Private eyes, houseboat headquarters, and Cha Cha at the Boom Boom Room—Miami's coolest crime scene.
Season 2 • Episode 40
LatestAs part of the latest scheme of a husband and wife con artist team the husband seeks to hire Ken, portraying his wife as cheating on him with the intended scam victim. Ken refuses to take the job because the man named is a friend and frequent client, but he becomes involved when a cohort of the couple turns up dead.
Surfside 6 was an ABC television series which aired from 1960 to 1962. The show centered on a Miami Beach detective agency set on a houseboat and featured Troy Donahue as Sandy Winfield II; Van Williams as Kenny Madison; and Lee Patterson as Dave Thorne. Diane McBain co-starred as socialite Daphne Dutton, whose yacht was berthed next to their houseboat. 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, 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 Fontainebleu in 1964's Goldfinger.
Production
Actual Fontainebleau location shots scream old-money Florida glamour.
Costume
Daphne's yacht-chic wardrobe deserves its own Smithsonian wing.
Acting
Troy Donahue's hair performs its own independent narrative arc.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Warner Bros. simultaneously produced 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, and Surfside 6—essentially the same show in three time zones.
Margarita Sierra was a real Fontainebleau performer; her casting was proto-reality TV authenticity before that was a concept.
US
