Happy Belated Father's Day! Fun fact: Ward Cleaver was never actually ever filmed on set or aired on tv smoking a pipe. There was an episode called The Pipe where he was gifted a pipe from
"The Rutherfords", who are visiting Germany. It is a rare merrschaum pipe so Ward opts to leave it on display in his study. Of course Beaver's buddy Larry convinces him to put coffee grounds in the pipe and smoke it and they get sick. Beaver confesses to Ward he is ill from smoking. (His reasoning: Maybe it was forbidden because it’s really good! Nope.) "Punishment is forthcoming", Ward says, adding, “A lot of things we tell you are bad really are bad.” | It was ranked one of the top 3 episodes on some internet list at some point. So we are left to surmise he smokes pipes. But the show, wanting to keep its wholesome reputation for families chose to never show Ward actually smoking since the message was supposed to be that it is bad for you. Being named June, I got a lot of flack growing up about that show, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. My Dad smoked a pipe and had a big collection and all kinds of fancy tobaccos, so I tend to pay attention to pipe smokers in all areas of life. Anyway, there you have it. Nice piece, as always.
There’s always a third way: in our household we congratulated our mother every Father’s Day for finding a way to inspire us as a father might (mythologically?). She was gracious, while understanding we were implicitly capping on her taste in men, hoping we might find our particular man’s virtues as she once had. It was a pleasure to find and compliment his not-Ward-worthy moments, if only to underscore our support of her. We wouldn’t wait for a Sunday in June to do so. Life, as it turns out, is short. Gratitude for all the nuance in this piece.
Happy Belated Father's Day! Fun fact: Ward Cleaver was never actually ever filmed on set or aired on tv smoking a pipe. There was an episode called The Pipe where he was gifted a pipe from
"The Rutherfords", who are visiting Germany. It is a rare merrschaum pipe so Ward opts to leave it on display in his study. Of course Beaver's buddy Larry convinces him to put coffee grounds in the pipe and smoke it and they get sick. Beaver confesses to Ward he is ill from smoking. (His reasoning: Maybe it was forbidden because it’s really good! Nope.) "Punishment is forthcoming", Ward says, adding, “A lot of things we tell you are bad really are bad.” | It was ranked one of the top 3 episodes on some internet list at some point. So we are left to surmise he smokes pipes. But the show, wanting to keep its wholesome reputation for families chose to never show Ward actually smoking since the message was supposed to be that it is bad for you. Being named June, I got a lot of flack growing up about that show, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. My Dad smoked a pipe and had a big collection and all kinds of fancy tobaccos, so I tend to pay attention to pipe smokers in all areas of life. Anyway, there you have it. Nice piece, as always.
There’s always a third way: in our household we congratulated our mother every Father’s Day for finding a way to inspire us as a father might (mythologically?). She was gracious, while understanding we were implicitly capping on her taste in men, hoping we might find our particular man’s virtues as she once had. It was a pleasure to find and compliment his not-Ward-worthy moments, if only to underscore our support of her. We wouldn’t wait for a Sunday in June to do so. Life, as it turns out, is short. Gratitude for all the nuance in this piece.
Happy father's day. I don't secretly live in a cupboard in your house so I can't say with any certainty, but I'm sure you're doing a great job.