Surfside 6… What’s that?
I admit, I’m probably one of only a handful of people still among the living whose knowledge of Surfside 6 extends beyond this:
That said, a bit of background is probably in order.
While not quite a spin-off of Warner Brothers highly successful 77 Sunset Strip (1958 –1964), Surfside 6, which ran two seasons from 1960 to 1962, was set in the same universe. Also part of this universe and wholly riding 77 Sunset Strip’s coattails were Hawaiian Eye and Bourbon Street Beat. Like their predecessor, each of these shows featured handsome bachelor detectives working out of happenin’ locales. Hawaiian Eye boasted the most exotic setting (the WB backlot 90% of the time) and lasted a respectable four seasons from 1959 to 1963. Less successful was Bourbon Street Beat, which was set in New Orleans and only ran one season from 1959 to 1960.
One good thing came from its short run: dreamy WB contract actor and future Green Hornet star Van Williams was able to move onto bigger things.
Not only did he land a leading role on Surfside 6, his Bourbon Street Beat character, law student Kenny Madison, made the leap as well. This further validated the in-universe connection between these WB detective shows. (Richard Long’s Rex Randolph similarly relocated to the daddy of ’em all, 77 Sunset Strip following Bourbon Street Beat’s cancellation.)
Somewhere along the way, our boy Kenny finished law school, dropped the ‘ny’ from his name, became licensed as a private investigator, and left Nola for the Sunshine State.
To live with his boyfriend, Dave Thorne, played by Lee Patterson.
The Canadian-born Patterson had previously established himself playing American characters in British cinema. Following Surfside 6, he worked steadily on various soap operas.
But that’s not the part that stuck out to you, I’m guessing. You’re likely asking, ‘Lee Patterson played his who now…?’
You aren’t wrong to wonder. I sorta threw that curve ball outta nowhere, and now I’ve got you glancing back up for a refresher on when these shows all aired. You’re right to question if there was queer content on television in the late 50s and early 60s. Because there wasn’t.
But there was.
Hello subtext, my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again. Because a vision softly creeping, left its seeds while I was —
WATCHING SURFSIDE 6.
Ahem.
Surfside 6’s swingin’ singles, Ken and Dave, operated their own private investigation firm from their houseboat, perpetually docked in Miami Beach, just across from the Fontainebleau Hotel. A real hotel that’s still in business to this day, the boys spent countless hours inside its Boom Boom Room, entertaining clients, catching up with friends, and mostly just trying to reinforce to the viewing audience that they liked women.
The cast also included Troy Donahue as playboy Sanford “Sandy” Winfield II. Diane McBain played the boys’ neighbor on the docks, heiress Daphne “Daffy” Dutton, with Margarita Sierra rounding out the crew as lounge singer Cha Cha O’Brien.
Don “Red” Barry played the boys’ police contact, the gruff but understanding Lieutenant Snedigar in season one, and Richard Crane came on board as the more warmhearted but still no-nonsense Lieutenant Plehn in season two. Legendary Vaudevillian performer Paul “Mousie” Garner had a recurring role in the first season as a waiter at the boys’ favorite night spot, the Boom Boom Room.
A formidable heartthrob in his heyday, 6’3”, blond-haired, blue-eyed, all-American Troy Donahue was later immortalized in pop culture via callbacks in Grease, and A Chorus Line. Diane McBain gained some notoriety for her work in Spinout with Elvis Presley, and her appearances on the 1960s Batman TV series. As Pinky Pinkston, she reunited with Van Williams in the Batman/Green Hornet crossover episodes. Although a performer since childhood, Margarita Sierra’s untimely death at age 27 in 1963 has, unfortunately, left her a largely forgotten talent.
There was a tried-and-true formula seen throughout the stable of WB detective shows and Surfside 6 was no exception. While Ken and Dave’s (and later Sandy’s) clients landed in their lap through various means, the road to case closed was usually one lane and straight.
Er.
Well, you know what I mean.
Deviations from the basic formula were rare. A beautiful female guest star was typically part of the equation. Her exact role varied from episode to episode, but it was always within the realm of damsel, victim, or surprise perpetrator. Seduction was a staple as well. Sometimes she was the seductress, often capitalizing on a complicated and unfulfilled romantic past with Dave or Ken. Sometimes Dave or Ken was enamored with her. Sometimes both of them were. Regardless, it always ended the same way: she was written off at the end of the episode, never to return. Meanwhile, Dave and Ken’s relationship remained steadfast and unchanged.
Series regulars Margarita Sierra and Diane McBain were never portrayed as viable romantic interests for any of the leading men. Mutual interest between Troy Donahue’s Sandy and Diane McBain’s Daffy was hinted at periodically, usually with one of them being jealous if the other got too close to someone else. But the powers that be never fully put their foot on the gas and made anything official. Maybe they didn’t have faith that the actors’ collective charm could entertain the masses for the long haul if their characters were in a committed relationship. Or maybe they just prioritized the ‘will they or won’t they?’ aspect of their (not quite a) relationship. I can’t say.
Hawaiian Eye was guilty of a similar crime, proudly ignoring, while simultaneously teasing at, the palpable romantic chemistry between Anthony Eisley and Connie Stevens to fuel such a notion.
The reason is obvious.
If any of the eligible leading men were suddenly off the market, the bachelorhood that served as the series’ foundation would crumble. The idea of these masculine, handsome, perpetually on the prowl crime solvers being domesticated was unacceptable. But their singleness, while paramount to the show’s appeal, could never come across as an aversion to the fairer sex. Or, worse yet, a preference for the same sex.
Enter the subtext.
While Hawaiian Eye’s Tom Lopaka (pre-Wild Wild West Robert Conrad) and Tracy Steele (Anthony Eisley) shared living quarters, their strictly domestic interactions were fewer and farther between, and their abode was clearly shown to have a separate entrance for each of them.
Ken and Dave’s living situation on Surfside 6 was a different story. It was more-self-contained, more intimate, as they both lived and worked on the same small houseboat. A houseboat that was, more often than not, portrayed to only have one bedroom.
While there were two doors that led into the living room that served as the setting for many Surfside 6 scenes, only one was ever confirmed to lead to a bedroom. (It got a lot of use, trust me.) The other door, in at least one episode, is shown definitively to be a bathroom door.
Oh, and there was only one bed.
All my fellow fanfic connoisseurs know where this is going.
Countless scenes showed Ken (or Dave) emerging from the bedroom and into the living room. He was often in an almost-dressed state, and sometimes seen tying his tie or otherwise putting on the finishing touches of his outfit for the day. His partner was usually already in their shared living room reading the paper, sipping at a cup of coffee, or partaking in other morning routine type of activities.
While they were rarely shown in the bedroom at the same time — only one episode out of 74 comes to mind — it was repeatedly reinforced that this was Ken’s bedroom, but it was also Dave’s bedroom. Nonetheless, the space could never be explicitly stated to be Ken and Dave’s bedroom. But the writing was on the wall.
(I legit have no idea where they kept Sandy after he moved in, but I think of him as their adoptive manchild more than anything else.)
It’s disheartening that Ken and Dave could only be officially characterized as heterosexual, their relationship classified as platonic. Especially because someone, somewhere down the line, clearly saw them as lovers. That someone also wanted the audience to see it, too. Equally disappointing is that the hints to the deeper — truer, I daresay — nature of their bond were only ever presented via subtext.
Week-in, week-out, Ken and Dave fought for truth, solving mysteries and taking down murderers, thieves, and everything in between. Both their professional and personal interactions spoke of trust, stability, respect, and love. That their closest, most intimate interactions were suggestive and on-the-DL gay is one thing. That Ken and Dave weren’t likewise characterized as criminals or deviants like basically all LGBTQ+ folks in old media is another. It’s a rarity that makes the nature of their relationship, and Surfside 6 as a whole, that much more fascinating and endearing to me.
Surfside 6, like several of its contemporaries, has never been officially released on DVD, and is not currently available for streaming. That’s a real shame because it’s worth checking out. As it stands, very few people can weigh in on whether Ken and Dave are actually gay houseboat detectives or I need to drop this and thoroughly examine how and why that phrase is now in my phone’s predictive text. More’s the pity, although I think the real loss is the public’s collective memory of Surfside 6 and many an old series like it.
