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.

Happy 11th Wedding Anniversary!

       Today it was eleven years ago that my son Ricardo tied the knot with his beautiful wife Gilda!

                         May you two continue to live happily for many, many years to come!

The Lizard and I

I had a small intruder slip into my apartment over the last weekend. It was a little brown garden lizard, the variety commonly known as a skink or, more precisely, a Lampropholis Guichenoti.
I was fixing my breakfast when suddenly, the little creature sprinted out from under the fridge and scared the bejesus out of me. At first I just saw a dashing blur but then it stopped abruptly and I could see the tiny reptile very clearly. I was relieved but when I tried to catch it and return it to the yard, the diminutive dickens ran out on me and hid somewhere else.  The lizard remained nowhere to be found until this morning when I saw it again on the carpet beside my desk, just lying there, motionless. I slowly grabbed a small Tupperware container and trapped it with a swift move.  The lizard is now back in its natural habitat at the backyard, however I still wonder where the devil did he get in here in the first place since I live on a third floor!

TRUTH HURTS!

LEAP YEAR!

                 The only leaping worth doing is just to avoid the much publicized Coronavirus.
      It may be a killer-diller or it may not, but when in doubt...it's always better to keep your distance!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

                                                       WHEN LOVE PASSES YOU BY...

The 92nd Academy Awards Show!

There are two ways of enjoying the Academy Awards:

               Although I really don't have any favorites this year, I'll be watching the ceremony.
                                                                    I love this stuff!

OSCAR NIGHT PRE-SHOW

                                      Making preparations for Sunday's Academy Awards.

LAZY DAYS!

                                                            Why take any chances?

GROUNDHOG DAY!

More of my PINK PANTHER & ROAD RUNNER comic covers from Novaro Publishing Co.

I started working at Novaro Publishing co., (which was one of Western Publishing Company's licencees) back in 1972.  My creation, EL MAFIOSO NICK (Mobster Nick) appeared under the DOMINGOS ALEGRES (Happy Sundays) banner and was one of four weekly rotating titles.
It lasted just 6 issues and was replaced by something else, but it helped me get the job of filling out additional issues of THE PINK PANTHER and BEEP BEEP, THE ROAD RUNNER, created for the Hispanic market.  All in all, I wrote and did the artwork for 156 Pink Panther issues and about the same for the Road Runner until 1985, when Novaro abruptly shut down production and vanished.

 .      
                                         

I've posted many of these covers before on this blog and here are a few more samples of my work during those golden years of comic book history.

                                                  BEEP BEEP THE ROAD RUNNER

                      

                         

                 

                        

                                                                  THE PINK PANTHER

                               

GETTING INTO HEAVEN...

                                   

HOME ALONE

                        SOMETIMES, LIVING BY YOURSELF CAN TAKE ITS TOLL!

ACAPULCO 2020!

                               Actually, I was expecting to see something more like her...

                   

No such luck!

Ringing In The New Year!

LORD OF THE IDIOTS.

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS...

MOBSTER NICK AT YULETIDE

Pink Christmas Wishes from The Pink Panther

I spent most of my professional years as a cartoonist, drawing and writing stories for The Pink Panther comics that were designed for the overseas market. Thanks to The Pink Panther (and Beep Beep, the Road Runner),  I managed to make a living and raise a family, and consequently, I will always feel a certain amount of indebtedness to this character.
Over the years, I've tried to keep him alive in my life by doing some new little illustration featuring this funny feline every once in a while. 

Thank you, Friz Freleng, David H DePatie and Blake Edwards for creating him!

As a bonus, I'm sharing the classic Pink Panther Christmas TV Special, which first aired on ABC on December 7, 1978. It was directed by Bill Perez and produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises.

                                          

(Another special, "A Very Pink Christmas", was produced in 2011 but the less said about it, the better).