[Dammit! My computer and Word are both doing me dirt today. Periods are ending up at the beginning of a line, quotations are not closed, and when I move the cursor forward it goers in reverse, and vice versa. It took me two hours to put this post in a quasi-acceptable form. Apologies.]
Those of a certain age remember fondly the second coolest detective television show of the late Fifties, 77 Sunset Strip (1958-1964). (The coolest detective show of that era was of the era was Peter Gunn.) Those who do not remember the show are mere whippersnappers.
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. and Roger Smith starred as private eyes Stu Bailey, former World War II secret agent and foreign languages expert, and Jeff Spencer, former government agent and attorney, whose hip offices were located next door to Dean Martin's real-life Dino's Lounge. The beautiful switchboard operator who worked in a nearby office, Suzanne Fabray (played by Jacqueline Beer, who was Miss France 1954), answered the phones of Bailey & Spencer. Louis Quinn played Roscoe the racetrack tout who often frequented the office. And Edd Byrnes became a national phenomenon playing Gerald Lloyd Kookson III (better known as "Kookie"), the Dino's car hop who also assisted Bailey and Spencer in their investigations. Teenage girls just loved Kookie and the way he combed his hair; teenage boys just thought he was cool and would often call their girlfriends "the ginchiest
. With Stu and Jeff out of town, it's up to Kookie to interview a new client. She is a beautiful young art dealer who owns a valuable painting by Japanese artist Kuyiaki worth about $50,000. She has been getting anonymous threats that the painting is cursed, and then, just the previous day, someone took a shot at her. She is scheduled to meet aa reputable art buyer later that day to sell the painting and would like a protective escort. Kookie is more than happy to hang out with a beautiful girl, so... But it turns out that the buyer was a fake and two crooks pull a gun on Kookie and the client and steal the painting. Kookie chases after them in his hot rod while the client contacts Stu for backup. The crooks have Kookie trapped in a large drainage pipe when Stu shows up and the two manage to settle the bad guy's hash. In appreciation, the client gives them an abstract that she has painted, and it's the "skizziest thing you've ever seen."
In "The Big Catch," Kookie is spending the weekend at a beach house and, while fishing off the pier, hooks a beautiful woman swimming by. Alas, this chick is married to s jealous husband, who also just happened to pull off a large jewel robbery. He needs to hide the loot from the cops and Kookie is the perfect foil. But things go wrong and Kookie is captured and taken on a boat trying to escape the police and the Coast Guard. But the crook does not realize how resourceful Kookie can be.
In the one-pager "Kookie's Clues," everyone's favorite parking lot attendant is being kidnapped but manages to foil the bad guys by giving Stu clues through his jive talk.
This is followed by a full-page lexicon of Kookie-speak, followed by a full-page signed color picture of Edd Byrnes.
Perhaps the comic book should have been titled Kookie instead of 77 Sunset Strip.
Enjoy.
https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/luminist/CB/77SS_1960_01.pdf
Loved this show.
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