Description

 PI Stu is hired to find a singer who witnessed a murder, before she's iced too. She and Stu fall in love. Comb-crazy, cold-blooded hit-man Smiley is played by Edd Byrnes, whose performance was so popular with teenage girls Byrnes was written into the series in a different part: hip car hop Kookie. This 77 (!) minute pilot was released theatrically in the Caribbean to block Roy Huggins financial claim of creating the series in a run of 40s noir novels. The pilot then became the first episode of "77 Sunset Strip." Consequently, Huggins became a producer on 77 Sunset Strip, then "Maverick" (1957), Rockford Files etc. and created the ironclad Huggins Contract. Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. also appeared as Huggins' character Stuart Bailey in a prior series, "Conflict." Written by David Stevens