Monday, October 18, 2010

So Long, Barbara Billingsley

 

Born in Los Angeles in 1915 Billingsley, who began her career as a model in New York City before her big break on 'Leave it Beaver,' has passed away in her Santa Monica, Calif., home after a long illness.

Barbara Billingsley portrayed June Cleaver, the idealized mother of the early sixties. With her stiff taffeta dresses and pearls- in high heels, yet, she became a kind of surrogate mother for a lot of children my age. I never saw the original show but every afternoon after school, I would rush home to watch the re-runs, without ever questioning why my home was, for the

most part, hardly anything like the Beav's. For me, it was merely a daily dose of perfection with all problems resolved by the closing credits. There weren't any bad guys-(Eddie Haskell was only a weasel) and suburbia was just about as close to heaven as one could wish for.

2 comments:

  1. this reminds me the show: Cosby Show. I remember watching it and asking "Why isn't my home anything like that?". I dont mean the house itself of course, but the family relations represented in the show.

    Interestingly, i had a chance to translate some of the episodes of the show, many years later, for a network which was going to re-run the show. well, while translting it, i felt like it wasnt and glamorous as i remembered.

    As for Mrs. Billingsley, i dont really know her but may she rest in peace.

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  2. Here is a clip of the pilot episode. The thing that I always found most interesting about this show was the ease in which the writers put themselves into the mind of a child.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqMQDb9aG4A

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