In keeping with our policy of bringing you only the most vital news stories of the day, Mister Kitty's Stupid Comics is saddened to report the passing of Edd "Kookie" Byrnes. We'll pause while everyone under the age of sixty says "who?" Byrnes was the third lead in the late 50s-early 60s detective show "77 Sunset Strip" playing "Kookie", a teenage parking attendant who assisted Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Roger Smith (the actor, not the GM exec) as they solved crimes. Audiences were asked to ignore the fact that Byrnes was a 26-year old man playing a teenager, and also asked to ignore the fact that his character appeared in the pilot as a villainous hit man. Byrnes so charmed viewers with his "with-it" beatnik slang and his constant hair combing that he was miraculously revived and rehabilated for the series.


As the representative of responsible teenagerdom to America's television viewing audience, the weight of an entire generation rested on the windbreaker-shrouded shoulders of "Kookie." Can he accurately portray an entire generation? Of course not. What he CAN do is lend his character - and that character's combable hair - to licensed comic books, in this case Dell Four Color #1211.


Wait a minute Stu. It's KOOKIE's job to wash that car. Also, you aren't his dad. Well, maybe you are. That would explain some things, I guess.


Looks like Kookie found the one chick that doesn't mind dusty cars... and who just might love it when parking lot attendants get carried away!


Meanwhile, over on another channel, it looks like this week's episode of "Highway Patrol" is promising another exciting adventure.


Looks like Officer John didn't exercise proper caution during this traffic stop. Remember to never go past the trailing edge of the driver's door - he might open it suddenly and knock you over! Or, shoot you.


This here bank robber needs to realize he's on the lam, this is not time to be thinking about that Cabrito en Sangre you had in San Pedro Garza García!


Meanwhile, Kookie and Kookie's Date bask in the warm afterglow of Endless Shrimp Night at the Captain's Grotto. Nothing can possibly spoil this perfect evening.


Nothing, that is, except a bank robber on the loose with a handgun and a hankering for authentic Mexican cuisine!


Yes, our happy couple has been hijacked by a murderer with a bad haircut, a hankering for violence, and a propensity to mislead about his height. 5'11"? I don't think so.


Think, Kookie! There must be some way to alert the police while Mr. Bank Robber is going nighty-night under his widdle bwankie!


Kookie's poor auto maintenance habits are matched only by his atrocious handwriting! Good thing that patrolman went to the passenger side and wasn't forced to make an embarrassing scene out of it.


I really like Russ Manning's artwork in this story, but not in this particular instance, where it appears Kookie's skull is being squeezed between two invisible force fields. Is this "77 Sunset Strip" or "The Outer Limits?"


Moving on through the warm Southern California night, past Doe's Cafe, past Andersen's, past where they'll build the nuclear power plant, past that bus full of kids, maybe *they'll* see Kookie's scrawled dust message that now reads "wash me?"


"Yes, the State Police! And also the Board of Education, we've got a code 16-5 - criminally bad handwriting - in progress!"


Two hard-working grown adult actors having to sit there while a hair-combing parking lot attendant takes over their own TV show? That's a helpless feeling, all right.


Somehow I doubt the utililty of this fugitive's plan to put on a Groucho disguise and cross an international border, but then again, this is TV, it took them 120 episodes to catch Richard Kimble, and heck, a pair of glasses was all it took for Superman to fool everybody, even that snoopy Lois. Maybe this guy WILL escape to Mexico.


Hey Janis I just came up with a new song and it's called WHEN I SLAM ON THE BRAKES RUN LIKE HELL!!!!!!!! Have you heard it?


"Yeah, I'll step on "it" all right, "it" being "the brakes!" So when I'm stepping on "it" I'm really stepping on "them" because "the brakes" are plural! That's right, maybe my handwriting is bad, but that isn't an accurate reflection of intelligence!"


THIS TIME the police are ready, third time's the charm, they say.


Look at those two clowns, grinding their teeth while Kookie runs off with their show. Edd Byrnes would try to flip his TV fame into film roles - you might remember him from 1977's "Grease" - while Efrem Zimbalist Jr. would do nine years in "The F.B.I." Roger Smith didn't do a lot of acting after this show, but he got to marry Ann-Margret, so there's that. Now, none of the three remain, and with Byrne's passing, the final star of "77 Sunset Strip" drives off into the sunset, combing his hair all the way.

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