Bourbon Street Beat

Bourbon Street Beat
Andrew Duggan, Arlene Howell, Van Williams and Richard Long in Bourbon Street Beat
Format	Private detective series
Created by	Charles Hoffman
Starring	Richard Long Andrew Duggan Arlene Howell Van Williams
Theme music composer	Mack David and Jerry Livingston
Composer(s)	Jack Halloran, arranger Michael Heindorf Howard Jackson Frank Perkins Paul Sawtell Bert Shefter
Country of origin	USA
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	39 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	William T. Orr
Producer(s)	Charles Hoffman
Editor(s)	James C. Moore supervising editor
Location(s)	California
Running time	60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Picture format	1.33 : 1 monochrome
Audio format	monaural
Original run	October 5, 1959 – July 4, 1960
Chronology
Followed by	Surfside 6
Related shows	77 Sunset Strip Hawaiian Eye

Bourbon Street Beat is a private detective series which aired on the ABC network from 1959-1960 and featured Richard Long as Rex Randolph, Andrew Duggan as Cal Calhoun, Van Williams as Kenny Madison, and Arlene Howell as Melody Lee Mercer, the secretary at the New Orleans detective agency in which they worked.

Characters

The series was one of several Warner Bros. detective shows which aired on ABC during this era, but Bourbon Street Beat was not as successful as the others (except as a title which sticks in everyone's mind). When the series ended, the character of Rex Randolph moved to 77 Sunset Strip, and the character of Kenny Madison moved to the spin-off Surfside 6, which aired in the Bourbon Street Beat time slot the following season. Andrew Duggan's character, Cal Calhoun, immediately disappeared from the screen upon the show's cancellation, although viewers probably barely noticed, since the then-ubiquitous Duggan was constantly appearing on so many different television series in other roles.

To make the series setting authentic, ABC bought half-interest in the New Orleans restaurant, The Absinth House, and placed the Randolph and Calhoun office above the eatery,^[1] although the series was nonetheless shot on the Warner Bros. studio lot in Los Angeles.

Legacy

Arlene Howell had appeared several times on 1957's western series Maverick and was a former Miss USA; she appears to have retired from the screen after a last appearance as an understandably astonished Sergeant Carter's blind date on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.. Richard Long went on to play the lead in the western series The Big Valley (1965-69) and the sitcom Nanny and the Professor (1970-71). Van Williams eventually played The Green Hornet (1966-67) opposite Bruce Lee. Andrew Duggan continued to portray an amazing number of character roles in films and television, including two other stints as series lead, taking over Cary Grant's movie role in the short-lived television version of Room for One More (1962), and as the sullen patriarch in Lancer (1968-70), a western in the vein of Bonanza, albeit darker and more complex.

Cast

Richard Long... Rex Randolph
Andrew Duggan ... Cal Calhoun
Arlene Howell... Melody Lee Mercer
Van Williams ... Kenny Madison
Eddie Cole... The Baron (twelve episodes)
Tommy Farrell... Jay O'Hanlon (seven episodes
Nita Talbot... Lusti Weather (four episodes)

Guest stars

The following are among the many guest stars on Bourbon Street Beat:

Episode list

References

External links

• Bourbon Street Beat at Thrilling Detectives website
• Bourbon Street Beat at the Internet Movie Database
• Bourbon Street Beat at TV.com
• Bourbon Street Beat at TV.com