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The 1950s are considered television’s golden age, introducing a wide variety of shows that have withstood the test of time, many of them featuring iconic classic TV moms who have endeared themselves to generations of viewers. And while those same viewers are certainly aware of the on screen children they raised, ranging from Little Ricky to Dennis the Menace and Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver, the truth is that each of them had children of their own.

What follows, then, is our guide to 10 classic TV moms from the 1950s and their real-life children. Ten mothers, 21 children and a whole bunch of nostalgia.

1. Lucille Ball

ACTRESS: Lucille Ball (1911 to 1989)

CHARACTER: Lucy Ricardo (I Love Love, 1951 to 1957), The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957 to 1960)

SHOW: I Love Lucy (1951 to 1957)

TV MOM OF: Little Ricky (Richard Keith, stage name of Keith Thibodeaux)

REAL MOM OF: Lucie Arnaz (born July 17, 1951) and Desi Arnaz Jr. (born January 19, 1953), both the children of Desi Arnaz and both enjoying careers in entertainment.

PERSONAL: Lucille Ball was married twice, first to Desi Arnaz from 1940 until their divorce in 1960; and then to stand up comedian Gary Morton from 1961 until the time of her death, April 26, 1989 at the age of 77.

2. Barbara Billingsley

ACTRESS: Barbara Billingsley (1915 to 2010)

CHARACTER: June Cleaver, married to Ward Cleaver (Hugh Beaumont)

SHOW: Leave It to Beaver (1957 to 1963)

TV MOM OF: Wally Cleaver (Tony Dow) and Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver (Jerry Mathers)

REAL MOM OF: Drew and Glenn Billingsley Jr., fathered by restaurateur Glenn Billingsley, Sr. The brothers were inspired career-wise by their father, and since 1974 have managed the Los Angeles-based Billingsley’s Restaurant.

PERSONAL: Barbara Billingsley was married three times, to Glenn Billingsley from 1941 to 1947, Roy Kellino from 1953 until his death in 19

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One of the classes I taught last semester included a section on idiomatic expressions. A topic like that always calls attention to the difference in the ages of the students and the instructor. We came across many expressions that a person my age uses casually but that many or all of the students didn’t recognize. None of them, for instance, knew the expression “hocus pocus,” which refers to the things magicians do and say to create the illusion that they have paranormal resources.

Another example arose when, instead of instructing, I was telling the students about Marcello, the new cat at our house. We had met Marcello on the sidewalk outside a gift shop in North East, Md., and the chance acquaintance evolved into a permanent arrangement. Now, I told my students, Marcello is living “the life of Riley.”

As the words left my lips, I could read in the faces of the students that they didn’t know what that meant. My experience has been that students are a tolerant lot, and that they wouldn’t think of embarrassing the instructor by pointing that he had said something they couldn’t comprehend. They would have been content to go on living without knowing what that expression meant. So I asked them: “Do you know that expression?” They didn’t, and even though none of them asked, even then, what it meant, I told them.

That set me to wondering where that expression originated, but I didn’t have time until now to look it up. Apparently there is no definitive answer. One theory traces the phrase to a song written in 1898 by vaudevillian Pat Rooney Sr. In that song, a hotel owner named Riley looks forward the day when he strikes it rich. The phrase itself is not in the lyric of that song.

The expression does appear in a song called “My Name is Ke