The son of George and Agnes, Eddie Haskell was the smart-mouthed best friend of Wally Cleaver. The character, played in the original series by Ken Osmond, has become a cultural reference, recognized as an archetype for the behind-your-back rebel. Ward once remarked that "[Eddie] is so polite, it's almost un-American".[1] Even today, the phrase "Eddie Haskell" is known to refer to an insincere brown-noser.
He was known for his neat grooming[2]—hiding his shallow and sneaky character. Typically, Eddie would greet his friends' parents with overdone, good manners and often a compliment such as, "That's a lovely dress you're wearing, Mrs. Cleaver." However, when no parents were around, Eddie was always up to no good—either conniving with his friends, or picking on Wally's younger brother Beaver. Eddie's two-faced style was also typified by his efforts to curry favor by trying to talk to adults at the level he thought they would respect, such as referring to their children as Theodore (Beaver's much-disliked given name) and Wallace, even though the parents called them Beaver and Wally.
A weaselly wise guy, Eddie could be relied upon to connive and instigate schemes with his friends—schemes for which they would be in the position of blame, if (and usually when) caught. One of his most infamous pranks with the Cleaver boys involved fastening a chain around the rear axle of their friend Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford's car, causing unplanned damage as the entire third member and wheels became detached when he tried to move the car. The prank has been repeated on police and gangster cars in scenes in the films American Graffiti and Gone in 60 Seconds.
[edit] The New Leave It To Beaver
In the 1980s-remake, Eddie is now married to Gert and is the father of two sons, Freddie and Edward Jr. (played by Osmond's real-life sons, Eric and Christian, respectively). Edward Jr. (nicknamed "Bomber") is enrolled at Vicksburg Military School, the result of Bomber having spilled grape juice on the Haskells' white carpeting. Both Freddie and Bomber have taken after their father.
Eddie operates an eponymously-named contracting company. He remains an avid Woody Woodpecker cartoon fan.
[edit] Cultural references This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources (ideally, using inline citations). Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007)
When Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, was a child, he considered Eddie Haskell to be his favorite character on Leave It To Beaver. He dreamed of giving Haskell his own show and in later interviews he sometimes pointed out that his character Bart Simpson was inspired by Haskell's behavior. Coincidentally, voice actor Harry Shearer, who does the voices of Mr. Burns, Smithers and Ned Flanders on The Simpsons, played the character Frankie (a precursor to the Eddie Haskell character) in the pilot episode of Leave It to Beaver. The webcomic Achewood character Roast Beef uses the pseudonym "Ed E. Haskell", a reference to Eddie Haskell, when writing his underground zine "Man Why You Even Got To Do A Thing". In "Home Movies", a season three episode of the teen drama TV series Dawson's Creek, the character Joey Potter calls another character, Pacey Witter, Eddie Haskell. In the HBO show The Wire, Major Colvin calls the young delinquent Namond Brice an "Eddie Haskell."[3] Near the conclusion of the 1992 Cameron Crowe film Singles, Matt Dillon's character, upon getting into an elevator with his recently-ex-girlfriend (played by Bridget Fonda), remarks, "That's a very nice hat you're wearing, and I don't mean that in an Eddie Haskell kind of way." In "Kaisha", a season three episode of The Sopranos, a character comments on the title of the screenplay for Christopher Moltisanti's film "Cleaver" by saying "Are you sure about the title, "Cleaver"? The Eddie Haskell connection?"[4]
[edit] Footnotes ^ Quote taken from the episode "Eddie's Girl". ^ The origin of Eddie's perfectly coifed curls is humorously revealed in the episode "Beaver's Doll Buggy" ^ http://www.hbo.com/thewire/episode/season4/episode47.shtml ^ http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/favoritelines/episode77.shtml
[edit] References Applebaum, Irwyn. The World According to Beaver. TV Books, 1984, 1998. (ISBN 1575000520). Bank, Frank. Call Me Lumpy: my Leave It To Beaver days and other wild Hollywood life . Addax, 2002. (ISBN-10: 1886110298), (ISBN-13: 978-1886110298). Brooks, Tim and Earl Marsh, "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 9th Ed." Ballantine Books, Random House, New York City, New York, 2007. (ISBN 0-34549-773-2). Colella, Jennifer. The Leave It to Beaver Guide to Life: wholesome wisdom from the Cleavers! Running Press, 2006. (ISBN-10: 0762427736), (ISBN-13: 9780762427734). Leave It to Beaver: the complete first season. Universal Studios, 2005. Leave It to Beaver: the complete second season. Universal Studios, 2006. (ISBN 1417074876) Mathers, Jerry. ...And Jerry Mather as "The Beaver". Berkley Boulevard Books, 1998. (ISBN 0425163709) Terrace, Vincent, "Television Character and Story Facts: Over 110,000 Details From 1,008 Shows, 1945-1992," McFarland & Co. Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1993. (ISBN 0-89950-891-X).
[edit] External links
