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.
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'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 ...
“Loved that show, especially the Kookie character.”
kookie was my parents’ favorite character on that show ... they always talked about him ...
She's still alive, at 87.
-PJ
Roger Smith passed a couple of years ago, while MeTV was running the show. I taped up all the episodes and watched them through and through 3x.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Smith_(actor)
RIP.
Let’s not forget those Tv shows back then...
77 Sunset Strip
Surfside 6
Hawaiian Eye
The Alaskans
And so many others.
Ernie Kovacs Show
Sgt. Bilko
Ed “Kookie” Byrnes provided the certified Hipster content on “77” and some Brylcreem didn’t hurt either. )-:
I thought 77 was the address on Sunset Blvd. of “Dino’s” restaurant. Went there after our senior prom in ‘60. (Hi Michelle)
When I think of “hipsters” I envision scraggly-haired unwashed and badly clothed individuals, not neat button-down Kookie.
Dunno. Every time I plug the address into Google maps I get that freeway bridge. Gotta ask one of the freepers up in that part of town to tell us if Dino’s address works.
Combat! was GREAT! Also for action/drama stuff: ‘Sea Hunt’, ‘Pallidan’, ‘The Rifleman’ and ‘M-Squad’! Great era for TV!
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