Certainly the surrealistic quality of the show adds to it's longevity. Bingo the Chimp? Stinky? Strange sound effects? A man in his 40's(Lou) shooting at things with a cap pistol? Remember that scene in "The Vacuum Cleaner Salesman" when Lou is trying to attract a woman at a bus stop bench by using a Curious George puppet?? Hilarious stuff!
Jean Yarbrough also directed the boys in several of their films including LOST IN ALASKA, which was during the time they were finishing up on the first season.

According to Ron Palumbo's great book Abbott And Costello in Hollywood, they began producing the series in early 1951, went on a hiatus to film JACK AND THE BEANSTALK (directed by Yarbrough), then finished the 1st season after that and then shot LOST IN ALASKA at the end of '51.

If you watch the episode "Alaska", Abbott has no moustache in the first few scenes. This is apparently when they interrupted the show's production to film BEANSTALK. It was for this film Abbott grew his famous moustache and when work on the series resumed, it was explained simply that Abbott put on a false moustache so that Mike the Cop wouldn't recognize him(!). The last scene in the episode was filmed before the BEANSTALK film was shot, because the moustache is missing on Bud.

Last Edited By: Jethro Keane Nov 25 07 12:15 AM. Edited 3 times.