‘Leave It to Beaver’s Jerry Mathers Helped Create an Iconic Horror Film Prop

Leave It to Beaver wasn’t precisely the scariest present, except for that one episode that dared to shock America with graphic footage of a pristine rest room bowl. 

But weirdly, Beaver Cleaver himself, Jerry Mathers, had a hand in crafting one of many largely famously horrifying props in film historical past. No, not the bare Stallone dummy from Demolition Man. 

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Prior to capturing America’s heart as the adorable kid with the suspiciously inappropriate name, a young Mathers co-starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s black comedy The Trouble with Harry. And years later, Mathers ran into the Master of Suspense again throughout the making Leave It to Beaver when the legendary director was engaged on Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Unbeknownst to Hitch, Mathers additionally helped to create one of the vital terrifying props from one in every of his most terrifying films: the mummified stays of Norman Bates’ mom, as seen within the surprising conclusion of Psycho. 

As Mathers revealed on his website, make-up artist Bob Dawn was employed to work on Leave It to Beaver’s first season. “His specialty was appliances and special effects,” Mathers identified, noting that Dawn made a particular headpiece for the younger actor to put on within the episode the place Beaver unsuccessfully tries to chop his personal hair.

While Dawn was working on the sitcom, “Alfred Hitchcock hired him to prepare a skull for the final scenes of Psycho,” Mathers explained. “He brought it to our set to age it and glue long hair on it to make it look like the corpse of Mrs. Bates.” There’s even a photo of Mathers posing next to the skull, which he claims came in a “box from the medical supply company that supplied the skull that Bob had ordered for Psycho.”

“He had to apply each strand (of hair) one by one,” Mathers explained. “I was fascinated and asked him if I could help. He said ‘yes,’ and for the next few days, with his guidance, I attached some hair strands one by one on the skull. As a young boy, I thought, what could be cooler than this!!!”

Is it possible that Mathers is embellishing this story? Certainly. But we’re going to go ahead and choose to believe that Beaver Cleaver really did glue hair onto a real human skull to the benefit of horror cinema.