Review of The Office Caper

Any episode of "77 Sunset Strip" that gives the delightful Suzanne (French actress Jacqueline Beer), Bailey & Spencer's office receptionist and secretary, more to do than merely answer the phones and take notes, is worth checking out. And THE OFFICE CAPER is worth watching for a number of other reasons. Perhaps the show's variety of locations ran over-budget and the writers were ordered to create an episode on the cheap. Whatever the reasons, the inspired scribes turned this limitation to their advantage and, by basically keeping the action confined to the parking lot (Edd Byrnes settled his months-long strike with Warner Bros. & seems glad to be back as Kookie) and the interior of the private detectives' swank office, cranked out one of the funniest, tongue-in-cheek episodes of the series. Planning some kind of robbery, a small-time hood hires two of the most-unlikely cohorts to drive the getaway car. The male half of this odd couple is the likably inept Richard Jaeckel (at 34 and still baby-faced as he would remain for the rest of his career) and his tough-as-nails gun moll (yes, that's Danny Thomas' "Make Room for Daddy" daughter Sherry Jackson now, at 18, all grown up and nearly bursting out of her tight sweaters with what must be a 40-inch bust!). Fortunately, the private eye on hand is Roger Smith (to me, the most appealing of the regulars who leavens his drop-dead good-looks with his droll, self-effacing sense of humor). The chemistry between Suzanne and Jeff has always been palpable (in one serious episode, they fall in love and Jeff proposes marriage to her) so who better to participate in the no-holds-barred brawl that's the episode's climax. And the other reviewer who says he still remembers from age 12 that the encounter between the two lovely ladies is a "catfight" can be forgiven for his faulty--albeit colorful--memory. Suzanne actually saves Jeff's life; when Ms. Jackson points her gun at him, preparing to fire off a fatal bullet, the feisty Suzanne intervenes, socking Sherry in the kisser, but their (or their stunt-women's) subsequent tussle is no "catfight". There's no hair-pulling or screaming; their fist-fight is dead serious. Or as serious as this looney episode gets. In short, fans of this terrific series shouldn't miss THE OFFICE CAPER. It's definitely a keeper!