Surfside 6 ran from 1960-62, with a Miami Beach setting. That seemed pretty jazzy to a Central Florida native child. Blond demigod Troy Donahue was a big draw, along with Van Williams, Diane McBain who also starred in Parrish, Lee Patterson who went on to One Life to Live fame, and Maguerita Sierra as the irrepressible Cha Cha—spunk and glamour personified. The opening song still pops up in my head every now and then.
Longer lived and with a Los Angeles setting, 77 Sunset Strip ran from 1958-64. The stars were Ed Byrnes as the hip Kookie, Roger Smith who later married Ann Margret, Richard Long, renowned for The Big Valley, and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. A number of glamorous female stars paraded through the breezy series of cool capers. Guests stars who appeared on the show included William Shatner, Elizabeth Montgomery, Tuesday Weld, Mary Tyler Moore, Peter Lorre, and Nick Adams. Surely you remember the infectious song by Ed Byrnes and Connie Stevens: Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb.
Hawaiian Eye played from 1959-63 and starred Connie Stevens as Cricket Blake of the sweet, irresistible voice, Robert Conrad, Anthony Eisley–he of the cool moustache, and Kazuo “Kim” Quisado as bouncy cab driver Poncie Ponce. Of course the Hawaiian locale was the most exotic of all. This theme song is also fresh in my memory. I loved this show, and for a long time my preferred nickname was Cricket.
What was your favorite old time private eye program?
Cheers & Happy Reading!
Flossie Benton Rogers, Conjuring the Magic with Paranormal Fantasy Romance
I haven’t managed to catch any of these shows, but I’m familiar with all of them and most of the actors. When it came to cops and PI shows, the ones I remember best and loved were Starsky and Hutch and Simon and Simon. There was one old black-and-white show that ran in 1959, however, that I only discovered two years ago. It starred one of my favorite actors (David Hedison) as an American spy during the cold war. His love interest was played by Luciana Paluzzi. It only ran one season, but had some clever writing, and the benefit of David in the lead role 🙂