shows up at Wally's house sporting expensive new clothes purchased with his first week's pay, but when Wally and Lumpy decide to drop in on him at work, they overhear his boss berating him for constant mistakes, and later Eddie can't find anyone to hang out with him since they are all busy with school activities. Sensing that Eddie is really miserable behind his facade, Wally talks the school principal into gently suggesting that he return to school, and after more trouble with his boss, Eddie jumps at the chance but continues to put an overconfident spin on his decision by claiming that the principal and track coach begged him to come back. In "Eddie, the Businessman" (November 1, 1962), Eddie gets conned into an ice-cream theft ring at the local dairy where he and Wally have taken part-time jobs. Eddie becomes an easy mark for the crooked foreman running the scam after telling Wally that you have to suck up to the higher ups to get ahead. After Eddie gets caught red-handed loading cases of ice cream into the foreman's trunk by the dairy manager and the foreman claiming he never told Eddie to do it, Wally has to bail him out by telling the manager what really happened. And "Bachelor at Large" (November 15, 1962) plays out in similar fashion to "Eddie Quits School": this time he moves out of his parents' house into a boardinghouse after an argument, then tries to convince Wally and Lumpy that he is living the high life with attractive young women in his boardinghouse cooking for him. But at the same time he is desperate for company and after inviting Wally and Lumpy over for dinner, Ward gets a call from Mr. Haskell asking that they not humor Eddie, which will only make things worse, so Wally goes to the boardinghouse with Beaver tagging along to tell Eddie he won't be coming to dinner. They learn from his landlady that he is desperately lonely, his room is a sad mess, there are no young women living in the house, and Eddie even resorted to adopting a dog just to have some company. Later we learn that Eddie eventually moved back home, and while he claims in usual Eddie style that his parents begged him to come back, Wally figures that the landlady called his parents to come get him. While Leave It to Beaver deserves credit for fleshing out Eddie's character into a multi-faceted personality, the writers seem to have gotten stuck in portraying him as a pathetic loser who covers his short-comings with a show of bluster, while everyone around him agrees not to burst his balloon. What began as a comic creation of a two-faced hustler has been turned into a tragic figure who is more to be pitied than laughed at.

In his autobiography, Eddie, actor Ken Osmond alludes to the fact that getting cast as Eddie Haskell was both a blessing and a curse--he became a cultural icon with steady work for six seasons despite never being cast as a regular with a contract, but he also found it impossible to find acting work after the series ended and was saddled with a bad reputation by people who couldn't separate the actor from his character or mistakenly thought he had "grown up" to become pornographic actor John Holmes or shock-rocker Alice Cooper. Osmond comments in his book that he appreciated the plots that showed Eddie's vulnerability, but he also seems to judge an episode's value by how many lines he had and spends far more time and provides more detail about his role in the 1980s reboot The New Leave It to Beaver where he played an adult Eddie Haskell with his own son. Granted, he had a soft spot for the newer series because he got to act with his son Eric, and the memories were no doubt fresher on the reboot than on the original series from 20 years earlier. But among Osmond's more interesting memories from the original series are that the character of Eddie Haskell appeared to have been based on a friend of co-creator Bob Mosher, Jr.'s son named Buddy Del Giorno, who like Eddie always complimented Mrs. Mosher on her wardrobe but would immediately change into a troublemaker once there were no adults around. In the pre-pilot for Beaver, titled It's a Small World, the conniving teenager was named Frankie Bennett and was played by Harry Shearer, later of Spinal Tap and The Simpsons fame. And Osmond credits director Norman Tokar with helping him define the Eddie Haskell character traits, including his trademark cackle.

Despite the fact that by the 1962 episodes all the other characters on the show are wise to Eddie's duplicity and penchant for bad advice, Beaver in particular keeps falling for it, then admitting he should have known better. In "Beaver's Typewriter" (April 21, 1962), Beaver lets Eddie talk him into typing his English assignment due the next day for a few bucks since Beaver is having a hard time learning to use the expensive equipment he talked his parents into buying for him. Eddie is actually an excellent typist, but after Beaver turns in the neatly typed assignment, his teacher expects him to continue typing everything, which becomes impossible when he receives an even longer assignment the next day. Rather than letting Eddie again type his work for a fee, Beaver decides to write it out in long-hand, but Eddie offers to help him by disabling some keys on his typewriter so that he will have a valid excuse for not using it. However, word eventually gets back to Beaver's parents from his teacher about the disabled typewriter, which leads to Ward forcing Beaver to stick with his typing until he gets the hang of it. In "Stocks and Bonds" (June 23, 1962), Ward gives the boys some money to invest in the stock market to learn about how it works, but Beaver ends up listening to Eddie's advice about taking a flyer on a penny stock called Jet Electro rather than the more established if less exciting Mayfield Power and Electric utility recommended by Ward. Needless to say, Jet Electro crashes and burns while Mayfield Power just keeps plugging along upward. And in "Beaver, the Hero" (December 13, 1962), Beaver gets a swelled head after making a fluke game-winning touchdown for his school football team and then listens to Eddie about how to maximize his earning power as a football star, including skipping football practice, which ends up getting him suspended for the next game. Even though they know who they are dealing with, the Cleaver boys never seem to wise up enough to resist the fast-talking Eddie's latest easy way out.

But as gullible as Beaver is in falling for Eddie Haskell's bad advice, he is even more often goaded into poor decisions by his own friends Gilbert Bates and Richard Rickover. In fact, the 1962 episodes are book-ended by a pair of Gilbert-inspired pickles, beginning with "Ward's Golf Clubs" (January 6, 1962) and finishing with "The Party Spoiler" (December 27, 1962). In the former episode, Gilbert pressures Beaver into taking one of his father's golf clubs without asking so that they can hit some balls Gilbert scrounged from the driving range. Even though Beaver knows he will get in trouble by following Gilbert's advice, Gilbert is able to persuade him to do it by claiming that the only things worth doing are the ones that can get you into trouble. But Beaver doesn't realize that Ward returned home from golfing earlier that afternoon and told June that he broke his driver and would have to replace it, so when Beaver takes his first swing, the head flies off and into the bushes. After getting caught by Wally trying to sneak the broken club back into the closet, Beaver plans to confess his sin until his father gets angry with Wally for taking one of his shirts to wear on a date without asking him. So Beaver decides he had better replace the golf club rather than admitting that he broke it and arranges a payment plan with the sporting goods store clerk to pay for the new club. Of course, Ward immediately notices that his broken club is suddenly fixed and extracts a confession from Beaver, telling him he should have come to him first. Beaver later acts like he has learned his lesson when he tells Wally he is going to stop getting into trouble, but we all know there wouldn't be much of a series if he followed his own advice. In "The Party Spoiler" Beaver again follows Gilbert's advice to sabotage Wally's teenager party with prank items from the magic store as revenge for Wally not inviting Beaver to the party. Naturally, Wally is finally pressured by his parents to include Beaver in his party, but the forced invitation comes too late, after Beaver has already planted rubber cheese in the sandwiches, a fake ice cube with a fly in it in the punch bowl, soap-centered candies in the candy dish, and an electric outlet adapter that makes the record player go on and off randomly. When Beaver see Wally's friends blaming him for all the childish pranks, he feels compelled to step forward and take the blame. Beaver falls for another Gilbert scheme in "Long Distance Call" (June 16, 1962) when he agrees to call Dodger Stadium to talk to star pitcher Don Drysdale after Gilbert and Alan Boothby agree to all chip in to pay for the call, not realizing that they don't have nearly enough to afford it. After they hang up the call, Gilbert tells Beaver he can call the operator back to figure out how much the call cost and is horrified to hear that it comes to $9.35 when they collectively only have a couple of dollars. But Beaver compounds the problem by again following Gilbert's lead in not telling his father about it right away, with Gilbert arguing that he won't get the bill for a few weeks and they may come up with a plan to pay for it before then. Gilbert then makes matters worse by bragging about the phone call to a snotty school classmate whose father writes a column for the Mayfield newspaper, thereby ensuring that Ward will read about the phone call in his morning paper.

Gilbert teams up with Richard Rickover in "Three Boys and a Burro" (March 3, 1962) to get Beaver to chip in on buying a pet burro after promising that Beaver would not have to keep the burro in his yard because they would be splitting the caretaking between the two of them, which is the only reason Ward and June agree to let Beaver participate in the partnership. But of course things do not work out as promised because the burro wreaks havoc on the yards and gardens at the Bates' and Rickover's homes and Beaver gets stuck with the burro. Fortunately, Ward is able to find a new home for the burro from a work colleague who has a relative with a farm, but as with all his dealings with his friends, Beaver is the one who gets stuck holding the bag. The same scenario plays out with Richard, Whitey, and Alan in "Sweatshirt Monsters" (June 2, 1962) when the boys make a pact to all buy sweatshirts with grotesque monsters painted on the front and then wear them to class together. When Beaver tries going to school the next day wearing the sweatshirt, June forbids it and tells him to go change, but for Beaver loyalty to his friends outweighs his parent's orders, and he sneaks the sweatshirt out and puts it on before walking into class, only to discover that none of the other boys are wearing their sweatshirts and he is the only one to face discipline from their teacher. Apparently, that episode wasn't painful enough for Beaver because he commits the same error with a different group of friends in "Beaver's Football Award" (October 4, 1962) when the star football player from his school team announces that he is not going to wear a suit to the annual awards dinner, vowing that he is going to dress casually just as he does for school and pressuring the other boys on the team to do the same. But after a struggle with his parents, who keep telling him he is going to be sorry until Ward finally tells June that since Beaver is growing up he needs to learn to live with his own choices, Beaver gets to the awards dinner in his casual outfit only to find out that everyone else is wearing a suit. Ward bails him out by secretly bringing along his suit in the car trunk so that Beaver can hurriedly rush outside and change clothes before the dinner gets started, but one wonders how many times he will have to suffer this sort of humiliation before he realizes that his "friends" are all talk.

Which brings us to perhaps the most surprising pattern of the series: none of Beaver's and Wally's friends seem to have their interests at heart--all they do is pressure Beaver and Wally to do something stupid and then run away when they get into trouble. Besides Eddie Haskell, Gilbert Bates, and football star Terry Richmond, Richard forces Beaver to go to absurd lengths to cover for his own mistakes in "Beaver's Jacket" (February 3, 1962) and "Beaver's Laundry" (March 24, 1962). Lumpy does the same to Wally in "Wally Stays at Lumpy's" (March 17, 1962) and "The Merchant Marine" (April 28, 1962). Even newly introduced friends Mike and Kevin steer Beaver wrong in "Tell It to Ella" (November 8, 1962) by advising him to write an anonymous letter to a Dear Abby-like columnist at the local newspaper complaining about Ward grounding him for staying out late on a school night. Needless to say, Ella takes Ward's side, and when his letter appears in the paper Ward has no difficulty figuring out who wrote it. But even Ward seems not to have any good friends--the only person we see him spending any time with is Fred Rutherford, who is a big blow-hard that Ward can barely stand but nevertheless has to work with. What lesson, then, does Leave It to Beaver teach about friendship? Each week the series seems to suggest that the only relationships that can be trusted are familial ones, assuming that you don't live in a dysfunctional family.

Still, despite the series' odd take on friendship outside the family and the Cleaver boys' inability to learn not to bow to peer pressure (though there is one exception when Wally refuses to join a mean-spirited exclusive boys club in "One of the Boys" [May 26, 1962]), Leave It to Beaver occasionally hits the nail on the head in depicting some of the hard truths about growing up. For Beaver, it is being burdened with unrealistic expectations because of Wally's accomplishments in "The Younger Brother" (April 14, 1962). Beaver is encouraged to try out for a city basketball team simply because Wally helped lead a team to the league championship. Beaver doesn't have a natural interest in basketball, but when he sees how proud his parents are of Wally's achievements, he decides to try out and even Wally's old coach seems to think the team is in good hands with Beaver aboard. But Beaver quickly learns that not all athletic talent is genetic as he performs poorly at the first practice and is soon the laughingstock of the other players. Rather than face the humiliation of telling his parents and brother that he isn't good at basketball, he pretends to continue attending practice but really just hides out to cover the time. The jig is up when Ward decides to stop by the park on his way home from work one evening to see how Beaver is making out, and he learns from the coach that Beaver quit after the first practice and didn't want to sign up for a lesser league to develop his skills. Ward is surprised that Beaver didn't feel he could come to Ward and tell him he didn't make the team, so Wally has to explain to Ward that Beaver didn't really want to succeed at basketball for himself but to avoid disappointing his father. This episode turns out to be a teaching moment for the parents rather than the children. Growing up the younger sibling of highly accomplished older brothers and sisters myself, this episode had the ring of truth for me personally and helps demonstrate why this series at its best was superior to most of the other family sit-coms of its day.

Wally learns his hard lesson in "Tennis, Anyone?" (May 19, 1962) when he unwittingly becomes a pawn in a young woman's attempt to make her boyfriend jealous. He shows up at the public tennis court just after pretty but noticeably older Carol Martin has a falling out with her tennis instructor and boyfriend Don Kirk. When Eddie Haskell is late showing up to play Wally, Carol invites him to volley with her while Don is still hovering nearby, hoping to make him jealous. Wally mistakes her friendliness for interest in him, and makes a date to play again with her the next day. When Beaver and Eddie see Wally playing with an attractive older woman, they assume that they are an item, but leaving the tennis court on the second day Wally is confronted by Don, who warns him to stay away from Carol, whom he claims is his girl. Wally takes his problem to Ward, who asks him how old Carol is. When Wally says that she is 22, Ward advises him to stay away from her because she is too old for him. Wally decides to go back to the tennis courts the next day anyway but then sees Carol and Don arm in arm after reconciling. He is initially downcast but then admits surprise that his father knows so much about romance. Again, this episode has the ring of truth from my personal experience--when you're young and naive, it's easy to get mixed up in someone else's romantic problems without realizing their true intentions. Fortunately for Wally, he got good advice and his interlude ended quickly and without any real damage to his psyche. Not everyone is so lucky, but perhaps if more of us had seen this episode while growing up, we would have been better prepared to avoid love's pitfalls.

The Actors

For the biographies of Barbara Billingsley, Hugh Beaumont, Tony Dow, Jerry Mathers, Ken Osmond, Frank Bank, Stanley Fafara, and Sue Randall, see the 1960 post on Leave It to Beaver. For the biographies of Stephen Talbot, Karen Sue Trent, Richard Correll, Cheryl Holdridge, and Burt Mustin, see the 1961 post on Leave It to Beaver. For the biography of Richard Deacon, see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 5, Episode 14, "Ward's Golf Clubs": Henry Hunter (Doctor Summerfield on Hazel) plays sporting goods store clerk Sam Higgins.

Season 5, Episode 15, "Farewell to Penny": Jean Vander Pyl (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Flintstones) plays Penny's mother Mrs. Woods.

Season 5, Episode 16, "Beaver the Bunny": Alice Backes (Vickie on Bachelor Father) plays Beaver's school pageant coordinator Miss Lawrence.

Season 5, Episode 17, "Beaver's Electric Trains": Toby Michaels (starred in Love in a Goldfish Bowl, first wife of director and Bewitched associate producer Richard Michaels) plays girl sent to pick up Beaver's electric train set Georgia Batson.

Season 5, Episode 22, "Three Boys and a Burro": Jane Dulo (Liz Murray on Hey, Jeannie!, WAC Pvt. Mildred Lukens on The Phil Silvers Show, Molly Turner on McHale's Navy, Agent 99's mother on Get Smart, Nurse Murphy on Medical Center, and Grandma Mildred Kanisky on Gimme a Break!) plays Richard's mother Mrs. Rickover.

Season 5, Episode 23, "Eddie Quits School": Frank Wilcox (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Untouchables) plays Wally's school principal Mr. Farmer. Bert Remsen (Detective Lawrence on Peyton Place, Mr. Pell on Gibbsville, Mario on It's a Living, and Jack Crager on Dynasty) plays repair garage owner Mr. Thompson.

Season 5, Episode 26, "Lumpy's Car Trouble": Pat McCaffrie (Chuck Forrest on Bachelor Father and Dr. Edgar Harris on Outlaws) plays Ward's work colleague Bill Boothby.

Season 5, Episode 27, "Beaver the Babysitter": Jennie Lynn (Jenny Baker on Love and Marriage) plays Beaver's babysitting assignment Pattie Murdock. Marjorie Reynolds (starred in Holiday Inn, Ministry of Fear, and The Time of Their Lives and played Peg Riley on The Life of Riley) plays her mother Mrs. Murdock.

Season 5, Episode 28, "The Younger Brother": Russ Conway (shown on the left, played Fenton Hardy on The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure, Gen. Devon on Men Into Space, and Lt. Pete Kile on Richard Diamond, Private Detective) plays Wally's former basketball coach Mr. Doyle.

Season 5, Episode 29, "Beaver's Typewriter": Ed Prentiss (the narrator on Trackdown and played Carl Jensen on The Virginian) plays Beaver's English teacher Mr. Bailey.

Season 5, Episode 31, "Brother vs. Brother": Hardie Albright (shown on the right, appeared in This Sporting Age, The Song of Songs, White Heat, The Scarlet Letter, The Pride of the Yankees, and Angel on My Shoulder) plays Beaver's English teacher Mr. Collins. Mimi Gibson (appeared in The Three Faces of Eve, Houseboat, and The Children's Hour and played Barby McGovern on Westinghouse Playhouse) plays new student Mary Tyler.

Season 5, Episode 32, "The Yard Birds": Bartlett Robinson (Willard Norton on Wendy and Me and Frank Caldwell on Mona McCluskey) plays empty lot owner Mr. Hill.

Season 5, Episode 33, "Tennis, Anyone?": Cynthia Chenault (shown on the left, appeared in I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Dino, and This Earth is Mine and played Carol Potter on The Tom Ewell Show) plays tennis student Carol Martin.

Season 5, Episode 34, "One of the Boys": Martin Dean (Junior on Dick Tracy) plays exclusive club president Rick Davis.

Season 5, Episode 35, "Sweatshirt Monsters": Hardie Albright (see "Brother vs. Brother" above) returns as Beaver's English teacher Mr. Collins. Jane Dulo (see "Three Boys and a Burro" above) returns as Richard's mother Mrs. Rickover.

Season 5, Episode 36, "A Night in the Woods": John Hart (appeared in The Buccaneer, Jack Armstrong, and The Ten Commandments and played Nat "Hawkeye" Cutler on Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans,  was Clayton Moore's replacement on The Lone Ranger from 1950-53 when Moore was in the midst of a contract dispute, and played Narbo on Rawhide) plays a forest ranger.

Season 5, Episode 37, "Long Distance Call": Don Drysdale (shown on the right, Hall-of-Fame Dodgers pitcher and announcer) plays himself. Dennis Olivieri (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Betty Hutton Show) plays Beaver's bragging classmate Kenny. Ray Montgomery (Prof. Howard Ogden on Ramar of the Jungle) plays his newspaper reporter father. Johnny Eimen (Monk on McKeever and the Colonel) plays Kenny's school friend.

Season 5, Episode 39, "Un-togetherness": Brenda Scott (shown on the left, married and divorced actor Andrew Prine three times, now married to producer Dean Hargrove, played Midge Pride on The Road West and Dr. Gina Dante Lansing on General Hospital) plays Wally's new girlfriend Lori-Ann.

Season 6, Episode 1, "Wally's Dinner Date": Than Wyenn (Licenciado Piña on Zorro) plays a restaurant waiter.

Season 6, Episode 3, "Wally's License": Russ Bender (appeared in It Conquered the World, Dragstrip Girl, Invasion of the Saucer Men, and The Amazing Colossal Man) plays driving instructor Mr. Barnsdall. Beverly Lunsford (shown on the right, played Amy Ames Britton Kincaid on The Secret Storm) plays driving student Shirley Fletcher. Larry J. Blake (played the unnamed jailer on Yancy Derringer and Tom Parnell on Saints and Sinners) plays the DMV driving test administrator.

Season 6, Episode 5, "Double Date": Vicky Albright (daughter of actor Hardie Albright) plays Wally's date Carolyn Stewart. Diane Mountford (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1960 post on Assignment: Underwater) plays her younger sister Susan.

Season 6, Episode 6, "Eddie, the Businessman": Don Haggerty (Jeffrey Jones on The Files of Jeffrey Jones, Eddie Drake on The Cases of Eddie Drake, Sheriff Dan Elder on State Trooper, and Marsh Murdock on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays dairy manager Ted Worden. Howard Caine (Schaab on The Californians and Maj. Wolfgang Hochstetter on Hogan's Heroes) plays one of his foremen. John Baer (Terry Lee on Terry and the Pirates) plays the foreman's assistant.

Season 6, Episode 7, "Tell It to Ella": Tim Matheson (shown on the right, played Roddy Miller on Window on Main Street, Jim Horn on The Virginian, Griff King on Bonanza, Quentin Beaudine on The Quest, Rick Tucker on Tucker's Witch, Harry Stadlin on Just in Time, Charlie Hoover on Charlie Hoover, Sheriff Matthew Donner on Wolf Lake, Bill Dunne on Breaking News, John Hoynes on The West Wing, Larry Sizemore on Burn Notice, Dr. Brick Breeland on Hart of Dixie, and Doc Mullins on Virgin River, and voiced Jonny Quest on Jonny Quest, Sinbad, Jr. on Sinbad, Jr. and His Magic Belt, Samson on Young Samson & Goliath, Jace on Space Ghost, Capt. John O'Rourke on The Legend of Calamity Jane, and Brad Chiles on Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated) plays Beaver's friend Mike. Robert Eyer (brother of actor Richard Eyer) plays his friend Kevin.

Season 6, Episode 8, "Bachelor at Large": Lurene Tuttle (shown on the left, appeared in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Ma Barker's Killer Brood, Psycho, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, and The Fortune Cookie and played Doris Dunston on Father of the Bride and Hannah Yarby on Julia) plays Eddie's landlady Mrs. Evans.

Season 6, Episode 9, "Beaver Joins a Record Club.": George Cisar (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Dennis the Menace) plays the mailman.

Season 6, Episode 10, "Wally's Car Accident": Beverly Lunsford (see "Wally's License" above) plays Wally's date Shirley Fletcher.

Season 6, Episode 11, "Beaver, the Sheep Dog": Ed Prentiss (shown on the right, see "Beaver's Typewriter" above) returns as Beaver's teacher Mr. Bailey.

Season 6, Episode 12, "Beaver, the Hero": Carol Faylen (daughter of actor Frank Faylen, played Janice Collins on The Bing Crosby Show) plays Beaver's classmate Donna.

Season 6, Episode 13, "Beaver's Autobiography": Harlan Warde (shown on the left, played John Hamilton on The Rifleman and Sheriff John Brannan on The Virginian) plays Beaver's English teacher Mr. Thompson. Annette Gorman (Addie Slaughter on The Magical World of Disney Texas John Slaughter series) plays Beaver's new classmate Betsy Carter. Frances Mercer (starred in Crime Ring, Smashing the Rackets, The Mad Miss Manton, and There's Always Tomorrow and played Nurse Ann Talbot on Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal) plays Betsy's mother Mrs. Carter.

Season 6, Episode 14, "The Party Spoiler": Vicky Albright (shown on the right, see "Double Date" above) plays Wally's party guest Carolyn.

My Three Sons (1962)

Though it continued to change directors during its first three seasons, from Peter Tewksbury in Season 1, to Richard Whorf in Season 2, to Gene Reynolds in Season 3, My Three Sons had pretty much settled into a formula by the second half of Season 2, alternating between attempted madcap comedic episodes and sentimental melodramatic episodes, both emphasizing the theme that the Douglas family, with its many shortcomings, was as good or better than any other. While its varied formula vaulted it to #11 in the Nielsen ratings for 1961-62, the highest ranking of the show's 12 seasons, it had already started wearing thin by Season 3, when it fell to #28.

The series begins to repeat itself from the outset of 1962 with the episode "Chip Leaves Home" (January 4, 1962) mirroring "Bub Leaves Home" (January 12, 1961) a year prior. Both Chip and Bub feel unappreciated, which is why they seek a better life elsewhere but then come to realize a la Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz that there is no place like home. However, in Chip's case, he doesn't even last a single night on the lam, getting frightened by an alley cat and a pair of police patrolmen so that he sneaks back home and sleeps overnight in the attic. But when Robbie finds his goodbye note stuffed in Tramp's collar and his bed empty, the rest of the family, particularly Steve, manically try to get the police to find him, only to eventually realize he never left. Thus this episode begins with the series' melodramatic mold and switches to its madcap comedy theme. But the series keeps coming back to Chip and Bub feeling unappreciated in future episodes such as "Le Petit Stowaway" (February 15, 1962) in which Chip sneaks on to an airplane Steve is taking on a top-secret business trip to France after their original plans to travel to Chicago together get canceled; "Chip's Party" (March 22, 1962) in which no one shows up for Chip's birthday party because parents are worried about Steve having contracted German measles; "Chip's Last Fight" (November 15, 1962) in which Chip is insulted that he has to have a babysitter on a night when everyone else is going out, so he tries to join a secret boys' club that requires him to fight a bigger boy as a rite of initiation; and "Mother Bub" (December 27, 1962) in which Chip is disappointed that Steve is going to be out of town on his birthday, so he follows Sudsy's advice to fake being sick to nudge Steve into buying him an expensive toy car. 

This last episode also reprises the sentimental trope that Bub is as good if not better than any mother already covered in the Season 2 episode "Chip's Composition" (November 30, 1961): Sudsy tries to convince Chip that he has it made since he doesn't have a mother to say "no" when he wants something after his father has approved it. When is caught Chip faking his illness and tells his father about Sudsy's philosophy of the role mothers and fathers play in a child's life, Steve pulls out photos of Bub baking a cake for Chip's first birthday and escorting him on his first day of school to remind him that Bub has fulfilled all the duties of a typical mother. And when Steve agrees to buy Chip the toy car despite his attempt to trick him into it, Bub puts his foot down because he doesn't want Chip to think he can manipulate his father into getting anything he wants, and Chip willingly lets the toy car go because he says he already has everything he needs, meaning Bub. The idea that Bub is more than a match for any biological mother is reinforced in "What's Cooking?" (November 8, 1962) in which Bub wins a PTA-sponsored cook-off against two female competitors. But like many a housewife, Bub decides to break the monotony of housework to seek employment outside the household in "Bub Gets a Job" (February 8, 1962) only to find out that his "salty" temperament is a poor match for working in retail when he can't restrain himself from telling off demanding customers. The rest of the family, however, comes to appreciate Bub's contributions once again as the boys' cooking efforts while he is busy with his new job are scarcely edible.

Despite the series' efforts to depict the Douglas household as humble but better than any other, again reinforced for Mike and Robbie in "Innocents Abroad" (April 12, 1962) when they sneak off to a nearby town to get jobs during a school break to earn extra money just like Steve's college friend tells them their father did in his youth, the Douglas boys and their father still have many warts that can't be washed away. We've already touched on Chip's underhanded tactics in trying to get a toy car and stowing away on an international flight to France, in addition to passing off a drawing of Bub's as his own work in "The Masterpiece" (March 1, 1962). Robbie intentionally tries to catch Chip's illness to avoid taking a math test that could disqualify him from an important football game in "The Big Game" (March 15, 1962), tries to get rich quick so he can impress girls in "Robbie's Employment Service" (September 27, 1962), fakes a photo with a pretty girl at school to make others thinks he is going out with her in "Pretty as a Picture" (November 1, 1962), turns in an old assignment of his father's as his own so that he can spend a weekend at the lake with another pretty girl in "Steve Gets an A" (November 22, 1962), and cheats on his steady girlfriend forcing her to break up with him in "Going Steady" (December 20, 1962). This last episode paints Steve in an unflattering light as well as he uses the girlfriend's mother's concern about the children being too young to go steady as a way to romance the mother and then tries to excuse Robbie's bad behavior by saying it produced the result the mother wanted in the first place--the ends justify the means, in other words.

And Mike is no angel in "Too Much in Common" (May 10, 1962) when he dumps in Steve's lap a fictitious excuse about why Mike isn't coming home from college one weekend to be with his steady girlfriend when he is really going to a play with a college girl he suddenly finds more interesting. Steve again comes off rather badly by covering for Mike and then can't even apologize when he is called out by the hometown girlfriend's father who is trying to provide a similar fictitious excuse for his daughter who is going out with another guy. Mike is also intimidated into participating in a dangerous prank initiated by his college fraternity superiors in "The Hippopotamus Foot" (May 31, 1962). His fickleness with girls is exposed again in "Weekend in Tokyo" (September 20, 1962) when he complains about going with his family to Japan because he claims to be so serious with his current girlfriend that they are talking about marriage, only once in Tokyo he soon forgets about his American girlfriend when he meets a pretty Japanese woman his own age. His snobbishness almost wins out in "Moment of Truth" (October 11, 1962) when he nearly stiffs a waitress he invited to his fraternity dance after listening to his fraternity brothers tell him how out of her element she would be amongst the uppercrust. In "Heat Wave" (November 29, 1962) he is embarrassed at his own family's simple ways when he invites yet another current girlfriend to dinner, then complains that things aren't fancy enough like what she is used to at her house, a virtual repeat of Robbie's embarrassment in "The Musician" (May 11, 1961). Finally, Mike alternates in "The Beauty Contest" (December 6, 1962) between the ethical choice of not choosing his own girlfriend as a finalist in the beauty contest and then using his position as judge to get dates with the other contestants. Sure, these are all teachable moments, and usually the boys learn what the correct choice should have been from the start, but why, if theirs is an ideal family, do they keep making bad choices each week, seemingly unable to distinguish between right and wrong? Of course, if they did actually grow and learn over time there wouldn't be much of a TV series--who wants to watch a family consistently behaving well? But cycling through the same pattern of mistakes and poor judgment doesn't make for much of one either.

However, Mike's penchant for being accused of dating underage girls is something you might expect to see on Curb Your Enthusiasm, not My Three Sons. And yet, in "Blind Date" (January 18, 1962) Mike and Robbie both have blind dates that wind up getting mixed up when Sudsy takes down the address of Robbie's date but Chip thinks it is for Mike so that college student Mike takes out a 15-year-old. Things get even edgier in "Casanova Trouble" (March 29, 1962) when Steve's secretary is worried about her 13-year-old daughter going out with an older boy. Steve volunteers to help her identify the boy but winds up believing that Mike is the guilty party when the secretary produces Mike's fraternity pin, saying she found it amongst her daughter's things. Of course it turns out that Robbie had borrowed the pin from Mike and had been riding home with the 13-year-old in a friend's car, not actually dating her, so Mike is cleared of any impropriety. On My Three Sons the whole affair is played as a dead serious drama, missing out on the chance for cringe-worthy comedy gold. But then My Three Sons will never be mistaken for a series that was ahead of its time.

And yet in an ironic twist, the show that glorified the all-male household employed a remarkable number of female scriptwriters. Of the 38 episodes aired in 1962, 11 were written or co-written by women. Two were written by Joanna Lee ("Chip Leaves Home" and "Chip's Last Fight"), who also wrote 22 episodes for The Flintstones and multiple episodes for Gilligan's Island, Nanny and the Professor, Room 222, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, and The Waltons after a brief career as an actress in which she appeared in such cult classics as Plan 9 From Outer Space and The Brain Eaters. Kitty Buhler wrote "Second Time Around" (January 25, 1962) which brings back Patricia Barry as Steve's former girlfriend Pamela MacLish from the very first episode; though Buhler's scriptwriting career was not extensive, she would later marry decorated Army general Omar N. Bradley. The story for "Bub Gets a Job" was co-written by series casting director Judith Adkins Specht. Dorothy Cooper contributed four episodes in 1962 ("Le Petit Stowaway," "A Holiday for Tramp," "Coincidence," and "Mother Bub") and 23 overall during the series' 12-year run; Cooper worked on many other series in her career, most notably Father Knows Best under the tutelage of original My Three Sons director Peter Tewksbury. Gail Ingram wrote a pair of 1962 episodes ("The Masterpiece" and "The Big Game") and contributed 17 other scripts for the series through 1967; she also worked on earlier TV series Mama, The Big Story, The Millionaire, and Deadline. Muriel Roy Bolton penned the episode "Casanova Trouble" as the last script in a long career that included 38 episodes of The Millionaire and five Henry Aldrich feature films. Shirley Gordon wrote "Daughter for a Day" (October 18, 1962), one of three scripts and stories she provided for My Three Sons between 1961-63; Gordon contributed to 55 scripts for The Bob Cummings Show and later worked on Bewitched and The Courtship of Eddie's Father. Notably, when a story dealt with warmth and emotion, such as in "Daughter for a Day" and "Mother Bub," it was often written by a woman. While on-screen the series suggested that a woman's touch wasn't needed to knit a family close together, behind the scenes was a different story.

As of this post, the first five seasons have been released on DVD by CBS Home Entertainment. However, beginning with Season 3, the releases are manufacture-on-demand (MOD) DVD-Rs, and the film elements used are often truncated syndicated episodes that run 22 or 23 minutes and have not been remastered, so the video quality is considerably below that of the first two seasons. At some point, probably during editing for syndication, the episode "Tramp's First Bite" mistakenly had the credits for "Daughter for a Day" tacked on the end, which is carried forth in the DVD version. The backs of these later DVD sets also note that "Music has been changed for this home entertainment version," meaning it is not the original broadcast music. Even the graphics on these later DVD sets is low-resolution and pixelated, indicating that CBS cut corners and costs at every turn.

The Actors

For the biographies of Fred MacMurray, William Frawley, Tim Considine, Don Grady, and Stanley Livingston, see the 1960 post of My Three Sons. As mentioned in the post on the 1961 episodes, recurring supporting actors--Ricky Allen as Chip's friend Sudsy Pfeiffer, Olive Dunbar as his mother Mrs. Pfeiffer, Peter Brooks as Robbie's friend Hank Ferguson, and Andrew Colmar as Mike's friend Tim Weede--have too little information published online to provide a true biography.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 2, Episode 14, "Chip Leaves Home": Howard Caine (Schaab on The Californians and Maj. Wolfgang Hochstetter on Hogan's Heroes) plays a police desk sergeant.

Season 2, Episode 15, "The Romance of Silver Pines": Ed Begley, Sr. (shown on the near left, starred in Sorry, Wrong Number, The Great Gatsby (1949), Deadline U.S.A., The Turning Point, 12 Angry Men, Sweet Bird of Youth, and Hang 'Em High and played Mr. Koppel on Leave It to Larry) plays vacationer Ed Wallace. Irene Ryan (shown on the far left, appeared in The Woman on the Beach, Bonzo Goes to College, and Desire in the Dust and played Granny Daisy Moses on The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction) plays his wife Rusty. Jan Clayton (starred in Sunset Trail, The Wolf Hunters, and This Man's Navy and played Ellen Miller on Lassie) plays vacationing widow Fran Borden. Dal McKennon (see the biography section for the 1961 post on 87th Precinct) plays resort clerk Mr. MacIvers.

Season 2, Episode 16, "Blind Date": Trudi Ames (appeared in Bye Bye Birdie, Gidget Goes to Rome, and The Impossible Years) plays Robbie's blind date Janie Miller. Carole Costello (daughter of Lou Costello) plays Mike's blind date Bonnie Walters.

Season 2, Episode 17, "Second Time Around": Patricia Barry (shown on the right, played Kate Harris on Harris Against the World, Lydia McGuire on Dr. Kildare, Adelaide Horton Williams on Days of Our Lives, Peg English on All My Children, and Sally Gleason on Guiding Light) plays Steve's former girlfriend Pamela MacLish. George Cisar (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Dennis the Menace) plays Steve's work colleague Giles. Wally Brown (appeared in Notorious, The Left Handed Gun, and The Absent-Minded Professor and played Jed Fame on Cimarron City and Chauncey Kowalski on The Roaring '20's) plays Bub's pinochle partner Max. Richard Reeves (Mr. Murphy on Date With the Angels) plays pinochle partner Smitty.

Season 2, Episode 18, "The Girls Next Door": Jody Fair (appeared in High School Confidential, Hot Rod Gang, The Brain Eaters, and Sex Kittens Go to College) plays stewardess Dodo. Marlyn Mason (Sally Welden on Ben Casey and Nikki Bell on Longstreet) plays stewardess Ellen. Barbara Lyon (daughter of Ben Lyon and Bebe Daniels, popular singer, and played herself on Life With the Lyons and Dream Time With Barbara) plays stewardess Georgia.

Season 2, Episode 19, "Bub Gets a Job": Raymond Bailey (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis) plays department store customer Mr. Dennis. Peggy Mondo (Mama Vitale on To Rome With Love) plays customer Mrs. Bleeker. Rusty Stevens (see the biography section for the 1960 post on Leave It to Beaver) plays her son Cletus. Jonathan Hole (Orville Monroe on The Andy Griffith Show) plays floorwalker Mr. Tully. Bryan O'Byrne (Man in the Middle on Occasional Wife) plays an employment service interviewer.

Season 2, Episode 20, "Le Petit Stowaway": Bill Erwin (Glenn Diamond on Struck by Lightning) plays Steve's boss Joe Walters. Bert Remsen (Detective Lawrence on Peyton Place, Mr. Pell on Gibbsville, Mario on It's a Living, and Jack Crager on Dynasty) plays Steve's business contact Capt. Maynard. Beatrice Richter (shown on the right, was the host of Sketch-Up and played Franziska Velten on Salto Postale and Gerti Schofeld on Storm of Love) plays young French girl Marie.

Season 2, Episode 21, "Robbie Valentino": Nancy Kulp (Pamela Livingstone on The Bob Cummings Show, Jane Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies, Mrs. Gruber on The Brian Keith Show, and Mrs. Hopkins on Sanford and Son) plays Robbie's physics teacher Miss Fisher. Judee Morton (appeared in Zotz! and The Slime People and played Dr. Smithson on General Hospital) plays Robbie's classmate Marilyn Turnthurston. 

Season 2, Episode 22, "The Masterpiece": Natalie Masters (shown on the left, played Wilma Clemson on Date With the Angels) plays Chip's teacher Miss Bergen. John Gallaudet (appeared in Pennies From Heaven, Girls Can Play, and In Cold Blood and played Chamberlain on Mayor of the Town, Lt. Dan Harmon on Johnny Midnight, Judge Penner on Perry Mason, and later played Bob Anderson on My Three Sons) plays Sudsy's father Mr. Pfeiffer. Gilman Rankin (Deputy Charlie Riggs on Tombstone Territory) plays Chip's principal Mr. Shutley.

Season 2, Episode 23, "A Holiday for Tramp": Eve Arden (shown on the right, starred in Stage Door, No, No, Nanette, Sing for Your Supper, Mildred Pierce, Tea for Two, Our Miss Brooks, and Anatomy of a Murder and played Connie Brooks on Our Miss Brooks, Liza Hammond on The Eve Arden Show, and Eve Hubbard on The Mothers-in-Law) plays former actress Marisa Montaine. Maudie Prickett (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Hazel) plays her assistant Brownie. Johnny Silver (Ludicrous Lion and Dr. Blinkey on H.R. Pufnstuf) plays Montaine's chauffeur. Reta Shaw (Flora McCauley on The Ann Sothern Show, Thelma on The Tab Hunter Show, Mrs. Stanfield on Oh, Those Bells, and Martha Grant on The Ghost and Mrs. Muir) plays Bryant Park Mother of the Year Mrs. Bradshaw. Charles Seel (Otis the Bartender on Tombstone Territory, Mr. Krinkie on Dennis the Menace, and Tom Pride on The Road West) plays a train conductor.

Season 2, Episode 24, "The Big Game": Nancy Kulp (shown on the left, see "Robbie Valentino" above)  plays Robbie's math teacher Miss Fisher. 

Season 2, Episode 25, "Chip's Party": Olive Dunbar (Heather Ruth Jensen on My World and Welcome To It and Bertha Bottomly on Big John, Little John) plays Sudsy's mother Mrs. Pfeiffer. Natalie Masters (see "The Masterpiece" above) returns as Chip's teacher Miss Bergen.

Season 2, Episode 26, "Casanova Trouble": Brenda Scott (shown on the right, married and divorced actor Andrew Prine three times, now married to producer Dean Hargrove, played Midge Pride on The Road West and Dr. Gina Dante Lansing on General Hospital) plays Steve's secretary's daughter Linda Evans. 

Season 2, Episode 27, "The Pencil Pusher": William Tannen (Deputy Hal Norton on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays an Air Force colonel. Sydney Mason (Insp. J.J. Burke on Craig Kennedy, Criminologist and Sheriff Walt Downey on My Friend Flicka) plays Air Force base Fire Chief Miller. William Sargent (Jerry Carter on Peyton Place) plays Air Force pilot Lt. Smith.

Season 2, Episode 28, "Innocents Abroad": Roy Engel (shown on the left, played Doc Martin on Bonanza, the police chief on My Favorite Martian, and President Ulysses S. Grant on The Wild, Wild West) plays Steve's college friend Wally Osborne. 

Season 2, Episode 29, "Robbie the Caddy": Robert J. Wilke (appeared in Best of the Badmen, High Noon, The Far Country, Night Passage, and Stripes and played Capt. Mendoza on Zorro) plays professional golfer Danny Donnigan. Louis Nicoletti (assistant director on The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy) plays caddy master Louie. Jimmy Cross (Jesse on How to Marry a Millionaire) plays the golf course steward.

Season 2, Episode 30, "Coincidence": Billy Barty (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1961 post on Peter Gunn) plays stranded bus passenger Billy Longfellow. Mary Jackson (Emily Baldwin on The Waltons, Sarah Wicks on Hardcastle and McCormick, and Great Grandma Greenwell on Parenthood) plays widowed mother Irene Anderson. Barbara Parkins (starred in Valley of the Dolls, The Mephisto Waltz, and Puppet on a Chain and played Betty Anderson Harrington on Peyton Place) plays her daughter Bobbie. Susan Gordon (appeared in Attack of the Puppet People, Tormented, The Five Pennies, and Picture Mommy Dead) plays her daughter Kit. Verna Felton (Mrs. Day on The Ezio Pinza Show and The Jack Benny Program, Hilda Crocker on December Bride and Pete and Gladys, and voiced Pearl Slaghoople on The Flintstones) plays grandmother Mub.

Season 2, Episode 31, "Air Derby": Wallace Rooney (Andrew Winters on The Doctors and Tim Butterfield on Lou Grant) plays hobby shop owner Pop Johnson. Joey D. Vieira (Hollis Bridwell on The Pride of the Family, Porky Brockway on Lassie, and Norman Zelinko on Hank) plays high-school student Roly-Poly Bates. Ed Prentiss (the narrator on Trackdown and played Carl Jensen on The Virginian) plays his father. Chick Hearn (shown on the left, legendary Los Angeles Lakers play-by-play announcer) plays the air derby announcer. Butch Patrick (Greg Howard on The Real McCoys, Eddie Munster on The Munsters, Gordon Dearing later on My Three Sons, and Mark on Lidsville) plays a hobby shop customer.

Season 2, Episode 32, "Too Much in Common": Carolyn Craig (appeared in Giant, House on Haunted Hill, and Studs Lonigan) plays Mike's girlfriend June Barker. Bill Zuckert (shown on the right, played Arthur Bradwell on Mr. Novak and Chief Segal on Captain Nice) plays her father Harry. Richard Clair (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis) plays June's date Ken Everetts. Don Edmonds (appeared in Gidget Goes Hawaiian, Beach Ball, and Wild Wild Winter and played Nicky D'Angelo on Broadside) plays a school librarian. Josie Lloyd (Nurse Roth on Dr. Kildare) plays Mike's date's friend Linda Prentiss.

Season 2, Episode 33, "Chug and Robbie": Ryan O'Neal (shown on the left, starred in Love Story, What's Up, Doc?, Barry Lyndon, Paper Moon, A Bridge Too Far, and The Main Event and played Tal Garrett on Empire, Rodney Harrington on Peyton Place, Bobby Tannen on Good Sports, Robert Roberts, Jr. on Bull, Jerry Fox on Miss Match, and Max Keenen on Bones) plays high school football hero Chug Williams. Del Moore (Alvin on Life With Elizabeth and Cal Mitchell on Bachelor Father) plays his father. 

Season 2, Episode 34, "Good Influence": George Wallace (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays Chip's friend's father Mr. Selby. Mary Anderson (starred in Bahama Passage, The Song of Bernadette, and Lifeboat and played Catherine Harrington on Peyton Place) plays his wife Claire.

Season 2, Episode 35, "The Hippopotamus Foot": Douglas Lambert (Eddie Weeks on General Hospital and Walter Schiff on Inside Story) plays fraternity brother Buzz Talbot. Mike Minor (Steve Elliott on Petticoat Junction and The Beverly Hillbillies and Brandon Kingsley on All My Children) plays fraternity brother Ray. Alexander Lockwood (Judge Owen Baker on Sam Benedict) plays college Dean Talbot. Hank Patterson (shown on the left, played Fred Ziffel on Green Acres and Petticoat Junction and Hank Miller on Gunsmoke) plays college caretaker Quinby Lewis.

Season 2, Episode 36, "The Kibitzers": Lloyd Corrigan (starred in A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob, Hitler's Children, Captive Wild Woman, The Bandit of Sherwood Forest, and Son of Paleface and played Papa Dodger on Willy, Wally Dipple on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Ned Buntline on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Uncle Charlie on Happy, and Professor McKillup on Hank) plays Bub's pinochle partner Mr. Smithfield. Burt Mustin (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1961 post on Leave It to Beaver) plays pinochle partner Max. Natalie Masters (see "The Masterpiece" above) returns as Chip's teacher Mrs. Bergen. Eddie Quillan (starred in The Grapes of Wrath, Mandarin Mystery, Mutiny on the Bounty, and Hi, Good Lookin'! and played Eddie Edson on Julia and Poco Loco on Hell Town) plays air-conditioning contractor Handley Hewlitt. Bill Erwin (see "Le Petit Stowaway" above) returns as Steve's boss Joe Walters.

Season 3, Episode 1, "Weekend in Tokyo": James Yagi (shown on the left, appeared in The Gallant Hours, Bridge to the Sun, and King Kong vs. Godzilla and played Charlie Wong on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis) plays Steve's Japanese contact Mr. Tanaka. Caroline Kido (appeared in The Nun and the Sergeant and Confessions of an Opium Eater) plays the Douglas' host's granddaughter Kimiko. Buck Young (Deputy Buck Johnson on U.S. Marshal and Sgt. Whipple on Gomer Pyle: USMC) plays Robbie's wrestling coach.

Season 3, Episode 2, "Robbie's Employment Service": Booth Colman (shown on the right, played Zaius on Planet of the Apes, Prof. Hector Jerrold on General Hospital, and Dr. Felix Burke on The Young and the Restless) plays banker Enoch Lieb. Anne Loos (Mrs. Danfield on Mr. Novak) plays Robbie's client Mrs. Edgerton. Barbara Collentine (Charlotte on Nichols) plays client Mrs. Randall. Richard Bull (played the Seaview doctor on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Thatcher on Nichols, and Nels Oleson on Little House on the Prairie) plays city licensor J.C. Dobbins. Patricia Lyon (wife of Robert Fuller) plays Robbie's girlfriend Betty Stone.

Season 2, Episode 3, "Tramp's First Bite": Tim Matheson (shown on the left, played Roddy Miller on Window on Main Street, Jim Horn on The Virginian, Griff King on Bonanza, Quentin Beaudine on The Quest, Rick Tucker on Tucker's Witch, Harry Stadlin on Just in Time, Charlie Hoover on Charlie Hoover, Sheriff Matthew Donner on Wolf Lake, Bill Dunne on Breaking News, John Hoynes on The West Wing, Larry Sizemore on Burn Notice, Dr. Brick Breeland on Hart of Dixie, and Doc Mullins on Virgin River, and voiced Jonny Quest on Jonny Quest, Sinbad, Jr. on Sinbad, Jr. and His Magic Belt, Samson on Young Samson & Goliath, Jace on Space Ghost, Capt. John O'Rourke on The Legend of Calamity Jane, and Brad Chiles on Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated) plays bite victim Alan Edgerton. Anne Loos (see "Robbie's Employment Service" above) plays his mother. Dennis McCarthy (Dr. Sam Hodges on Cimarron City) plays policeman John. Tyler McVey (Maj. Norgrath on Men Into Space) plays a judge.

Season 3, Episode 4, "Moment of Truth": Penney Parker (shown on the right, played Terry Williams on The Danny Thomas Show and Maybelle Jackson on Margie) plays waitress Jackie Acton. Robert Foulk (Ed Davis on Father Knows Best, Sheriff Miller on Lassie, Joe Kingston on Wichita Town, Mr. Wheeler on Green Acres, and Phillip Toomey on The Rifleman) plays her father Pop. Mike Minor (see "The Hippopotamus Foot" above) plays Mike's fraternity brother Duke.

Season 3, Episode 5, "Daughter for a Day": Stanja Lowe (Mrs. Thomas on Peyton Place) plays Steve's old friend Elizabeth Hill. Morgan Brittany (shown on the left, played Kate Simpson on Glitter and Katherine Wentworth on Dallas) plays her young daughter Jeannie. Barbara Lyon (see "The Girls Next Door" above) plays an airline stewardess. 

Season 3, Episode 6, "The Ghost Next Door": Loie Bridge (Chloe Skinridge on Life With Elizabeth) plays next door neighbor Abbe Pearson. 

Season 3, Episode 7, "Pretty as a Picture": Hope Sansberry (shown on the right, played Mrs. Nell Hall on The Phil Silvers Show) plays elderly neighbor Clara Gilbert. 

Season 3, Episode 8, "What's Cooking?": Olive Dunbar (see "Chip's Party" above) returns as Mrs. Pfeiffer. Patsy Garrett (Mrs. Fowler on Nanny and the Professor and Miss Hogarth on Room 222) plays Dorine Peters' mother Agnes. Molly Dodd (Miss Scott on Hazel) plays lifestyle reporter Flora McAvoy.

Season 3, Episode 9, "Chip's Last Fight": Tim Matheson (see "Tramp's First Bite" above) plays secret boys club president Gibbs. Barbara Collentine (shown on the left, see "Robbie's Employment Service" above) plays the mother of another club member Mrs. Aldrich. Celeste Yarnell (Miss Rheingold 1964, starred in Eve, Live a Little, Love a Little, and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice) plays Mike's girlfriend Ginny Stewart. Bill Quinn (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Rifleman) plays the Douglas family doctor.

Season 3, Episode 10, "Steve Gets an A": Mimsy Farmer (shown on the right, starred in Hot Rods to Hell, Riot on Sunset Strip, Devil's Angels, The Wild Racers, and More) plays Robbie's girlfriend Janee Holmes. William Sargent (see "The Pencil Pusher" above) plays Robbie's history teacher Mr. Armstrong.

Season 3, Episode 11, "Heat Wave": Anjanette Comer (starred in The Loved One, The Appaloosa, Guns for San Sebastian, and Rabbit, Run) plays Mike's girlfriend Janie Stempel. Bartlett Robinson (Willard Norton on Wendy and Me and Frank Caldwell on Mona McCluskey) plays Steve's business client Milton Gibson. Olive Dunbar (see "Chip's Party" above) returns as Mrs. Pfeiffer. Templeton Fox (mother of musician Bob Welch) plays paper drive collector Mrs. Fletcher. Billy Beck (Lt. Trask on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, the photo editor on Lou Grant, Charles on Falcon Crest, and Nick Pappasmearos on Son of the Beach) plays a grocery store janitor.

Season 3, Episode 12, "The Beauty Contest": Jeannine Riley (shown on the left, appeared in Strike Me Deadly, The Big Mouth, and Electra Glide in Blue and played Billie Jo Bradley on Petticoat Junction, Lulu McQueen on Dusty's Trail, and was a regular on Hee Haw) plays beauty contestant Kim Franklin. Nancy McCarthy (Bunny [later recast as Mary Ann] in the original unaired pilot of Gilligan's Island) plays Mike's girlfriend Laurie. Les Brown, Jr. (son of bandleader Les Brown, played Jim Bailey on The Baileys of Balboa and Buzz Coleman on The Young Marrieds) plays college newspaper assistant editor Arch.

Season 3, Episode 13, "Doctor in the House": Oliver McGowan (shown on the right, played Harvey Welk on Empire) plays Steve's former physician Dr. Stasser. Russ Conway (Fenton Hardy on The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure, Gen. Devon on Men Into Space, and Lt. Pete Kile on Richard Diamond, Private Detective) plays Steve's boss Joe Walters. Dorothy Konrad (Mrs. Trilling on The Last Resort) plays neighbor Mrs. Gilbert. Sidney Clute (Sgt. Same Gerke on Steve Canyon, Det. Simms on McCloud, the National Editor on Lou Grant, and Det. Paul La Guardia on Cagney & Lacey) plays a sign painter. Shirley O'Hara (Debbie Flett on The Bob Newhart Show) plays Stasser's nurse.

Season 3, Episode 14, "Going Steady": Marta Kristen (Judy Robinson on Lost in Space) plays Robbie's girlfriend Linda Davis. Lola Albright (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1960 post on Peter Gunn) plays her mother Paulette. Madge Kennedy (Aunt Martha Branson on Leave It to Beaver) plays Paulette's mother Mrs. Lindsay. Buck Young (see "Weekend in Tokyo" above) returns as Robbie's wrestling coach.