Cha Cha O'Brien and Surfside 6... in Miami Beach!

[luisam]

Surfside 6 is 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 (a character recycled from Bourbon Street Beat); and Lee Patterson as Dave Thorne. Diane McBain co-starred as socialite Daphne Dutton, whose yacht was berthed next to their houseboat.

 

Spanish actress Margarita Sierra 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.

 

Surfside 6 had a memorable theme song, written by Jerry Livingston and Mack David. The theme has often been parodied in popular culture. The lyrics varied from week to week, but "Surfside 6… In Miami Beach!" stayed intact. When the women would be introduced, the melody picked up, with back-up singers singing "Cha Cha Cha" when the announcer introduced Margarita Sierra, who vamped exaggeratedly and winked at the camera during this brief weekly sequence.

 

 

 

 

 

Margarita supposedly pulled the diva act while appearing on Surfside 6 according to co-star Van Williams in an interview for the the January 2007 issue of "Classic Images" movie magazine. He claims she "could read the riot act to someone and she would treat people on the set badly." He said they eventually became pretty good friends once he "got her off her high horse".

 

A native of Madrid, Margarita Suarez Sierra (January 5, 1936 – September 6, 1963), better known as Margarita Sierra, was an accomplished tap dancer at the age of four. She appeared throughout her childhood in children's shows and later in nightclubs as a dancer and singer, touring Spain and Central and South America. At the age of 20, she arrived in the U.S. on a nightclub tour.

 

By mid and late '50s she was recognized as an outstanding flamenco dancer, appearing at the Hollywood Bowl and top supper clubs and she longed to win recognition as a serious singer. She was a hit appearing on the Jack Paar show, but got her big break in television when Warner Bros. executive William T. Orr spotted her in performance at the Persian Room in New York. He signed her to a contract and gave her the starring role of "Cha Cha O'Brien" in the series Surfside 6 (1960).

 

Once she was asked why there is no hint of romance between her and “Surfside 6” costars Troy Donahue, Van Williams, and Lee Patterson, she disappointedly said, “I don’t know. There doesn’t seem to be any time for romance on the show. That’s the trouble with American men,” she sighs. “They don’t take time for romance. They make wonderful husbands, but poor lovers. They are so considerate of their wives; they do the dishes and mind the baby, something European men never do. But as lovers, they are too fast. They want to do everything in a hurry. In Spain, the boy takes his time. Perhaps you will exchange glances with him for weeks before he will speak to you. Then he will send you notes and flowers until you finally agree to go out with him. If an American asks you for a date and you say no, he gives up.”

 

Episodes of Surfside 6 often featured Sierra singing, usually in English but occasionally in Spanish. In some episodes she had an active part in the plot. The Cha Cha Twist, a song featured during the show's second and final season, was released as a single on Warner Brothers Records but did not enter the Billboard Top 100 chart.

 

 

 

 

 

The show ran two seasons, and Margarita Sierra returned to nightclub performances. In the spring of 1963, she was overcome by a heart ailment. The 27-year-old Margarita had a defective heart in which all four valves had to be replaced.  After several months of rest to gain strength for an operation, she underwent surgery on September 5, but after a nine-hour operation her condition was listed as serious and only two valves could be replaced. Her case was complicated by a weakness in the wall of the aorta. She died next day, on September 6, at the age of 27.