MovieChat Forums > Leave It to Beaver (1957) Discussion > Ridiculous fubaring of Wally's name at M...

Ridiculous fubaring of Wally's name at Mary Ellen's slumber party

posted 8 years ago by Navaros
8 replies | jump to latest

I know that LITB violates continuity all the time, but I previously have said they at least they get the Cleavers' names right from one episode to another.

But even that is not always true.

When Wally gets kicked out after crashing Mary Ellen's slumber party to deliver ice cream based on a fraudulent prank order from Eddie, Eddie calls Wally "Walter."

I'm shocked that that take made it into the final cut. Connelly and Mosher were supposed to be very hand-on in supervising the episodes they didn't write themselves. And they were supposed to have rehearsal days where they listened to the actors say the lines and then re-wrote lines that didn't work before the episode was filmed. And even if Connelly and Mosher somehow missed the "Walter" fubar, then Dow and Osmond both should have known that Wally's name is "Wallace," not "Walter," and objected to Osmond delivering the line with "Walter."

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] Navaros 8 years ago

I'm not buying that one.

Calling Wally "Walter" just makes Eddie look like an ignoramus who doesn't even know his best friend's name, even though he is exposed to it constantly. Eddie wouldn't make himself look retarded by doing that. When Eddie calls people names that are clearly not meant to be theirs, that's a different thing entirely.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] darkridedan 8 years ago

If Ken called Wally "Tony," I could see the fubar, but this was Eddie being funny.

The continuity is not as important as progressing the storyline and keeping the characters true to the purpose for which they were created. If they were real people, the continuity would be a problem, but I think the staff did a fine job keeping the characters true to themselves.

In other shows, All in the Family comes to mind, once the point of view gets old, the story lines remain preachy, but you get a sense that the characters are doing things that are out of character. People do things out-of-line all the time, but many fans of the show feel that episodes of Archie over dosing on medication, cheating on Edith or having anything to do with the KKK were too far of a stretch. If the staff would have used another character in those situations, we still would have received Archie's views on the matters; He was a fan of voicing his opinion in everything, even if he didn't voice his opinions or beliefs very well. All in the Family was also bad with continuity!
Leave it to Beaver had to stretch or change previously stated timelines in order to fit a current storyline. As timeless as the show is, I'm sure they took the time to discuss how to rearrange the past to make it fit another episode; There seems to have been allot of heart put into the show. They probably just felt that a previous plot point wasn't as important to advancing a current storyline or theme.

[–] MichaelMartinDeSapio 8 years ago

If Ken called Wally "Tony," I could see the fubar, but this was Eddie being funny.

I'm with you. This was not a mistake - it was simply Eddie being a wise guy and calling Wally a "pseudonym" as he often does. No writer would be dumb enough to actually get Wally's name wrong.

[–] jsusna72 8 years ago

I agree. Sometimes he calls Wally "Sam".

[–] jimmyberluti1 8 years ago

What I don't get was the girls squeling over Wally like a rock star.

[–] janet-conant 8 years ago

I agree it was not a blooper. Eddie has called Wally every name from Gwendolyn to Mr. Peepers to Rodney to Gertrude and Elwood so why not Walter.

My favorite is when he called Beaver, Crazy Legs.