This show cops out as caper. Instead it's a feel-good freebie as Jeff goes undercover to help out the denizens of a doomed boarding house. It's home to six down-but-not-out-'50s stereotypes who have no place to live except a rundown Victorian mansion. Some mysterious Force of Badness wants to muscle them out of the mortgage our collective of misfits have committed to paying. Why? So they can make more money by building some sleek new checkerbox mega-apartment building I guess. There's a meathead boxer with anger management issues, a forlorn jockey who's discriminated against because he's outgrown horses by two feet and a hundred pounds, a young punk who don't get no disrespect because people can't see past his suit-and- tie to see him as the punk he is. Plus there's Grace Lee Whitney, a stunningly beautiful blonde actress in a tight-fitting dress. What use would Hollywood have for her? Rounding out the roommate roster is Mae Questel, the voice of Betty Boop. What does she really mean when she serves Jeff and Roscoe a free hot dog?
Eventually Jeff decides he needs help to trap the villains so he recruits Strippers Roscoe and Suzanne as fellow undercover operatives, including Kookie—who shows up unexpectedly in the episode's best scene, a hip, rocking, blast of a Twist fever. This dance-off scene is the ginchiest three minutes in the history of 77 Sunset Strip! You've maybe seen the Twist with a bunch of slobs tossin' and turnin', but baby, pop your peepers for this! There's no L-7s on the Cloud Nine Dance floor, as lucky Edd Byrnes gyrates with Grace Lee and two professional dance couples, doing justice to a solid saxophone-wailing rock'n'roll instrumental. What a disgrace they don't list the musicians in the credits, because I can't believe it's just an anonymous studio group. Check it out on YouTube, cats: "77 Sunset Strip - Twisting at the Cloud Nine Dance Hall."
Anyway, in the end, Jeff helps his personal police dog Lt. Gilmore suss out the suspects and save the day. It's a happy ending for all as the kindly banker atones for the sins of the wicked real estate developer by gifting our misfits with their brand-new home– a sleek new penthouse apartment in a checkerbox mega-apartment building! I love when that happens.
Eventually Jeff decides he needs help to trap the villains so he recruits Strippers Roscoe and Suzanne as fellow undercover operatives, including Kookie—who shows up unexpectedly in the episode's best scene, a hip, rocking, blast of a Twist fever. This dance-off scene is the ginchiest three minutes in the history of 77 Sunset Strip! You've maybe seen the Twist with a bunch of slobs tossin' and turnin', but baby, pop your peepers for this! There's no L-7s on the Cloud Nine Dance floor, as lucky Edd Byrnes gyrates with Grace Lee and two professional dance couples, doing justice to a solid saxophone-wailing rock'n'roll instrumental. What a disgrace they don't list the musicians in the credits, because I can't believe it's just an anonymous studio group. Check it out on YouTube, cats: "77 Sunset Strip - Twisting at the Cloud Nine Dance Hall."
Anyway, in the end, Jeff helps his personal police dog Lt. Gilmore suss out the suspects and save the day. It's a happy ending for all as the kindly banker atones for the sins of the wicked real estate developer by gifting our misfits with their brand-new home– a sleek new penthouse apartment in a checkerbox mega-apartment building! I love when that happens.