User Reviews

Like Bobby on The Brady Bunch shoving his umbrella thru the roof of the convertible, I always felt that if Lucille Ball had done this stunt, it would have been classic comedy.

Beaver is going to spend the night with his friend, Whitey, but BEFORE THEY GET TO THE WHITNEY HOUSEHOLD, Beaver and Whitey observe a billboard with a woman holding a bowl of soup and smoke coming out of the soup.

They discuss if there is really soup in the bowl or not. Beaver says there isn't, Whitey says there is.

So Beaver climbs up to look in the bowl.

As Beaver makes his way up the woman's arm, he calls down to Whitey, "boy, Whitey, you sure are a dumb kid." "Yea," Whitey mumbles to himself, "I'm a dumb kid," looking up at Beaver climbing up the sign.

When the show aired in the afternoon, I would come across this episode and wondered for the longest time how Beaver got in that bowl or whatever he was in.

I would have to catch the episode decades later to find out.

Now what made it interesting is, after Beaver had fallen into the bowl (which had no liquid in it, only dispensing smoke) and had to be rescued by the fire department, Whitey ran home to tell his parents.

Gradually other kids, from Haskell to Rutherford, and adults made their way to the billboard.

When Ward walks up, Whitey's parents were there.

What was interesting was Mr. Whitney telling Ward that it was Beaver, and that Beaver never made it to the Whitney house, thereby removing Mr. Whitney of any responsibility of Beaver's predicament, I suppose.

"Ya can't blame me, Ward. I never saw yore kid!" Still, I've always liked this one. Good dialogue with Wally and his friends as they wait for Beaver to be removed from the soup bowl.

Stands rather original as well, as I don't recall any other shows having an episode like this.

Older brother Wally is having his first High School party. He does not want his younger brother Beaver around to cause problems. It is decided that Beaver will stay at his old pal ''Whitey Whitney's" house on the party night. However,along the walk to Whitey's house,we have Beaver's childhood curiosity getting the better of him. After discussion with Whitey,Beaver starts climbing up a big advertising billboard that has what looks like a steaming cup of soup at the very top of the billboard-a good 25+ feet off the ground. Beaver wants to investigate how the steam is made,his pal thinks that there is real soup in the giant cup,Beaver disagrees, and they wager on it-and up he goes! All kids like to climb,so this episode is very easy to relate to. We've all done this sort of stuff to some extent,it is all part of being a kid. Fortunately,Beaver does not fall off the billboard onto the ground,but he does end-up stuck in the steaming soup cup! Naturally this situation snowballs and ends-up eclipsing older brother Wally's party...the same party that Beaver was supposed to be avoiding by sleeping over his pal's house to begin with. It is interesting to see the young party-goers dressed up so nice just for a house party,people had class for sure back then. ("I don't wanna wear a tie" just didn't work then) Anyhow,before long,the fire department arrives, and everyone from the party,(plus neighbors, passers-by,etc) are there to see the fire department 'rescue' Beaver. After Beaver gets back on the ground,he chats nonchalantly with everyone,enjoying the attention he is getting. Ward Cleaver, Beaver's father is so cool that after a short discussion he even allows Beaver to carry-on and go stay overnight with Whitey like they had planned. After Ward aggrees to let Beaver continue on to Whitey's house,Ward makes sure to mention that they will 'Talk' when he returns from Whitey's the next day. In other words,it is not over with completely, Beaver. (But Beaver knows that the worst part is past,Ward isn't that mad.) All in all a great episode. Well directed,well-written,great timing and acting,it all flows smoothly and the camera work is great also. They packed a lot into less than 30 minutes yet it never seems rushed. This really is a great episode of a great TV series,it will make the sourest sourpuss smile in spite of themselves. Watch for a good laugh!

I don't know why this episode is the one so many seem to remember. It doesn't even have the right cast. This is a Larry Mondello episode if there ever was one. As we begin, Wally wants to have his first teen party at the Cleaver home. June reminisces that at Wally's last party he was twelve and the girls ended up in the living room and the boys were all in the kitchen. Yes, agrees Ward, that was when Wally was smart. Wally feels pretty good, Ward and June have promised to stay in the background, but what about Beaver. Wally gives Beaver the money to see a film because he's a good older brother. Beaver is pleased he has such a "nice" older brother; and this generosity isn't a result of Wally's party, is it? How did Beaver find out? Mom told him after Whitey invited him to sleep over that night.

The complication: on the way to Whitey's house they spot a new billboard advertising soup. This billboard has what appears to be a cup of soup with steam rising out of it. This leads to the inevitable dare about finding out if it's real soup in the cup and Beaver is once again the dupe, sucker, simpleton, plank, chump, etc. Now Beaver's in the "soup," so how is he going to be extracted? If anything, we know a) Wally's party will be disrupted, b) Everyone in town will find out, c) You can't die from embarrassment, d) Whitey won't catch any of the blame, e) Beaver will not learn anything from this escapade.

Kids love to climb. And kids love soup. So when Beaver sees a giant bowl of soup up on a billboard and the bowl of soup is steaming (yum!) he decides to climb up there. Actually, it was his annoying friend Whitey that dared him to do it. Whitey is always doing stuff like that. Whitey would tell Beaver to jump into a volcano if he thought he could get a good laugh out of it.

The giant bowl of soup is actually being "held" by the lady on the billboard, who is part poster and part wood, giving it a 3-dimensional effect. It actually looks quite cool even by today's standards. Naturally, Beaver climbs up to and then falls into the giant bowl of soup, which actually contains no soup of course because who would put a real bowl of soup up on a billboard for goodness sake. Nobody. Besides, Beaver would get scalded and die and the series would be over and Wally would be an only child and Mrs. Cleaver would be crying in her cake batter every day. And we can't have that! Nobody likes a crying beaver! I mean a crying Cleaver!

So now Beaver is stuck. Boy, is he stuck! What a place to be stuck! Up on a billboard in a giant bowl of soup!

Uh-oh, the sun is going down and it's getting dark. The light for the billboard comes on automatically, beautifully lighting up the bowl of soup and the steam coming out of it. Now Beaver's friend Whitey goes home and leaves Beaver all alone. What a friend! First he gets Beaver into this mess and then he abandons him! With friends like that.....

Meanwhile, back at the Cleaver's house, Lumpy shows up and says that there is a kid stuck in a giant bowl of soup and that it's drawing a big crowd, much like if a spaceship had suddenly landed in Times Square. So they all go over to see what the fuss is all about. Mrs. Cleaver stays behind because she's Mrs. Cleaver and that's what Mrs. Cleavers do. Besides, there is supposed to be a party happening and as of yet nobody as shown up.

Well, Mr. Cleaver and Wally and a group of people stand gawking at the giant bowl of soup with the kid in it. Still, nobody knows who the kid is. People are making wisecracks. Because that's what a kid who is stuck in a giant bowl of soup needs, he needs wisecracks. Finally, somebody calls the fire department because they have ladders and things like that. They show up and climb up and get Beaver, who is deeply embarrassed. Right then a little kid runs up and asks for Beaver's autograph, probably the funniest moment in the episode. That is a classic moment in a classic episode.

There is something wonderfully surreal and magical about this episode. The imagery is classic Americana. No wonder it's such a famous episode.

... as I have seen many LITB episodes as good as this one. The Hypnotist, where Eddie convinces Beaver that he has hypnotized him, comes to mind.

It starts out with Wally wanting to invite his friends over on a Friday night to "eat stuff" and listen to records. When he is granted permission, he sets out to make sure that his parents and brother are far from the proceedings. Beaver agrees to go to Whitey's house to spend the night, and so the day comes and off he goes.

On the way there, Beaver and Whitey notice a billboard advertising "Zesto Soup". It has a cardboard woman, her arm extended, holding a big bowl with steam coming out. Beaver and Whitey get into an argument of whether or not there is soup in the bowl. Whitey dares Beaver to go up and find out. Beaver takes the dare, climbs up to the bowl, looks in, and then falls in, unable to get out. There is no soup in the bowl - just steam, in case you were wondering. Whitey goes to get his father, of course denying any knowledge of why Beaver would do such a thing.

Meanwhile, darkness approaches, and Wally waits for his guests, who are all late. Lumpy eventually shows up and tells Wally that they are all over at 4th and Oak where some kid has fallen into a billboard soup bowl. Ward seems amused by this and goes over there with them, saying he can drive them back once the kid in the bowl is rescued. Once there, Ward learns from Whitey's father that the kid in the bowl is Beaver, and he ceases to be amused. A very public rescue by the fire department ensues.

Maybe this is so well remembered because it is so surreal, because it is one situation on LITB that couldn't commonly just happen. Everything else that happened on LITB is part of 50s middle class American life and is rooted in common childhood fears and memories. I don't know anybody who climbed into a bowl of soup on a billboard and needed rescuing. Of course today, if somebody were to build such a billboard, and a child were to climb into it, the parents would sue the company.