The 65th Anniversary of 77 Sunset Strip

It was 65 years ago today that the detective television series 77 Sunset Strip debuted on ABC. The show originally centred on Stuart Bailey (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.), a former secret agent for the OSS during World War II and foreign languages professor, and attorney Jeff Spencer (Roger Smith), who operate a detective agency out of fashionable offices in Suites 101 and 102 at 77 Sunset Strip. Suzanne Fabray (Jacqueline Beer), a French switchboard operator for the Sunset Answering Service, handled many of Bailey & Spencer's calls and sometimes got involved in cases. Kookie (Edd Byrnes) was a parking attendant at Dino's Lodge (Dean Martin's real-life lounge). He also became involved in cases and was later made a detective in the agency. Racetrack tout Roscoe (Louis Quinn) often hung out at the Bailey & Spencer offices and sometimes even did some work for the detectives. The contact at the Los Angeles Police Department on which they most frequently relied was Lieutenant Roy Gilmore (Byron Keith).

The origins of 77 Sunset Strip go back to the 1946 novel The Double Take by Roy Huggins, who would go onto create such shows as Maverick, The Fugitive, and The Rockford Files. The Double Take differed a bit from 77 Sunset Strip. For one thing, in Double Take Stuart Bailey has no partner. For another thing, Stu Bailey in The Double Take is not nearly as sophisticated, nor as hip, as Stu Bailey on 77 Sunset Strip. The Double Take would be adapted with a script by Roy Huggins himself as the 1948 film I Love Trouble, starring Franchot Tone as Stuart Bailey. Roy Huggins wrote no more novels featuring Stuart Bailey, although the detective did appear in the short stories "Now You See It" (1946), "Appointment with Fear" (1946), and "Death and the Skylark" (1952).

By the Fifties Roy Huggins was a producer for Warner Bros. While there he served as producer on the shows Cheyenne (the first hour-long Western) and Conflict. He created and produced the classic Western TV series Maverick and created the Western Colt .45. Given Warner Bros.' Western TV shows had proven successful, it occurred to him that an hour-long detective show could also prove successful. Roy Huggins then drew upon his novel The Double Take and his Stuart Bailey short stories to create 77 Sunset Strip.

It was William T. Orr, then head of Warner Bros. Television, who suggested to Roy Huggins that they could expand the initial story that Roy Huggins had written for 77 Sunset Strip and expand it into a ninety-minute movie in case they could not sell it as a television series. Marion Hargrove, who was writing the script for the initial 77 Sunset Strip episode, "Girl on the Run," then expanded the script for a ninety-minute movie also titled Girl on the Run. The movie was shot in ten days and, according to Roy Huggins in an Archive of American Television interview, was shown for a week at a theatre in the Caribbean. Warner Bros. Television then showed Girl on the Run to ABC, who picked up 77 Sunset Strip as a series. Unfortunately, the production of the theatrical film Girl on the Run allowed Warner Bros. to claim 77 Sunset  Strip was based on the movie and as a result cheat Roy Huggins out of both a creator credit and his royalties. This despite the fact that it was inspired by Roy Huggins's novel The Double Take and the Stuart Bailey short stories, and used a story by him that had been adapted by writer Marion Hargrove as a screenplay.

Girl on the Run would be shown as the first episode of 77 Sunset Strip, even though it differed somewhat from the regular series. Of the show's regular characters, only Stuart Bailey (played by Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) and Suzanne (played by Jacqueline Beer) appear in the movie. Edd Byrnes does appear in the film, but he plays a very different character from Kookie. Instead he played a violent killer named Kenneth Smiley who is constantly combing his hair. Edd Byrnes made such an impression on younger viewers that ABC wanted Mr. Byrnes added to the cast of regulars on 77 Sunset Strip. He was then added to the cast as Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III .

Roy Huggins had originally intended for 77 Sunset Strip to be a grim and gritty detective show, close in spirit to his novel The Double Take. The 23rd episode of the show's first season would see 77 Sunset Strip gradually take on a lighter tone. That episode, "The Pasadena Caper," also marked the first of several episodes in which the word "caper" was used in the title. Originally very much in the tradition of hard-boiled detective stories, 77 Sunset Strip developed an often self-deprecating sense of humour.

It was also during the first season that Kookie grew in popularity, proving to be the show's breakout character. As time passed, Kookie played a larger and larger role on the show. Actor Edd Byrnes realized the importance of the popularity of Kookie to 77 Sunset Strip, and during the second season Kookie was absent from 16 episodes as he held out for money money and a bigger role on the show. He eventually returned to the show later in the second season.

77 Sunset Strip proved to be a hit for ABC, particularly with younger views. Dell and later Gold Key produced several issues of a 77 Sunset Strip comic book. Bell, Lowell Toy Mfg. produced a 77 Sunset Strip board game. The three short stories featuring Stuart Bailey were compiled into a novel by Roy Huggins and published under the title 77 Sunset Strip as a paperback by Dell. Perhaps the most famous bit of promotion for 77 Sunset Strip was the novelty song "Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)" by Edward Byrnes and Connie Stevens. Released in March 1959, it reached no. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. As to Connie Stevens, she was no stranger to Warner Bros. detective shows. She ultimately made four guest appearances on 77 Sunset Strip and played photographer Cricket Blake on Hawaiian Eye.

The success of 77 Sunset Strip would lead to the show essentially being "cloned" by Warner Bros. as yet other detective shows that were set in exotic locales; featured young, handsome detectives; and an attractive female regular. The 1959-1960 season saw the debut of Hawaiian Eye (set in Honolulu) and Bourbon Street Beat (set in New Orleans). The 1960-1961 season saw the debut of Surfside 6, set in Miami Beach. Many times scripts for 77 Sunset Strip episodes would be rewritten for these various shows. Like Warner Bros.' Western shows before them, 77 Sunset Strip and its clones were set in a shared universe, so that characters from one show might appear on episodes of another show. For example, two of Connie Stevens's guest appearances on 77 Sunset Strip were as Cricket Blake on Hawaiian Eye. It is also possible that the shared universe of the Warner Bros. detective shows was the same as the shared universe of the Warner Bros. Westerns. In the Maverick episode "Hadley's Hunters" Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) encounters a stable hand played by Edd Byrnes at a stable called "77 Sunset Strip." While the stable hand could not possibly be Kookie (not unless he had found the fountain of youth), he could well be Kookie's grandfather or great grandfather.

77 Sunset Strip would see some cast changes throughout its run. Richard Long had played detective Rex Randolph on the TV show Bourbon Street Beat. When that show was cancelled, Richard Long joined the cast of 77 Sunset Strip, moving into Suite 104 at 77 Sunset Strip as part of Stuart Bailey and Jeff Spencer's detective agency for the show's third season. Rex Randolph would be gone by the fourth season of 77 Sunset Strip, and Kookie was finally promoted to a full-fledged detective, taking over Suite 104. Robert Logan was cast as the new parking attendant, J. R. Hale.

If anything, 77 Sunset Strip  proved to be even more popular in its second season. It ranked no. 6 in the Nielsen ratings for the year. For its third season it ranked no. 13 in the Nielsen ratings for the season. By its fourth season it had dropped to no. 30 for the year. The fifth season would see 77 Sunset Strip no longer ranking in the top thirty in the Nielsens for the year. It was with the show's ratings declining that 77 Sunset Strip was entirely revamped. Jack Webb was brought in as executive producer and William Conrad was brought in as a producer and director. An even greater change is that the entire cast, except for Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Stuart Bailey, was dismissed. Furthermore, no explanation was given for the absence of Jeff Spencer, Kookie, and the other regular characters. For all extents and purposes, Stuart Bailey was a different character. His past with the OSS was never mentioned and he was an overall more dour character.  Stuart Bailey's office was different as well, even though the address was still "77 Sunset Strip." Even the tone of the show was now darker. For all extents and purposes, 77 Sunset Strip was now an entirely different show in which the lead character had the same name and was still played by the same actor.

Long-time fans of 77 Sunset Strip apparently did not appreciate the changes to the show. Ratings for 77 Sunset Strip dropped and the show ended its run in February 7 1964 after only twenty episodes. While 77 Sunset Strip was gone, it was hardly forgotten. It proved successful as a syndicated rerun. It would later air on TV Land  and MeTV. There had been an plaque in the sidewalk at 8524 Sunset Boulevard, between La Cienega Boulevard and Alta Loma Road, in honour of the show (I don't know if it is still there or not).  Prior to the launch of The WB, there was a proposed revival of 77 Sunset Strip that would air on the new network. A 25 minute presentation film was even shot for the spring 1995 upfronts, but nothing ever came of it.

77 Sunset Strip would be a historic show. Years before Law & Order, CSI, NCIS, and Chicago Fire/Chicago PD/Chicago Med, it pioneered the concept of shows and spinoffs set in the same reality. Along with Richard Diamond, Private Detective and Peter Gunn, it sparked a cycle towards detective show on American television that would last into the early Sixties. Perhaps most importantly, along with Cheyenne and Maverick, it was one of the early successes for Warner Bros. Television, which would go onto produce such shows as F Troop, The Streets of San Francisco, Night Court, and ER.