Leave It to Beaver wasn’t exactly the scariest show, with the exception of that one episode that dared to shock America with graphic footage of a pristine toilet bowl.
But weirdly, Beaver Cleaver himself, Jerry Mathers, had a hand in crafting one of the mostly famously horrifying props in movie history. No, not the naked 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 during the making Leave It to Beaver when the legendary director was working on Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
Unbeknownst to Hitch, Mathers also helped to create one of the most terrifying props from one of his most terrifying movies: the mummified remains of Norman Bates’ mother, as seen in the shocking conclusion of Psycho.
As Mathers revealed on his website, makeup artist Bob Dawn was hired to work on Leave It to Beaver’s first season. “His specialty was appliances and special effects,” Mathers pointed out, noting that Dawn made a special headpiece for the young actor to wear in the episode where Beaver unsuccessfully tries to cut his own 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.”
Jerry Mathers
“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.
