Meet the man running Facebook's oldest, original 'Leave it to Beaver' fan club

It’s been 60 years since the original “Leave it to Beaver” TV series completed its run, but the show, which ran from 1957 to 1963, remains front-of-mind to fans, including the Milwaukee-area man who runs Facebook's original and oldest Leave it to Beaver Fan Club, which has nearly 25,000 members.

We caught up with Bryon Nelson Jr. of New Berlin, Wisconsin, to talk about why he’s a fan of the show, how he got involved with the fan club and, gee, some other things, too.

Here are some key pieces of that conversation, which has been edited for length.

When did you first realize that the TV show “Leave it to Beaver” existed?

I remember the day clearly because I was around 8 or 9 years old and it was in the summertime. We were all outside playing and I didn't feel well, so the babysitter had me come into the house and lay down and just watch TV. And "Leave it to Beaver" was on. There were two episodes, if I remember correctly. I caught like the middle of the first one, and then I was like oh, this is a very nice show, and then I saw the next one and I enjoyed that one, too. So I made a mental note as to what channel it was on so I could watch it regularly.

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What about the show appealed to you?

I guess it was the story structure that drew me. It was kind of a simple half-hour. It was a warm feeling, you could say. So you could watch it, you could relax, the story kind of just drew you in, and then when it was over, you said to yourself, you know, I really enjoyed that. And then you wanted to watch another one.

How did you become the administrator of the Leave it To Beaver Fan Club?

I don't recall the gentleman's name who started it. We used to talk on a frequent basis because I had started a fan club for the new series (The New Leave it to Beaver/Still The Beaver Fan Page), and he and I traded notes. But one day, I don't know if he left Facebook, I don't know if he died, I don't know where he went, but one day I noticed that he was gone. And anyone can pick up the page, you just claim it. At this time, the group was in its infancy, not even 100 members, so I picked it up and I started running it. I think it was founded in 2006 originally, but I took it over a couple years later.

What's your favorite episode?

I like the one where Wally lends his sweater to a female friend at school and she takes forever in getting it back to him, because she's using it as a status symbol, you know, I’m with Wally. ("School Sweater," Season 3 Episode 23) It’s a $20 sweater, which was lots of money back then, so his father Ward tells him, you better get that back the next day. Well, he tries to, but it was raining, and the girl asks to just keep it one more day because she didn't want to get wet. So Wally had to go home and tell his parents he didn't get it back yet. Then the parents run into the girl at the malt shop and overheard her talking about the sweater and the boy that gave it to her was all about her and has been jealous because she talks to other guys. So Ward and June went back to Wally and told him that. So Wally, uncharacteristically aggressively goes to her house and demands the sweater back and tells her to watch what she's saying about him at the drugstore.

When most people hear 'Leave it to Beaver,' they think of the original show that ran from 1957-1963. But there was a reboot in the form of a 1983 TV movie, 'Still the Beaver,' and then a series based on that movie called 'The New Leave it to Beaver.' What can you tell us about that series?   

It was started by a gentleman by the name of Brian Levant. He was a big “Leave it to Beaver” fan and he was very, very good at keeping everything how it should be. I mean, usually you see reboots and they're not done too well, but this one, Brian did a great job with it and there's a lot of nuances and a lot of things that the original show watchers would recognize in the new show and would get a kick out of. A lot of people when they first find out about it, they're kind of closed-minded because they remember how pure the first show was and they don't want that part of their childhood wrecked.

You’ve met and interviewed many of the show’s original cast members, correct?

Yes, and several of the new characters as well. But out of the original ones, it was Jerry Mathers, Tony Dow, Tiger Fafara, who played Tooey Brown, Stephen Talbot, who was Gilbert Bates, also Jeri Weil, who played Judy Hensler, and others.

What are the challenges of running a fan club with nearly 25,000 members?

I try to put things out there that I think people might like. I do try to relay whatever is on Jerry Mathers’ page ― his appearance locations and dates, or what he has for sale on his merchandise site. We also have a father and a son, they just started a “Leave it to Beaver” podcast, and so they put that on our page as well. Otherwise, I like to characterize it as a big, big roomful of fans of the show who are at a cocktail party and they're talking about the show. The conversation can go wherever it wants as long as it stays within the parameters of the rules, which means it’s show-related and it’s not inappropriate as far as language or things that shouldn’t be said.

Author Brian Humek wrote a book called 'The World Famous Beaverpedia,' which is a sort of 'Leave it to Beaver' reference guide. I understand he consulted with you on many aspects of that book.

He contacted me for quite a bit of it. It points out a lot of things about the show, like inconsistencies and the famous questions of where Mayfield is. So he would ask me about certain episode names so that he could reference certain things that he was looking for. Another thing he looked for was how many times the word “Gee” was used. You know, “Gee, Wally,” “Gee, Dad.” A lot of it was episode references and to see if I could find out certain character names. He was pretty knowledgeable on all of that stuff, so a lot of it was confirmation and just double-checking for him.

Contact Bob Dohr at 262-361-9140 or bob.dohr@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BobDohr1.