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!

Maxwell Smart, the Spy Who Amused Me

 During the 1960's spy craze, I was an impressionable teenager who dreamt of having cloak-and-dagger type adventures in the style of my hero, James Bond 007, the debonair secret agent with a license to kill as portrayed by Sean Connery.  And so, I became exactly like James Bond!  Well, would you believe, more like Maxwell Smart?  That's right!  In reality, I always wound up goofing up in the manner of another equally famous secret agent: Maxwell Smart, agent 86 of CONTROL.

While most actors work at trying to be as versatile as possible in order to tackle a wide variety of roles, others get stereotyped and become identified with a single character throughout their entire careers. 

But far from such a condition being harmful, in some cases it becomes a blessing in more ways than one. 

Case in point, actor Don Adams, who will forever be remembered as Maxwell Smart from the 1960s TV show GET SMART!

Adams became so identified with Agent 86 that he couldn't break the connection and was seriously hindered in his attempts to pursue other roles during his career. He ended playing basically the same character, under different names all throughout his on-screen life. 

However, while most other actors from those bygone days have become nearly forgotten, Don Adams is still recognized even by today's younger generation as one of the greatest comedy characters of all time, along with such staples as Herman Munster, Samantha Stevens, Gilligan, Morticia Addams, Agent 99, Inspector Clouseau, Pee Wee Herman, Frank Drebin, Mr. Bean and a choice few others like them. 

Thusly, even if Maxwell Smart was his only memorable role, Don Adams forever will remain as one of the most recognizable and beloved icons to come out of TV's golden era of comedy shows.

Today we remember him on the date he left this mortal world and passed over to join CONTROL's branch in Heaven, always ready to fight the evil plottings of KAOS, that nefarious crime outfit of badness.

You can be sure that, throughout the ages, we shall always hear Agent 86's immortal words:

"SORRY ABOUT THAT, CHIEF!"