Watching the earliest episodes of this series 60 years after first viewing them as broadcast I was struck with the silly childishness of the Norman Tokar direction and especially the Mosher/Connelly writing - talking down to the family audience with the kids' mangling of the English language really sticking out. But this 5th installment raised a question I had long been wondering about: the sophistication and "double meanings" inherent in sophisticated filmmakers (or TV purveyors) creating "family entertainment".
The level of double entendres and outright sexual overtones of the show are astounding in "New Neighbors", even the title appropriate for a 21st Century porn video. The sexual slang meaning of "beaver", our darling young hero's iconic nickname, is even suggested when the neighbors' cute litte niece meets his dad (Hugh Beaumont's character) and remarks "he doesn't look like a beaver". Note that in these early shows, as compared to his buttoned-down jacket & tie habiliment in later years, Hugh is always casually dressed, with open collar shirt exposing a hairy chest beneath!
Central premise of the segment posits the neighbor lady (a sexy actress Phyllis Coates in the role, a former Lois Lane on the Superman TV series) having innocently kissed Beaver on the cheek, setting into motion all sorts of comical misunderstandings. They are staged in sniggering fashion by director Norman Tokar, a hack who almost exclusively made kiddie films mainly for Disney, as in showing Wally outside the window acting as lookout for the Beaver (Coates' hubby is due home and both brothers fear the worst from "the jealous guy") more or less explicitly shown as a Peeping Tom.
Coates is terrific in playing her part as a Cougar, but clearly G-rated, though her attentions towards the Beaver are suspect if viewed with a dirty mind (that's me!). Similarly, the eventual rapprochement with the almost angry neighbor husband (Charles Gray, not the great British "Rocky Horror" character actor but a journeyman American thesp) makes for a happy ending but also can have one wondering what this potential chicken hawk might actually be up to.
I'm intentionally trying to read into a surface-innocent piece of claptrap the most suggestive of interpretations, but the point I'm making is that the material to do so is all there on screen in the writing and direction. So as in time-honored Disney fashion and even as the late Adam West summed up the success of his "Batman" TV show, G-rated filmmakers typically set up a double game, providing humor and adventure to satisfy the target children in the audience, but also peppering the movie with adult jokes and implications designed to soar over the youngsters' heads and be appreciated by the dutiful parents or guardians taking the kids out to a movie. Clearly, the makers of "Leave It to Beaver", worldly professionals in the Entertainment biz, have exposed their hand in this particular episode.