An entertaining and interesting time-capsule episode. Being 1965, this was the year sitcoms took their last pot-shots at the fading Beatnik subculture. Two years later the emerging hippies would get the same treatment. Eccentric painter Sheldon Epps (Alan Reed Jr.) is a cliché bearded beatnik who converses in nutty hipster slang. After crashing his vintage sports car into the wall surrounding the Clampett estate, he becomes their house guest. He was distracted by Ellie May whom he describes as "a chick with wild drumsticks". His far-out lingo and colorful metaphors confuse the down-to-earth Clampetts. They think he's lost his mind as a result of the accident. Modern art is also mocked via his nonsensical abstract paintings.
Despite being written as a silly stereotype, Reed really makes the character come to life. He made a good enough impression to be invited back for two more episodes that season -- "Big Daddy, Jed" and "Cool School Is Out". And in 1967 it comes as no surprise that he would play a hippie character in the two-part "Robin Hood" story.
Two months after this episode aired, The Addams Family produced a suspiciously similar story, "The Addams Family Meets a Beatnik", in which a young rebel stays with the family after crashing his motorcycle outside their house.
Despite being written as a silly stereotype, Reed really makes the character come to life. He made a good enough impression to be invited back for two more episodes that season -- "Big Daddy, Jed" and "Cool School Is Out". And in 1967 it comes as no surprise that he would play a hippie character in the two-part "Robin Hood" story.
Two months after this episode aired, The Addams Family produced a suspiciously similar story, "The Addams Family Meets a Beatnik", in which a young rebel stays with the family after crashing his motorcycle outside their house.
