Hugh Beaumont directed this episode, and did a fine job, especially bringing out the con in the con man sales guy who has the distinct pleasure of waiting on Beave. 10 Stars.
This was a frequent theme in the series; cons, whether they be passers-by or sales people, who took advantage of Beave and Wally. And we all speak from experience! Beaver wants to go ice skating, saving up for a pair of skates, ONLY the store doesn't have a size 6. That said, a size 9 tag turned around "looks like" a size 6 -- and it's a recipe for disaster.
The skates are way too big, and Beave can't admit his big mistake to dad who'll ball him out, especially since he gave him a few extra bucks for the skates in the first place. If you're a kid, this is the end of the world! So Beave sits it out in the public library --until Mr. Cleaver discovers the ice skating rink has been closed due to a pipe problem.
Lessons learned: tell the folks the truth.
Great part for Stanley Clements as the fast-talking salesmen, of course, best known as Stash in the BOWERY BOYS series, who replaced Leo Gorcey when he retired. Stan was quite popular on tv, on many top sit coms and cop shows and also did lots of commercials in the 70s. He also made history in the 60s as he and his wife were the first American couple to adopt a boy from another country (Poland) during the "Iron Curtain" reign, which was a strict international barrier at the time.
By the way. The $13.00 price for the ice skates in 1961 would equal about $132 bucks today, and no wonder the con man was conning, not to lose his commission. Don't miss this one.
SEASON 5 EPISODE 9 remastered.