Break out the coconut oil and the big towel! Time to get your toes in the sand and work on that tan.
In 1959, Roger Smith starred as a private detective in 77 Sunset Strip, one of the most popular shows on television and one of the first to promote the boss California lifestyle in hip Los Angeles. Another actor on the show, Edd Byrnes, started with a small part as Kookie, the comic relief parking attendant, but quickly grew immensely popular — especially with the kids — because of his good looks, his unique slang, and his hair, which he was always combing. Warner Bros., who owned the show, decided to cross-promote with their record division and asked Byrnes to duet with Connie Stevens on a novelty song called “Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb).”
It’s not a work of art, and Byrnes couldn’t sing, but that didn’t matter. He only needed to say a few lines from the show and the popularity of the character drove the single up to #4 on the US Top 100. The relatively new record division at Warners had been in severe danger of shutting down and the single helped save the company.
So they decided to see if lightning would strike twice.
Co-star Roger Smith actually could sing and play guitar, even winning some amateur talent shows before becoming an actor, so Warners got him into a studio to record a theme album about life in the tropics called Beach Romance. The lead single, “Beach Time,” was written by Bob and Dick Sherman, aspiring songwriters who would score a big hit the following year with “You’re Sixteen” by Johnny Burnette. But these songs aren’t why the Sherman brothers are remembered.
In the 1960’s and 70’s the Shermans became the principal songwriters for Walt Disney, penning dozens of classics, including “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” (and all the others from Mary Poppins), “I Wan’na Be Like You” from The Jungle Book, all the songs from Bedknobs & Broomsticks (shout out to my sister), and everyone’s favorite earworm, “It’s A Small World (After All).” They would also win two Oscars and two Grammys — but that all lay in the future.
Unfortunately, back in the summer of 1959, “Beach Time” failed to chart, unable to capitalize on the success of 77 Sunset Strip or Kookie’s hair-combing single, but the song still succeeds as a fun pop culture curio.
Worry not for Mr. Smith, however — he did okay for himself. 77 Sunset Strip ran for another four seasons, after which he met and married actor/singer/dancer Ann-Margret (Bye Bye Birdie! Viva Las Vegas! Newsies!), and they spent beach time together for the next 50 years.
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Great research on this one.
Thanks! Weirdly, I didn’t have to do much research on this one (which is certainly not always the case!) except for “Who is Roger Smith?” Everything else I just happened to know. Which came in very handy! 😂
Really interesting post, Houston.
Thank you! When I first heard the song I didn’t realize the various connections it had. It just seemed like a strange little lost pop tune.
Great post, Houston. This is not the first time our WP happenstance paths have crossed as I recently wrote a story about a summer romance with Edd “Kookie” Byrnes. I featured that kooky little song in my story. For a very young kid in 1959, watching 77 Sunset Strip was exciting and so grown up! And Roger Smith was classically good-looking … a great foil to Kookie’s cool and sexy good looks. BTW, if you haven’t seen Saving Mr. Banks, you might want to check it out. It’s a well-done film about the author of Mary Poppins (before it was a musical) and prominently features the work of the Sherman Bros. while working for Walt Disney. With Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson, Colin Farrell and Paul Giamatti, it’s quite a lovely movie. Have a great week!
It’s funny, I know Edd Byrnes from his appearance in the movie Grease as the TV dance show host. My sister and I still quote his lines at each other. It was only later that I traced him back to 77 Sunset Strip, a show I’ve only managed to catch a few times (although I’m going to search for more!). My mother wrote me after this post to say it was one of her favorite shows as a kid, too.
I have seen Saving Mr. Banks! It’s excellent. There’s also a great documentary about the Sherman brothers called The Boys: The Sherman Brothers Story which is where I first learned all about them. Hope you have a great week, too!
Thanks for the tip on the Sherman Brothers Story; sounds like my kind of movie!
Absolutely!
This selection brings me back to being a young girl with my mom’s side of the family at Sauble Beach, where my grandma and her partner Harold lived for 6-9 months of the year. He would’ve enjoyed this track 🙂
Childhood beach time, especially with a family house nearby, is the best. We had cousins with a beach house in Delaware and I have the best memories from those times 🙂