He was Edd Brynes, and we all knew him as Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson, III on ‘77 Sunset Strip’. I would listen to the title song “Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb” by Connie Stevens. Kookie just personified the word COOL or “GINCHIE” as he called it!

 

Kookie's character-a valet parker at Dean Martin's "Dino's Lodge" restaurant next door to 77 Sunset Strip-frequently acted as an unlicensed detective who helped the private eyes (Zimbalist and Roger Smith) on their cases. He called everybody "Dad" and was an example of the hipster of the late '50s and early '60s who talks jive talk and knows "the word on the street."

 

Kookie's constant tending of his ducktail haircut led to many jokes and a hit song, "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb", which he recorded with Connie Stevens and which reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also appeared on an album of Edd Byrnes "songs" called "Kookie". His fan mail reached 15,000 letters a week, according to Picture Magazine in 1961. Byrnes walked off the show in the second season demanding a bigger part that the producers eventually acceded to. His typecasting led him to buy his way out of his contract with Warners.

 

He also had a lingo all of his own and because his character was so popular, we hung on his every word. And imitated him. Below are some classic expressions from Kookie Talk!

 

Antsville                                  A place full of people

Chick in skins                          Woman in a fur coat

Front burner                            Current crisis

Germsville                               An illness - Buzzed by germsville means put in the hospital

Ginchiest                                 Coolest

Heels on fire                            In a hurry

International intrigue dodge   Private eye business

Lighting up the tilt sign          Lying

Long green                              Money

Mushroom people                   People who come out at night to play

Smog in the noggin'                Memory loss

Stable the horses                     Park the cars

T.T.T.S.                                   Take two they’re small

Washington                             A dollar

 

 

Kookie, you were the “ginchiest”!