I read recently that Barbara Billingsley ("yes I speak jive") died. You may remember that she played the loving and proper mom of the Cleaver family in the 1950s show Leave it to Beaver. This old program followed the adventures of the young Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver and taught us a few lessons about growing up along the way ("put your foot on the lady's thumb"). Although sappy and dry by today's standards, this show represents a time capsule slice of life from a different, simpler and more innocent, bygone age. I remember watching the show in the afternoon when I got home from school. This was back in the days before cable T.V. and I had only 4 or 5 channels to choose from. Although not my favorite show, likely because black and white never could hold a candle to color in my mind, it, nevertheless, did leave an impression on me that has lasted through the years. The same evening I read of Mrs. Billingsley's passing, I was doing a bit of channel surfing, when I stumbled upon another old show that I have probably not seen since I was in high school. I Dream of Jeannie, which stands in stark contrast to the Cleaver clan. was a 1960s show about an astronaut (Major Nelson) who finds a genie and takes possession of her. She ran around showing her scandalous belly button and called the man who found her "master". This show was cut from the same mold as Bewitched. (Note: for several years as a kid I had a crush on Elizabeth Montgomery.) It's interesting how much America grew up in moving from the Cleavers to Major Nelson in just a few years.
Now flipping through the channels, we find popular shows like Jersey Shore, which is nothing more than offensive, badly scripted soft porn, and show after show that is all about shocking us and pushing the moral envelope. We have come so far so fast, but I'm not necessarily sure that we are any better off. So reading of "Mrs. Cleaver" dying left me feeling a bit sad.
