77
Sunset Strip is an American
television series first broadcast in
the late 1950s and early 1960s. The action revolves around a firm
of
Los Angeles private detectives called Bailey and Spencer
(Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Roger Smith respectively). Stu Bailey
and Jeff Spencer are both
former government agents and have an
office
at 77 Sunset Strip; although they operate their business
on an
'anywhere and everywhere' basis. A lot of the action takes place
next door at Dino's, the
restaurant owned at the time in reality by Dean
Martin.
Dean
Martin's restaurant was located at 8524 Sunset Boulevard, in a
section known locally as The Strip in L.A., or internationally as
'Sunset Strip', between Crescent Heights Boulevard and Doheny Drive in
West Hollywood.
The series regularly features shots of Dean Martin's
restaurant next door; the character of Gerald Lloyd Kookson III
or Kookie as he is better known is the car park attendant at
Dino's. Kookie is played by Edd Byrnes, his character in
the
series is a wise-cracking beatnik, 'wanna-be' private-eye who loves
Rock
& Roll and is seen constantly combing his hair. Kookie
became a hugely successful character with his 'jazzland' slang
terminology which became known as 'Kookie-talk' including: 'piling up
the z's' (sleeping), 'a dark seven' (a
depressing week) and the 'ginchiest' (the greatest).
Edd Bynes' Kookie character became very popular and
started to overshadow the the lead characters, so much so, that Edd
demanded that he be given a more prominent role. After a break of
a few
months from the series, he returned with his character now a member of
the Bailey and Spencer firm of detectives.
77
Sunset Strip was created by Roy Huggins and is based on a 1958
Warner Brothers feature film entitled, Girl on the Run. The
series is produced by Warner Brothers and originally aired on ABC
(American Broadcasting Company) in the United States from 1958 until
1964, there
are 206 episodes in total, plus a pilot which aired in 1957. The
series
was a huge success in the United States and in many other countries
including the United Kingdom.
Because of the success of 77 Sunset Strip, Warner
Brothers went on to produce similar detective series: Bourbon
Street Beat set in New Orleans, Hawaiian Eye in Hawaii and
Surfside Six in Miami, and it was not uncommon to see
characters from one show appearing in one of the others.
