77 Sunset Strip

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

ME-TV runs 77 Sunset Strip 4 AM weekdays. It originally ran from Oct. 1958 to Feb. 1964, six seasons. For a 60 year old show it holds up quite well.
It was about a LA private detective firm headed by Efrem Zimbalist and Roger Smith(Ann Margret's hubby), with French actress Jacqueline Beer as their telephone
operator secretary, Louis Quinn as race track tout Roscoe and Edward Byrnes as Kookie, the parking valet at Dinos(later a PI) and the breakout star who for awhile
got more mail, magazine covers and media coverage than anyone in Hollywood or the world!
It's a solid series, at times quite witty with tongue in cheek. Without doubt it featured the greatest assemblage of beautiful guest star starlets in the history of TV,
you name her she appeared. Sherry Jackson, Lisa Gaye, Dawn Welles, Dorothy Provine, Jo Morrow, Karen Sharpe. The producers were no slouches, they dressed the
guest babes for maximum effect on the male audience.
After season 5 the producers oddly fired all the cast except for Zimbalist.
They did give the regulars a nice send off in The Checkmate Caper, the next to last episode of season 5.
The last episode featured only Zimbalist and Byrnes as they were the only cast regulars in the original pilot TV film. It ends with a now grown up Kookie telling
Zimbalist "why don't we get out of here, huh? I need a shave." As they leave Byrnes breaks character and starts laughing.
Season six, produced and run by William "Cannon" Conrad(who had appeared in a slew of 1950's film Noir crime movies) with input from Jack Webb, turned Zimbalist
into a weary Noir type PI whose office was now in the legendary Bradbury Building.
The Bradbury is one of the all time great 'sets' in TV/movie history, used to such effect it was almost another character in the legendary Outer Limits episode
"Demon With a Glass Hand" that is rated in the top 100 finest TV episodes ever made(you are cheating yourself if you have never seen it).
Strangely, though the address of Zimbalist's office had changed and Season Six has absolutely nothing to do with the previous 5 seasons, the series was
still called 77 Sunset Strip.
After the first 5 or so episodes of the new season that featured a new theme, the opening included an extended beaut shot of the Bradbury's interior.
About midway thru season 6 the opening/ending changed again for some reason, usually with Zimbalist walking past stores late at night.
This coming week ME-TV is running the last episodes of season 5 including "Bat Girl" Yvonne Craig in "Lady in the Sun" with her at her most charming,
which ain't exactly chopped liver. The following week they start with season six.
I thought one or two of the amateur TV historians here might want to take a peek at the unseen for 50 years, till ME-TV decided to run them, Season Six episodes.
The collection of stars who appeared just in the 5 episode opening arc titled "Five" is amazing, the very popular Hollywood fixture Conrad must have called in a lot of
IOU's or maybe it became a 'thing' to appear in.
Like the original 77 Sunset Strip there are many in jokes for the 'hip' viewer, such as William Conrad as an onlooker at a hit and run, or the great film Noir vet
Charles McGraw appearing as this wouldn't be a salute to 1950's Noir without him.
This season six could be termed a noble failure, Conrad had a lot of ideas but the viewers tuned out in droves as not just the Noir style but black and white filming
fell out of favor with the on rush of color TV. Many TV series at the time were promoted with "NOW IN COLOR" or if new like Rat Patrol it was introduced
by the announcer or with a written blurb,"in color". Rat Patrol reruns still retain that intro.
The first five episodes of season six are a stand alone story arc crammed with guest stars.
They must have spent a fortune on these opening "Five" episodes alone, starting in LA then going on the road to NYC to film on location.
At one point Zimbalist strides by the side entrance to NYC's Plaza Hotel. I don't know how many times in the 1980's my friends and I came out
of that same door after a libation or two or three at the Plaza's storied Oak Bar and Trader Vics( Richard Nixon's hangout).
It's the same door Cary Grant enters to go in to the Oak Bar in the beginning of North By Northwest.
The "Five" arc is interesting as a stand alone but in this case less is more and it probably should have lasted 3 episodes, but I guess they wanted to
shoe horn in all those guest stars.
What the hey, if you got Bill Shatner, Victor Buono, Clint Walker, Peter Lorre, Luther Adler, Tony Bennett, etc etc. you are going to use them.
77 Sunset Strip spawned a hit album. In 5 episodes the legendary Beatnik host of LA's Chez Paulette coffee house, Max Lewin, appears.
Sprinkled through out the first 5 seasons, courtesy of Kookie and his friends are delightful snatches of Beatnik talk, the best was Victor Buono
as hep cat Bongo Benny. You can learn to order breakfast like the Beats:
"I'll have a order of Cackleberries with two oinks and a haystack, java and squeeze Bossy."
That's scrambled eggs, 2 link sausages and hash browns, plus coffee with milk. Try ordering like that at McDonalds.

Bongo Benny to Stuart Bailey(Efrem Zimbalist): "Greetings O' Great White Father from the Land of Cube."

[Laohu]

Would like to see this but don’t have a way of recording it and 4am is not a real time in my book . It is just one of the stories they tell you as a kid to scare you .

[308GUY]

I've watched it occasionally when I DO happen to be awake at 4:00am....not that often, but remember my glee when I first discovered it was on at all!

"Cookie..Cookie...lend me your comb!"

Used to watch it every week back when it originally aired....yea....I'm getting "old"....naw....."It's not that we're "old"...it's just that we're not young anymore." One of my favorite lines from MPI (the ORIGINAL version! )

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

I've watched it occasionally when I DO happen to be awake at 4:00am....not that often, but remember my glee when I first discovered it was on at all!

"Cookie..Cookie...lend me your comb!"

Used to watch it every week back when it originally aired....yea....I'm getting "old"....naw....."It's not that we're "old"...it's just that we're not young anymore." One of my favorite lines from MPI (the ORIGINAL version! )

Hi 308GUY,
You Tube has that song, along with "77 Sunset Strip: Twisting at the Cloud Nine Dance Hall", a fun out take with Kookie dancing with a blonde who will look
very familiar to Star Trek fans. I speak of the the bodacious Yeoman Janice Rand, watching her dance it sure doesn't look like her motor ever runs down.
The song itself is pretty snappy, maybe it was a hit at the time?
There is also a funny clip of the Beatnik from the Dobie Gillis show, Maynard G Krebs(Bob Denver) who along with Kookie teaches the King of Cubes
Pat Boone how to talk and sing: "Maynard G. Krebbs and Kookie teach Pat Boone Hip Talk - 1959".
I would have posted the actual links but every time I have tried posting links they didn't work.
That Yeoman Rand cleans up pretty good in her civvies, the dress she wears should have been standard issue in Star Fleet.

Kookie's version of "When in Rome, do as the Romans do": "When sharing a Roman pad, you gotta make their scene."

[Chris109]

Twisting at the Cloud Nine Dance Hall", a fun out take with Kookie dancing with a blonde who will look
very familiar to Star Trek fans. I speak of the the bodacious Yeoman Janice Rand, watching her dance it sure doesn't look like her motor ever runs down.

If you read her book, you will find that her motor never ran down cause her life was lots of sex and drugs.

[Chris109]

Would like to see this but don’t have a way of recording it and 4am is not a real time in my book . It is just one of the stories they tell you as a kid to scare you .

If you are really interested in watching, I see Dailymotion has many episodes. I personally am not one to watch anything on a computer cause it's only a 14" laptop screen.

https://www.dailymotion.com/search/77%2 ... rip/videos

[Laohu]

Thanks I might give this a try . Not sure how far I will make it watching on a computer or IPad is not something I do to much of .

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Twisting at the Cloud Nine Dance Hall", a fun out take with Kookie dancing with a blonde who will look
very familiar to Star Trek fans. I speak of the the bodacious Yeoman Janice Rand, watching her dance it sure doesn't look like her motor ever runs down.

If you read her book, you will find that her motor never ran down cause her life was lots of sex and drugs.

Chris,
I am sorry to hear that. I guess that's why Alan Alda felt it was worth keeping his family home in NJ to grow up in a normal small town as opposed to Hollywood.
Alda commuted every week between the two for 11 years, he'd leave Hollywood on friday afternoon and jet to Jersey, then take the red eye out of Newark
in the early AM Mondays. His kids are normal and he is still wedded to the same wife.

------------------------------------------------------------
Kookie can't help but display empathy for a fellow human being when Jeff shows him the body of a murdered gangster:
"Stiff City, huh? What brought on the wings?"

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Thanks I might give this a try . Not sure how far I will make it watching on a computer or IPad is not something I do to much of .

Hi Lahou,
It's subjective but the following episodes are some of the best ones:
Numbers 36, 45, 69, 83, 98,101, 103,106, 153.
Episode 69 The Silent Caper is quite interesting. Half of the episode had gone by before I realized there was no dialogue, as it was so well done.
It is still cited in screen writing classes.
103 The Celluloid Cowboy features a breathtakingly beautiful Donna Douglas, this series really knew how to dress/make up etc the female guest stars.
Mary Tyler Moore was jaw dropping beautiful in a evening gown in her stint as well.
Warner Brothers still had on the payroll all their experts from Hollywood's Golden Age of Movies so that no doubt helped.
For instance Ginger Rogers refused to shave her whiskers yet you never noticed it on screen.
But I digress.
Maybe it's just better to watch the series from episode 1 and enjoy how it evolves, especially Kookie and Roscoe's characters.
If one didn't watch Magnum from the first episode much of the series would lose it's impact.

------------------------------
Luther Gillis: Shove it, Scrungo!

[Little Garwood]

Although I've never watched an episode of 77 Sunset Strip, Bourbon Street Beat, and Surfside 6, the concept of a franchise detective agency and the numerous episode/fan fiction crossover adventures have always interested me.

Plus, my fascination with early '60s history and pop culture--I've never been able to get a "handle" on late '50s pop culture--makes these series something I should watch.

I have not partaken in cable for over seven years now; none of these shows are available on DVD?

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Although I've never watched an episode of 77 Sunset Strip, Bourbon Street Beat, and Surfside 6, the concept of a franchise detective agency and the numerous episode/fan fiction crossover adventures have always interested me.
Plus, my fascination with early '60s history and pop culture--I've never been able to get a "handle" on late '50s pop culture--makes these series something I should watch.
I have not partaken in cable for over seven years now; none of these shows are available on DVD?

Hi Garwood,
None of the above series have been issued officially on DVD. However this site has:

Classic Complete TV Series - Johnny's Rare Serials and "B" Westerns
BOURBON STREET BEAT---THE COMPLETE SERIES--39 EPISODES---$50.00 Private eye drama that was an attempt by both ABC and Warner Brothers to strike gold a second time after the success of 77 Sunset Strip. Bourbon Street Beat was basically 77 Sunset Strip set in New Orleans and starred Andrew Duggan, Richard Long, and Van Williams as a trio of private eyes. Despite lasting only one season, some of Bourbon Street Beat's characters lived on afterwards. Rex Randolph (played by Richard Long) would later join the cast of 77 Sunset Strip whilst Kenny Madison (played by Van Williams) would turn up on Surfside 6.

Earlier I mentioned the classic "The Silent Caper", which is completely without dialogue. The script is credited to co-star Roger Smith.There was a sort of bookend episode to that one called "Reserved For Mr Bailey", in which Efrem Zimbalist Jr is the only person seen onscreen. The only other character is a disembodied voice tormenting him.
It was shown once on Dec. 8, 1961, then Warners deep sixed it because they thought the audience wasn't bright enough to 'get it' and would be confused by it's novel approach. ME-TV showed it again for the first time when it began rerunning Sunset Strip about two years ago.
Garwood, you don't need cable to watch Antenna TV, ME-TV etc., hie thee to a store and get the correct antenna gear to watch it free over the air waves.
I got a friend who does that, throw in his on line Netflix and You Tube, plus his NY Mets package and he is a happy camper. He's got 2 or 3 VCR's from garage sales for about $5 bucks each, he can then tape late night shows. He's not cheap, he's just not going to submit to the sharp business practices of the cable giants until it's more fair.

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Kookie: "You watch that pace, Dad, it's cutting us all out of the pack...why don't you pull up that crazy sunbeam and join me and Uncle Sol."
English translation - You're so stressed out from work it's going to kill you, join me here for a tan instead.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

In the 77 Sunset Strip episode "Who Killed Cock Robin", Jeff Spencer (Roger Smith) says to retired actress Clara (Fay Wray) -
"You know I saw your picture Doctor X three times"
Clara, pleased: "You did? Well."
Wray did in fact star in the cult favorite Doctor X in 1932, one of the first color movies.

In the episode "The Widow and the Web" Kookie says to Rosco "Daniel Boone didn't discover California. The Maverick Brothers did."
This was a in joke reference to 77 Sunset Strip's fellow ABC series Maverick, a huge hit that became part of the culture at the time.
So much so that when in one episode James Garner took a deck of cards to demonstrate how to play Maverick Solitaire, the next
day millions of card decks were sold across America & Canada to people wanting to try Garner's game for themselves. For weeks
there wasn't a new deck to be had till the manufacturers caught up with the demand.
--------------------------------------------------------
Square Wally Cleaver goes Wigsville when he confuses the capitol of the Land of the Cubes, his hometown Mayfield, with the wide open,
Babes & Beatniks sidewalks of LA's Sunset Strip -
Wally Cleaver: Hey Mom, when are you going to tell me what's going on with Dad and the Beaver?
June Cleaver: Well what makes you think somethings going on?
Wally Cleaver: Well, before supper Dad gets Beaver locked up in the den with him. And then nobody says anything at supper. You
and Dad did a lot of whispering out in the hall. And Dad goes off with the Beaver. Man, this place is getting to be like 77 Sunset Strip.
Leave It To Beaver "Beaver and Kenneth" (1960)

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Earlier in this thread I mentioned that in 5 episodes, "Not an Enemy in the World", "The Kookie Caper", "The Treehouse Caper", "The Texas Doll" and "Created He Them" the host of the legendary
Beatnik coffee house Chez Paulette, Max Lewin, appeared welcoming various cast members into his joint.
It was fortunate that Max and his legend were saved for posterity via 77 Sunset Strip.
Because believe it or not Chez Paulette was an important cultural milestone and not just in America.
The University in Plymouth, England hosted a Chez Paulette exhibition in 2013, as related by Matthew Vizard in the Plymouth Daily:

https://www.theplymouthdaily.co.uk/news ... university

A Flavour of Hollywood's Golden Age Comes to the University -
The sights, sounds and smells of Hollywood in the late 1950s and early 60s are coming to Plymouth University.

For five weeks from April 27, the Peninsula Arts Gallery will host an exhibition which features a recreation of a Los Angeles coffee house, complete with authentic entertainment and a working vintage espresso machine.

The exhibition has been coordinated by Fine Art lecturer Dr Anya Lewin, whose father Max ran the Sunset Strip coffee house Chez Paulette, renowned as a bohemian hangout for actors, directors, writers and flamenco guitarists.

He emigrated with his family from Berlin just before the Second World War, but his cafe was so popular with the stars that it was chosen to appear in hit detective show 77 Sunset Strip, with Max playing himself as the genial owner.

Its celebrity clientele included screen icons Jack Nicholson, James Dean, Rita Heyworth, Marlene Dietrich, Dennis Hopper, Bobby Darin, and Marlon Brando, who helped keep the place open in 1958 by constantly coming in until it was known as the hip place to be.

Dr Lewin was born after her father closed his café in 1964, but his tales about it always fascinated her and she is now hoping to bring some of that star-studded Hollywood atmosphere to Plymouth.

“My father was a great story-teller, and while I grew up hearing about the Chez Paulette, you could never be sure about all the tales he told,” she said. “My father said he first met Marlon Brando while working in the art department at Paramount Studios, and that he (Brando) persuaded him to keep the café open. But it wasn’t until I saw it printed in a newspaper column of the time that I realised it was actually true.”

Dr Lewin has carried out extensive research into the history of the Chez Paulette, aided by a range of documents left by her father, a huge number of newspaper cuttings from the time, and documents and photographs from the Warner Bros Archive. She also spent a great deal of time speaking to some of the coffee house’s former clientele.

“Many of them were well into their 80s, but as soon as I said the words ‘Chez Paulette’ their eyes lit up because many had not spoken about it for almost 50 years,” Dr Lewin said. “I met with John Gilmore, a former actor who later wrote biographies on many stars of the time, and he said they would all go at the end of the night and soak in the atmosphere. I also spoke to Will Hutchins (who starred in a number of films along Nicholson and Elvis Presley) who told me great stories about the late night revelry.”

After the Chez Paulette, Max Lewin opened another restaurant, which again attracted a range of celebrities, including John Travolta at around the time Saturday Night Fever became a global sensation.

But it is his earlier café – with its mix of beatniks, Hollywood stars, espresso and late night philosophising – that has inspired the Plymouth exhibition, and for the whole five weeks the espresso machine at the Chez Paulette will stir into action once again.

There will also be poetry readings, live music and film screenings, including showings of Dr Lewin’s film Chez Paulette and the Sunset Strip, which includes recreations from the TV series which cemented its place in Hollywood history.
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Order breakfast like the Beats so no one will mistake you for a cube:
"I'll have a order of Cackleberries with two oinks and a haystack, java and squeeze Bossy."
Translation:
Give me scrambled eggs, 2 link sausages and hash browns, plus coffee with milk.

[croixdelorraine]

Holy smokes, now I finally know who "Kookie" that appeared as a guest on one of my other favorite shows (Married... With Children) is! Kookie, Kookie, lend me your comb! Looks like Al Bundy was a fan.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Holy smokes, now I finally know who "Kookie" that appeared as a guest on one of my other favorite shows (Married... With Children) is! Kookie, Kookie, lend me your comb! Looks like Al Bundy was a fan.

Hi Croix,
Going by media coverage and fan mail, Kookie was the biggest star in the world! for awhile. Nobody was cooler, he made Fonzie(based on him) look like a nerd.
If you don't want to be taken for a square from the Land of Cube, you too can learn to talk like Kookie:

Kookie Jive versus The King's English

Antsville = A busy joint.
Buttons - Detectives.
Ceiling Zero = Tired. Kookie to Stu -"You look absolutely ceiling zero."
Chick in skins = Rich babe bedecked in furs
Cube = a square(nerd)
Cool 88's = Piano (jazz)
Dark seven = a bad week
Dig = understand
Do the I do bit = Make with the invocation jazz. Get married.
Drape it Dad = Sit down, pal.
Deamsville = Sleep.
George's pad. = Washington DC
Germsville = The hospital
Ginchiest = Way cool.
Heels on fire = In a hurry.
I lamped him = Saw him.
I swear by our leader Mort Sahl = Solemn oath.
King's Jive = King's English
Lighting up the tilt sign = Not on the level
Long green = large denominations of paper money
Mushroom People = Their party doesn't start till deepest night to dawn.
Nervous = Cool.
No tilt = On the level.
Nudging up to oblivion = In danger of dying.
Piling up the Z's = Went to sleep.
Quo Vadis, Pater? = What's up, Dad?
Reet = Right
Scooby Do - A square driving the speed limit in a souped up car.

Sh-boom - Great (updated 'The Bomb'). Also means 'I got lucky, twice!' derived from 'she bang, she bang'. Kookie uses it in both senses, depending.
So now you know the whole shebang as to what The Chords 1954 hit "Sh-Boom" was really about.

Skizziest = Even cooler than ginchiest.
Smog-in the Noggin' = Losing memory
Square = A nerd.
Squeeze Bossy = Add milk to my coffee.
Stable the horses = Park the car.
Stiff City = corpse
Tax deduction = Spouse.
T.T.T.S. = Take two they're small
That doesn't beat any bongos = Doesn't ring any bells.
They're dividing Gaul into 3 parts again = There's trouble!
Turns tired iron = Sells used cars.
Uncle Sol = The sun.
Washingtons = Dollars
When sharing a Roman pad, you gotta make their scene = When in Rome, do as the Romans do
Ya got the 60's? = Do you have a few hours to spare?
Your're the Acme, Dad. = The best.

"Sit tight, live right and keep the lamp in the window"...Kookie bidding adieu

Bonus:
Order breakfast like Kookie so no one will mistake you for a cube:
"I'll have a order of Cackleberries with two oinks and a haystack, java and squeeze Bossy."
Translation:
Give me scrambled eggs, 2 link sausages and hash browns, plus coffee with milk.