It was announced today that Barbara Billingsley, known famously for her role as June Cleaver in the 1950s hit, "Leave It To Beaver" has died.
I remember watching re-runs of "Leave It To Beaver" when I was a kid and it's funny how much the picture of the American family has changed a half century later. The one-income, single-marriage nuclear family is as rare as a honest politician.
But, then again, I wonder just how honest to life the Cleaver family was in American society? My own personal family history in America is quite limited (my parents having immigrated here in the 1970s) but I can recall some of the stories of my adopted grandparents, my friends' parents and grandparents, and hospice patients I served. Many of them worked in two-income households and their stories were certainly not like the Cleavers.
This also explains a great shift in television, from the ideal to the real... though, I can honestly lament that today's television has become extreme, sensational reality where the overdramatic grab the attention.
Whatever the case, Ms. Billingsley was a fine actress who helped many Americans escape into a picture perfect world that anything can be accomplished in 30 minutes (and wearing pearls too). A bit of Americana-though a former reality created by Hollywood--has been truly lost.
