77 Sunset Strip: The Kookie Caper (1959)
Season 2, Episode 2
10/10
A family affair
4 February 2023
There are times like this where nepotism is NOT a bad thing.

Director Montgomery Pittman, writer Maurita Pittman, and guest star Sherry Jackson are husband, wife, and daughter, respectively.

Together, they have produced an episode that is both a decent detective story, and one that is very funny.

Perhaps because of her previous child-star experience, Sherry is playing well beyond her real-life seventeen years of age here. This may have been helped by her parent's involvement.

Kookie is becoming as much a vital part of this show as the headline stars. There is a bit where he questions a boy on skates about the disappearance of Carrie. At the end of the bit, the boy pulls out his own comb. Can we say mini-me?

There is also a very funny bit by Louis Quinn (Pete Roscoe), doing switchboard duty in place of the vacationing Suzanne (Jacqueline Beer).

Sherry Jackson and Edd Byrnes will pair again in the season 2 episode The Texas Doll (1959), and Sherry guest starred in three additional episodes, two of which were written and/or directed by her stepfather.

In addition to having a cameo by Sugarfoot (1957) star Will Hutchins, director Montgomery Pittman and writer Maurita Pittman also had the same function a year previous in the Sugarfoot (1957) episode Hideout (1958).

Aside from her work on Make Room for Daddy (1953) as Terry Williams, Sherry Jackson may be best known as an adult for her role in Star Trek (1966) episode What Are Little Girls Made Of? (1966). So it was a little prophetic that when Kookie asks Carrie what type of TV show she would like to star in, at first he says "an oater", slang for the many TV western shows. Then he switches to an "outer space" show. This is seven years before that iconic role as the skimpily-clad android Andrea.

Another "outer space" connection, Sherry Jackson also co-starred in the Make Room for Daddy (1953) with Angela Cartwright (Linda Williams), who started with the show in season 5. Not only that, but Sherry would have a guest-star role on Lost in Space (1965) episode The Space Croppers (1966) as Effra, although she did not have any scenes in common with Angela.

This is one of those episodes that makes me wish this show was available on DVD or Blu-Ray.
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