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!"

GET SMART!

Barbara Feldon was born March 12, 1933 in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania and as we wish her a happy birthday, we also remember her memorable appearance as Agent 99 in the TV series GET SMART!

GET SMART! was a television series which ran on NBC from 1965 to 1969 and on ABC from 1969 to 1970. The series was intended as a parody on the very popular James Bond films of the sixties. It starred comedian Don Adams as bungling agent 86 Maxwell Smart, Barbara Feldon as beautiful and sexy agent 99 and Edward Platt as Thaddeus, the Chief of CONTROL, a fictional U.S. secret counterintelligence organization based in Washington D.C. 

The series was created and written by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. 

More details on the series can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_Smart

DON ADAMS

Edward Platt as the CHIEF of Control.

"Missed it by that much!"

Ron Moody and Bernie Kopell as Siegfried and Shtarker, Maxwell Smart's eternal nemesis.

 

Dick Gautier as Hymie the Robot agent.

Robert Karvelas, (Don Adams' cousin in real life) played Larrabee, another bumbling CONTROL agent .

Robert Karvelas, David Ketchum (Agent 13), Don Adams and Dick Gautier during the reunion TV movie GET SMART AGAIN! (1989)

Don Adams & Barbara Feldon with agent K-13, Fang the dog.

One of several TV GUIDE covers featuring the series.

Barbara Feldon

Agent 99

Smart and Siegfried

One of my favorite photos of Agent 99 and Max.

            

         Don Adams and Barbara Feldon reunite!           Barbara Feldon in her later years, still beautiful!

Barbara Feldon as Mandy Stevenson and Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo in "The Never-Never Affair" episode of THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. which aired on March 22, 1965.

Lovely Agent 99, whose real name was never revealed.

GET SMART was one of my favorite comedy shows back in the 60s and I revisit the series often thanks to the Time/Life HBO DVD boxed set from 2006. I never get tired of the gags and the recurring catchphrases, most of which became part of popular lexicon. And on this day of feminism and the #MeToo movement, it is surprising the respectful and self reliant way Barbara Feldon's character is handled in the series. She's actually the smartest character in the show and her agent 99 became a role model for many female members of the audience who, to this day, worship and admire her resourcefulness and ingenuity. Needless to say, I've always had a crush on Barbara.

And GET SMART! will always remain one of my all-time favorite comedy series, the likes of which have never been replicated since.