206 Episodes,
ABC
Credits:
Executive Producer -
Wm.
T. Orr
(seasons 1-5)
Jack Webb (season
6)
Producers - Howie
Horwitz, Fenton
Earnshaw, William
Conrad
Regular cast:
Stuart Bailey - Efrem
Zimbalist,
Jr.
Jeff Spencer - Roger
Smith (seasons
1-5)
Gerald Lloyd Kookson
III ('Kookie') - Edd
Byrnes (seasons
1-5)
Roscoe - Louis Quinn
(seasons 1-5)
Suzanne Fabray -
Jacqueline Beer
(seasons 1-5)
Lt. Gilmore - Byron
Keith (seasons
1-5)
Rex Randolph -
Richard Long (season
3)
Hannah - Joan Staley
(season 6)
J. R. Hale - Robert
Logan (seasons 4,
5)
[Parts
of
this
text
ran
in
Television
Chronicles
magazine,
No.
12,
©
1998]
77
Sunset
Strip
is
fondly
remembered
by
many
as
the
quintessential
private
eye
TV
series.
Handsome
men
chased
nasty
bad
guys
while
finding
time
to
romance
beautiful
girls
This
wasn't
hard-boiled
Raymond
Chandler-type
stuff
either.
The
action
took
place
in
the
bright
Southern
California
sunshine,
in
the
playground
of
the
rich
and
famous.
Despite
the
fact
that
the
show
has
run
only
once
in
Seattle
since
the
1960s
[it
is
currently
running
on
a
few
cable
systems
on
the
METV
Channel],
77
has
maintained
a
mystique
even
for
those
who
never
saw
it,
because
it
is
reflected
in
so
many
TV
detective
series
which
came
after
it.
The
first
crime
drama
on
television
was
Barney
Blake,
Police
Reporter.
This
live
NBC
series
ran
13
weeks
in
1948
before
it
was
cancelled
by
its
sponsor.
The
following
fall,
there
were
six
live
crime
series,
including
the
ABC
collaboration
with
Look
magazine,
Photocrime,
starring
Chuck
Webster
as
Inspector
Hannibal
Cobb.
Ken
Lynch
played
the
unseen
lead
in
The
Plainclothesman
on
the
old
DuMont
network,
and
the
show
used
the
Lieutenant's
point
of
view-literally-with
the
camera
lens
tilting
up
when
he
was
knocked
out
or
blinking
when
he
got
something
in
his
eye.
Then
the
more
conventional
Martin
Kane,
Private
Eye
made
its
way
from
radio
to
NBC-TV.
A
precursor
of
things
to
come
began
that
year
with
CBS's
Man
Against
Crime.
It
was
set
in
New
York
and
done
live
until
1952,
when
it
switched
to
film,
using
the
Edison
Studios
in
the
Bronx
for
interiors
and
real
New
York
locations
for
exteriors.
Ralph
Bellamy
played
Mike
Barnett
and
Robert
Preston
played
his
brother
Pat.
Dragnet
and
Joe
Friday
moved
from
radio
to
the
tube,
giving
us
the
archtypical
hard-boiled
TV
cop.
Eventually,
many
of
the
creators
of
later
crime
dramas
and
action
adventure
shows
cut
their
teeth
at
Webb's
production
company.
Early
television
not
only
picked
up
radio's
style,
it
reflected
its
east
coast
roots.
Flatfoot
gumshoes
plodded
dirty
urban
streets,
but
that
would
change
rapidly.
Weather
hadn't
mattered
on
radio,
and
the
networks
had
always
been
based
in
the
east.
But
TV
heard
the
call
to
go
west
and
it
did.
Right
to
Dodge
City.
The
first
TV-style
adventure
shows
were
westerns.
By
1959,
there
were
28
westerns
in
prime
time
every
week.
In
1955,
ABC
had
signed
a
deal
with
Warner
Bros.
to
produce
programming
for
the
network.
ABC
was
behind
both
CBS
and
NBC
in
its
number
of
affiliate
stations
because
it
was
formed
later
than
the
other
two.
In
many
cities
by
1958,
ABC
either
didn't
have
a
station
or
was
on
a
UHF
channel,
and
most
TV
sets
at
the
time
didn't
have
the
UHF
channels.
So
none
of
ABC's
shows
had
anywhere
near
the
audience
that
shows
on
the
other
two
networks
did,
so
were
much
lower
in
the
ratings.
The
hit
shows
Warner
Bros.
made
for
ABC,
from
Maverick
to
Hawaiian
Eye,
probably
saved
the
network
from
extinction.
Many
of
them
were
bona
fide
hits
and
not
only
brought
ABC
viewers,
they
gave
the
network
an
image,
albeit
a
Warner
Bros.
one.
According
to
Ed
Robertson's
book,
Maverick:
Legend
of
the
West,
studio
head
Jack
L.
Warner
had
to
be
dragged
kicking
and
screaming
into
the
television
age.
Director
Richard
L.
Bare,
quoted
in
Robertson's
book,
remembered,
'J.
L.
wouldn't
allow
me,
or
any
of
his
other
directors,
to
have
a
TV
set
any
place
visible
on
the
[film]
set.'
But
Warner
finally
accepted
the
inevitable.
Warner
Bros.
Presents
premiered
in
1955
with
a
'wheel'
show.
It
alternated
three
different
series:
Cheyenne,
Casablanca
and
Kings
Row--all
based
on
Warner
films.
Only
Cheyenne
was
a
hit,
and
in
1956,
it
alternated
with
an
anthology
show,
Conflict,
which
begat
many
things,
including
bringing
Efrem
Zimbalist,
Jr.
and
James
Garner
into
the
Warner
Bros.
television
fold.
After
a
short,
rocky
start,
with
someone
else,
William
T.
Orr
became
head
of
Warner
Bros.
television
and
he
began
to
put
together
producers,
directors
and
writers
who
would
mold
shows
for
the
studio
and
ABC.
Jack
L.
Warner
hated
paying
for
material
when
he
already
had
so
much,
and
he
wanted
his
TV
division
to
use
as
much
Warner-owned
material
as
possible
as
the
basis
for
its
shows.
Roy
Huggins
had
been
hired
from
Columbia
after
the
first
few
episodes
of
Cheyenne
had
failed
to
please
the
sponsor.
The
next
year,
with
Cheyenne
a
hit,
Huggins
moved
on
to
Conflict
and
on
it,
he
first
worked
with
James
Garner
(who
wound
up
as
the
star
of
Maverick),
did
the
pilots
for
77
Sunset
Strip
and
Bourbon
Street
Beat
and
produced
several
other
stories
which
would
be
cannibalized
when
the
studio
needed
scripts
for
its
shows
during
the
1961
writers
strike.
Roy
Huggins
had
the
idea
to
make
contemporary
westerns
which
replaced
the
cowboys
on
horseback
with
private
eyes
in
convertibles.
The
first
of
these,
77
Sunset
Strip,
was
California
personified.
Daring
detectives,
a
wisecracking
parking
attendant
and
clean
ribbons
of
broad
boulevards
for
their
big
cars
were
the
elements
that
made
it
work.
Roy
Huggins
said,
'I
had
managed
to
get
ABC
to
see
the
wisdom
of
doing
for
the
first
time-on
film-a
one-hour
private
eye
series.
I
had
sold
them
Maverick,
I
had
sold
them
a
different
kind
of
one-hour
series
and
then
I
thought
why
in
the
world
don't
I
come
up
with
a
one-hour
private
eye
series,
which
is
original.
No
one's
ever
done
that.
Cheyenne
I'd
already
done,
which
was
the
first
one-hour
western
series.'
The
premise
for
77
Sunset
Strip
is
that
Bailey
&
Spencer
is
a
highly-regarded
private
eye
firm
based
in
the
small
office
building
next
to
Dino's
Restaurant
on
the
Strip.
Stu
Bailey
and
Jeff
Spencer
are
equally
effective
at
solving
cases,
though
Bailey
does
it
more
with
brains
and
experience,
while
Spencer
is
more
adept
at
physical
heroics
and
romancing
the
ladies.
He
also
sings
and
plays
the
guitar.
Jeff
occasionally
calls
Stu
'the
professor,'
for
his
intelligence
and
fluency
in
several
languages,
though
Spencer
himself
also
has
wide
experience
and
smarts.
Both
agents
frequently
go
undercover
to
solve
their
cases.
They
have
excellent
relations
with
the
police,
usually
in
the
person
of
Lieutenant
Roy
'Gil'
Gilmore
(Byron
Keith).
In
the
lobby
of
their
building,
Suzanne
Fabray-a
beautiful
Frenchwoman
(played
by
Jacqueline
Beer,
1954's
'Miss
France')-runs
the
Sunset
Answering
Service,
but
she
really
serves
as
receptionist
for
Bailey
&
Spencer,
and
in
later
seasons,
often
goes
undercover
for
them
on
cases.
Jeff
and
Stu
maintain
their
contacts
in
the
underworld
and
on
the
street
via
Roscoe
(Louis
Quinn),
who
digs
up
information
when
not
at
the
track
betting
on
a
series
of
no-good
nags.
Meanwhile,
valet
parker
Kookie
is
always
ready
to
jump
in
his
hot
rod
and
run
down
some
information
for
the
private
eyes
and
constantly
begs
to
be
allowed
in
on
their
cases.
77
Sunset
Strip
was
not
only
a
hit,
it
also
introduced
a
style
and
substance
which
would
pervade
TV
action
shows
for
a
decade.
First,
the
heroes
were
not
legends
of
a
distant
past,
as
the
western
stars
had
been.
These
were
very
contemporary
men
in
modern
situations
and
the
audience
identified
with
them.
They
had
interesting
jobs,
danger
and
above
all,
a
potent
way
with
women.
And
their
style-from
Kookie's
casual
wear
to
Stu
and
Jeff's
lightweight
suits-was
pure
California.
They
seldom
wore
hats
and
they
drove
flashy
open
cars.
By
making
Kookie
a
parking
attendant,
the
show
captured
the
southern
California
lifestyle
of
driving
everywhere.
And
the
actors
were
all
a
teen-aged
girl's
dream.
Efrem
Zimbalist,
Jr.
(Stu
Bailey)
is
the
son
of
a
world-famous
violinist
and
opera
singer
and
was
bitten
by
the
acting
bug
in
his
late
teens.
After
his
military
service,
he
pursued
his
career
in
Hollywood
after
working
on
a
CBS
soap.
He
appeared
in
Sugarfoot,
two
episodes
of
Conflict
and
five
of
Maverick,
before
being
cast
as
Stu
Bailey,
a
suave
private
eye
who
had
government
top
secret
service
in
his
background.
Both
Huggins
and
Orr
were
fans
of
his
acting
style
and
he
was
a
solid
anchor
for
the
series.
He
would
go
on
to
a
long
run
(nine
years)
as
the
star
of
The
F.B.I.
In
addition
to
many
guest
appearances
on
all
networks,
he
also
played
a
recurring
character
on
his
daughter
Stephanie's
hit
ABC
series
Remington
Steele,
followed
by
Hotel
and
a
one-season
stint
as
the
father
of
Duncan
Regehr's
Zorro.
He
also
provided
the
voice
of
butler
Alfred
on
the
Batman
cartoon
series.
Roger
Smith
(Jeff
Spencer)
came
to
77
already
a
Warners
veteran,
too,
having
just
costarred
as
the
grownup
Patrick
Dennis
in
the
hit
film,
Auntie
Mame
starring
Rosalind
Russell.
Though
born
in
Los
Angeles
and
being
part
of
a
children's
acting
troupe,
Smith
was
raised
in
Nogales,
Arizona
and
attended
the
university
there.
After
service
in
the
navy,
James
Cagney
became
his
mentor
and
Smith
appeared
in
Man
of
a
Thousand
Faces
after
he'd
made
several
unmemorable
films
and
a
few
TV
guest-starring
roles.
Smith
had
an
alarming
tendency
to
be
accident-prone,
as
reported
in
TV
Guide.
Series
producer
Howie
Horowitz
was
quoted
as
saying,
'Rog
needs
another
accident
like
he
needs
a
third
hole
in
his
head,'
referring
to
a
freak
accident
in
Smith's
home
which
resulted
in
him
having
two
holes
drilled
in
his
skull
to
relieve
a
brain
hemorrhage.
This
laid
up
the
energetic
actor
for
some
time.
First
married
to
actress
Victoria
Shaw,
he
is
now
in
a
long-tem
marriage
to
Ann-Margret,
and
has
managed
her
career
for
decades.
He
wrote
seven
episodes
of
77
Sunset
Strip
including
the
famous
'The
Silent
Caper,'
which
has
not
one
line
of
dialogue.
But
despite
these
two
very
handsome
stars,
it
was
Edward
(aka
Edd)
Byrnes
as
first
a
sociopathic
killer-for-hire
in
the
pilot
and
then
as
the
comb-toting
parking
attendant
Kookie
(short
for
Gerald
Lloyd
Kookson
III),
who
got
the
attention
and
the
screaming
female
fans.
Byrnes
received
15,000
fan
letters
a
week,
and
in
his
autobiography,
Kookie
No
More,
he
admits
it
all
went
to
his
head
and
he
started
abusing
alcohol
and
drugs.
Byrnes
was
also
a
Warner
player,
and
had
appeared
in
the
studio's
other
shows
before
being
given
the
role
of
Kookie.
Despite
his
desire
to
shed
the
image,
Byrnes's
characterization
was
a
main
factor
in
the
show's
success.
Byrnes
eventually
conquered
his
addictions
and
has
continued
to
act
and
has
done
dozens
of
guest-starring
roles
in
series
from
Mr.
Roberts
(which
starred
Roger
Smith)
to
Murder,
She
Wrote.
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