Today we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of William Asher‘s Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)! And how we do that around here is by revisiting that pool-cue-slinging ne’er-do-well, South Dakota Slim. Slim has just been overcome by a cloud of chalk dust thoughtlessly propelled into the air by Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck).
Bingo was the fourth in Asher’s beach opus quintet, which also includes Beach Party (1963), Muscle Beach Party (1964), Bikini Beach (1964), which includes Slim’s first appearance, and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965). We’ve just discovered that Asher first directed Timothy in an episode of Invitation Playhouse: Mind Over Murder entitled “The Last Act,” first airing on May 14, 1952. It’s at the top of my list of lost Careyana.
