March 25, 2009
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My Casino Caper Downloadable Now 
For $9.00 with PayPal you can download Edd’s audio-memoir of being stalked for his Jackpot. The downloading company gives a $10.00 gift coupon for first timers, so you can get it for FREE. Hey, they’ll owe YOU a dollar.
Check back here around April 1, 2009 – No foolin’
Click here for EDD BYRNES PRESS SITE on Xanga
You know Edd Byrnes from the John Travolta movie “Grease” where he played Vince Fontaine, the star of “National Bandstand” for the dance contest scene. Or if you were around in the 60′s he became a household name playing “Kookie” on TV’s “77 Sunset Strip.” His recording of “Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb”, earned him a gold record. At that time Edd was getting 15,000 fan letters a week. He went on to many movies, TV roles, and stage plays.I worked with Edd on my audio-book “McKnight’s Memory”. Edd was great playing the part of “Floyd” the henchman to Henry Silva’s gangster. Edd had prepared and exuded total confidence when he entered the recording room. He decided to use a New Jersey accent to round out the character. The main scene is a long card game played between Silva and Robert Culp with Edd dealing the cards and giving his opinion. Frank Sinatra Jr. Said of Edd’s performance, “When Edd Byrnes starts explaining the rules of the game, he really set the whole thing up.”After recording, me and my producer Larry Metzger walked Edd to the parking lot. We said our good-byes and when Edd walked off Larry said to me, “He’s so cool.” I replied, “Of course he’s cool. He’s Edd Byrnes.”A that time, Edd became interested in producing his own audio-book. But he didn’t want to repeat any of the stories from his first book “Kookie, No More”. So he decided to tell what happened when he won a three million dollar jackpot in Las Vegas, and was stalked by a criminal and ex-girlfriend for the money.
He hired Larry Metzger and I to produce and direct the project, as we have done four others in the past year. Edd asked his acting friends to re-create what happened 20 years ago. So Alan Young , David Hedison, and Henry Silva recorded as themselves. Edd tells the story to Alan Young, with the other actors joining in on the dramatizations in this full cast and effects production.
The cool thing about this project is that Edd worked auto-biographical material into the story, giving listeners info on his rise to fame in Hollywood, his gold record, his TV shows, movies, and relationships with other actor friends. Alan Young makes several references to his movie “The Time Machine” (one of Edd’s favorite movies), and how Edd first told his secret story to him in 1977 just before his role in “Grease”.
The part of the criminal, who stalked Edd for his jackpot, must remain anonymous and is played by Michael Callan of “Cat Ballou” and “Mysterious Island fame. Edd’s two ex-girlfriends, who must also remain anonymous, are played by other actresses.
As for me, I was on “Cloud 9″ working with Edd and his actor friends. They all added their own unique contributions and memories about the incident, and how they came to his aid. Later when Larry and I delivered the audio-book copies to Edd, I brought my dad along and we all met at a coffee shop to celebrate. I couldn’t believe it. My dad and I use to watch “77 Sunset Strip” every Saturday night, and now we were talking shop with “Kookie” himself. I should have asked him to park my car like he did in the show. Edd is so cool, he would have done it. But instead he gave me a hug for a job well done, and for being a true fan.Here’s a great exerpt from this audio-book. It’s even better when you hear Edd perform it:
“When those three Mega-Buck symbols came up, I felt like I was on that ‘Cloud Nine’ that I sang about with Connie Stevens all those years ago. I felt like it was my first day on the set of “77 Sunset strip”. “Hey, anybody want their car parked before eating at Dino’s restaurant? Well, I’m your man. Zipper jacket, Bryllecreamed hair, comb and all. And maybe I’ll do a flip before I take your car. Yeah, a three million dollar flip. And I’ll tell you Alan, my 42 year old body could still do a no hands flip.
I heard some guy say, ‘Isn’t that Kookie from the the TV show?’ Then a chick yelled out ‘Hey Kookie, lend me your comb?’ Then another chick yelled out, ‘Forget about the comb, Kookie. Lend me a million’. I smiled back,’What’s with this jackpot caper baby? Why do you want to latch on to my dough?’ The crowd gave me a laugh. I added, “You’re the ‘ginchiest’, baby. You should be happy about that. The crowd gave me another laugh, even the ones that were too young to know the song.”
***** Edd’s audio-book also stars Alan Young, David Hedison, Michael Callen, and Henry Silva. It runs 77 minutes long. (No fooling. Just by chance 77 minutes.) You can soon download it for $9.00 with PayPal. Check back here around April 1, 2009.See Edd & Connie Stevens singing, “Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb”.
Edd Byrnes played “Kookie” n the TV show “77 Sunset Strip” and appeared in the John Travolta movie “Grease” as Vince Fontaine.
Alan Young starred in TV’s “Mr. Ed”, “The Time Machine” and “Tom Thumb”.
David Hedison stared was the original “The Fly” and starred in “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” and “The Lost World”.
Henry Silva appeared in “The Manchurian Candidate” (remember that great karate fight with Frank Sinatra? That was Henry. He was in both versions of “Ocean’s 11″ and “Sergeants 3″ with Sinatra’s Rat Pack.
Michael Callan starred in TV’s “Occasional Wife”, and the feature films, “Mysterious Island”, “Cat Balou”, and John Foreman’s war movie “The Victors” (the guy that seduces Romy Schneider).
