User Reviews

Beaver learns how to take advantage of variations in a market economy. Ward and June just want the kid out of their hair, and Beav learns from civil employees that the water is being shut off-thus he corners the market. Mind you, this is some forty years before designer water in plastic bottles became a thing. As Wally guzzles from a milk bottle, Theodore intones "four cents, five cents, six cents..." Wally says he's counting too fast. Beaver says he's doing it like the gas station.

Ward tries to shame Beaver into sharing, but he asks Dad if Mr. Michaelson the grocer shares food for free? Soon the Wally and his buddies learn from the child business genius that the electricity will be shut off soon too, leading to the inevitable resolution and lesson learned.

So today the story is the price of water, or better: ingenuity. We travel back to a time when houses didn't have a/c as an expectation, and when it was hot you just sweated. I remember that well. We didn't even have fans. Actually, no one in my neighborhood did. And for my friends who lived by the steel mills it was worse. They couldn't even open a window to catch a breeze. Their windows never opened because all the ash and dust from the blast furnaces would blow in.

Mayfield is experiencing a heat wave, it's summer after all. In summer, boys play baseball. Wally needs money for a baseball uniform, so Ward offers to pay him 25 cents an hour to do yard work. Beaver wants to earn money too because if he has a uniform he can sit with the boys. There just aren't any jobs for Beaver. Ward tells Beaver if he wants a job then be enterprising.

All the parents liked Ward's idea, so thy all have their sons working to pay for their own uniforms. But the boys seem to need constant supervision. Tooey is trimming the hedge with mom watching so he doesn't ruin it. Ward has to watch Wally to keep him on task. Why, in part because the boys take a water break every chance they can. Wally made such a mess, June has even locked the kitchen door to keep Wally from coming in and making a mess when he's getting a glass of water. If he needs water then drink from the hose.

Since everyone is thirsty, Beaver decides to be enterprising and to sell water, but no one is buying. The boys can just walk into the kitchen. That is until the water is shut off while workmen look for a water leak. So Beaver fills up his water bucket and all the empty milk bottles he can find and puts them in his wagon. It's two cents a small cup and five cents a large. As the thirst goes up, so does the price. Through enterprise, Beaver has cornered the water market. Ward is upset that Beaver is selling water: he has a monopoly. Even June bought a bottle for 25 cents. Mrs. Brown calls Ward and claims Beaver's actions lead to juvenile delinquency and even Communism. Her anger is no doubt a reaction because Beaver offered to sell her water to make tea for the ladies. Thus far Beaver has made $1.90, but Ward tries reasoning with Beaver. We share with our friends argues Ward. Is Mr. Bixly Ward's friend? Of course he is. Then why doesn't he give Ward groceries for free? Well, Ward points out, he's a businessman. So am I says Beaver. For right now, Ward loses to his very enterprising son.

The boys are counting their money. Most of what they earned went to Beaver who made $4.25. Beaver also knows the electricity will be off, so he offers his money to the boys so they can buy candles and sell them at a profit.

When Ward hears that Beaver turned his money over to the boys, he believes his little talk about sharing made a difference. That's when he notices the candles and comments they don't match. Wally sold then to June at 40 cents a piece.

All's well. The boys have their uniforms, including the Beaver. He's the official water boy.

This might be the best Season 1 episode (in my opinion). Perhaps a tossup with the episode that introduces Lumpy Rutherford, later in the season.

Wally and his friends are doing chores to earn money for baseball uniforms. Beaver wants to earn a little money as well. Beaver decides to sell water, an idea that initially falls flat. That is until he discovers that the water in the neighborhood is about to be shut off while a pipe is being repaired. Beaver winds up with the money that the older boys earned doing their chores.

But Wally and the others come up with their own plan when the electricity goes out.