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. In the 60's Edd played Kookie on TV's 77 Sunset Strip. His recording of Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb, earned him a gold record.
 
In 1977 Edd got involved in a strange incident after winning 3 million dollars in Las Vegas. He went there with an ex-girlfriend, who pushed him to play the Mega-Jackpot machine. Edd started playing it with one coin only. She pushed him to play three coins in order to win the jackpot.  A few spins later, Edd won the three million dollars.
 
Listen to the 2 minute sample to hear what followed.
 
Edd has remained silent for years, but now that the criminal Delfino is most likely gone and the statute of limitations long since past, Edd has finally decided to tell his story.
 
Edd had enlisted the aid of his real life actor friends David Hedison and Henry Silva to help him get out of his dangerous situation. They join Edd in this production to re-create the events.
 
Edd had confided in his friend Alan Young just after the events happened. Mr. Young kept the secret and now returns in this production to explain about the night he heard Edd's jackpot story.
 
The part of the criminal Delfino is played by veteran actor Michael Callan.
 
Edd's two girlfriends at the time of the incident, who must remain anonymous, are played by Ishtar Uhvana and Christianna Carmine
 
"Never go to Las Vegas with an ex-girlfriend."
                                                                    Edd Byrnes

REVIEWS -
 
On the edge of my seat. -  Amy Norris - Garden Grove, CA
My Casino Caper is an awesome audio book, not to mention a story which really captures the suspense factor as Edd Byrnes finally reveals his $3 Million dollar story to the captivated audience.  I was on the edge of my seat, wondering what was around the next corner. It was over far too soon and I wanted more!  Mystery, suspense and high-drama, a must have!!

"Las Vegas & Hollywood, with celebrities and intrigue" - Dave Cook - Concord, NC
"My Casino Caper" is a great story that gained and held my interest throughout.  A fortunate vacation experience for Edd Byrnes provides opportunities for greed and schemes by others, leading to a series of dangerous circumstances.  One plan of counters moves after another are called for, necessary for his protection and survival.  This is a very entertaining drama based on a life experience, and great escapism told in this form by the people that lived it.
 
Ya can't make this stuff up! - Randy Karr - Los Angeles, CA
The minute I finished listening to Edd Byrnes' audio book, my first thought was, when will this be made into a movie? The fact that this is a true story left me wanting more than just audio alone. Maybe because most TV today is so bad (in my opinion) a story like Casino Caper would be a welcome relief from the countless, and pointless, hours of Reality TV and Game Shows.
 
Byrnes' account of a Las Vegas vacation gone straight to hell, complete with blackmail and mysterious women told in a relaxed style, feels more like eavesdropping onto a private conversation, which adds to the mystery. In the meantime, Casino Caper has added a bit of devilish fun to buying my weekly Lotto ticket.
 
When being Kookie was Cool...thanks for memory!  - Rene Casteran - Grants Pass, Oregon
I turned down the lights, got comfortable, opened my ears and found my rusty imagination again.  Lots of refreshing firsts here for me.  Audio-Drama?   Wow a new version of an old medium with great acting and production (reminds me of old time radio, but more polished) and a re-introduction to television and screen favorites who are not just still around, but as talented as ever. 
 
Edd Byrnes, Kookie of course, was a teen icon back in the day and his story, while perhaps not unusual for celebrities, was a revelation to me.  Or was it?  I am listening to it again just to make up my mind just what did happen.  A joy to hear all these familiar actors again in this engaging manner.
 
You probably know the actors from these movies:
 
EDD BYRNES - Grease - 77 Sunset Strip
 
ALAN YOUNG - The Time Machine - Mr. Ed
 
DAVID HEDISON - Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea - The Fly - The Lost World
 
HENRY SILVA - Oceans 11 - The Manchurian Candidate
 
MICHAEL CALLEN - Mysterious Island - Cat Balou
 
 
Directing Edd Byrnes - By Paul Kyriazi
I worked with Edd on my audio-book McKnight's Memory. Edd was great playing the part of Floyd, the henchman to a mob boss. After recording, my producer Larry Metzger and I said our good-byes. When Edd walked off Larry said to me, "He's so cool." I replied, "Of course he's cool. He's Edd Byrnes."

At 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 for the money. Edd also had his ex-girlfriend pressuring him for 'her share'.

He hired Larry and I to produce his memoir project.  Edd asked his friends to re-create what happened 20 years ago. So Alan Young , David Hedison, and Henry Silva recorded as themselves. The cool thing about this project is that Edd worked auto-biographical material into the story, giving listeners inside information 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.

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 scary incident, and how they came to his aid.