THE NEWSPAPER OF AVONDALE, BUCKEYE, GOODYEAR, LITCHFIELD PARK & TOLLESON
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This Week
NEWS ............... 7 Billy Moore Days seeks entries, nominations
BUSINESS...... 16 TikTok helped businesses survive the pandemic
SPORTS ......... 17 Organizational AD ready for inaugural school year
OPINION ...............10 BUSINESS.............. 14 SPORTS ..................17 CALENDAR ............18 FEATURES ..............19 OBITUARIES ...........21 YOUTH ..................22 CLASSIFIEDS ..........24 WEST
The Voice of the West Valley for 37 years
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August 24, 2022
‘The Real Beav’ inspired his sitcom-writing dad’s scripts BY JIMMY MAGAHERN
West Valley View Contributing Writer
I
n “Bel-Air,” the hit 2022 reboot of the ’90s sitcom “The Fresh Prince of BelAir,” the comedy is reimagined as a gritty drama, recasting once beloved characters as deeply flawed individuals and replacing the reliable comic relief of the Carlton Dance with a recurring “Scarface” snort from the beleaguered Banks son. Now imagine an even grittier reboot set in Bel-Air, this one a dramatic reworking of “Leave It to Beaver,” examining the real lives of the idyllic middle-class Cleaver family as they navigate the turmoil of the late 1960s. That’s the between-the-lines story that runs throughout the recently published book “Not Really Hollywood,” where author Rick Connelly, who recently moved from Pebble Beach, California, to the PebbleCreek retirement community in Goodyear, details his wonder years as the real-life kid whose antics inspired the classic TV character Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver. “I basically wrote it to give something to my grandchildren,” the now-73-year-old
said, FaceTiming from his home office. “Because they’ll probably still be watching ‘Leave It to Beaver’ when they get older, and may wonder about how their great-grandfather came up with all those stories.” Rick’s dad was screenwriting legend Joe Connelly, who, along with writing partner Bob Mosher, created the archetypal family comedy that broke new ground by being told from the children’s point of view. Even today, the show is most revered for how it authentically captured the way kids really talked in the late ’50s and early ’60s — and essentially still do today. Turns out, the kids’ voices sounded authentic because Joe followed his own kids around with a notebook, Author Rick Connelly, the real inspiration for Theodore capturing every juvenescent gem for “Beaver” Cleaver on “Leave It to “Beaver,” recently moved to the PebbleCreek retirement community in Goodyear. story ideas and dialogue. (Enrique Garcia/Contributor) Decades before social media would create influencers out of ordinary to-day doings of a young Rick and his older adolescents, Joe was creating scripts for Connelly...continued on page 3 Beaver and Wally based on the dopey day-
CTCA’s HOPE Team receives congressional recognition BY JORDAN ROGERS
West Valley View Staff Writer
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he HOPE Team, a nonprofit organization serving cancer patients, has received the Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from Rep. Debbie Lesko.
Operating out of the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Phoenix, in Goodyear, the HOPE Team was established as a 501(c)(3) in 2009. The team’s mission is to take care of patients by taking cancer off of their minds, even if for a short while. Over the last five years, the HOPE Team
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has spent over $500,000 on patients by sending them to movies, dinners, sporting events, bingo, crafts and more. Friendships are made at every event. “I can’t tell you how many bucket lists
HOPE...continued on page 4