I'm not so sure...! Things might be pointing upward. A recent perusal of pics featuring one Tony Dow during and shortly after his days on the famed situation comedy
Leave it to Beaver (1957-1963), show one rather cutie-patootie who had an athletic physique (thanks to his stint as a Junior Olympic diver) and some seriously luminous eyes. No, we're not into boys (he was twelve when the show began), but by the time the show ended and he was eighteen, he'd grown into quite a looker. Unfortunately, not long after that, he spent three years in the National Guard, which sidelined his acting career. He did return to acting, but never to the same amount of hullabaloo he'd garnered as Wally Cleaver.
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| Dow as a handsome and popular young star. |
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| As the eldest, yet still youthful, brother on TV's Leave It to Beaver. |
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| By this time, the eyes really have it! |
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| TV mom Barbara Billingsley was famous for wearing pearls at practically all times (and was at times mocked for it), though the habit originated because she had a scar at her throat that she was attempting to obscure. |
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| Active TV brothers, with the lean Dow towering over his sibling Jerry "The Beaver" Mathers. |
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| Beaver looked up to Wally in more ways than one. |
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| Dow supplied the teen idol aspects for the audience while Mathers tended to carry more of the comedic weight. |
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| Here they discuss ball handling skills... |
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| Why couldn't someone fix The Beav's swimsuit belt?? |
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| a patriotic Thanksgiving presentation. This would never fly on television today. But, again, the eyes! |
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| Wally hits the books. |
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| This time in living color. |
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| Bye Bye Beaver, the rest of the pics focus on Dow without you! |
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| Presumably preparing for his driver's test. |
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| In his day, Dow was a fan magazine staple. |
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| Always athletic, these next three pics have a locker room playfulness to them. |
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| Towel Fight! |
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| I bet he'll win. |
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| Approaching the end now. |
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| Mr. Dow eventually morphed into a rather doughy man with a lot of fluffy hair, but he always had those incredible eyes. Seventy-two these days, he is now an accomplished sculptor. |
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| Now we're talking... Well, hello! |
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| The End. |
Why is it that we could see Wally's & Beaver's navels in the '50s, but we could not see Jeannie's navel in the '60s?
ReplyDeleteMeTV has been showing "Beaver" in order of original broadcast. Interesting to see what a quietly attractive young man Mr Dow grew into by the end of the series. (And how he filled out the rear of those khakis!) It is a shame he didn't do much later. It would have been nice to see him in his early 30's when I think most men are at their sexiest.
ReplyDeleteHe became a sculptor.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tonydowsculpture.com
he was the reason to watch LITB :) one of my favorite episodes was, i'm sure a later one, had wally "involved" with an 'older' female and as i recall getting his heart broke, there is also a tennis match involved ~ back in the day, i was really swooning over him watching this one episode (his 'coming of age' episode as it were for innocent 1950's tv) enjoy watching it if you can find it - i'm sure it's not as good as my memory tells me it was/is but he is very cute in it :)
ReplyDeleteDavid, that's a very good question! But the funny part is that, in my haste, I accidentally read your comment as "Why is it that we could see Wally's Beaver" the first time! Anyway... probably just the usual double standard regarding men and women (though, strangely, in the movies, it was so more common for women to be naked rather than men.)
ReplyDeleteD ODay, that's when I prefer men, too! I like 'em fully cooked. Ha ha!
Josh, I'd love to see that ep and will try to keep a look out for it! :-) Thanks.
Love watching Leave It To Beaver on MeTV, and Tony Dow was the perfect big brother. Would that life really was as simple as that show makes it appear. Thanks for providing us with a wonderful tribute to such a wholesome all- American guy.
ReplyDeleteVictorG, thanks! I'm glad you liked this. I know I sound idiotic/naive, but I feel like I might have to take this post down at some point because it's viewed as (to use a pc phrase) "problematic" by some people. I promise I'm not a pedophile and I hope everyone understands that! I just thought he was a very attractive guy who grew into an even more attractive young man. I wanted to shine a little light on him. (The older pics were the ones that began the whole thing, but there were so few I went backwards to fill out a post's worth.) And, yes, I almost always sneak in snarkily inappropriate comments when I can. That's just me. The world is very clenched these days and it doesn't take much to strike a nerve with some folks... :-]
ReplyDeletejust an FYI: the episode i spoke about in my previous post is the season 5 premiere (s5;e1).
ReplyDeleteIt's called Tennis Anyone? And it really shows Tony's legs. He's around 17 at the time.
ReplyDelete