Edd Byrnes, Kookie on
'77 Sunset Strip,' Dies at 87
Hollywood Reporter,
by
Duane Byrge
&
Mike Barnes
Original Article
Posted By: LittleHoodedMonk,
1/10/2020 1:31:42 PM
The New York actor was a finger-snapping, hair-combing, teen-idol sensation who parked cars on the swanky ABC detective series.
Edd Byrnes, who gained fleeting fame as Kookie, the ultra-hip, wisecracking parking attendant on the jazzy 1950s-'60s ABC detective series 77 Sunset Strip, has died. He was 87. (Snip) On 77 Sunset Strip, Kookie parked cars at Dino's Lodge, a Hollywood nightclub that was owned by Dean Martin and served as a backdrop on the show. The club was next door to the private detective agency run by the suave duo of Stuart Bailey (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) and Jeff Spencer (Roger Smith). When he wasn't "piling up the Z's"
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Kate318 1/10/2020 2:11:29 PM (No. 284607)
Kookie, Kookie, lend me your comb. Gosh, but I feel old. RIP, sir.
35 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
earlybird 1/10/2020 2:13:06 PM (No. 284609)
Back when television attracted first-rate actors and we could watch some very good programs from here and from the UK. I still miss PBS’s “Mystery” with that splendid main title with its weirdly, quirkily spooky music.
7 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
snakeoil 1/10/2020 2:18:52 PM (No. 284613)
Echo #1. I feel and am old. Remember it like yesterday. One thing that puzzles me is why some old tv is shown in reruns but others disappear. Would love to see Route 66 and 77 Sunset Strip again.
23 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Clinger 1/10/2020 2:26:47 PM (No. 284624)
77 Sunset Strip made it to my Dish service, what a cool show. Love the Frankie Ortega Trio. I was pretty young in real time and mostly remember the music.
8 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
WhamDBambam 1/10/2020 2:53:39 PM (No. 284642)
Dittos, #1. Can still hear the riff in my head, "Seventy-Seven Sunset Strip, (snap! snap!)."
25 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
GO3 1/10/2020 3:28:22 PM (No. 284666)
#3, Route 66 is on Folk TV and on Z Classics on Dish TV. Many episodes of Route 66 are classics. A very well written show.
3 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
JHHolliday 1/10/2020 3:54:38 PM (No. 284683)
Re #s 1 and 3. How can Kookie be 87? Damn but I feel old. Seems like just the other day I was watching him and his comb. Tempus fugit indeed.
8 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
DVC 1/10/2020 4:08:43 PM (No. 284694)
In reply to #3. I once saw in interview with James Garner, IIRC, on either Carson or Leno. In any case, Garner hadn't played "Maverick" for probably 30 years and was asked to star in a movie Maverick redo. He went back to Warner's archives and watched a few shows to recapture the feel of the character and the series. I was thinking - "wouldn't it be cool if they put Maverick back on the air in reruns?!".
Garner said, with a look of derision, "After watching a number of those old shows, wow, there is A REASON that these are not in syndication today." He made a face, and shook his head, and laughed.
Clearly he didn't think that the quality of the shows stood the test of time. I also wonder about the filiming quality. Some of those shows were pretty badly lit and I suspect that the film doesn't look that good by modern standards, either.
Some of these old cowboy shows do still stand the test of time in both plots and production quality.
We do watch "Wanted: Dead or Alive" and "Gunsmoke", on INSP on sat TV. We still enjoy these old "oaters" even though just about everyone (except for a few child actors) are long dead. Interesting to see the same character actors again and again on some of them, playing very different parts. One actor, Shug Fisher, was a coworker and friend of my grandfather and my grandmother always pointed him out when he came on TV, back when these shows were first run shows, or in reruns of old episodes, while the show was still on. Early 70s he was playing old prospectors and such, but he worked very regularly.
1 person likes this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
chumley 1/10/2020 4:59:47 PM (No. 284717)
I remember the song but only saw him in a Married With Children episode where he played himself, as a pushy time-share salesman. He did a good job. RIP.
2 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
doctorfixit 1/10/2020 5:15:00 PM (No. 284736)
He was the sport coat, LA cool original model for the Fonz Hard to believe he was that much older than us Baby Boomers.
6 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Newtsche 1/10/2020 5:48:48 PM (No. 284771)
The wife claims he was the ginchiest.
RIP Edd Byrnes.
7 people like this.
77 Sunset Strip was a fun show, but Kookie was my favorite character. He was definitely "the ginchiest" (snap, snap).
The cable channel MeTV recently ran a whole bunch of 77 Sunset Strip episodes. I thought the plots and acting were still good. Loved the 50s and hipster lingo. But now (being much older!), I was amazed at how Kookie could swing around poles and jump into and out of convertibles. Ah, those were the days.
Kookie, you brought me much joy. RIP, Gerald Lloyd Kookson III - I mean Mr. Byrnes.
7 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
MDConservative 1/10/2020 10:21:03 PM (No. 284955)
#8 - These various programs, including Maverick and 77 Sunset Strip were produced by Warner Brothers, as were many others of that time, with reasonably high production values for the most part. They are available on various cable and broadcast television outlets. Garner has nothing for which to be ashamed. I've not seen one that suffers from technical flaws. Plots may be thin, in some episodes they were thinly disguised rewrites spread across the studio's shows, with stock or borrowed footage spliced in to save expense. It is also common to see the same scenery used over and over. It may not have been so noticeable for a weekly series, but it sure is if one watches daily on a regular basis. All that said, for my money the best series episodes were the early Wagon Trains, with Ward Bond and Robert Horton.
4 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Peeps 1/10/2020 11:26:50 PM (No. 284982)
He was the *cutest* to a young'un like me. Loved the hair, the comb, the attitude. RIP
Re: cowboy shows....before I was old enough to know what the days of the week were, I knew what 'Cowboy Day' was....Saturday! When we could watch cowboy shows in the morning. I remember my mom waking me up, and me asking '....is it Cowboy Day?'
3 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Faithfully 1/10/2020 11:29:13 PM (No. 284984)
All of those westerns were propaganda.
0 people like this.
Those were the days. I thought they would never end. TV isn't fit to watch today, so I don't.
RIP Kookie.
1 person likes this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Imright 1/11/2020 3:22:07 AM (No. 285073)
Miss you Kookie!!
Here's a look back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEtCZ0xssXQ
0 people like this.
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Kookie, not related to the 60's Pookie, has left US. He truly was an icon, with his hair and comb in that era. R.I.P.