77 Sunset Strip / Hawaiian Eye, etc. (7 Viewers)

[criblecoblis]

I think Roscoe's hat is a Trilby, a popular hat with the horse racing set.

Right you are, Bob! Your post unearthed some information out of my disordered mind. The conspicuous difference between a trilby and a fedora is the width of the brim, the latter having a wider one than the former. One of the considerations for a man in choosing a chapeau is that the relative width of the brim should reflect the relative width of the shoulders. One of the reasons a fedora was so popular back in the day is that it has a medium brim, and a lot of men have medium shoulder width.

Frank Sinatra typically sported a trilby, back when he was still skinny:

And Russ, I don't consider your inquiry into Roscoe's hat a waste of time in the least. It may be painful to contemplate, but 77 Sunset Strip debuted nearly 60 years ago, and we can all benefit from any information that helps us enjoy the show in the context of its time.

In this light, Bob's revelation that the trilby was a popular hat with the racetrack set is quite helpful, for now we know that to the audience of the time, Roscoe's choice of lid immediately communicated something about the character, before he ever took his cigar out of his mouth and spoke his first lines.

EDIT: Oh, and this reminds me of something Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. wrote in his autobiography. When The F.B.I. was being put together, the producers wanted his character to wear a hat. Zimbalist flatly refused, saying, "When I wear a hat, I look like an Armenian rug merchant!"

 

[Rustifer]

Right you are, Bob! Your post unearthed some information out of my disordered mind. The conspicuous difference between a trilby and a fedora is the width of the brim, the latter having a wider one than the former. One of the considerations for a man in choosing a chapeau is that the relative width of the brim should reflect the relative width of the shoulders. One of the reasons a fedora was so popular back in the day is that it has a medium brim, and a lot of men have medium shoulder width.

Frank Sinatra typically sported a trilby, back when he was still skinny:

View attachment 44983

And Russ, I don't consider your inquiry into Roscoe's hat a waste of time in the least. It may be painful to contemplate, but 77 Sunset Strip debuted nearly 60 years ago, and we can all benefit from any information that helps us enjoy the show in the context of its time.

In this light, Bob's revelation that the trilby was a popular hat with the racetrack set is quite helpful, for now we know that to the audience of the time, Roscoe's choice of lid immediately communicated something about the character, before he ever took his cigar out of his mouth and spoke his first lines.

EDIT: Oh, and this reminds me of something Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. wrote in his autobiography. When The F.B.I. was being put together, the producers wanted his character to wear a hat. Zimbalist flatly refused, saying, "When I wear a hat, I look like an Armenian rug merchant!"

I'm struck by the illustration of Frank on the cover of his Capitol Records album. I believe it is the work of Bob Peak, who was one of the most influential commercial artists of the 1950-1960's. He was named Artist of the Year by the NY Artist Guild in 1961 and was a huge influence on my own style when I was earning a living as an artist in Chicago in the early 1970's.

His style continuously evolved, as shown in the samples below:

Bob was influential up through the 1980's before passing in 1992 at the young age of 64. The world of commercial art lost a huge icon.

 

[Bob Gu]

Always enjoyed, Bob Peak's artwork especially his TV Guide and Time covers.

I feel a day of researching magazine illustrators, online, coming on. Never a waste of time!

http://bobpeakgallery.com

 

[Rustifer]

"Celluloid Cowboy" is a really good episode due mainly to an outstanding cast, a good script by Gloria Elmore and a whole bunch of behind-the-scenes shots of WB studios and sets.

The story begins in the lobby of the B&S office at the switchboard with Kookie and Roscoe locked in an arm wrestle contest (Kookie wins--"Youth!", Roscoe grouses). Suzanne is busily knitting what she identifies cryptically as a switchboard cover. More about that later.
Jeff Spenser is visited by Fay Dakota (Peggy McKay) to hire him as protection for her cowboy movie star hubby Flint Dakota (Andrew Duggan). Although estranged from each other, both are financing his newest flick "Outlaw King"--an oater that is hardly bound for a four star rating by Leonard Maltin.
Co-staring in this epic is Rhonda Sheridan (Donna Douglas), thus forcing me to shamelessly post the following pics of her:

Enter Johnny Lace (Hal Baylor), Flint's stunt double who resembles Andrew Duggan about as much as I do.
Rhonda has been playing footsies with both, which sets Fay's tea kettle aboil. Meanwhile, poor Flint has been experiencing various and suspicious accidents during filming--falling Klieg lights, exploding six shooters, etc. Someone's to blame, you betcha.
Jeff visits the set and is unnecessarily undercover as a cowboy extra until Rhonda recognizes him from her many trysts hanging out at Dino's (read: drunken bar floozy). Meanwhile, Roscoe is comically decked out as an Indian chief along with movie set extra "Moonbeam" (Louis Quinn's real life wife, Christine Nelson). Romantic sparks fly. Roscoe as a Lothario is kind of a tough pill to swallow.

Bad blood ensues between all the parties during filming while Jeff is being wooed on the side by Rhonda, who refrains from inviting him to a dip in her cee-ment pond but employs other more interesting tactics. On the set, Flint insists on doing a dangerous stunt himself since he and Johnny are on the outs with one another, and it goes terribly wrong--killing Johnny who was secretly disguised as Flint to save him from doing the stunt. Oops, there went one of our suspects goshdarnit. Fortunately, another attempt is made on Flint's life and the real culprit is uncovered. I won't spoil it for you by telling who.

Everyone reunites to celebrate at Dino's. The film is a huge success as at least 43 people show up to the premiere. Oh, and Suzanne's knitting project? Turns out to be a hugely bulky high-necked sweater that she models, much to an unimpressed male audience. Suzanne pouts but accepts a cocktail and then makes out with both Jeff and Rex. Just kidding. Suzanne would never do that. Darn it.

 

[Rustifer]

Always enjoyed, Bob Peak's artwork especially his TV Guide and Time covers.

I feel a day of researching magazine illustrators, online, coming on. Never a waste of time!

http://bobpeakgallery.com

Also check out Bernie Fuchs...an early disciple of Peak's...Marvelous stuff!!

Heck, I could start a whole new thread on commercial artists if I wasn't such a lazy so-and-so.

 

[Bob Gu]

I was going to mention him, Russ! I remember in school, once, a guy was looking at a TV Guide, and admiring a Fuchs cover. I said, "That's Bernie Fuchs". He laughed, and said, "Bernie..???". I guess he thought I was being too familiar. I thought that was funny, but maybe you had to be there.

 

[Rustifer]

TIDBITS:
As long as we're traveling the road of commercial art today, I began looking for whatever tie-ins any products were making with the popular 77 SS series. Surprisingly, not many. As one could guess, Kookie seemed to be the main magnet for any advertisers.

I am gob-smacked that some hair care company or fashion house didn't latch onto Suzanne as an absolute NATURAL for their products. Roscoe--Cigars and TRILBYS. Stu Bailey--pipes / pipe tobacco. Jeff Spenser--acoustic guitars?

 

[criblecoblis]

I'm struck by the illustration of Frank on the cover of his Capitol Records album. I believe it is the work of Bob Peak, who was one of the most influential commercial artists of the 1950-1960's. He was named Artist of the Year by the NY Artist Guild in 1961 and was a huge influence on my own style when I was earning a living as an artist in Chicago in the early 1970's.

His style continuously evolved, as shown in the samples below:

View attachment 44984

Bob was influential up through the 1980's before passing in 1992 at the young age of 64. The world of commercial art lost a huge icon.

Russ, you're teaching me a great deal. I grew up with this graphic look, but foolishly never thought to attribute it to one artist.

My memory tells me that I saw this look frequently on the cover of TV Guide, to which my household (my parents', and then mine) subscribed from before I was born until it ceased to be a useful resource. During that time, I must have seen at least a half-gross of Bob Peak cover illustrations.

I have the LP of Come Fly With Me buried deep in the basement. When I have the energy, I'll dig it up and see if I can see a signature.

 

[Rustifer]

Russ, you're teaching me a great deal. I grew up with this graphic look, but foolishly never thought to attribute it to one artist.

My memory tells me that I saw this look frequently on the cover of TV Guide, to which my household (my parents', and then mine) subscribed from before I was born until it ceased to be a useful resource. During that time, I must have seen at least a half-gross of Bob Peak cover illustrations.

I have the LP of Come Fly With Me buried deep in the basement. When I have the energy, I'll dig it up and see if I can see a signature.

Rob, I've been a student of commercial art since the early 1960's when I was matriculating into an art career myself. It was a mark of success back then to have illustrated the cover of TV Guide. I was asked in the late 70's to do a cover, as TV Guide would traditionally reach out to 3 or 4 artists for each assignment then choose a final rendering (my cover wasn't selected, unfortunately). Like you, I don't pay much attention to TV Guide today--but I'm pretty sure the era of employing well-known commercial artists for covers has mostly gone by the wayside in favor of photography or computer graphics. Too bad.
Some of my favorite illustrators were Bob Peak, Bart Forbes, Bernie Fuchs, Richard Amsel, David Grove, Coby Whitmore, Jack Davis and Mort Drucker just to name a few. Some examples:

When it comes to advertising art, I could fill the rest of this thread with examples that had inspired and influenced me through the 1960-1970's. But then, we'd be getting off the subject track of this thread rather substantially, I fear.

 

[Rustifer]

Not to beat this subject to death, but for those of you into Sci-Fi art, you can't go wrong with John Berkey:

I was always soooo impressed by the razor-sharp linear nature of Berkey's art. How did he do it?

And, of course, the king of it all--Frank Frazetta:

Did you know that Frank used his wife, Ellie, as the model for most of his female portraits? The guy was talented and lucky...

Okay, I'll get back to my focus on 77 SS now. Please forgive my digression.

 

[Lutz Koch]

Please forgive my digression.

No need to apologize, Russ. The graphic arts are a subject that's always welcome with me. Sadly, I have never had the courage to become an arts student although I would have loved that, but I simply hadn't enough trust in my talents. But I've been a comic book collector all my life (I know Jack Davis and Mort Drucker mainly through MAD magazine) and am naturally interested in the work of great graphic artists. Right now I am catalogueing my comic book collection of several thousand issues with the help of the comics.org online database. A lot of work, but also a hell of a lot of fun. OK, back now to 77SS...

 

[cadavra]

Okay. I have stated this more than once, but apparently nobody wants to believe the truth. So I'm going to try again.

The reason 77 SUNSET STRIP is not on DVD is because of the music rights.

If you listen closely, you will often hear instrumental versions of tunes from the Great American Songbook on the soundtrack, in addition to the ones performed on camera. (I've attempted to list as many as I can on each episode's IMDb page.) They are NOT owned by Warner/Chappell, but by the publishers of the individual composers, and they are still under copyright. They were originally licensed for television, and may continue to be broadcast, but physical media is another ball game and use of all those songs would need to be renegotiated--and they are not cheap. (I know this first-hand from my own film-making experience.) Relicensing them would cost a bloody fortune and in all likelihood it would not be earned back. Indeed, the reason MURPHY BROWN never got past Season 1 on DVD is that the enormous cost of the Motown songs featured in each episode put them in the red.

This is not speculation. This is not guesswork. It was told to me in person by George Feltenstein, the head of Warner Archive. He digs the show as well and would love to release it, but the numbers don't add up, and especially in an era where DVD sales are dwindling, it's simply too great a financial risk.

So enough with the conspiracy theories already. This is why the show is not on DVD. Period.

Mike S.

 

[mark-edk]

I have posted this before, but maybe some haven't seen it. There was a pretty interesting site devoted to 77 sunset strip that included quite a lot of background on the show including this bit of info:

J. L.'s parsimonious ways influenced all the Warner series. The exteriors were strictly backlot and there are a dozen or more episodes which contain the standing sets with the theatre marquee which remains on the lot today. Other than the high shot of a car leaving Dino's [shot from Sunset Plaza Drive], whenever the front of the 77 office or Dino's was shown, it was on the soundstage. Most action shows did the same thing, including even Mission: Impossible. However, the budget must have eased up a bit by the third season, because some real establishing shots were used and an occasional location exterior. Knowledgeable viewers will note that the Warner music catalogue was used extensively in the background of 77. Anyone familiar with the works of the Gershwins, Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart will not only recognize their songs (controlled by Warner Records) in every episode, but if one knows the lyrics, they will note that the tunes chosen invariably make musical comments on the scenes in which they are played. Thus, "Embraceable You" is used before and during a love scene, while "But Not for Me" punctuates a scene where the object of a character's desire is either forbidden fruit or will lead him into danger. (sorry couldn't figure out how to make this a quote)

The site seems to have recently gone missing. The link above goes to that page only, while pages dedicated to individual seasons (minus the page linked above) can be found at the internet archive.

 

[criblecoblis]

Okay. I have stated this more than once, but apparently nobody wants to believe the truth. So I'm going to try again.

The reason 77 SUNSET STRIP is not on DVD is because of the music rights.

If you listen closely, you will often hear instrumental versions of tunes from the Great American Songbook on the soundtrack, in addition to the ones performed on camera. (I've attempted to list as many as I can on each episode's IMDb page.) They are NOT owned by Warner/Chappell, but by the publishers of the individual composers, and they are still under copyright. They were originally licensed for television, and may continue to be broadcast, but physical media is another ball game and use of all those songs would need to be renegotiated--and they are not cheap. (I know this first-hand from my own film-making experience.) Relicensing them would cost a bloody fortune and in all likelihood it would not be earned back. Indeed, the reason MURPHY BROWN never got past Season 1 on DVD is that the enormous cost of the Motown songs featured in each episode put them in the red.

This is not speculation. This is not guesswork. It was told to me in person by George Feltenstein, the head of Warner Archive. He digs the show as well and would love to release it, but the numbers don't add up, and especially in an era where DVD sales are dwindling, it's simply too great a financial risk.

So enough with the conspiracy theories already. This is why the show is not on DVD. Period.

Mike S.

Mike, respectfully, it is not constructive to label views that diverge from your own as "conspiracy theories." I have expressed skepticism regarding the idea that musical rights are the big holdup regarding a release of 77 Sunset Strip, based mainly upon having no hard evidence offered up to support this assertion. It has thus seemed like just one of many plausible explanations, like several others put forth in these pages, open to debate.

You say the head of Warner Archive told you this in person. That's interesting, and it's the first time I've heard it (perhaps I missed your saying it previously). If that is the case, then, why can't he simply make a public statement to that effect?

And, supposing that all that you say is accurate, why then are shows like Peter Gunn, which pointedly features songs from the Great American Songbook in every episode, available on DVD? Perhaps the answer is simply that there is far greater demand for that show that makes the DVD release a profitable endeavor, although that seems a bit implausible to me.

The bottom line is that all most of us seem to want is a straightforward explanation from Warner Archive why a show that garners enough enthusiasm to run on a national network is not available on DVD. Perhaps you could use your close relationship with George Feltenstein to make that happen.

 

[criblecoblis]

I have posted this before, but maybe some haven't seen it. There was a pretty interesting site devoted to 77 sunset strip that included quite a lot of background on the show including this bit of info:

J. L.'s parsimonious ways influenced all the Warner series. The exteriors were strictly backlot and there are a dozen or more episodes which contain the standing sets with the theatre marquee which remains on the lot today. Other than the high shot of a car leaving Dino's [shot from Sunset Plaza Drive], whenever the front of the 77 office or Dino's was shown, it was on the soundstage. Most action shows did the same thing, including even Mission: Impossible. However, the budget must have eased up a bit by the third season, because some real establishing shots were used and an occasional location exterior. Knowledgeable viewers will note that the Warner music catalogue was used extensively in the background of 77. Anyone familiar with the works of the Gershwins, Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart will not only recognize their songs (controlled by Warner Records) in every episode, but if one knows the lyrics, they will note that the tunes chosen invariably make musical comments on the scenes in which they are played. Thus, "Embraceable You" is used before and during a love scene, while "But Not for Me" punctuates a scene where the object of a character's desire is either forbidden fruit or will lead him into danger. (sorry couldn't figure out how to make this a quote)

The site seems to have recently gone missing. The link above goes to that page only, while pages dedicated to individual seasons (minus the page linked above) can be found at the internet archive.

Thanks for posting that informative passage. I've seen it in the past, but couldn't find it again.

Yes, Jack Warner was cheap. Just ask Roy Huggins! But the instances of his cheapness cited in this passage just seem to make good business sense. Why not use the vast expanse of backlot sets already built and paid for? And why not use songs Warner controlled, so that any rights fees paid went out of one of his pockets and right into another one? And building that apparently faithful reproduction of Dino's, and the rather less faithful reproduction of the "77 Sunset Strip" building, could not have been so cheap, but how else were they easily to film Dino's interior so often?

I don't think the show's production values were cheap relative to the time, except when they did things like having Stu and Roger exit the Dino's breezeway in Stu's T-bird, then enter the traffic lanes on Sunset in Jeff's Fairlane.

I'm not defending Jack Warner. He was a scurrilous tightwad who screwed people whenever he got the chance. But he did turn out some high-quality television in his day, some of which we're still watching three generations later. I give him credit for that.

 

[Gary16]

I looked at the “Come Fly With Me” LP cover (I have several copies). The artist’s name is hard to read but here’s that section

 

[Gary16]

It appears that once again MeTV is skipping the season four episode “Bullets for Santa” as it is again missing from its proper place in the lineup. Since they didn’t air it at Christmas either last year it looks like it will be the only episode of the series that will not be shown. The question is whether this was MeTV’s decision or whether WB pulled it from the syndication package.

 

[Rustifer]

Mike, respectfully, it is not constructive to label views that diverge from your own as "conspiracy theories." I have expressed skepticism regarding the idea that musical rights are the big holdup regarding a release of 77 Sunset Strip, based mainly upon having no hard evidence offered up to support this assertion. It has thus seemed like just one of many plausible explanations, like several others put forth in these pages, open to debate.

You say the head of Warner Archive told you this in person. That's interesting, and it's the first time I've heard it (perhaps I missed your saying it previously). If that is the case, then, why can't he simply make a public statement to that effect?

And, supposing that all that you say is accurate, why then are shows like Peter Gunn, which pointedly features songs from the Great American Songbook in every episode, available on DVD? Perhaps the answer is simply that there is far greater demand for that show that makes the DVD release a profitable endeavor, although that seems a bit implausible to me.

The bottom line is that all most of us seem to want is a straightforward explanation from Warner Archive why a show that garners enough enthusiasm to run on a national network is not available on DVD. Perhaps you could use your close relationship with George Feltenstein to make that happen.

I hope somebody can solve this music rights issue. For me, I’ll just keep looking for a cool spot on the pillow of life...

 

[Rustifer]

I looked at the “Come Fly With Me” LP cover (I have several copies). The artist’s name is hard to read but here’s that section
View attachment 45047

I'm pretty familiar with illustrators and their signatures from this era, but this one escapes me. It certainly isn't Bob Peak as I originally thought, although the style matches up to his from that time period.
A bit of research uncovered that Frank Sinatra hated this cover artwork in that he thought it looked more like an ad for TWA than an album cover--probably due to its very commercial advertising style.

 

[Rustifer]

"Vamp 'Til Ready" is, in my estimation, a rather disappointing 3rd season effort by scriptwriter Gloria Elmore and director george waGGner. There are more holes in the story than in my high school gym socks.

When 'Pasadena's own' internationally acclaimed pianist David Todd (Bert Convy) vanishes, his wife Melissa (Janet Lake) hires Stu to find him. David has disappeared because he thinks somebody is trying to kill him. And he's right--there's a whole passel of suspects unveiled during the course of the story.

Janet Lake, pin up girl June Wilkinson (who has a brief uncredited part so I couldn't resist posting the pic), and gameshow host Bert Convy

Stu encourages Kookie and Roscoe to visit every dive piano bar in the city just in case David is headlining in any of those. Now wouldn't you think an "internationally acclaimed" pianist would be immediately recognized sitting at a piano anywhere? Easier to find than a quarter in a couch cushion crack.
There's some bad editing when Stu drives into Dino's breezeway wearing a light colored suit, jumps out of the car and walks into the office wearing a dark suit. This actually happens twice in the episode.
In Malibu, Kookie discovers David playing in Julie Lee's (Kaye Elhardt) oceanfront bar--and we know it's oceanfront due to the sound of fog horns presumably coming from the plethora of cargo ships that frequently dock in Malibu.

I've run across this pic many times, and finally recognized it as a candid still from this episode--a Malibu beach house which coincidentally is the same house used in 'Celluloid Cowboy'.

The interior of Jenny Lee's is the exact same set as the Shell Bar where Connie Stevens warbled in Hawaiian Eye. Turns out David is afraid that it's his wifey Melissa who's trying to kill him due to her fooling around with his ex-piano partner from his salad days. Stu sets a trap at David's beach house to capture the real culprit--who is supposed to come as a surprise to us.
As a saving grace to this episode, at least there's alot of Dino's scenes and establishing shots on roads in and around 1960's LA, but really trite scenes of Bert 'playing' the piano using camera angles that always hide his hands and sloppy writing makes this story substandard.

BONUS: Another Kookie-ism -- "Jump juice" = gas.