# 77 Sunset Strip **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2017, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/77-sunset-strip/784961 "2017-04-22T01:41:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/77-sunset-strip/784961/21 "2017-04-22T02:36:55Z")
[Maynard G. Krebs and Kookie.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEN97Ng_UQ8) OK, Kookie is a clean beatnik. Thanks, all. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/77-sunset-strip/784961/22 "2017-04-22T02:37:12Z")
Kookie wasn’t by any means a beatnik. I would call him a James Dean type but not so aloof. I think he defined the type, many others wanted to be Kookie. The wavy hair duck-tail, the constant combing. I remember several guys like that in high school. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/77-sunset-strip/784961/23 "2017-04-22T02:46:36Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > Kookie wasn’t by any means a beatnik. I would call him a James Dean type but not so aloof. I think he defined the type, many others wanted to be Kookie. The wavy hair duck-tail, the constant combing. I remember several guys like that in high school. > > Dennis Yes, a James Dean. A rebel, cool. Fonzie was another one, only aimed at a different age group. It was a common type of character in 50s and 60s movies. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/77-sunset-strip/784961/24 "2017-04-22T02:51:02Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Yes, a James Dean. A rebel, cool. Fonzie was another one, only aimed at a different age group. It was a common type of character in 50s and 60s movies. Fonzie? Oye. Comparing James Dean to Fonzie? Oye gevalt! Perhaps we could do a thread on Kookie vs. James Dean-Who Would Win? (If they aren’t driving) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/77-sunset-strip/784961/25 "2017-04-22T02:55:57Z")
My older brother used to watch Dobie. I only peripherally watched it, but Maynard was my crush. Bob Denver was pretty much my type for a long time. > [@TriPolar](#): > > Yes, a James Dean. A rebel, cool. Fonzie was another one, only aimed at a different age group. It was a common type of character in 50s and 60s movies. Greaser. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/77-sunset-strip/784961/26 "2017-04-22T02:58:44Z")
The word “hip” began to supplant “hep” after World War 2, so by 1960 or so, Kookie would definitely be considered hip (as opposed to Dobie Gillis, who was a hopeless square.) Likewise, “cool” began to take on the meaning of trend-setting/desirable/avant-garde in the 1940’s (both came out of the world of jazz), so it would be accurate to describe Kookie as cool. Oddly enough, Troy Donohue played a nearly identical role in a nearly identical show called _Surfside Six_ at the same time, and managed to be neither hip nor cool, ending as merely “teen heartthrob.” ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/77-sunset-strip/784961/27 "2017-04-22T03:00:00Z")
Interestingly, Ed Brynes played a contract killer in the series’ pilot, but he was so popular with viewers that the show’s producers brought him back as Kookie. Both characters did the hair-combing bit. [Cite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/77_Sunset_Strip) ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/77-sunset-strip/784961/28 "2017-04-22T03:45:24Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > My older brother used to watch Dobie. I only peripherally watched it, but Maynard was my crush. Bob Denver was pretty much my type for a long time. > > Greaser. Yes, but a _modified_ greaser. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/77-sunset-strip/784961/29 "2017-04-22T04:12:59Z")
Real life greasers were nothing like Fonzie. They may have [looked and dressed somewhat like him](http://assets.rebelcircus.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/HEADER-P7.jpg), but most were genuinely badass or badass wannabes and you didn’t want to mess with them. The ones I knew wore heavy shoes embellished with [horseshoe and Continental toe taps](https://tapgrrl.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/884299941_3744361.jpg?w=300&h=225) (all the better for kicking the crap out of you in a fight) and most carried switchblade knives, whose illegality only added to their cachet. They’d have laughed at Fonzie…if he was lucky. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/77-sunset-strip/784961.md?page=1)