''Surfside 6'' is an ABC television series which aired from 1960 to 1962. The show centered on a

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which ...

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

agency set on a

houseboat A houseboat is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily as a home. Most houseboats are not motorized as they are usually moored or kept stationary at a fixed point, and often tethered to land to provide utilities. Ho ...

and featured

Troy Donahue Troy Donahue (born Merle Johnson Jr., January 27, 1936 – September 2, 2001) was an American film and television actor and singer. He was a popular sex symbol in the 1950s and 1960s. Biography Early years Born in New York City, Donahue was ...

as Sandy Winfield II;

Van Williams Van Zandt Jarvis Williams (February 27, 1934 – November 28, 2016) was an American actor best known for his leading role as Kenny Madison in both Warner Bros. television detective series ''Bourbon Street Beat'' (1959–1960) and its sequel ...

as Kenny Madison (a character recycled from ''

Bourbon Street Beat ''Bourbon Street Beat'' is a private detective television series that aired on the ABC network from October 5, 1959, to July 4, 1960, starring Richard Long as Rex Randolph and Andrew Duggan as Cal Calhoun, with Arlene Howell as detective agen ...

''); and

Lee Patterson Lee Patterson (March 31, 1929 – February 14, 2007) was a Canadian film and television actor. Life and career Patterson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, as Beverley Frank Atherly Patterson. He attended the Ontario College of Art and ...

as Dave Thorne.

Diane McBain Diane J. McBain (May 18, 1941 – December 21, 2022) was an American actress who, as a Warner Brothers contract player, reached a brief peak of popularity during the early 1960s. She was best known for playing an adventurous socialite in the 1960 ...

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 The Fontainebleau Miami Beach (also known as Fontainebleau Hotel) is a hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. Designed by Morris Lapidus, the luxury hotel opened in 1954. In 2007, the Fontainebleau Hotel was ranked ninety-third in the American Institute ...

, 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 Fontainebleau in 1964's '' Goldfinger''.

Description

''Surfside 6'' was one of four detective TV series produced by Warner Bros. around that time, the others being ''

77 Sunset Strip ''77 Sunset Strip'' is an American television private detective drama series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Roger Smith, Richard Long (from 1960 to 1961) and Edd Byrnes (billed as Edward Byrnes). Each episode was o ...

'' (set in Los Angeles), ''

Hawaiian Eye ''Hawaiian Eye'' is an American detective television series that ran from October 1959 to April 1963 on the ABC television network. Premise Private investigator Tracy Steele ( Anthony Eisley) and his half-Hawaiian partner, Tom Lopaka ( Robert ...

'' (set in Hawaii), and the aforementioned ''Bourbon Street Beat'' (set in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,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 Jerry Livingston (born Jerry Levinson; March 25, 1909 – July 1, 1987) was an American songwriter and dance orchestra pianist. Life and career Born in Denver, Colorado, Livingston studied music at the University of Arizona. While there he com ...

and

Mack David Mack David (July 5, 1912 – December 30, 1993) was an American lyricist and songwriter, best known for his work in film and television, with a career spanning the period between the early 1940s and the early 1970s. David was credited with writing ...

. 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 were 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 aired opposite the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

sitcoms ''

Bringing Up Buddy ''Bringing Up Buddy'' is an American situation comedy that aired on CBS during the 1960-61 television season. It depicts a young bachelor who lives with the two maiden aunts who raised him. Synopsis After Richard David "Buddy" Flower's parents ...

'' and ''

The Danny Thomas Show ''The Danny Thomas Show'' (titled ''Make Room for Daddy'' for its first three seasons) is an American sitcom that ran from 1953 to 1957 on ABC and from 1957 to 1964 on CBS. Starring Danny Thomas as a successful night club entertainer, the show ...

'' and

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Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

Tales of Wells Fargo ''Tales of Wells Fargo'' is an American Western television series starring Dale Robertson that ran from 1957 to 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season, when it expanded t ...

'' starring

Dale Robertson Dayle Lymoine Robertson (July 14, 1923February 27, 2013) was an American actor best known for his starring roles on television. He played the roving investigator Jim Hardie in the television series ''Tales of Wells Fargo'' and railroad owner Ben ...

. In the second year, ''Surfside 6'' competed against Danny Thomas and ''

The Andy Griffith Show ''The Andy Griffith Show '' is an American sitcom, situation comedy television series that aired on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons—159 in black and white and 90 in colo ...

'' on CBS and NBC's short-lived, but highly acclaimed ''

87th Precinct The 87th Precinct is a series of police procedural novels and stories by American author Ed McBain (a writing pseudonym of Evan Hunter). McBain's 87th Precinct works have been adapted, sometimes loosely, into movies and television on several o ...

'' starring

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, a series about a fictitious New York City

police precinct In the United States, a police precinct or ward is a geographical area patrolled by a police force. The term "precinct" may also refer to the main police station for such a geographical area. Practices and cultures of policing often vary consider ...

Episodes

Cast and Characters

as Sandy Winfield II. Sandy moved to Miami to escape the shadow of his father, Jonathan Winfield I, who wanted him to be a Wall Street attorney. His father pays for Sandy's room and board at the Racquet Club in Miami Beach. At first Sandy was not part of the firm, but he was friends with Kenny and Dave and he eventually joined their business. *

as Kenny Madison. Kenny graduated from law school and worked as a private investigator in New Orleans, in ''

''. He then moved to Miami. *

as Dave Thorne. Dave served in the Air Force in the Korean War and worked in the New York District Attorney's office before moving to Miami. *

as Daphne Dutton. She is a socialite who has the berth next to the SurfSide houseboat for her yacht, the Daffy II. * Margarita Sierra as Cha Cha O'Brien. A featured performer at the Boom Boom Room, across the road from where the boys live. * Mousie Garner as Mousie

Background

The series was announced in April 1960 as a replacement for ''Bourbon Street Beat''. One paper described it as like "replacing a violin with a fiddle". It was given a Monday night slot at 8:30. In June it was given a timeslot of Monday 8.30 pm

Reception

According to one critic ''Surfside 6'' "was one of TV's weakest shows. For the most part poorly written and not exactly endorsed by the Actors Studio. But the teenagers loved it." The ''Los Angeles Times'' called it "inept". The show managed to be renewed for a second season. By April 1962 the show was cancelled.

Follow-up

Troy Donahue Margarita Sierra Surfside 6 1960

After the show was cancelled, Troy Donahue moved over to the cast of ''Hawaiian Eye'' to replace

Anthony Eisley Anthony Eisley (January 19, 1925 – January 29, 2003) was an American actor best known as one of the detective leads, Tracy Steele, in the ABC/Warner Brothers television series '' Hawaiian Eye''. Early in his career, he was credited as Fred Eis ...

. Donahue played hotel social director Philip Barton. Also, a book was released, ''Surfside 6'' by Jay Flynn (US,

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

8388, October 1962). Margaret Sierra died in 1963 of a congenital heart condition. Four years later, in 1966, Van Williams went on to his own short-lived TV series (which later became a cult classic), ''

The Green Hornet The Green Hornet is a superhero created in 1936 by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, with input from radio director James Jewell. Since his 1930s radio debut, the character has appeared in numerous serialized dramas in a wide variety of med ...

'', which co-starred

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines th ...

. The houseboat was damaged in 1964, when

Hurricane Cleo Hurricane Cleo was the strongest tropical cyclone of the 1964 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the third named storm, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the season. Cleo was one of the longest-lived storms of the season. This compa ...

hit Miami.

References

External links

''Surfside 6''
at Thrilling Detective website
''Surfside 6''
at Classic TV Hits website * {{William T. Orr shows 1960 American television series debuts 1962 American television series endings 1960s American crime television series American Broadcasting Company original programming Black-and-white American television shows American detective television series Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television shows set in Miami