Mon 16 Oct 2017
A TV Series Review by Mike Doran: 77 SUNSET STRIP “The Target” (1964).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[16] Comments
This review by Mike Doran first appeared on this blog as Comment #28 to my review of “Legend of Crystal Dark,” an earlier episode of 77 Sunset Strip, one from season two. Thinking that his comments deserved a wider audience, I asked Mike if I might post it here as well. He most graciously agreed:
77 SUNSET STRIP “The Target.” ABC, 24 January 1964 (Season 6, Episode 18.) Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (Stuart Bailey), Keith Andes, Jeanne Cooper, Joan Staley, Lyle Talbot, Les Tremayne, Forrest Lewis, Shirley Mitchell, Lawrence Dobkin, James Lydon, Tony Barrett, William Conrad. Producer: William Conrad. Associate producer: James Lydon. Executive producer: Jack Webb. Writer: Lawrence Dobkin. Director: Tony Barrett.
As of last week, MeTV completed the 6th season of 77 Sunset Strip, which means it is no longer “lost.â€
I suppose someone will be writing up the whole season for you, someone far more knowledgeable than I.
That said, I’d like to talk about “The Target,†which was third from last to run on ABC (the rerun season went back to the Version Originale).
“The Target†was about an ex-reporter (Keith Andes), just out of prison on a bum rap, who gets shot at just as he arrives home.
It seems that Andes has been writing The Book that will blow the lid off some racketeers old and older; these make up Stu Bailey’s suspect pool.
On a hunch, I held off watching this one until the end, after seeing all the others — the majority of which, in my view, could have easily been done on the old show in the old style.
I’m talking about the plots; the main difference between old-style and new-style was amputating Efrem Zimbalist’s manners; the suave, well-spoken Bailey of old-style became a snarling wiseacre who was grubbing for a buck, insulting everybody along the way.
This approach didn’t last long; as season 6 progressed, Bailey became less gratuitously nasty. (He’d suddenly developed a ferocious hatred for police, which would have definitely shocked Lt. Roy Gilmore; this was the first characteristic of nu-Bailey to go.)
About midway through the cycle, Bailey’s unseen stenographer Hannah suddenly became seen, in the person of the above-average-looking Joan Staley; her presence turned Old Stu into a major flirt (and don’t think that certain recent headlines about a Major Hollywood Figure didn’t occur to me while I was watching).
I might also mention that the 77SS opening titles were changed about the same time; Zimbalist’s mournful ascent within the Bradbury Building gave way to a long tracking shot of Old Stu walking the Mean Streets at night.
I digress; back to “The Target.”
I mentioned above that I saved watching this to last. Beforehand, I learned something about it that led me to believe that “The Target†was intended to be the Final Episode of 77.
It was the casting of three of the to-be-exposed mob types:
Bill Conrad (Producer) as a semi-crooked fight promoter.
Lawrence Dobkin (Director) as a publisher who started out in nudie books.
Tony Barrett (Writer) as a retired procurer.
… And as a Bonus for the dweebs in the crowd: James Lydon (Associate Producer) as a convict who starts Stu Bailey out in his investigation.
About this last:
During this time, one of our local Chicago stations was running a well-known series of comedy features from the ’40s, which my family watched faithfully every Saturday afternoon.We’d stopped watching 77 by this point, but now I wish we hadn’t.
Thinking back, my brother, sisters, and I might have gotten a charge out of our Dad telling us all:
“Look at that, guys – Henry Aldrich is in the clink!â€
Anyhow, this sort-of group appearance by the 77 Sunset Strip front office seems to be to be a grand gesture of a kind from Old Hollywood Pros who knew the end was near and decided to have a little fun on the way out.
* … unless, of course, I’m wrong …
October 16th, 2017 at 2:27 pm
I was disappointed in season sixth. As I said in comment 27 I enjoyed the theme song. Much of what I said there about the episode “5” applied to the season 6.
They tried too hard for tough PI noir. I did not see all the episodes. I was disappointed I missed the episode with Elizabeth Montgomery. But those I saw – yech.
Lets start with the opening titles. Jack Webb seemed to think he was still in 1950s. The look was wrong for 60s L.A. I get Bailey moving screen right to left was to show how against the establishment he was (most action in American TV and film goes left to right as if we are reading). But walking on a street that could have been anywhere- didn’t they understand the appeal to viewers of the name Sunset Strip?
The treatment of location was strange. In every episode I saw took place away from the city of Los Angeles, and as Mike noted Bailey’s office even moved away from Sunset Strip. Why?
Mike is correct about the changes to the character Stuart Bailey. Bailey went from a likable modern PI to a dislikable anti-hero PI of 50s noir. There has been many modern tough guy PIs without returning him to the style of the 50s – heck, look what they did to Mike Hammer.
As far as they put the behind the line people on camera in this episode as a special farewell, didn’t PERRY MASON do that?
This version would have been much better as an original rather than taking the name of 77 SUNSET STRIP and removing every reason people watched the original version.
Roy Huggins created Stuart Bailey and 77 SUNSET STRIP. He also spent time as a Fox studio executive. He more than once fixed TV series – the best was HONG KONG. He understood how to make a series better without losing sight of what the series was about.
Webb failed with 77 SUNSET STRIP because he turned it into something it was not. 77 SUNSET STRIP was a trendsetter for a new type of TV PI. It appealed to young people. The way to fix it was not to return to old 50s noir Dad loved – at least not for TV in the 1960s.
October 16th, 2017 at 4:40 pm
In a way the series was returning to Bailey’s roots. Likely the closest to the books are the first five episodes of Season six, the Franchot Tone film I LOVE TROUBLE, and Huggins later series CITY OF ANGELS.
The character was almost totally reinvented from second grade Marlowe to the smooth operator of 77 SUNSET STRIP, which was an innovation that basically began when RICHARD DIAMOND left New York for LA, and came to fruition with STRIP.
There are two pilots for 77 SUNSET STRIP, one called “Anything for Money” based on a Huggins novella from ESQUIRE, and they feature a much tougher less suave Bailey closer to that of the final season. In the one titled 77SS Kookie is a punk hood and I think Bailey ends up killing him.
October 16th, 2017 at 5:00 pm
When I read 77 SUNSET STRIP, the TV tie-in as a paperback original from Dell (1959), I was sure I’d been had somehow. The book was NOTHING like the TV series. It consisted of three novelettes from 1946, 1946, and 1952, although I didn’t know that then.
October 16th, 2017 at 6:03 pm
Adding to my previous comment, whatever the new regime had in mind when they took over for the last season, Ephrem Zimbalist Jr. was NOT the actor to play the hard-boiled loner PI they wanted.
October 16th, 2017 at 6:55 pm
I wonder how many M*F readers are aware of the fact that there was a 77 Sunset Strip mystery magazine? It was published by an outfit called Great American Publication, edited by one Sheldon Wax, and lasted all of one issue — July 1960.
The lead novelette in that issue, bylined Ben Christopher, was called “Elephant Blues” and features Jeff Spencer investigating death threats made to a circus elephant (!). This was evidently an original novelette, not a fictionalized version of one of the TV episodes, since none of the 1959 or 1960 episodes has a similar plot. Need I add that the story isn’t very good?
Great American also published one other short-lived mystery magazine — Tightrope, based on the Mike Connors cop TV show. It lasted three issues, May, June, and August of 1960.
October 16th, 2017 at 9:37 pm
I have a copy of the SUNSET STRIP magazine and one, maybe two, of the TIGHTROPE’s. They’re all very scarce magazines, but I remember the newsstand where I bought them, and there was always a small stack of them on the shelf when they came out. I was a poor college student at the time, and 35 cents was hard to justify spending on buying more than one copy. But oh, if only I had!
I read one of the TIGHTROPE’s I have but never the 77 SUNSET STRIP. I imagine I ought to, one of these days, but Bill, you don’t encourage me very much.
October 16th, 2017 at 9:41 pm
I don’t know how fixed these links are, but this may work for now.
http://www.philsp.com/homeville/CFI/t662.htm#A13440
October 17th, 2017 at 11:00 am
A few patches here and there:
– About midway through Season 6, TV Guide ran a story about how the changes in 77 Sunset Strip had basically backfired, and the Webb-Conrad regime was walking them back.
As is often the case, the main by-product was blame, but who was to get it was disputed.
Two quotes I remember:
– Efrem Zimbalist (after Hannah the Typist became an on-camera figure):
“We’re right back where we started!”
– Bill Conrad:
“As long as I don’t like it, I hope somebody does.”
– Back to that interview that Zimbalist gave to Television Chronicles, which I’ve mentioned in the past:
In Season 6, Stu Bailey started out by doing a lot of off-screen narration; he was talking into a tape machine, to the unseen Hannah (the whole show was thereafter in flashback).
According to Zimbalist, the producers hired Jim Murray, the famous LA sports columnist, to work on the off-screen narration, i.e., make it sound tougher (or something).
Zimbalist was a big fan of Murray’s columns, but was disappointed by his contributions to 77 Mark VI. I wish I could find that magazine so I could quote exactly; the sense seemed to be that talent in one area doesn’t necessarily translate to another (or like that there).
Anyway, once the invisible Hannah became visible, it was all academic …
If anyone out there happens to have either of the referenced articles at hand, you’ll find it all better described than I could do here.
To Steve: Thanx again for the upgrade.
October 17th, 2017 at 1:31 pm
This is almost certainly off-topic, but the one 77 SUNSET STRIP episode that left a lasting impression on this 11-year-old at the time was “The Silent Caper” (Season 2, 1960):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0503530/
http://tinyurl.com/ycs77hzm
Considering how formulaic many of the 77SS scripts proved to be, maybe having nobody say anything at all was the best approach.
October 17th, 2017 at 2:24 pm
That was a famous episode written by star Roger Smith. I believe it was one of the episodes never syndicated but first reappeared (where I saw it) on WB archive streaming services.
Unlike WB copies of the series, 77 SUNSET STRIP took chances. But when you do 34 to 41 episodes a season (except for season 6) you run out of ideas and try anything. Sometimes like that episode it worked.
In five seasons this series produced 186 episodes, add the other WB series doing a copy of 77, and you can understand viewer burnout and the amount of inferior episodes.
June 2nd, 2018 at 9:27 pm
Little remembered, unless you were there in 1964, was that after “The New 77 Sunset Strip” (as it was advertised in the fall of 1963) aired it’s final episode on February 7, 1964, reruns of the original 77 Sunset Strip were aired on ABC at 10PM on Wednesdays replacing the cancelled series “Channing”. These began on April 15, 1964. The ABC commercials referred to it’s return as “The Best of 77 Sunset Strip”. As this was my favorite show, I was thrilled to see 77 back on the airwaves in it’s original format even if they were reruns. You have to remember that back in the days of 34-41 new episodes a year, many were never rerun so if you missed some of the original showings, these were like watching NEW episodes!
April 21st, 2019 at 9:43 pm
Steve, which issues of Tightrope do you have? I have the third issue. Would like to get the others. If you ever decide to part with the one (or two) drop me a line?
April 21st, 2019 at 10:45 pm
Rich
I will have to look for any copies of TIGHTROPE I have. I know I had one or maybe two, and I never sold them or traded them off. Maybe now is the time. They’re here somewhere! I’ll have to let you know, if and when.
May 14th, 2019 at 3:24 pm
Hello…. Would anybody know who the English-inflected secretary character named “Elise” (I believe) was played by? Very distinctive actress I thought, but I didn’t find her listed onscreen orat imdb. Thanks. I
May 14th, 2019 at 6:40 pm
I don’t remember her myself, but from Wikipedia, could this be she? Looks like a long shot, but just in case…
“Suzanne Fabry, the beautiful French switchboard operator played by Jacqueline Beer, handled the phones for Sunset Answering Service located in suite 103.”
March 13th, 2020 at 10:20 am
How belated is this?
Jacqueline Beer was a regular featured player in all five seasons of 77 Sunset Strip/Classic.
The British lady in “The Target”:
She looks (and sounds) awfully familiar, and I’ve watched that scene I-don’t-know-how many times, but the name escapes me, then, now, and perhaps always …