SEVENTY-SEVEN SUNSET STRIP {77 SUNSET STRIP}: THE KOOKIE CAPER (TV)
Summary
One in this series of dramas about the cases of private detective Stuart Bailey and his associates.
In this episode, Mr. Laroque arrives at a motel and finds the dead body of a man named Chapman, and he quickly flees the scene, unaware of the stowaway in his backseat. In Hollywood, Kookie discovers the stowaway, a young lady named Carrie, who claims that she dove into the car to escape a sandstorm in Nevada. Laroque reports that Chapman was "already" dead when he arrived, and he is startled to learn that Carrie was in the car all the way to California. Kookie takes Carrie to a restaurant, where she describes overhearing Laroque's sinister phone call; he is taken aback when she describes witnessing another murder. He offers to let her stay in Suzanne's empty house while the receptionist is on vacation, and he is impressed with her gumption when she fights off an obnoxious interloper. Elsewhere, Jeff receives a call about a case, that of a missing teenager, and quickly realizes that his competitor, Leggs Carson, is also looking for her. Laroque searches for Kookie, knowing that he was seen with the mysterious girl, and Kookie flirts with Carrie as he brings her breakfast at Suzanne's house.
When asked, Kookie lies for Carrie and claims that he dropped her at a bus stop, though Laroque is not fooled. Kookie then learns that Jeff and Stuart are searching for Carol Rocklin, a teenage runaway who is also a soon-to-be-wealthy heiress; he nervously admits that he may have found her. Jeff and Stuart discover that Leggs is following them, hoping to take credit for their work, and when Kookie introduces "Carrie" to them, she frantically begs not to be sent home. She explains that her grandfather intends to send her to a sanitarium so that he can control her large inheritance. Stuart agrees to take her to the "swank" Hilton hotel for the time being, though she eavesdrops on a phone call to Jeff in which he hints that he actually intends to turn her in after all; she quickly locks Jeff in the closet and escapes. She encounters Leggs, who offers to "make a deal" with her to undercut Stuart, but they are caught by Wilkes, an employee of Laroque's, who forces them at gunpoint to Leggs' office. Jeff meets the imposing Silas Rocklin, Carol's grandfather, at the airport, and Stuart, learning that Jeff has lost track of Carol, urges him to stall the man.
Wilkes sternly questions Leggs and the girl, and he tells an intrigued Laroque that the stowaway/witness might also, conveniently, be a rich heiress. Jeff pretends to get lost on the streets of Hollywood and calls Stuart for an update; he is distracted by a call from his latest paramour, who invites him over for the evening. Frustrated with the delays, Silas has Jeff arrested for extortion, and Jeff learns that the real Carol has turned up elsewhere, meaning that Carrie was pretending all along. Roscoe reveals that she may have been telling the truth about witnessing a murder, however, and Jeff tries to put all of the pieces together. Carrie finally stands up to Wilkes and Leggs defends her, leading to a brawl. Kookie arrives just in time to save the day. Carrie admits that she is "just a girl from Tucson" who wants to make it big in Hollywood. Lieutenant Gilmore reveals that Laroque and Chapman were involved in a fur-smuggling ring, a fact that he can now be proven thanks to Carrie's eyewitness account. Later, Carrie finds success in films and bids a fond farewell to Kookie, grateful for his assistance. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: October 9, 1959 Friday 9:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:58:50
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: T80:0380
- GENRE: Drama, police/private detective
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/private detective
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1958-1964
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - Anacin painkillers
- TV - Commercials - Brylcreem men's hair care products
- TV - Commercials - Clorets breath mints
- TV - Commercials - Dentene chewing gum
- TV - Commercials - Dristan decongestant
- TV - Commercials - Rolaids antiacids
- TV - Commercials - Salem cigarettes
- TV - Promos - "77 Sunset Strip" upcoming episode
CREDITS
- William T. Orr … Executive Producer
- Howie Horwitz … Producer
- Montgomery Pittman … Director
- Maurita Pittman … Writer
- Mack David … Theme Music by
- Jerry Livingston … Theme Music by
- Efrem Zimbalist Jr. … Cast, Stuart Bailey
- Roger Smith … Cast, Jeff Spencer
- Edward Byrnes … Cast, Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III
- King Donovan … Cast, Leggs Carson
- John Hubbard … Cast, Laroque
- Louis Quinn … Cast, Roscoe
- Mickey Simpson … Cast, Wilkes
- Byron Keith … Cast, Lt. Roy Gilmore
- Alexander Campbell … Cast, Silas Rocklin
- Sherry Jackson … Cast, Carrie / Carol Rocklin
- Will Hutchins … Cast, Himself
- Mary Tyler Moore … Cast, Girl