LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE!

 The saying "laughter is the best medicine" suggests that laughter has a positive impact on overall well-being, similar to how medicine alleviates illness. It implies that laughter can help people cope with stress, improve mood, and potentially even promote physical health. This is according to an article in Wikipedia. I can't assert laughter is really the best medicine but in my case...it definitely is and these cartoon characters and  comedians are an essential part of my well being, so here's a small celebration of those comedians and cartoon characters that have made my life brighter and joyful!

STAN LAUREL & OLIVER HARDY

HARRY LANGDON.                                      BUSTER KEATON

CHARLES CHAPLIN                                           HAROLD LLOYD

BEN TURPIN

MOE HOWARD, LARRY FINE AND CURLY HOWARD

BUD ABBOTT AND LOU COSTELLO

                             DON ADAMS, BARBARA FELDON & EDWARD PLATT

INSPECTOR CLOUSEAU.                                           MR. BEAN

MISTER MAGOO.                             NICK MURDOCK

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AGENT 99!

Barbara Feldon (born Barbara Anne Hall; March 12, 1933) is an American actress primarily known for her roles on television. Her most prominent role was that of Agent 99 in the 1965–1970 sitcom Get Smart.

Would you believe Barbara Feldon is 91 years young today, March 12, 2024?  I confess I had a big crush on her from the very first time I saw her on TV, which was not in her debut as 99 on the GET SMART show but rather as Mandy Stevenson on another spy series: THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

IMDb and WIKIPEDIA can offer you her entire biography and career filmography so I won't dwell into that. All I can say is that Barbara Feldon had the most beautiful and tantalizing eyes I had ever seen and she stole my heart from the very moment I saw her on my TV set. Today, I am thankfully glad she's still with us, although the chance of meeting her in person is extremely remote since she lives in New York and from what I've read, she's a very private and laid back person nowadays. Anyway, I am happy to visit her via my DVD collection...and loving it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BARBARA FELDON AND LONG LIVE AGENT 99!

The GET SMART comic books!

 On September 18 in 1965, TV comedy GET SMART created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, and starring Don Adams as agent Maxwell Smart (Agent 86), Barbara Feldon as Agent 99, and Edward Platt as The Chief premiered.Get Smart immediately won over audiences with its witty satire of the secret agent genre. Starring Don Adams as bumbling spy Maxwell Smart, aka Agent 86, and Barbara Feldon as his brilliant partner Agent 99, Get Smart followed their laugh-out-loud misadventures as they battled the evil forces of KAOS. Created by comedy legends Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, Get Smart was an instant hit thanks to its slapstick humor, clever spy parodies, catchphrases like “Missed it by that much!”, and gadgets like the famous shoe phone. For 5 seasons, Get Smart kept viewers in hysterics every week with Agent 86’s hilarious attempts at espionage, close calls with danger, and comical interactions with The Chief (Edward Platt). Now over 50 years later, Get Smart remains one of the most beloved and iconic sitcoms of all time. Its legacy lives on through syndicated reruns and an enduring comedic influence still felt today. 

In 1966, GET SMART was published as a comic book by Dell Publishing Co. 

These are the covers plus an ad for Aurora Model Motoring cars 

which appeared on the back cover of several other issues as well.

Would you believe GET SMART premiered 57 Years Ago?

 On September 18, 1965, the celebrated, funny, Emmy Award winning and still famous TV series GET SMART premiered on NBC. Created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, produced by Leonard B. Stern, Arne Sultan, Jay Sandrich, Jess Oppenheimer, Burt Nodella, Chris Hayward and starring Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86 of CONTROL, Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 and Edward Platt as the Chief, ran for 5 seasons and 138 episodes until 1970.

The premise of course was simple: a spoof of James Bond films and the entire spy thriller genre, featuring a bumbling secret agent working for an ultra-secret organization known as CONTROL. The series would feature memorable characters sharing the TV screen with Maxwell Smart such as Agent 99, a beautiful female spy who's smarter than Smart; The Chief, head of CONTROL who keeps sending agent 86 on important and delicate missions in spite of Smart's customary bungling; Hymie the Robot, an almost human robotic agent; Larrabee, an agent who is even dumber than Max; Ludwig Von Siegfried, a recurring archvillain who is the vice president in charge of public relations and terror at KAOS, the comedy counterpart of 007's SPECTRE; Stryker, his henchman, among several other equally remarkable characters.

Barbara Feldon (Agent 99) and Don Adams (Agent 86)

The (perennially out-of-order) Cone of Silence

Edward Platt as the Chief, head of CONTROL

Bernie Kopell as KAOS chief operative Ludwig Von Siegfried

The great theme song written by Irving Szathmary:

GET SMART opening credits

Dick Gautier as Hymie The Robot

Robert Karvelas as Larrabee

Many catchphrases from the show became part of American pop culture like:

 "Sorry about that, Chief!"

Maxwell Smart: You see the moment I suspected there was something wrong with this old scow, I immediately telephoned headquarters and I happen to know that at this very minute seven coast guard cutters are converging on this boat. Would you believe it? Seven.

Mr. Big: I find that pretty hard to believe.

Maxwell Smart: Would you believe six?

Mr. Big: I don't think so.

Maxwell Smart: How about two cops in a rowboat?

Beautiful Barbara Feldon in the premiere episode of GET SMART

The TV Show also spanned a series of comic books and paperbacks.

There is an almost infinite list of great bits of dialogue, funny gags, ridiculous gadgets, hilarious characters and bits of business to write about but the best way to remember GET SMART is by watching and rewatching the show which I never get tired of doing!