There is this one episode of Leave it to Beaver where Beaver tries out for the band but doesn’t make the cut. Not wanting to devastate his proud parents, he lies to them and loiters around town after school every day to make it seem like he’s at practice. And when it’s time for the final recital, Ward and June are psyched.
On the night of the concert, they’re getting ready, Beaver is wearing a tux, and Wally, who knows what’s going on, is all like, “Beaver what the hell are you going to do when Mom and Dad go to the concert and you aren’t in it?” And Beaver says:
“I’m just gonna hope something happens.” [laugh track]
I have always thought it was the best, sweetest line in the history of television, and I think of it often—whenever the future is looking freaky. I don’t know what I want to happen and I don’t give myself enough credit to figure it out alone. I’m sort of throwing up my hands in defeat, and that feels really good sometimes.
That is what the Blue Fairy is talking about when she sings to Pinocchio:
Like a bolt out of the blue,
fate steps in to see you through!
It’s so metaphysical! Cinderella gets metaphysical, too, talking about reality being born out of dreams:
No matter how your heart is grieving,
If you keep on believing,
the dream that you wish will come true.
And then Sleeping Beauty sings of walking with people in dreams:
I know you
I walked with you once upon a dream.
I know you
The gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam
Yes, I know it’s true
that visions are seldom all they seem
But if I know you, I know what you’ll do
You’ll love me at once
the way you did once upon a dream.
Disney teaches us so much. Fate will save your ass (take note, Beaver), you can control your future by believing, and we can walk with ones we love in our dreams. Goddammit, that’s beautiful.
Oh, in case you were wondering about the end of the Leave It To Beaver Episode, Wally eventually tells his parents that Beaver isn’t actually in the band. Ward and June don’t want to make Beaver feel bad, so when he is ready to go to the recital, they say:
“Well Beaver, we’d love to go to your recital but we’re very sorry we just don’t think we’ll be able to make it.”
And they don’t go. Saved! Beaver got his wish—something happened. Fate stepped in and saw him through. And if it happens in TV Land, then it can happen to you.
