Hello, all,
I have one question regarding a line of dialogue Kelly apparently says in "The Lotus Eaters". In Mr. Cushman's excellent "I Spy" book he writes some dialogue that Kelly and Scott exchange in that episode, whereby Kelly says: "Isn't that awful. I must have been doing everything: 'Oh wow', and the beads, and everything, I'm ashamed". Now, in The Greatest American Hero, in an episode entitled "The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea", Bill Maxwell (Robert Culp) hears a woman discussing her use of drugs to relax and afterwards sarcastically says "Oh, wow, the bees!" in reference to her drug use, which he feels makes her a terrible witness to a odd occurrence. Culp, as you probably know, repeated several lines of dialogue spoken in "I Spy" in "GAH" episodes. They were fun to catch!
Upon doing some on-line research of this confusing statement of "the bees" or "the beads" I came across the Urban Dictionary, and there I discovered that in the 1960s there was a term listed as "The Beez"--an abbreviated reference to Beezworth McBeezington, defined as a large mammal who spend his time eating, drinking and smoking "White and crazies"; that is, doing drugs. It seems to me that both Kelly and Bill Maxwell are using that slang term for a drug user in their sentences.
We know Culp was hip to the lingo of the 1960s, although he did not do drugs himself as the only time he tried pot during the shooting of "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice" he went deaf for several hours. (!) But, I think he was knowledgeable of "The Beez", liked it, and so used it both when Kelly himself and the woman in GAH were doing drugs. I'd like to hear others opinions on this topic, though.
If this has been discussed before, sorry! I'm new to the forum and haven't checked all the 900 pages of discussion so far shared!
)
Mona