Always loved the episodes that featured Larry Mondello and his mother. He was always encouraging Beaver to be disobedient, then when things went awry, he'd say, "You know, Beaver, you shouldn't have done that."

I love the one where Larry stole money from his mom's sewing basket and threw it out the window and told beaver a airplane dropped it out and then they went to the carnival I think that's one of the best ones Larry played in

I always loved when Larry would talk beaver in to things and then say maybe you shouldn’t have done it. Or jeeze beave i have to go.

He was such a good actor. Sooo funny. He really understood his part. Great show, great casting. Forever an American treasure

Nice to hear a happy ending for at least one child actor.

I’m 55, and all my friends & colleagues say I’m lost in the 70’s because of how I dress, and the terms I use from the 60s&70s, but to this day I wish I was back there always, my wife & kids accuse me of being overly nostalgic & romantic, but that’s exactly how my family was until my folks passed, I took care of my mother for 12 years, I would have never allowed her to be placed in a nursing home, dad as well, but I found myself in that show. It truly allowed me to keep my innocence & finish graduate school & raise 3 kids, 1 Phd & 2 lawyers, I was well grounded because of this show, and the beauty of living the American Dream back in the Most Wonderful Days. Thank you for your video, sir.

I watch it every morning on MeTV. All 6 seasons … over and over and over.

Larry would pull food out of his pockets!!!! 😂😂😂😂😂 He was one of my favorite characters...

Yep, loved Larry Mondello. He was the kid we all went to school with.

Back when you got 3 channels and TV was entertaining, now we get 500 channels and there's nuthin on.

I remember even as a little kid, I couldn’t believe how real Rusty seemed. I knew he was acting, but it was surprising to me how the writers and all the actors understood humor. It wasn’t slapstick. It was subtle and cut to the heart of what makes us laugh.

I still watch reruns today.

What tremendous maturity in a young man. And what great parents to do what’s best for their son. It’s a wonderful story with nothing but happiness from beginning to end.

With the sad passing of Tony Dow, nice to hear he is still with us and doing quite well.

“He punched me where I almost had my operation”. Larry was the BEST!

I was ten years old in 1957. It was one of my favorite shows. There was one aspect of the show that was troubling for me. The show was so compelling that I often identified so strongly with the predicaments they (especially Beaver) were in that I just couldn't watch because it was too uncomfortable. I literally had to leave the room. The guys my age really wanted to be as "cool" as Walley. If only life were as simple now as it back then. Thanks!

Thanks for this fun fact! I've been enjoying reruns of "Leave It To Beaver." Ah, those were the days -- simple yet filled with ethical scripts and humor that was G-rated. How refreshing!

Thanks for the update, glad to hear he is happy and healthy. The Hollywood life is not for everyone.

I grew up watching the Leave it to Beaver show. My childhood was at the same pace as the characters. The shows were current when I was watching them. The friendship between Larry and the Beaver seemed so authentic to me. They all seemed like regular neighborhood friends to me. Always loved this show!

A great actor loved His facial expressions.

I like the Larry character, he was always getting Beaver into trouble. I liked the episode when Larry stole the money from his mom's sewing bag, and took Beaver to the carnival. Another good episode is when he talked Beaver into playing catch with Ward's autographed baseball. Those 2 had some great adventures together.

Larry was a riot! i loved the way he always convinced Beaver to do something , and then left him holding the bag.

I am glad the real reason he left is such a positive one. Thanks for updating us.

Larry and the Beaver were perfect as best friends in the show. I was sad when Larry left the show. Thank you you telling us what happened to him. I wonder if he kept in touch with any of the cast.

"Oh Larry,......when your father gets home from Cincinnati..........."

Larry was always getting Beaver in trouble.

I love the way Larry Mondello would pretend to eat an apple, or the expression on his face when he would say Gee Beaver, or they would get in trouble and he would ditch Beaver. Priceless humor. Sad to say our culture has gone down the toilet and we now embrace thuggery and disrespect.

I wasn't born until 1967 but I love this show which I watch on Metv Mon through Friday every morning.

I liked Larry he was a trip

I've always felt that for a childhood actor, Rusty played his part very naturally, in a very believable manner. And his character was a great addition to the show; Larry was to Beaver as Eddie was to Wally - the troublemaker friend.

"Wait 'til your father comes home." Loved Madge Blake (also a supporting character on the Joey Bishop Show, and the MC at the Hollywood fest in the opening of the movie "Singing In The Rain"). Larry Mondello appeared on the show when 'The Beve' was at that most impressionable stage of his development, and so was able quite easily to work his conniving ways to influence Beaver's actions, albeit the fact that even a very young Beaver was often quite suspicious of his best friends intentions. I loved how after talking Beaver into a jam Larry would always worm his way out of the resulting consequences, leaving Beaver to hold the proverbial bag knowing quite well just how he had been played. I think 'in a way' Eddie Haskell was an older version of what Larry Mondello might have become had his character played out. Besides Larry's father never being around, there was the unseen sister who often enough caused grief for Larry. With so many troubling things in his life Larry was bound to have some psychological flaws in his later years. Liking Larry as much as I did, I'm actually glad he left the show while he was at his most innocent -- although to me the show was never the same without him. I'm glad he is happy in his personal life and am curious as to what profession he wound up in (?). 5/2019

I saw Rusty again and KNEW it was updated so I couldn't click fast enough! I am so glad you got the real story! Made my day!

Best quote: "I was sick that day so I don't have to know nuthing."

I love ...Leave it to Beaver...watch it every morning..still as good as 55 to 60 yrs ago

Bob Stevens is a fine guy. I met him a few times though my roommate Dave, at Penn State, where we both matriculated between 1966 through1970. I saw him as basically a shy person - which kind of surprised me considering what one needs to go through to be on TV in the 1950’s. And the show, what can I say? It’s the penultimate 50’s TV program - almost as MOR as Father Knows Best.

I went to Northeast High School in Philadelphia, Pa. Rusty was in my gym class. He would never talk about the show. Which is why the idea that he just wanted to be normal rings true. We graduated in 1966.

Here is full text of message from Rusty Stevens, As follows,,,,this is the true story of Rusty leaving the show from Rusty himself, Rusty Apologizes For The Length Of This Post (We Can Hardly Call It A "Tidbit") But The Story Is A Bit Too Complicated For A Quickie. Let Us Call This "Mayfield Confidential" From Rusty As Follows,,,"It seems we are approaching (at least for this cycle) the end of the LITB episodes that include the Larry Mondello character. I've noticed that this has produced a smattering of comments and questions about my "untimely" (and unexplained) exit. Over the years I've answered these questions with friends and family and others so many times that it got kind of old. But I think this group deserves to hear a "from the horse's mouth" explanation. I never dreamed at that time that my leaving the show would become the stuff of urban legend. But it pretty much did. Crazy stories about me hiding out, people posing as me...all kinds of nutty stuff. Let me start with a few of the stories that have been put out there. There is one that I only came across since I have been following this group. It showed a podcast of an interview with Jerry Mathers, in which he said that I left the show after I was in the movie, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" because me and my family thought I was going to become more successful in Theatrical films. I am sure Jerry only said this because he heard it somewhere else. However, it's just kind of ridiculous. I was a nine year old kid with a small part along with other kids, and although it was an honor to be in such an iconic film, we certainly didn't think I was going to become a movie star. Plus I was in the show for two more years after the movie. Another story that did have some truth to it was that my father was transferred out of state. He wasn't actually transferred and it didn't happen until a couple years after I left the show. But my parents had started thinking about moving back east which is where they came from. Please notice that I said "after I left the show." Many people refer to my exit as being "written out of the show," which is not accurate. I will address that shortly. The other story that has been widely reported apparently came from Barbara Billingsley. I know Barbara has a lot of fans here, and I in no way mean to speak ill of her. However, Barbara's contention that my mother was the worse kind of "stage mother" and was a "terror" (I believe that's the actual word she used) on the set was totally untrue. First of all, my younger brother was about four years old at the time and other than when he was in childcare, my mother didn't even come to the set. They paid a relative of ours to accompany me the studio and also the sister of a next door neighbor. And I seriously doubt that either of those two ladies was a terror on the set. A couple of months ago there was an episode in which June cleaver says to one of the boys, "If you can't say something nice about somebody, don't say anything at all." The irony of that statement by her did not escape me. I must add here that I absolutely do not believe that Barbara Billingsley just made this story up. I'm sure that somebody told her about this. But I got along great with her and she was always very nice to me and as far as I ever saw, also got along with my mother when she was there. It just kind of disappoints me that she would feel it necessary to put out such a story which whether true or not would be embarrassing to me and my family. As I've mentioned in other posts unrelated to this subject, my mother actually became friendly off the set with some of the other mothers. Jeri Weil's (Judy Hensler) mother and my mom became friendly and the same for Karen Sue Trent's (Penny) mother. We even went to their house for horseback riding. She also became friendly with the mother of Patty Ann Gerrity, who played one of the kids in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Not that it's unusual for the mothers of child actors to become friendly; I only bring this up to show that my mom was no more, or less, a stage mother than most mothers. Having said that, let me add that my mother was by no means a shy person. I was not privy to all the things that went down between my mother and my agent, and the producers. That sort of leads me into the next section of this (long-winded "memoir.") I have told you the things that were not true. Let me now address the real reasons I left the show. My early episodes on the show, were not always every week and my part would be very small. So I might only have to go in one day for shooting in a particular week. And although I had to attend 3 hours of school on the set, I obviously was not in class at my regular school. As the episodes I was in increased and my parts in those episodes got bigger, I was out of my regular school more and more. I was fortunate in that it did not have a negative effect in an academic sense. However, I believe there were other consequences that were beginning to occur. Namely, the social networks that naturally develop in school were beginning to not happen for me as a result of my going back and forth between the studio and regular school. I'm sure it was very subtle and not something that looked to be a major problem because I really enjoyed what I did at the studio. Also, our neighborhood had a very tight-knit group of kids. Although I could still do things with them, things were changing a little. I doubt that at this point my parents noticed anything relating to this, because it was only starting to dawn on me and I kept things pretty close to the chest even in those days. At some point in 1958, I got the part of one of the "no necked monsters" (as Elizabeth Taylor's character called us) in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. In my opinion, this caused a lot of changes. Without bragging, I can say that my Larry Mondello character was getting more and more popular on the show and we were getting a surprising amount fan mail. Well, just prior to beginning production on "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," Liz Taylor's husband, Mike Todd, was tragically killed in an airplane crash. This naturally delayed production and since we as the kids were under contract for the movie, we had to be available. I don't remember the exact extent of it but it pretty much precluded doing any Beaver shows. Since as I said, Larry Mondello was getting more and more popular, the producers were not too crazy about having to write scripts without me. (Again, no conceit intended.) After I again became available for LITB the Producers wanted to make sure that they had more control and so they put me under contract. This was a great thing for all the reasons you can imagine: money, prestige, etc. As far as I know, at that time I was the only non-Cleaver under contract. I assume that Ken Osmond and possibly Frank Bank were put under contract as time went by and more Wally-centric episodes were written. Now keep in mind, up until this point I'm still going back and forth between Studio schools at MGM, for "Cat" and Universal for Beaver. So when I went under contract, now I'm going to be attending school on the set everyday. Plus I began to take part in the whole 5 day process of each episode: The "Reading" on Monday; rehearsals on Tuesday; and shooting on Wednesday Thursday and Friday, [I want to mention here that I especially enjoyed the Monday Readings. They were very laid back. We sat around a table and read our lines and got a feel for the episode for the first time. For characters that were not there, which was most of the non-principals, somebody else like the director or assistant director would say the lines. It was really neat when you said your line you got a laugh from the whole table] What I did not realize at the time was that I was becoming even more estranged from friends because I was at the studio all the time. I know that Jerry and Tony did that day in and day out for 6 years and it didn't seem to bother them. The same goes for other successful child actors. I can only say how I felt in that position. All my friends we're starting to get interested in girls and there were dances and parties that kids were going to. Yes, of course I could have gone do these different things but since I was not going to school with them I did not feel like I was part of the group. Ironically, if I had played up the Beaver thing more I probably could have been the most popular kid in town. LOL But again that's not who I was. Gradually, I started letting my parents know how I felt. And I guess they began to see some negative effects on me. Eventually, I was flat-out telling them that I didn't want to do the show anymore. And this is from a young boy who had loved acting in the series. So my parents had to do what they felt was necessary to get me out of the contract. Perhaps this is where Barbara Billingsley or someone else thought my mother was being a terrible stage mother. If being a stage mother means looking out for the best interests of your child, I'm sure my mother would have proudly worn that title. Over the next couple years I did do some other TV shows here and there but they did not consume my time like LITB had done. Eventually we did move to Philly in early 1963. I can't say I regret that because I would not have my wife and daughter if we didn't make the move. In watching the shows again over the last several months i'm glad to say it only brings back very good memories. But let me confess one thing: The first time I saw another kid at the desk behind Judy Hensler, it brought a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat".

Thanks for this Dave! ... "Larry Mondello" is truly amazing in this show. I was watching reruns and thought ... I got to look him up, he's so good, he must have been in many other shows. I am sad to find out he didn't do much else after Beaver in terms of acting.

Lots if great episodes with Larry. Couple of favorites were the day they skipped school and wound up on TV. And the one where he ran away from home to hide out in Beaver n Wally's tub. Kid was a natural.

Wally's wayward friends are so iconic and well known, but Beaver hung out with the best oddities. Larry is a legend, but later I became fascinated by the diabolical Gilbert Bates. Like so many others Gilbert could really set Beaver up and then disappear when the going got tough.

larry was the funniest of beavers friends

Larry was a real instigator from whom Beaver needed protection. Great little actor.

Thank you for uploading 🙂 one of my all time favorite shows. I watch it every single day!

Thanks for this video, Larry Mondello kept the show real. He was always pulling an apple out of his pocket and eating it. Also he would talk The Beaver into doing silly things, like getting money out of Mrs. Mondello's sewing basket to spend and then saying maybe an airplane had dropped it outside in the bushes. Of course, one mess Larry didn't get the blame for was getting Beaver stuck up on the Zesto Soup billboard!

We still Love you Larry even now!

Great vid. Answered what i always wondered about. I absolutely love the episodes that featured Larry. He was perfect in the show. I missed his absence very much.

I love how Larry would pull a candy bar out of his sock and smell the wrapper before he opened it, I love that face he made!!

Hi Dave! Another great segment!! I always felt sorry for Larry Mondello in Leave it to Beaver. He had an overbearing mother who looked more like his grand mother than his mother( Marge Blake aka Aunt Harriett in Batman) and a father that was always out of town. The show even mentions an older sister on several episodes. Larry was a good friend to Beaver, but was often the person who got Beaver into trouble with his parents and at school. I think we all had a friend kind of like Larry when we were kids so we can relate to him in the show. Rusty did a great job portraying Larry and wish he could have remained an active character in the show. Could you do a future segment on Joseph Kearns who played Mr. Wilson on Dennis the Menace. Thanks!

Back in the late 1960s, I went on the Universal Studios tour. I remember the Cleaver home was right next door to the Munster's house. At THAT time......the old Cleaver home was serving as the residence of Marcus Welby M.D. I remember that, because my mother had a 'thing' for actor Robert Young...LOL. I was around 13 at the time, and.....looking back on it.....if I could go back & experience that day again.....it was a GREAT one. Met Al Lewis ( Grandpa Munster ) as he signed autographs up near the front gate. The PT73 ( McHale's Navy ) was moored at it's pier. Back then, the tram tour seemed to last for a few hours, with several stops along the way. The guide walked us thru multiple sets, and explained the magic. Airport must have been the big film that year, because there was a full-size cutaway of the airline's fuselage on the lot. We walked thru an Alfred Hitchcock room interior, and I got to participate in one demonstration ( sitting on a car seat, with a rear-projection of a city street playing behind me ) Probably because I was the token little kid on that tour. We went thru the model-making shop, walked thru Dean Martin's dressing room. We had a rest stop in some little grassy area filled with huge props from Land of the Giants. I finally returned for a 2nd visit in the late 1990s. But the tram tour had been reduced to about 45 minutes, with no stops along the way. Sadly, the place had been transformed into nothing more than a collection of amusement park rides.....meant to promote the latest blockbusters.

Very time I saw Larry I said to myself "oh no.. here comes Larry" and it always meant trouble. This show was good, clean pure entertainment that families of today could learn from. It's sad that families are no longer like this.

He was great. He always warmed my heart. I agree, he just seemed so natural. It never seemed like he was acting. Thank you for the video. :-)

I watched the show as a kid, identified with Beaver. As an adult with 2 boys, I came to identify with Ward. His humor was hilarious!

Larry was perfect on the show, always finding ways to get him and Beaver in trouble. But I'm glad he wanted to live a normal life. Stardom can go to their heads and they can become obnoxious.

Thanks for the update on Larry. My family and I always sat down together and watched the Beave.

Dave, thanks for updating. When I had trouble accessing your first upload, which I so vividly remembered just viewing, I thought I was experiencing the "Mondello" effect!

I remember this show and watched it every week while I was growing up. Thanks for sharing.

Thank Jesus this guy became a normal dude. I am sure he is better off.

I once had a dream i met Larry Mondello. I was walking down the street when i met him. He was still a kid like in the show and he was in black and white.everything else was in color. He said Hi with that charismatic smile of his. I love that character!

"I was getting holler'd at long distance"

I loved Larry. No one could ever replace Larry. He and Eddie Haskell. I always loved episodes with Larry were my favorite.

Madge Blake was a gem. In addition to Beaver and Batman she also played Joey Bishop's mother in his original series, which included Marlo Thomas and Warren Berlinger. You have to catch Madge nervously singing "Paddlin' Madelyn Home" - she was a comic genius.

Thanks for updating this vid and clarifying what had happened to Rusty. I watched an episode of LitB after your vid, and had almost forgotten what a wiseguy Larry was. He was such a character. Speaking of characters, you should do a vid on Eddie Haskell. HahA! Oh man, that guy was hilarious. Thanks for posting!

I think many of us had a Larry Mondello type of friend growing up.I certainly did.The Larry character was outrageously funny...Loved when the Beave would haul off and give Larry a shot to his stomach.Just classic.Too bad Larry didn't run with the show till the end.He was truly a perfect fit although if you watch the episodes closely enough, you can see by Rusty's facial expressions that he was a nervous kid.So your explanation for his leaving the show makes plenty of sense Dave.Yet another great job here👍👍

Always liked Larry. Never cared for Gilbert.

"Gee Beaver, do you think we ought to?"

Rusty appeared in an episode of My Three Sons, playing a spoiled kid buying a suit from Bub. He was a little older.

I was also one of those children that grew up watching the show on rerun and I loved it.

Larry was always my favorite....he should have had his own show

Grew up loving The Beav, and actually went to a library as a kid growing up in Petaluma, CA that had a classic library featured in the episode "Beaver's Library Book". Really brought my 'Leave it to Beaver' childhood full circle! Thanks for the vid!

Rusty, thank you for your service. As a matter of fact, I'm watching the rerun of the show as I type this.

Great job! Many thanks never missed an episode! Unreal how they mirrored many kids lives of that day!

Thanks for this! I grew up with Leave it to Beaver and your have brought back wonderful memories; not just of the show but also of a more gentle time in America.

Sweet ..... Wow that’s so cool Dave how you got the extra info and got a update ‼️👋Thanks Dave for the extra time ❣️‼️ You and yours have a great one‼️Nicely done 👍

I like, many others, loved Leave It to Beaver when I was a little boy. Every day I would race to the tv to watch the show. I still watch the reruns. It makes me feel like a kid all over again. I remember the coffee cup episode.

I really enjoy these shorts . You do a great job with them. Thanks.

Larry Mondello character seemed so genuinely real. It's hard to believe that Rusty was actually acting, his character was so true to form.

Bring back memories when I was a child, better days love those old shows, today shows there are no comparison.

It is nice to see a you re-editing the video upon coming across new information.

I have wondered for YEARS what happened to Rusty! Thank you for sharing the recent pics and the information! 👍 His roles on the show are priceless!

Good for Rusty! I'm glad he and his parents saved him from the crazy life of most childhood actors.... Larry/Rusty was one of the best parts of the show indeed. Beaver always fell for his dares and went astray, Larry was the class clown that we all remember also. Sometimes I wonder why I still watch this show, seems like I should have grown up many many years ago...I relate to Lumpy, Eddy, and Larry, and always dreamt of having the Cleavers as parents....I remember one time foolishly voicing this to my mother, her obvious reply was that she wished she had Wally and Beaver as kids, instead of us four brats!

His brother Ken, was one of my high school football coaches and a middle school teacher.

The Beave & Walley always had a hangup over changing their socks, their characters were the real deal👍👍

I loved that show when I was a kidlet. My home was hell on earth and that idea of a normal family really struck a nerve. Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows best. I am very glad to hear that Larry (Rusty) got exactly what he wanted, a real life. I was in the music biz for a long time and it is hard to have a decent personal life in the entertainment biz. Not impossible, but very difficult. I was lucky and did have a stable home life before I gave up the musical road. That was part of why I finally gave the music life up, to focus on what became my real life. So, I am happy about how things turned out for Rusty.

I like the one when Larry through money out the window from his mom's sewing box then he told bever to look on the ground because an airplane had dropped it.bever and Larry went to the carnival.

There was a pretty good band in Berkeley, California in the late '70's called "The Mondellos" named after the TV character.

Thanks for the info on Larry, I am a big fan of Leave it to Beaver. 👍👍

I was amazed at his excellent acting. (I would forget he was acting!) I missed him when he left..

i watched the reruns when I was a kid and then all the reunion shows. I just recently found it again on MeTV and have been reading a lot about it. Thanks for this video!!

Always enjoyed Larry's character. I grew up on 60/70s TV shows. I'm a subscriber also. You're doing great job.

Hugh Beaumont, Barbara Billingsly, Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers as the Beaver. Can't believe I remembered that LOL.

Thank you for this!

I loved him on that show! Glad he got out of Hollyweird. Eddy Haskell and Lumpy too. These supporting characters were my favorite part and added so much childhood charm.

Larry Mondelllo was my favorite character on the show

Just discovered this guys program here on you tube. His narration is simply amazing and I'm for sure addicted

Thank you so much for this video. I grew up watching Leave it to Beaver. Larry and Beaver were closer to my age as Wally was older. I loved the scenes and interactions between both boys and their friends. I felt sad when the show stopped. I often wondered what happened to many of the supporting actors in this show. Good information.

Thanks for this update about "Leave It To Beaver" one of my favorite tv shows. Btw, the fab Madge Blake was also in another classic show, "The Real McCoys", which starred the late actor, Walter Brennan. She played his "girlfriend". I forgot her name in the show. Good family show.

I still watch this and record it... my husband doesn’t get it .. but there is nothing better than these old sitcoms!

Thanks for the wonderful video--- and settling the mystery! Rusty was my first TV crush at age 7-- along with Gilligan. Such talent did I grow up with on TV!

LOVE LOVE LOVE LARRY!!! A REGULAR KID WHO WAS ACTUALLY VERY HUMBLE...HE HAD NO IDEA HE OFTEN SUGGESTED THINGS THAT WOULD GET HIM AND BEAVER IN TROUBLE!! I did not know he was still alive, I hope he reads this!! He was a natural!! Everytime I think of him, I smile! The episode where Beaver and him where driving down the street in that motor powered car and got pulled over by the policeman....HILLARIOUS!!! What a team!!!

I grew up in that time period and am about the same age as the Beav. Never missed an episode. I had a friend named Rusty Bell who was exactly like Larry Mondellos character. Rusty never went anywhere without something to eat in his pocket and was always up to something I knew was going to get us in trouble.(it usually did) And yes Rusty Bell was a red head!