77 Sunset Strip / Hawaiian Eye, etc. (13 Viewers)

[Rustifer]

Unless I missed it, I don’t see a 77 episode called “Edge of Doubt”.

Gary--Once again you're correct. "Edge of Doubt" was from Season 2 of "The Deputy", not 77 SS.
Apparently Floy's longest running gig was in "Days of Our Lives" back in '65.

 

[MartinP.]

But—-if you’re not familiar with the series—what brings you here on occasion?

Reading everyone's posts, I get more familiar with it!

Hey, get a load of this photograph I found on eBay, via the Noirish thread on the Skyscraper forum!
I bought the slide!

I saw that post this morning! I'm glad you got the slide!

An hour ago someone also posted a short article and link about the series location from a 1959 paper and a link to a blog post of someone who visited the site in 1961 and what that was like. Also a photo of the location at that time.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=8142618&postcount=46271

 

[MartinP.]

Pardon if these have been mentioned previously, but has anyone gone to the Me-TV website page and seen these three articles?

'77 Sunset Strip' Has Its Roots in an Underrated 1948 Noir Movie
https://www.metv.com/stories/77-sunset-strip-has-its-roots-in-an-underrated-1948-noir-movie

How Kookie and Kramer Helped Define the Hipster on Television
https://www.metv.com/stories/history-of-the-hipster-on-television

12 Kooky Facts About '77 Sunset Strip'
https://www.metv.com/lists/12-kooky-facts-about-77-sunset-strip

 

[MartinP.]

'77 Sunset Strip' Has Its Roots in an Underrated 1948 Noir Movie
https://www.metv.com/stories/77-sunset-strip-has-its-roots-in-an-underrated-1948-noir-movie

Stu Bailey's office in this film (I LOVE TROUBLE,) was on Hollywood Blvd. instead of Sunset, according
to the IMDB filming locations!

 

[criblecoblis]

Wonder what that canvass-y cover thingie is in front of the entrance?

People were wondering about that in the Noirish thread, too. I think it is something on the roof rack of a car parked in front of the building.

 

[criblecoblis]

Pardon if these have been mentioned previously, but has anyone gone to the Me-TV website page and seen these three articles?

Martin, I've read the first and third. BTW, there is a small error in the first link: I Love Trouble is indeed readily available, at the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/I_Love_Trouble_movie

It's a lousy print, unfortunately, but if you can put up with that, it's a good movie. Stu Bailey is not the polished guy we know from 77 Sunset Strip, but I like to think that is just because he's a decade younger.

 

[criblecoblis]

We're watching "The Office Caper" again, and I just noticed for the first time a Montgomery Pittman cameo! He appears about 33 minutes in, coming out of Dino's with a blonde woman on his arm, and he asks Kookie for his car.

 

[Rustifer]

We're watching "The Office Caper" again, and I just noticed for the first time a Montgomery Pittman cameo! He appears about 33 minutes in, coming out of Dino's with a blonde woman on his arm, and he asks Kookie for his car.

Wow. I remember the scene but didn’t recognize Pittman. I believe he also showed up briefly in “The Rice Estate”. Wonder if there were more cameos by him. Very Hitchcockian.

 

[Gary16]

Martin, I've read the first and third. BTW, there is a small error in the first link: I Love Trouble is indeed readily available, at the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/I_Love_Trouble_movie

It's a lousy print, unfortunately, but if you can put up with that, it's a good movie. Stu Bailey is not the polished guy we know from 77 Sunset Strip, but I like to think that is just because he's a decade younger.

I watched my vhs of “I Love Trouble” last night. It’s the same lousy print as the archive but I still enjoyed it. I noted that the door to Stu’s office says STUART G. BAILEY on it. And it’s in a big office building. Because of the witty Huggins dialogue I could definitely picture Efrem Zimbalist Jr delivering those lines and perfectly fitting Stu as written back then. He would have been 30 when the movie was made. Tone is good but not what we’re used to. Supposedly there’s a new print out there so I don’t know why Columbia hasn’t released it on dvd.

 

[criblecoblis]

Wow. I remember the scene but didn’t recognize Pittman. I believe he also showed up briefly in “The Rice Estate”. Wonder if there were more cameos by him. Very Hitchcockian.

I think he's at the end of "The Kookie Caper," the guy who says "Why?" when Kookie inadvertently scratches his windshield with the stone of the ring Sherry Jackson's character gives him.

 

[criblecoblis]

Because of the witty Huggins dialogue I could definitely picture Efrem Zimbalist Jr delivering those lines and perfectly fitting Stu as written back then.

That's exactly what I get from the film, and Franchot Tone's likable portrayal of Stu.

Supposedly there’s a new print out there so I don’t know why Columbia hasn’t released it on dvd.

That's good news! Since it's in the public domain, it should show up on DVD eventually.

 

[Gary16]

That's good news! Since it's in the public domain, it should show up on DVD eventually.

Unfortunately the screening of the new print took place at a NoirCity event in San Francisco’s in 2007!! So where has this print been the last 11 years?

 

[MartinP.]

Unfortunately the screening of the new print took place at a NoirCity event in San Francisco’s in 2007!! So where has this print been the last 11 years?

It occurred to me that the American Cinematheque's annual Film Noir series should be happening at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood soon, it's usually in April and/or May, and I like to attend at least one of the evenings, so I just looked up the schedule to find this:

NOIR CITY: HOLLYWOOD - THE 20th ANNUAL LOS ANGELES FESTIVAL OF FILM NOIR
Opening Night Double Feature!
THE BLUE DAHLIA / I LOVE TROUBLE
Friday, April 13, 2018 • 7:30pm

"You ask for trouble, you'll get it."

In this film noir double feature, hard luck WWII vet Alan Ladd returns to Los Angeles only to become the prime suspect in the murder of his two-timing wife. in THE BLUE DAHLIA (script by Raymond Chandler), while in I LOVE TROUBLE, Franchot Tone is a wisecracking private eye sleuthing his way through a bevy of treacherous dames in a playful homage to Raymond Chandler, written by future TV legend Roy Huggins (creator of iconic small-screen series such as "77 Sunset Strip," "The Fugitive" and " The Rockford Files"). On-location sequences abound. Featuring Janet Blair, Janis Carter, Adele Jergens, Glenda Farrell, John Ireland and (of course) Raymond Burr.

Introduction by Eddie Muller of The Film Noir Foundation. Join us between films for cocktails in the courtyard with live music from the Dean Mora trio!
___

And on Friday the 13th!

 

[Gary16]

It occurred to me that the American Cinematheque's annual Film Noir series should be happening at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood soon, it's usually in April and/or May, and I like to attend at least one of the evenings, so I just looked up the schedule to find this:

NOIR CITY: HOLLYWOOD - THE 20th ANNUAL LOS ANGELES FESTIVAL OF FILM NOIR
Opening Night Double Feature!
THE BLUE DAHLIA / I LOVE TROUBLE
Friday, April 13, 2018 • 7:30pm

"You ask for trouble, you'll get it."

In this film noir double feature, hard luck WWII vet Alan Ladd returns to Los Angeles only to become the prime suspect in the murder of his two-timing wife. in THE BLUE DAHLIA (script by Raymond Chandler), while in I LOVE TROUBLE, Franchot Tone is a wisecracking private eye sleuthing his way through a bevy of treacherous dames in a playful homage to Raymond Chandler, written by future TV legend Roy Huggins (creator of iconic small-screen series such as "77 Sunset Strip," "The Fugitive" and " The Rockford Files"). On-location sequences abound. Featuring Janet Blair, Janis Carter, Adele Jergens, Glenda Farrell, John Ireland and (of course) Raymond Burr.

Introduction by Eddie Muller of The Film Noir Foundation. Join us between films for cocktails in the courtyard with live music from the Dean Mora trio!
___

And on Friday the 13th!

Well now we know that new print from 2007 is still around. So let’s hope Eddie Muller can get it released.

 

[Rustifer]

I was looking forward to watching "The Down Under Caper" because I hadn't seen it in a while and wanted to closely note the relationship between Roger Smith and his co-star / wife, Victoria Shaw. By the time this episode was filmed, they had already been married for five years. Their third child was born shortly after it aired. Up until now, I had thought he met her for the first time on this episode. Shows you what I know.

The premise of the story (written by Roger) has Jeff flying to Australia to return some valuable pearls that B&S were hired to handle. Once he checks into the hotel (thoughtfully located on the WB backlot), from this point going forward everything that occurs is happenstance and has nothing to do with his true purpose in the country.
Jeff accidently rams into Margaret (Victoria) with his luggage, and they happily discover that they're both staying in the same hotel. There's a cute scene of them having lunch with Jeff trying desperately to get a steak cooked medium rare only to have it served well done each time he sends it back. I guess that's the way Aussies like their meat. Probably why I never eat at Outback. Bloomin' Onion regardless.

Margaret asks Jeff to help her with a scoundrel, Harlan Kreger (Ronald Long), who is forcing her to sell a portion of her Station (read: Sheep ranch). Seems there are some valuable minerals on the property that Harlan want to get his greedy fat hands on. She flies Jeff to the ranch in her own plane--3 hours away by air!
There's the obligatory stock film footage of koalas, kangaroos and anything else that resembles the outback to offset the fact that the entirety of the episode is filmed around the WB lagoon. These folks never actually get any closer to Australia than I do to Mars.
Harlan and his henchman Reggie Waddock (Michael Pate) try to kill off Jeff and Margaret via knives, guns and fire--but fail miserably. In the end, Margaret regretfully sends Jeff off at the airport with a giant stuffed koala bear--which I'm sure was quickly confiscated by TSA agents.
There's obvious chemistry between Roger and Victoria, and the script was most assuredly steered towards her Australian heritage versus a bona fide good story. Actually being filmed in Australia would have certainly uplifted the episode--but with a budget of around $70,000 per--these actors were lucky just to get a catered lunch in the studio.

 

[Rustifer]

TIDBIT
Victoria Shaw was born in Sydney Australia, and was a famous local model known as "the Face". She met Roger Smith in a drama acting class and they were encouraged to get married by Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, which they did in 1956.

By 1964 the marriage begins to fall apart when Roger is found fooling around with his co-star in Sunday in New York Kathy Nolan, then jumping onto Jerry Wald's daughter, Jane. And, of course, Ann-Margret. The boy was getting around.

Kathy Nolan, Jane Wald

Divorced in 1965, Roger pays Victoria $1,750 a month in alimony. She remarries, then divorces and doesn't do much after that, living off her alimonies and unfortunately passes in 1988 at the age of 53 due to a battle with COPD.

 

[criblecoblis]

Wifey and I are watching "Escape to Freedom" as I write. Free-associating, it occurs to me that McMillan And Wife borrowed one significant characteristic of Stu for Mac: his previous occupation as a government spy. Mac, if you recall, still had his CIA (although they called it something else) security clearance, and occasionally was called back into service. Those were, in my opinion, the best episodes of that show.

Now, I know that the consensus opinion here is that the Sturopean episodes of 77SS are inferior, but Wifey and I don't ding them for their distance from the Strip.

 

[Rustifer]

Wifey and I are watching "Escape to Freedom" as I write. Free-associating, it occurs to me that McMillan And Wife borrowed one significant characteristic of Stu for Mac: his previous occupation as a government spy. Mac, if you recall, still had his CIA (although they called it something else) security clearance, and occasionally was called back into service. Those were, in my opinion, the best episodes of that show.

Now, I know that the consensus opinion here is that the Sturopean episodes of 77SS are inferior, but Wifey and I don't ding them for their distance from the Strip.

“Sturopean episodes”. Great descriptor!
New lexicon for the thread.

 

[Lutz Koch]

Wifey and I are watching "Escape to Freedom" as I write.

Some tidbits... I had to smile about the oldtimey cars seen in the opening stock footage behind the episode titles which look suspiciously like '30s or '40s models but definitely not like your typical early '60s German car, which looked more like this...

For the car buffs: That's an OPEL Rekord, similar to the one my parents had at the time. I'm still driving an OPEL today, a 2016 Corsa, one of the last models manufactured while they were still a GM company. In 2017 they were sold to the French Groupe PSA.

The character of Dr. Harben is played by Ursula Thiess who was Robert Taylor's wife and who was also a semi-regular on his TV show The Detectives. (Will someone PLEASE release this show in English already?! I got the German edition of S1 and S2, but it's only half the fun...)

Out of 77SS's 206 episodes only 61 eps were ever shown on German TV. Escape to Freedom was not one of them. One can only speculate about the reasons. Stories with an East/West background were quite popular at the time, just two years after the "wall" came up. Personally, just like Russ I'm not a real big fan of the "77SS abroad" stories, but this is IMHO one of the better ones.

 

[criblecoblis]

Some tidbits... I had to smile about the oldtimey cars seen in the opening stock footage behind the episode titles which look suspiciously like '30s or '40s models but definitely not like your typical early '60s German car. . . .

Lutz, although I usually pay close attention to the cars used in 77SS, I must say I haven't paid much attention to the cars seen in Sturopean episodes (thanks, Russ!). I'll have to redouble my efforts.