Wednesday, November 21, 2012
You can celebrate All Things Cleaver on Thanksgiving Day when the retro-channel Antenna TV airs a 27-hour “Leave It to Beaver” marathon (it begins Thursday at midnight and ends early Friday morning at 3 a.m.). Here are five things you may not have known about the cast of that classic sitcom:
v Hugh Beaumont (Ward Cleaver): He held a master of theology degree from the University of Southern California and was an ordained minister.
v Barbara Billingsley (June Cleaver): She told an interviewer in 2007 the reason she always wore pearls on camera is because of a small indentation just above her sternum that didn’t photograph well.
v Jerry Mathers (Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver): He was a member of the Air National Guard from 1966 to 1969. (And the urban legend is definitely not true: He was not killed in Vietnam. He’s still very much with us, and, hard to believe, turns 65 next year.)
v Ken Osmond (Eddie Haskell): From 1970 to 1988, he was a Los Angeles police officer, working in vice and narcotics, and a motorcycle officer. (And the urban legend is definitely not true: He did not become ghoulish rock star Alice Cooper.)
v Tony Dow (Wally Cleaver): In the 1990s, he revealed that he has struggled with and was eventually diagnosed with clinical depression.
“my life is a lifetime movie” (10 p.m., lifetime): The tawdry shenanigans continue on “My Life Is a Lifetime Movie.” One segment focuses on a teacher accused of being a sex offender. Another features a woman who becomes ill when a neighbor fixates on her husband.
tv listings, b6
entertainment news
Benefit show for Golden String
YOUNGSTOWN
The Dispersers rock band will have its fourth annual benefit show for Golden String, the nonprofit agancy that supports mentally disabled adults, at 7 p.m. Saturday at Irish Bob’s, 3602 South Ave.
Tickets are $10 for the event, which include prizes, food and a basket auction. All proceeds go to Golden String.
Ugly Sweater holiday party
YOUNGSTOWN
The Youngstown State University Chapter of The American Marketing Association will present an Ugly Sweater Party and contest from 8 to 11 p.m. Dec. 7 at Dooney’s Downtown Grill & Bar, 50 E. Federal Plaza. The winner — the person wearing the ugliest holiday sweater — will be announced at 9:30 p.m. The tickets are $7 pre-sale and $10 at the door.
The event will include a silent auction, with a DJ and the belly dance group Troupe ANANDA.
Proceeds will benefit the Rescue Mission of Mahoning Valley. To purchase tickets, contact Courtney Bailey at AMAYSU1@gmail.com.
‘Lion King’ returns
Pittsburgh
Disney’s “The Lion King” will return to Pittsburgh for a four-week engagement at the Benedum Center Sept. 3-29, 2013. Single tickets go on sale May 6. The show’s sold-out six-week Pittsburgh premiere in 2004 at the Benedum Center was followed by a sold-out six-week return engagement in 2008. Group tickets (15 or more) are on sale now; call 412-471-6930.