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Bourbon Street Beat was a private detective series which ran on the American Broadcasting Company from 1959 through 1960 and featured Andrew Duggan as Cal Calhoun, Richard Long as Rex Randolph, Van Williams as Kenny Madison, and Arlene Howell as Melody Lee Mercer (the secretary at the New Orleans detective agency in which they all worked).

The series was one of several 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 spinoff Surfside 6, which aired in the Bourbon Street Beat time slot the following season. Only 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 TV series in other roles.

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). Van Williams eventually played The Green Hornet (1966-67) opposite Bruce Lee. Andrew Duggan continued to play an amazing number of character roles in films and television, including another stint as a series lead in 1969's Lancer, a western in the vein of Bonanza, albeit darker and more complex.

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