TV legends are star attraction at Home and Garden Show
Crowd shows that 39-year-old ‘Leave it to Beaver’ still has timeless appeal.
By Dee Depass
Star Tribune Staff Writer
They heard the name “Beav” and came form near and far. The old and young, the bold, the embarrassed, the rerun junkies and original viewers stood in line Saturday to grab a slice of nostalgia.
Minnesotans met their TV heroes Jerry (the Beaver) Mathers and Ken (Eddie Haskell) Osmond at the Fall Home and Garden Show at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Some skipped away, others quaked with excitement and some just strolled with a grin. But they all clutched the yellow autographed fliers of the acting pair as youngsters.
The two former stars of the 39-year-old show “Leave it to Beaver” and the 1985 remake “The New Leave it to Beaver Show”were a hit in Minneapolis.
“They are SO cool. I’ve watched them forever,” said 14-year-old Andrea Goetz, wiggling with excitement. “I’m going to bring this to school and show all my friends” at Minnetonka High School.
Other visitors included 55-year-old twin sisters. “I love that show,”said a blushing Joan Hurtovenko of Minneapolis.
“I like them,” echoed her sister, Janet Peterson. “I just think it’s kind of neat and nostalgic. It was fun to watch when we were kids.”
Mark Hovorka, 25, left the actors’ stand mockingly shaking his hands. But his enthusiasm shone as he and fellow Burnsvillian Mike Siebenaler, 23, explained that they came to the show just to meet Mathers. Their signed flier will be framed and will keep company with autographed photos of actors who played Greg Brady on “The Brady Bunch,” the Professor and Mary Ann of “Gilligan’s Island,” and Captain Kangaroo. “We are fine connoisseurs of TV rerunland,” Siebenaler said.
A 51-year-old engaged couple in black leather wallowed in nostalgia. “It takes you back to when you were a kid. Things were simple back then. Just look at the titles for the shows. They read ‘Wally asks a girl out,’ and ‘Beaver goes to a dance.’ It’s done in a nice clean way,” said Sonny Highland. His fiancee, Jackie Meyer, said, “There’s not a lot of sex, drugs, and violence.”
Hibbing resident Karen Luoma Varichak, 52, stood in line and wondered what the connection was with the Home and Garden Show. But show owner Dick Engebretson was thinking in calculated terms about promotions when he asked Mathers and Osmond to come.
“Those who are buying these fabulous bathrooms grew up on the show. It’s the perfect demographic; 40 to 50 year olds are real good customers.”
In a separate interview, Mathers and Osmond praised their show for being good to them. it is in 40 languages, Mathers said proudly.
The money made from the show allowed Mathers to major in philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, and then to start several businesses,, including a memorabilia company that he owns with Osmond. Another TV series and movie are in the making, he said.
Mathers, a Los Angeles resident, is divorced and has three children ages 11,14, and 18, who live in Indiana. His slow smile and reserved manner are rather Minnesotan traits, probably handed down form his mother, who was born in Biwabik, Minn. His grandfather was a chemist there.
Osmond, a self-proclaimed workaholic and a retired Los Angeles police officer, runs a real estate firm that buys old houses renovates them and sells or rents them.
Osmond and Mathers will return to the Home and Garden Show today for another autograph session.
Saturdays
