The Laurel Canyon Caper

I guess that's the first episode in which Richard Long plays, he is here the new-comer in the series, one of the gumshoes of the bunch. Well, you deal here with a standard detective story, cool and jazzy, with beautiful girls and bad guys, with I repeat Richard Long as the main lead instead the usual Effred Zimbalist Jr or Roger Smith. Why not? You know the topic, there is really nothing exceptional here, it's only a good time waster for detective yarn fans, that I am not.

I wait for more offbeat stories in this series which I promised to watch and comment all the episodes; at least those without any comments...

Directed by Georges WaGGner.

As his Rex Randolph character is the first in TV to move from one series (Bourbon Street Beat) to an already established series (77SS). I am sure they moved him over to finish out his contract with Warner Bros (which finish got done early when he had a heart attack at age 33 in April 1961) but I wish they hadn't changed Rex as much as they did. In 77SS Rex lost a lot of who he was in BSB - instead of the hip, relaxed, often mischievous PI in a struggling firm in New Orleans, a man who loves the ladies and is a gourmet chef, he moves to 77SS and is a clone of Bailey and Spencer. Still hip, but stiffer with a lot of one-liners but with all of his background character gone. Long was a good actor and could make the transition but it's too bad they had him do that. The BSB Rex would have brought some needed color that was otherwise left to Edd Byrnes (and that was limited, too).

In this episode, with Bailey and Spencer out of town, Rex takes on the case of a singer at Dino's who is moving into movies but is the target of blackmail and hatred of a scandal sheet writer who lost his wife to him. Someone murders the scandal sheet writer, and he blames the singer with his dying breath. Rex doesn't believe it and works to exonerate the singer while having to deal with both the police and the mob to do it. It's an ok episode but would have been better if they let Rex be more Rex and less Bailey/Spencer.

Kind of neat to see Richard Long reprising his role as New Orleans detective Rex Randolph (from BOURBON STREET BEAT), now settling in Hollywood. With Stu and Jeff away, Rex takes on the case of a singer accused of killing a tabloid bigshot -- who lots of celebs would have loved to nail. Fred Wayne plays Ransome, the victim, best known for playing Ben Franklin for years.

Richard Long is Mister Smooth, and has some very good scenes, also teaming with Kookie. I agree with the last reviewer, he probably was finishing out his contract with Warner Brothers/ABC TV. In any case, it was a smart move and with George waGGner (the famous two G's) directing, you couldn't loose. 10 Stars

Notable supporting cast with burly Jock Mahoney, also Kaye Elhardt, who appeared in eight episodes. Veteran actor John Hubbard plays Dr. Robillard and comedian Lewis Charles plays Nicky. Lewis reminded me a bit of Roscoe (Louis Quinn).

Dean Riesner wrote this gem, later to gain fame for writing DIRTY HARRY, many other hits for Clint Eastwood. Lots of talent in this single episode. It all clicks, and wait for the hide and seek ending. The jazzy music sets this one up. Best line dept; "This puts me in the unhappy position of having to kill you!"

By the way, Kookie almost gets nailed in the final few minutes. It's close, and George waGGner lined up that shot fairly well.

Filmed around Warner Brothers' soundstages, pretending to be another movie studio, always a gas. All these years later, the studio hasn't changed much and most of the buildings are still around. Many times the WB office buildings were used for backgrounds.

For all us fans of Richard Long.

SEASON 3 EPISODE 7 remastered. Check out the dvd box sets containing both the entire series and select episodes. Thanks again to METV Plus for running this top show Sunday nights.

I kind of identified a bit with this 77 Sunset Strip story. Until recently we had a political blogger in my area who ran the exact same kind of racket that bottom feeding columnist Fredd Wayne does. This man printed all kinds of blind items in a scandal sheet and various officeholders and aspirants bought advertising in his on line newsletter to avoid him naming their names. That was going on back in the 50s too as this episode is an obvious reference to Confidential magazine and what they did with show business people.

Newly arrived Richard Long formerly of Bourbon Street Beat has the case as he doesn't believe that Jock Mahoney was the one who did in Wayne. It looks pretty open and shut to LAPD homicide in the person of Byron Keith. But as usual Bailey&Spencer can always be assured that the LAPD will let them run with it

Not like there are a shortage of suspects, but the one who actually does the deed is a bigger bottom feeder than Wayne if possible.