Surfside 6
| Surfside 6 | |
|---|---|
|
Logo of Surfside 6 | |
| Created by | William T. Orr and Hugh Benson |
| Starring | Troy Donohue, Van Williams, Lee Patterson, Diane McBain, Margarita Sierra |
| Theme music composer | Jerry Livingston and Mack David |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 74 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | William T. Orr |
| Producer(s) |
Jerry Davis, Charles Hoffman, Ed Jurist, Joel Rogosin, Tom McKnight, Mack David, Gordon Bau (make-up) |
| Location(s) | California |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Picture format | 1.33 : 1 monochrome |
| Audio format | monaural |
| Original release | October 6, 1960 – June 25, 1962 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Bourbon Street Beat |
| Related shows | 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye |
Surfside 6 is an ABC television series which aired from 1960 to 1962. The show centered on a Miami Beach detective agency set on a houseboat and featured Troy Donahue as Sandy Winfield II; Van Williams as Kenny Madison (a character recycled from Bourbon Street Beat); and Lee Patterson as Dave Thorne. Diane McBain co-starred as socialite Daphne Dutton, whose yacht was berthed next to their houseboat. Spanish actress Margarita Sierra also had a supporting role as Cha Cha O'Brien, an entertainer who worked at The Boom Boom Room, a popular Miami Beach hangout at the Fontainebleau Hotel, directly across the street from Surfside 6. Surfside 6 was in fact a real address in Miami Beach, where an unrelated houseboat was moored at the time; it can also be seen in the sweeping aerial establishing shot of the Fontainebleu in 1964's Goldfinger.
Description and theme song
Surfside 6 was one of four detective TV series produced by Warner Bros. around that time, the others being 77 Sunset Strip (set in L.A.), Hawaiian Eye (set in Hawaii), and the aforementioned Bourbon Street Beat (set in New Orleans). Plots, scripts (changing the names and locales), characters, and almost everything else crossed over from one series to another, not a difficult feat since they were all actually shot on the studio's backlots in Los Angeles.
Surfside 6 had a memorable theme song, written by Jerry Livingston and Mack David. The theme has often been parodied in popular culture. The lyrics varied from week to week, but "Surfside 6" and "In Miami Beach!" stayed intact. When the women would be introduced, the melody picked up with back-up singers singing "Cha Cha Cha" when the announcer introduced Margarita Sierra, who vamped exaggeratedly and winked at the camera during this brief weekly sequence.
In its first season, Surfside 6 was paired opposite the CBS sitcoms Bringing Up Buddy and The Danny Thomas Show and NBC's Western Tales of Wells Fargo starring Dale Robertson. In the second year, Surfside 6 competed against Danny Thomas and The Andy Griffith Show on CBS and NBC's short-lived but highly acclaimed 87th Precinct starring Robert Lansing, a series about a fictitious New York City police precinct.
Episode list
See List of Surfside 6 episodes
Cast
Sandy Winfield II: Troy Donahue
Kenny Madison: Van Williams
Dave Thorne: Lee Patterson
Daphne Dutton: Diane McBain
Cha Cha O'Brien: Margarita Sierra
Mousie: Mousie Garner
Other media
Books
- Surfside 6 by J.M. Flynn (US, Dell 8388, October 1962)
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Surfside 6. |
- Surfside 6 at Thrilling Detective website
- Surfside 6 at Classic TV Hits website
- Surfside 6 at the Internet Movie Database
- Surfside 6 at TV.com