Monday, November 20, 2006
1950s TV Part 4
Another TV genre that I faithfully watched during
the 1950s was the detective show. Warner Brothers
had a whole slate of such shows that seemed to take
over prime time during several seasons. These were
private eye shows as opposed to cop shows that are
currently very popular. The major Warner brothers
detective show of the time was 77 Sunset Strip (1958)
with Efrem Zimablist, Jr., Roger Smith and Ed “Kookie”
Byrnes. Zimablist was the senior and cool “Stu Bailey”
(my favorite). Roger Smith played his younger and
handsome partner. They usually did not work together
but each had their own program segments and stories.
77 Sunset Strip was on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles
and was the address of the private detective agency
across from Dino’s Restaurant. The shows involved
mysteries, murders and beautiful woman. It seemed
as if either of the PIs would fall in love with a different
beautiful woman each week. This was as much fantasy
as any science fiction film. Ed Byrnes was Kookie the
comb wielding, (There was even a song “Kookie, Kookie
Lend Me Your Comb) jive-talking parking lot attendant
at Dino’s who later became more of a major player in
the series. For years 77 Sunset Strip held a prominent
hour long slot on Friday nights. Another popular Warner
Brother PI show was Wednesday night’s Hawaiian Eye
(1959) which starred Robert Conrad with pretty much
the same format as “77 Sunset Strip” only set in Honolulu,
Hawaii. Monday’s had "Surfside 6" (1960) at similar
PI agency in Miami. and I believe Tuesdays had
“Bourbon Street Beat (1959)” with Andrew Duggin
and Richard Long as private eyes in New Orleans.
I liked this more than the other two but still 77 Sunset Strip
was the best of the lot.
Thursday nights was the home of one of the forbidden
fruits of late fifties crime drama. It was the Untouchables
(1959) with Robert Stack as federal agent Elliot Ness.
This was a history based hour long drama about
Ness’ battle against the gangsters of the Chicago
of the early 1930s. It was narrated by Walter Winchell
which give it an authencity beyond it’s script writers
imagination. Elliot Ness fought far more famous
gangsters of the period on television than he did
in real life. Usually this program was beyond my
bed time and was quite violence for it’s time. I enjoyed
seeing the Thompson sub-machine guns that were
fired a lot on this show. The show lasted into the
early sixties and I progressively got to see more
episodes before in was canceled. Cop shows were very
big then but I do remember watching epsodes of
Highway Patrol (1956) with a very overweight
Broderick Crawford, Naked City (1958), Robert
Taylor’s The Detectives (1959) and M-Squad (1957)
with tugh guy Lee Marvin.
the 1950s was the detective show. Warner Brothers
had a whole slate of such shows that seemed to take
over prime time during several seasons. These were
private eye shows as opposed to cop shows that are
currently very popular. The major Warner brothers
detective show of the time was 77 Sunset Strip (1958)
with Efrem Zimablist, Jr., Roger Smith and Ed “Kookie”
Byrnes. Zimablist was the senior and cool “Stu Bailey”
(my favorite). Roger Smith played his younger and
handsome partner. They usually did not work together
but each had their own program segments and stories.
77 Sunset Strip was on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles
and was the address of the private detective agency
across from Dino’s Restaurant. The shows involved
mysteries, murders and beautiful woman. It seemed
as if either of the PIs would fall in love with a different
beautiful woman each week. This was as much fantasy
as any science fiction film. Ed Byrnes was Kookie the
comb wielding, (There was even a song “Kookie, Kookie
Lend Me Your Comb) jive-talking parking lot attendant
at Dino’s who later became more of a major player in
the series. For years 77 Sunset Strip held a prominent
hour long slot on Friday nights. Another popular Warner
Brother PI show was Wednesday night’s Hawaiian Eye
(1959) which starred Robert Conrad with pretty much
the same format as “77 Sunset Strip” only set in Honolulu,
Hawaii. Monday’s had "Surfside 6" (1960) at similar
PI agency in Miami. and I believe Tuesdays had
“Bourbon Street Beat (1959)” with Andrew Duggin
and Richard Long as private eyes in New Orleans.
I liked this more than the other two but still 77 Sunset Strip
was the best of the lot.
Thursday nights was the home of one of the forbidden
fruits of late fifties crime drama. It was the Untouchables
(1959) with Robert Stack as federal agent Elliot Ness.
This was a history based hour long drama about
Ness’ battle against the gangsters of the Chicago
of the early 1930s. It was narrated by Walter Winchell
which give it an authencity beyond it’s script writers
imagination. Elliot Ness fought far more famous
gangsters of the period on television than he did
in real life. Usually this program was beyond my
bed time and was quite violence for it’s time. I enjoyed
seeing the Thompson sub-machine guns that were
fired a lot on this show. The show lasted into the
early sixties and I progressively got to see more
episodes before in was canceled. Cop shows were very
big then but I do remember watching epsodes of
Highway Patrol (1956) with a very overweight
Broderick Crawford, Naked City (1958), Robert
Taylor’s The Detectives (1959) and M-Squad (1957)
with tugh guy Lee Marvin.
# posted by Dino Don @ 8:06 PM 
