Posted on 01/09/2020 6:06:10 PM PST by bitt
The comb-loving actor was 87.
The most prominent early use of the term "hipster" was on 77 Sunset Strip, the cool detective series set in Los Angeles. Each week, viewers heard singers belt the following lyrics in the brassy theme tune: "You'll meet the highbrow and the hipster."
The "hipster" of the theme song was Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III, the parking attendant with an obsession with combing his hair. Edd Byrnes portrayed Kookie, and built his fame upon the character, releasing hit pop songs like "Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)" and making appearances all over television. In 1959, "Kookie" turned up in a Coke Time variety show special with Pat Boone and another important hipster of the era, Maynard G. Krebs.
See More
'77 Sunset Strip' has its roots in an underrated 1948 noir movie Thanks to Kookie, hep slang riddled the scripts. The rock 'n' roller tossed off terms like "ginchy," "smog in the noggin" and "long green." Yet 77 Sunset Strip offered more than fashion and hipster speech. The series was the creation of Roy Huggins, the novelist behind the character-driven TV classics Maverick, The Fugitive and The Rockford Files.
(Excerpt) Read more at metv.com ...
Boy, did that bring back loads of memories! RIP Mr. Byrnes.
Nah...two blue eyes rather than 1 blue 1 brown.
FMCDH(BITS)
Thanks for posting that Youtube link, I was only about 10 years old when that TV program was popular, but loved the show.
Wow. Buck Henry and now Kookie. This is sure news to me!
Different kind of private eye show. Rotating characters. Edd started as a stoolie and later joined the agency. It took a dark turn in its latter years.
While I didn’t have a crush on him...I did get a Remington Hot Comb for Christmas the year he appeared in the commercial for it.
I think it was the second version with the [water] spray, say 1970 or thereabouts.
Thanks...great music, and very hard to forget. Never got to drive Route 66, although it was something I had wanted to do.
LOL
Leni
She was a babe.
Darn, I never really did get to watch 77 Sunset Strip but wow, Kookie WAS a cutie! RIP, Kookster.
Btw, what does the ‘77’ stand for?
*** what does the 77 stand for? ***
Address of the agency..77 Sunset Strip
I was browsing pages on Edd Byrnes just last week.
Another bit of Boomer culture passes on. RIP Kookie.
Admin mustn’t be a Boomer. Sacrilege to dismiss Kookie’s passing as “not news”.
OH! Thank you have wondered that for a long time!
Gonna have to look up this show and watch a few. Some of those shows were pretty cool.
They look similar in that head shot but Edd Byrnes was a lot more masculine than the androgynous David Bowie.
Both videos worth watching. The first one has lots of nice 50’s cars.
“Btw, what does the 77 stand for?”
A Sunset Blvd street address, which in reality puts you on a bridge over the Hollywood Freeway.
:-))
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.