User Reviews

Every kid has been in this circumstance many times. Maybe not this oddly handled. The whole family treats eccentric Aunt Martha with kid gloves. Guess though she's so out of touch the truth is something she couldn't handle too well. Wonder if her and Uncle Billy cross paths at family gatherings?

"Wally, where's the coffee?" "It's in the freezer, Mom."

Generally speaking, I like the seasons of Leave It To Beaver where the boys are older because I think the stories become more interesting. Having said that, this is a gem from season two. So true to life it makes you want to either laugh, cry, or scream you're not sure which.

Relatives! How on earth is a little child to deal with relatives, all of whom have their own particular idiosyncrasies? It's hard enough for adults to deal with relatives so how is a little kid supposed to do it with their limited experience and small skill set? Sometimes relatives can be selfish and even mean. Of course, there are nice relatives, too. Some are nice, some are mean. How does a child navigate that? It's extremely difficult to say the least. This episode deals with that. Although it would take 10 episodes to do the topic justice.

One thing this episode gets wrong is that it teaches that it's wrong for kids to be selfish, but that it's just fine for adults to be selfish. And kids are just supposed to "deal with it". That's why I gave it a 9 instead of a 10.

I find it interesting that the only relatives that ever appear are Aunt Martha and Uncle Billy. In several episodes, Ward and June mention their parents, but only in their memories. Have the two of lost both of their parents at young ages? The writers never had the boys mention any grandparents. June does say that Aunt Martha was practically the only mother she ever had.

If Wally's friends found a way to get to the Carnival by themselves, when Wally was tied up, why did they need Ward?

We all have memories of being stuck at home when the relatives came. That's just the way it was. It was one of those character lessons we all had to endure.

What a bummer this is! Wally, Beaver, Tooey, Chester and Lumpy all get free tickets to the carnival, the last day it's being held. They're all excited: it's going to be a good Saturday ("about the only good day when you're a kid," explains Beaver).

Then Aunt Martha calls and says to June that she and her friend Mrs. Hathaway are going to stop by on their way somewhere else. It's been a year and Aunt Martha wants to see how much the boys have grown. Meanwhile, Wally and Beaver got their dad to say he will to take them to the carnival and back.

June puts a damper on those plans by explaining about Aunt Martha's call. "When she leaves, you can still go to the carnival," she tells the shocked and now-worried boys.

I can't believe that June - who normally is so concerned about the boys' happiness - is so unthoughtful as to do what she does in this episode. The aunt is ready to leave early, which means the boys can go the carnival on time, but Junes insists the two women stay for lunch! "The boys have nothing to do," she says. (Hello??!!). Ward goes along with it silently.

Two hours later - long after their friend have all left - the guests finally leave and Ward volunteers to take the boys to the carnival. Wally declines, too upset over what happened. He goes up to his room, followed by Beaver, to sulk.

The boys are lectured that by Ward that "sometimes you have to do some things that may make you unhappy but will make other people happy." He explains how important Aunt Martha is to June and why she didn't want the woman to leave so fast. The boys then apologize to their mother for their selfish behavior.

A frustrating episode to watch.....but there was the typical nice, feel-good ending.

After seeing that ME-TV was running this again tomorrow, and reading other reviews, I wanted to put in my review of a most memorable Leave It to Beaver.

As for the plot, I'll be brief: Wally, Beaver and 3 good friends (no Eddie here) have all secured free tickets to the carnival and are excited to go on their Saturday-last day of the carnival till a year later, if then. Ward has promised to drive the boys over to the town where it is being held. At the last minute, June's Aunt Martha wants to come by and visit, with a friend whom nobody knows but Martha. She says she'd like to see how much the boys have grown since last year. Now we know she lives only an hour or two away-it's not like she's coming from Seattle. June says she'll be happy to see the ladies and then tells the boys they can't go until after Aunt Martha's visit. She says the ladies won't stay long and they can have the rest of the day to see the carnival.

The episode deals with the boys having to put on suits and ties for the visit-something I never had to do when company was coming over for such a visit when I was a kid-and sit and listen to the most boring old-lady conversation imaginable and try to be polite, even to the point of lying when Aunt Martha asks if they had any plans for the day. Aunt Martha and friend stay until late in the afternoon, ruining the day for all 5 boys, not just the two Cleavers. About lunchtime, the ladies are about to leave, but June insists they stay for lunch, as though she absolutely doesn't care one whit about the boys' plans.

I understand the point they made after, about sometimes you have to give up fun for the sake of others. One time we had to leave a major league baseball game because my Dad was feeling sick. But this episode got my goat because June was so insensitive to the boys' plans-including the three other boys who were missing out after Ward had promised to take them.

Aunt Martha and her friend really were there to visit with June. The three could have had a happy day together. Wally and Beaver could easily have been there when they arrived, stayed for half an hour or so to be polite, and then June could have told Aunt Martha, "Aunt Martha, I know you'll understand if we excuse the boys now. They had big plans to go to a carnival with some friends today and it's time for them to go." Aunt Martha would have understood-after all, her visit wasn't planned in the least and it would be rude to expect someone to give up all the plans they had just because you wanted a sudden, unexpected visit at the last minute.

The family could easily have gone to visit Aunt Martha some time soon. Martha's friend probably couldn't care less about meeting these boys she'll likely never see again. A brief visit with the boys would have been all they wanted, before a longer talk with June.

When I was a little kid, I wasn't normally expected to sit and listen to the adult conversation for hours when relatives came over. Certainly, I would greet them and talk for a while, but I didn't have to sit and listen to conversation that was of no interest...for hours, and definitely not when I had important plans with others (if that ever happened.)

I think the writers wanted to make a good point-what came out in the closing scenes, but they were very sloppy in the way the story was written. Change a few things and June wouldn't have seemed so inconsiderate. I don't think there was ever an episode where either adult Cleaver got as much criticism as June got in this one-that's how poorly it was written. There also were very few laughs, so I give it a 2.

I don't know if IMDB's title is what the script said, but "Visiting Aunts" is inaccurate, only Martha was a relative of any kind.

Maybe this was the norm when LITB was set, but IMO if a child is old enough to make their own plans, they are old enough to have those plans be considered when something else comes up.

The only other thing I saw was that apparently June was unaware of those plans. Given that, I can't be too unhappy that she made these plans; just that she should be apologizing to the boys, not the other way around.

(*Mrs. Hathaway quote*) - "We were misdirected."

Beaver and Wally are all excited about going to the carnival at Metzger's Field with Tooey, Chester, and Lumpy.

Their plans are soon dashed to smithereens when Aunt Martha and her friend, Mrs. Hathaway show up for an afternoon visit.

Even though things don't quite work out as planned, the Cleaver boys (and their parents) still get to enjoy some time at the carnival.