77 Sunset Strip


77 Sunset Strip is an American television private detective drama series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Roger Smith, Richard Long and Edd Byrnes. Each episode was one hour long including commercials. The show ran from 1958 to 1964.

Description

Initial set-up and characters

Private detective Stuart Bailey was a former government secret agent. Jeff Spencer also was a former government agent, and a nonpracticing attorney. The duo worked out of stylish offices at 77 Sunset Boulevard, Suites 101 and 102. The street address was colloquially known as Sunset Strip, and was located between La Cienega Boulevard and Alta Loma Road on the south side of the strip next door to Dean Martin's real-life lounge, Dino's Lodge. Typically, the two detectives would alternate as leads, with a Stuart Bailey case being featured one week, and a Jeff Spencer case the next—although depending on the nature of the case, sometimes the two would team up.
Suzanne Fabry, the beautiful French switchboard operator played by Jacqueline Beer, handled the phones for Sunset Answering Service located in suite 103. The firm of Bailey & Spencer employed her answering service, as did other clients. Although not technically an employee of the firm, Suzanne would be involved in casework from time to time, especially in season two.
Comic relief was provided by Roscoe the racetrack tout. Roscoe was forever hanging around the offices, giving horse racing tips. However, he was sometimes used as an operative, and was an ever-informed source concerning the word on the street.
The firm's most frequently seen police contact was Lt. Roy Gilmore, who was almost never called by his first name.
The 'breakout' character, who had not been included in the pilot film, was Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III, the rock and roll-loving, wisecracking, hair-combing hipster and aspiring PI who initially worked as the valet parking attendant at Dino's, the club next door to the detectives' office. "Kookie" often found a way to get himself involved in the firm's cases, and was eventually made a full partner in the firm with his own office.
Also seen relatively frequently were The Frank Ortega Trio, playing themselves as the jazzy house band at Dino's Lodge.

Tone and cultural impact

Huggins intended the show to be a hard-edged drama, but beginning with the 23rd episode, "The Pasadena Caper," the tone started to become much lighter, with a strong element of self-deprecating humor and "caper" frequently used in episode titles. The catchy theme song, written by the accomplished team of Mack David and Jerry Livingston, typified the show's breezy, jazzed atmosphere. The song became the centerpiece of an album of the show's music in Warren Barker orchestrations, which was released in 1959, a top-10 hit in the Billboard LP charts.
and "Kookie", 1964
The Kookie character became a cultural phenomenon, with his slang expressions such as "ginchy" and "piling up Zs". When Kookie helped the detectives on a case by singing a song, Edd Byrnes began a singing career with the novelty single "Kookie, Kookie ", based on his frequent combing of his hair; this featured Connie Stevens on vocals in the chorus and the song, with words and music by Irving Taylor, became the first hit single for the recently established Warner Bros. Records. Kookie was also used to provide product placement for Harley-Davidson, appearing on their Topper motor scooter in the show and in Harley-Davidson advertisements.

Cast changes during seasons 1–5

When Byrnes' demands for more money and an expanded role were not met, he left the show for a period in season two. After an absence of 16 episodes beginning in January 1960, Byrnes and Warner Brothers settled their differences, and Kookie came back beginning in May.
For the 1960–61 season, Richard Long moved over from the recently canceled detective series Bourbon Street Beat. His BSB character of Rex Randolph was said to have left New Orleans and relocated to North Hollywood, joining Bailey and Spencer's firm, and taking office 104. The character was dropped after one season, but Long was seen again on 77 Sunset Strip in seasons five and six.
Kookie became a full-fledged detective and partner in the firm as of season four, taking over Rex Randolph's office in 104. At the same time, Robert Logan became the new parking lot attendant, J.R. Hale, who usually spoke in abbreviations. Hale was seen throughout seasons four and five.

Episode and guest cast highlights

One of the series' more unusual episodes was the 1960 "The Silent Caper", written by Smith. It presented its story completely without dialogue, hence the title. Another off-beat entry was 1961's "Reserved For Mr. Bailey", which finds Zimbalist alone in a ghost town. He is the only main actor on screen for the entire hour.
The show was so popular that rising young actors clamored for guest spots. Up-and-comers who made guest appearances include: Ellen Burstyn, Roger Moore, DeForest Kelley, William Shatner, Mary Tyler Moore, Shirley MacLaine look-alike Gigi Verone, Robert Conrad, Dyan Cannon, Janet De Gore, Jay North, Connie Stevens, Irish McCalla, Adam West, Tuesday Weld, Sherry Jackson, Marlo Thomas, Max Baer Jr., Carole Mathews, Elizabeth Montgomery, Karen Steele, Randy Stuart, Susan Oliver, Robert Vaughn, Suzanne Storrs, Peter Breck, Donna Douglas, Troy Donahue, Chad Everett, Gena Rowlands, Cloris Leachman, Eve McVeagh, and Diane Ladd. Established film and TV actors and older stars who guest-starred include Fay Wray, Francis X. Bushman, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., Ida Lupino, Liliane Montevecchi, Keenan Wynn, Rolfe Sedan, Jim Backus, Billie Burke, Buddy Ebsen, George Jessel, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, Burgess Meredith, Nick Adams, Gerald Mohr, and Roy Roberts, among others. The show occasionally featured sports stars such as Sandy Koufax in guest roles.

The Controversial Sixth Season, 1963–1964

In 1963, as the show's popularity waned, the entire cast was let go except for Zimbalist. Jack Webb was brought in as executive producer and William Conrad as a producer/director. The character of Stuart Bailey was presented as a solo private investigator, with no continuity or reference to his past years with Jeff Spencer, Suzanne, Kookie, and Roscoe, or his military OSS background. It was an abrupt, unexplained disconnect. The series and Bailey's personality took on a darker tone, and the familiar office, parking lot and Dino's Lodge were gone. A new musical theme was written by Bob Thompson.
The season six show title was not changed, it still was an address, but Bailey's new office was dramatically different from Bailey and Spencer's 77 Sunset Strip office of the past five years. The interior of Bailey's new office building was shown behind the show's opening and closing credits, forcing viewers to ponder how the same address could look so very different. There seemed to be no spoken mention of his office address in the season six shows, although in the episode "Bonus Baby" when a police officer inspects Bailey's Private Investigator License, a close-up shows the address "77 Sunset Strip".
As the season progressed, there were some shifts in tone. Several episodes into the season, Bailey's stern personality became lighter, though still different from prior seasons. His secretary Hannah, previously known to sixth season viewers only because Bailey addressed her in his recorded dictations, was seen on-screen beginning in the season's eleventh episode. Played by Joan Staley, Hannah worked in Bailey's office, where he developed a romantic interest in her—but she continually stymied and frustrated him by playing hard-to-get. As of episode "Alimony League", the opening and closing background of Bradbury building was gone, replaced by Bailey in silhouette walking past lighted store windows. This was actually a scene from "5" and it was supposedly located in New York City where Bailey arrived to work for a client to "pay his dead brother's way into heaven".
Episode "The Target" was unusual because key roles were played by the show's primary behind-the-scenes people, who happened to also be experienced actors. Show producer William Conrad played "Maestrian", associate producer James Lydon played "Charlie", writer Tony Barrett played "Carnovan", and director Lawrence Dobkin played "Landers".
Season six of 77 Sunset Strip was essentially a different show from what had aired in seasons one to five—a show that oddly used the title from the different prior show, and showed a different building with the same address. Viewers did not appreciate such a massive alteration, and the show was cancelled halfway through its sixth season in February 1964. In the 1964 summer reruns period, shows from the Bailey and Spencer years were shown; the Season Six episodes were abandoned, rarely seen until September 2017 on MeTV.

Broadcast history

NOTE: The most frequent time slot for the series is in bold text.
The success of 77 Sunset Strip led to the creation of several other detective shows in exotic locales, all produced by the Warner Bros. studio, which created Strip — Bourbon Street Beat in New Orleans, Hawaiian Eye in Honolulu, and Surfside 6 in Miami Beach. The casts and scripts of these various shows sometimes crossed over, which was logistically easy, since they were all shot in Burbank on the Warner Bros. lot.
The office and bar/nightclub sets of 77 Sunset Strip and Hawaiian Eye were on the same WB soundstage, intertwined to save space, with shared room walls and some doors actually going between the sets. Production crews would pay attention to each other. For example, a carpenter hammering on a set would hear "Quiet" from the other set and hold the hammer mid-stroke until hearing "Cut".

Legacy

Currently, only an engraving in the Sunset Boulevard sidewalk between La Cienega Boulevard and Alta Loma Road commemorates 77 Sunset Strip, and the area is slated for redevelopment as part of "The Sunset Millennium" project. In a twist of fate, the opposition to the redevelopment of the area is known as "Save Our Strip" or "SOS" and is spearheaded by former 77 Sunset Strip semiregular Gigi Verone. No number 77 exists on the Strip, as all Sunset Boulevard addresses in the area have four digits.
The show was referenced in an episode of Jay Ward's Fractured Flickers, showing a satirical depiction of Ward looking at a lineup of fictional shows, one of them being "77 Gaza Strip".
Episodes of the television series can be seen in reruns, through syndication packages offered by Warner Bros. Studios. At one time, 43 episodes had been removed from syndication for various legal reasons, but 13 of these can now be seen in reruns. As of 2017, the syndication package aired on Me-TV contained every original episode.
Thirty-one years after the series left the air, Warner Bros. proposed a modern revival of 77 Sunset Strip, that was to be the first hour-long drama series to air on the new WB Television Network. It was to be produced by Clint Eastwood and starred Jim Caviezel, Timothy Olyphant, and Maria Bello. A 25-minute pilot presentation was shot for upfronts in the spring of 1995, but despite a few attempts to get it modified and finalized for broadcast in 1995–1996, the project never made it past the testing stage. Early mentioning of the show was made in the network's fall affiliate presentation promotion, the 77 Sunset Strip logo visible in the movie backlot motif.

Episode list