Aired on Treasure Island Oldies – Dec 10, 2023
Throughout the 50s, 60s, and 70s, theme songs for many TV shows became an integral part of their identity. In the late 50s and early 60s, Westerns were one genre that ruled TV and their theme songs were quite distinctive and often hummed and/or sung by their fans. Some prominent examples were the themes for Bat Masterson, Have Gun Will Travel and Maverick.
Also big in the 50’s and early 60’s were crime dramas that featured private investigators – shows like Hawaiian Eye, Bourbon Street Beat and Surfside 6 – all of which had a catchy theme song.
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However, the theme song that was the epitome of “cool” in the crime drama genre was Don Ralke’s theme for 77 Sunset Strip, an arrangement that made it onto the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1959.
The TV show which ran from 1958 – 1964 also had a “cool” cast and featured Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Roger Smith, Richard Long (1960/61) and one Edward Byrnes who played “Kookie.” For you trivia buffs, Roger Smith married Ann-Margret in 1967 and was with her for 50 years until his passing 2017.
In addition to becoming a TV idol, Byrnes also graced the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1959, teaming up with Connie Stevens and releasing the now-classic “Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb),” a novelty record that went to #4 on the charts. It also received gold record status, selling over 500,000 copies.
Kookie better known as Edd Byrnes (with two “d’s”) was the “Fonzie of the Fifties” who would go on to release “Like I Love You,” which also charted in August of the same year.
Byrnes got on the Christmas bandwagon with a final release in 1959. It failed to chart but Byrnes makes good use of Beatnik slang in his version of ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas in “Yulesville,” this week’s Tom Locke moment in time.
YouTube video of this song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQwHuV9ouM0
This “Moments In Time” story is yet another example of a “golden oldie” or forgotten favorite that earned its place in the evolution of Rock & Roll.
