Get
Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the
secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show
stars Don Adams (as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86), Barbara Feldon (as
Agent 99), and Edward Platt (as Chief). The series was broadcast on
NBC-TV from September 18th, 1965, to March 29th, 1969, after which it
moved to the CBS network for its final season, running from September
26th, 1969, to May 15th, 1970, with 138 total episodes produced.
During its five-season run, Get Smart only broke the top 30 twice. It
ranked at No. 12 during its first season, and at No. 22 during its
second season, before falling out of the top 30 for its last three
seasons. The series won seven Emmy Awards, and it was nominated for
another 14 Emmys, as well as two Golden Globe Awards.
The 1966 Batman movie, made
during that TV show's original run, prompted other television shows
to propose similar films. The only one completed was Munster Go Home
(1966), which was a box office flop, causing the cancellation of
other projects, including the Get Smart movie. The script for that
movie was turned into the three-part episode, "A Man Called
Smart," airing April 8, 15 and 22, 1967. The original show
eventually spawned the follow-up films The Nude Bomb (a theatrical
release not directly based on the show) and Get Smart, Again! (a
made-for-TV sequel to the series). The series was briefly resurrected
in 1995, starring Adams and Feldon, with Andy Dick as Max's and 99's
son Zach.
In 2003 a Get Smart tribute
was held at the Museum of Television and Radio. Appearing at the
convention were surviving stars Don Adam, Barbara Feldon, Bernie
Kopell and Dick Gautier. 2008 saw Get Smart on the big screen in a
film staring Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway and Alan Arkin. And in 2010,
TV Guide ranked Get Smart's opening title sequence at No. 2 on its
list of TV's Top 10 Credits Sequences, as selected by readers.
The
show was inspired by the success of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Daniel
Melnick, who was a partner, along with Leonard Stern and David
Susskind, of the show's production company, Talent Associates,
commissioned Mel Brooks and Buck Henry to write a script about a
bungling James Bond-like hero. Brooks described the premise for the
show they created in an October 1965 Time magazine article: "I
was sick of looking at all those nice sensible situation comedies.
They were such distortions of life. If a maid ever took over my house
like Hazel, I'd set her hair on fire. I wanted to do a crazy, unreal comic-strip
kind of thing about something besides a family. No one had ever done
a show about an idiot before. I decided to be the first."
Brooks and Henry proposed
the show to ABC, where network officials called their show
"un-American" and demanded a "lovable dog to give the
show more heart" and scenes showing Maxwell Smart's mother.
Brooks strongly objected to their latter suggestion: "They
wanted to put a print housecoat on the show. Max was to come home to
his mother and explain everything. I hate mothers on shows. Max has
no mother. He never had one."
The
series centers on bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart, also known as
Agent 86. His female partner is Agent 99, whose real name is never
revealed in the series. Agents 86 and 99 work for CONTROL, a secret
U.S. government counter-intelligence agency based in Washington, D.C.
The pair investigates and thwarts various threats to the world,
though Smart's bumbling nature and demands to do things by-the-book
invariably cause complications. However, Smart never fails to save
the day. Looking on is the long-suffering head of CONTROL, who is
addressed simply as "Chief."
The nemesis of CONTROL is
KAOS, described as "an international organization of evil."
KAOS was supposedly formed in Bucharest, Romania, in 1904. Neither
CONTROL nor KAOS is actually an acronym. Many actors appeared as KAOS
agents, including Tom Bosley, John Byner, Victor French, Alice
Ghostley, Ted Knight, Pat Paulsen, Tom Poston, Leonard Nimoy, Robert
Middleton, Barry Newman, Julie Newmar, Vincent Price, William
Schallert (who also had a recurring role as The Admiral, the first
Chief of Control), Larry Storch. Conrad Siegfried, played by Bernie
Kopell, is Smart's KAOS archenemy. King Moody (originally appearing
as a generic KAOS killer) portrays the dim-witted but burly Shtarker,
Siegfried's assistant.
The enemies, world-takeover
plots and gadgets seen in Get Smart parodies the James Bond movies.
"Do what they did except just stretch it half an inch," Mel
Brooks said of the methods of this TV series. Devices such as a shoe
phone, The Cone of Silence and inner apartment booby traps were a
regular part of most episodes.
Max and 99 marry in season
four and have twins in season five. Agent 99 became the first woman
on an American hit sitcom to keep her job after marriage and motherhood.
Although
the cast and crew, especially Adams, contributed joke and gadget
ideas, dialogue was rarely ad-libbed. An exception is the third
season episode, "The Little Black Book." Don Rickles (left)
encouraged Adams to misbehave, and ad-libbed. The result was so
successful that the single episode was turned into a two-part episode.
The series featured several
cameo appearances by famous actors and comedians, sometimes
uncredited and often comedian friends of Adams. Johnny Carson
appeared, credited as "special guest conductor," in
"Aboard the Orient Express." Carson returned for an
uncredited cameo as a royal footman in the third season episode
"The King Lives?" Other performers to make cameo
appearances included Steve Allen, Milton Berle, Ernest Borgnine,
Wally Cox, Robert Culp (as a waiter in an episode sending up Culp's I
Spy), Phyllis Diller, Buddy Hackett, Bob Hope, and Martin Landau. In
addition to friends like Don Rickles and James Cann appearing on the
show, both Bill Dana and Jonathan Harris, who Adams worked with on
The Bill Dana Show, also guest starred. James Cann's appearance on
Get Smart was also uncredited, billed as "Rupert of Rathskeller
as Himself".
Get Smart became kind of a
family affair as cousin Robert Karvelas was added to the cast as a
reoccurring extra and later as blockheaded Control agent, Larabee.
Adams’ brother, comedian Dick Yarmy, also appeared in two
episodes of Get Smart, one time working for Kaos and the other
working for Control as did Adams's father, William Yarmy, and
daughter, Caroline Adams. Adams also wrote two episodes of Get Smart:
“The King Lives” and part two of “To Sire with
Love.” with his older sister Gloria Burton.
Actress
Rose Michtom (pictured at right, the real life aunt of the show's
executive producer Leonard Stern) appeared in at least 44 episodes,
usually as a background extra with no speaking role. In the season 1
episode "Too Many Chiefs" when she is shown in a
photograph, Max refers to her as "my Aunt Rose," but the
Chief corrects Max by saying that it's actually KAOS agent Alexi
Sebastian disguised as Max's Aunt Rose. Fans refer to her as
"Aunt Rose" in all of her dozens of appearances, even
though her character is never actually named in most of them.
Get Smart had more than its
share of catch phrases and one liners. Executive Producer Leonard
Stern said creating catch phrases was intentional, "It was a
conscious decision that we should have them. That’s my training
from The Steve Allen Show where "Hi Ho Steverino" and
"Why Not?" existed. Don had come with "Would You
Believe" and "Sorry About That Chief" was an accident,
people just started to say it."
Would you believe...?
This one came from Don
Adams and Bill Dana before Get Smart, although it did appear in the
pilot episode. Adams did a routine called The Bengal Lancers (it's on
his first LP) where he's Lieutenant Faversham interrogating the
villainous Mohammed Khan. Adams and Dana had the following exchange:
Faversham:
You think you've got me,
but I have you surrounded by the entire mounted 17th Bengal Lancers.
Khan:
I don't believe you.
Faversham:
Would you believe the First
Bengal Lancers?
Khan:
No
Faversham:
How about Gunga Din on a donkey?
Missed it by that much!
This phrase was used when
someone, usually Max, was just a little bit off target. FIrst used in
the episode: The Day Smart Turned Chicken. A KAOS agent was
attempting to jump from a window into a truck loaded with mattresses.
He jumps, Max looks out the window, turns back to the room says,
"Missed it by that much!"
And loving it!
Used by Max whenever the
Chief would explain how this latest mission would place Max in
incredible danger, it's first utterance was in Mr. Big.
Sorry about that Chief!
This was the most used
phrase in the show. Originally, this began as just a generic
"Sorry about that." It first was used in Diplomat's
Daughter and really was given no big significance when uttered. It
wasn't until Now You See Him, Now You Don't that "Chief"
was added onto the end of the phrase. This phrase really caught on
when late in 1965 one of the Gemini astronauts used it when he made a mistake.
Max:
Don't tell me I fell off
the horse.
99:
You fell off the horse Max.
Max:
I asked you not to tell me that!
I asked you not to tell
me that!
This phrase didn't debut
until the third season in Viva Smart. It was usually used when Max
didn't want to hear about a mistake or terrible thing that happened.
Most of its uses went along the lines of the first one.
Zis is KAOS, Ve Don't
(Insert Activity Here) Here!
Siegfried was the
originator for this phrase, which was usually used to silence
Shtarker. He first used it in his first appearance, A Spy For A Spy.
The line was made up by Leonard Stern on the set. After the first
take, Stern whispered the line into Bernie Kopell's ear and the rest
is catchphrase history! However, it began its usage without the first
part. The Zis is KAOS part first was used in Snoopy Smart Vs. The Red
Baron, though much softer then it was usually spoken. KAOS has
captured Max and 99 and Shtarker is preparing to machine gun them down.
Shtarker:
Let me let them have it. Dudududududu
(making a machine gun noise).
Siegfried:
Shtarker, zis is KAOS, we
don't Dududu here.
The Old (Insert Item
Here) Trick
This one was there from the
start, appearing in Mr. Big as "The old garbage trick." It
was usually followed by the phrase "that's the second time I've
fallen for that this month/week." This tounge twister is from
the Smartacus episode: "The old Professor Peter Peckinpah all
purpose anti-personnel Peckinpah pocket pistol under the toupee trick."
Other
famous Get Smart lines included:
"That's the second biggest/smallest
(Insert Item Here) I've ever seen."
"It's a shame he
didn't use (Insert Phrase Here) for niceness instead of evil."
"I hope I wasn't out
of line with that (Insert Phrase Here) crack."
One of the best lines from
the 1995 revival: Gretchen (Siegfried's daughter) to Zach Smart,
"You're just like my father. He lied to me the whole time I am
growing up. He told me that he was a doctor on a cruiseship."
Siegfried was played by actor Bernie
Kopell who would later play Doc on the Love Boat.
Check out the link below
for more great Get Smart quotes...
CONTROL is a spy
agency founded at the beginning of the 20th century by Harold Harmon
Hargrade, a career officer in the United States Navy's N-2
(Intelligence) Branch. Hargrade served as the first Chief of CONTROL.
"CONTROL" is not
an acronym, but it is always shown in all capital letters as if it were.
Maxwell
Smart, code number Agent 86 (born 1930, portrayed by Don Adams,
left) is the central character. Despite being a top secret government
agent, he is absurdly clumsy, very naive and has occasional lapses of
attention. Due to his frequent verbal gaffes and physical miscues,
most of the people Smart encounters believe he is grossly
incompetent. Despite these faults, Smart is also resourceful, skilled
in hand-to-hand combat, a proficient marksman, and incredibly lucky.
These assets have led to him having a phenomenal record of success in
times of crisis in which he has often averted disaster, often on a
national or global scale. This performance record means his only
punishment in CONTROL for his mistakes is that he is the only agent
without three weeks annual vacation time. Smart uses multiple cover
identities, but the one used most often is as a greeting card
salesman/executive. Owing to multiple assassination attempts, he
tells his landlord he is in the insurance business, and on one
occasion, that he works for the "Bureau of Internal
Revenue". Smart served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War
and is an ensign in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
In 1999 TV Guide ranked
Maxwell Smart number 19 on its 50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time
list. The character appears in every episode, though only briefly in
"Ice Station Siegfried."
It was reported that Adams refused to appear in this episode because
he considered it a poor rewrite of the fourth season episode
"Schwartz's Island". He called in sick on the day filming
was to start and his friend Bill Dana was quickly hired to take his
place. Another version of events says
Adams took time off to perform in Las Vegas for two weeks to settle
gambling debts. Adams also did voice over work and was the voice of
Tennessee Tuxedo (1963–1966), but he was more famous as the
voice of Inspector Gadget in the initial run of that television
series (1983–1986). Adams stated in interviews that his famous
"clippy" voice
characterization was an exaggeration of the speaking style of actor
William Powell. Occasionally, he also enjoyed doing a more explicit
impersonation of Ronald Colman. Adams was the voice of Brain the Dog
in the end credits for the film version of Inspector Gadget in 1999.
Agent 99 (Barbara
Feldon, right) is the tall, beautiful female agent whose appearance
is useful in undercover operations. Generally, Agent 99 is more
competent than Smart, but Smart saves her life in several episodes.
"Snoopy Smart vs the Red Baron" is the introduction of 99's
mother (Jane Dulo), who is so thoroughly fooled by her daughter and
Smart's cover stories that not even seeing them in combat while a
prisoner of KAOS convinces her otherwise. Her mother indicates that
99's father was also a spy. Creator Buck Henry pointed out to actress
Barbara Feldon on the DVD commentary for Season 3 that when he tried
to add funny lines for Agent 99, "They didn't want you to be
'joke funny.' They wanted you to be glamorous and interesting."
Her name was intentionally never revealed. She appears in all but
seven episodes. She can typically be seen slouching, leaning, or
sitting in scenes with Adams to hide the fact that she was slightly
taller (5' 9") than Adams (5' 8½").
The
Chief (Edward Platt, left) is the head of CONTROL. Although
sarcastic and grouchy, the Chief is intelligent, serious, and
sensible. He began his career at CONTROL as "Agent Q." (He
joined the organization back when they assigned letters rather than
numbers.) He is supportive of Agents 86 and 99, but he is frustrated
with Smart for his frequent failures and foul-ups. As revealed in the
season-one episode "The Day Smart Turned Chicken," his
first name is Thaddeus, but it is rarely used. His cover identity
(used primarily with 99's mom) is "Harold Clark." Another
time, when KAOS arranges for the Chief to be recalled to active duty
in the U.S. Navy (as a common seaman with Smart as his commanding
officer), his official name is John Doe.
Fang/Agent
K-13 (played by Red) is a poorly trained CONTROL dog, who is
seen during seasons one and two. He was a very successful CONTROL
agent for quite a few years. He was trained by Max, which probably
explains why he does not always follow directions properly. Their
relationship began in Spy School, where they were members of the same
graduating class. He sometimes uses the cover name Morris and his
favorite toys are a turtleneck sweater, a rubber ducky and one of
Max's slippers. Fang's career ends in the second season, as he is no
longer showing energy in solving his cases. In honor of his
outstanding service to CONTROL, the Chief retires Fang to a desk job,
burying evidence. (He has a brief role in the 2008 film, being a
pet-store dog that Max is in the habit of complaining to.) He appears
in six season-one episodes and two season-two episodes. He appears
first in the pilot, "Mr. Big", and his last one was the
season-two episode "Perils in a Pet Shop". Shots that
involved Fang ended up running long and costing the production a lot
of money in overtime so he was written out of the series. He was
handled by Bill Weatherwax.
Agent
Larabee (Robert Karvelas, left) is the Chief's slow-witted
assistant. In a season five episode, it is reported that if anything
happens to Smart, Larabee will take his place. Robert Karvelas was
Don Adams's cousin. Larabee also appears in The Nude Bomb.
Agent 8 (Burt
Mustin) is a retired CONTROL agent who appears in episode twenty
three. He is revealed to be the Chief's best friend from his days at CONTROL.
Charlie Watkins/Agent 38
(Angelique Pettyjohn) is an undercover male agent and master of
disguise. Agent 38 appears as a scantily clad glamorous woman in two
season 2 episodes. He also appears once in season four as a different
actress (Karen Authur). He can also switch to a feminine voice as
part of the disguise.
Agent 13 (Dave
Ketchum) is an agent who is usually stationed inside unlikely, or
unlucky places, such as a cigarette machine, washing machines,
lockers, trash cans, or fire hydrants. He tends to resent his
assignments, such as when he is hiding in a bowling alley's ball
returning station and has to duck lest the balls strike him on the
head. Agent 13 is featured in several season-two episodes.
Agent
44 (Victor French, right) is Agent 13's predecessor and is also
stationed in tight corners. Agent 44 sometimes falls into bouts of
self-pity and complaining, and he would sometimes try to keep Max
chatting for the company. Agent 44 appears in several episodes in the
second half of the season one. In the final season, there is a new
Agent 44, (played by Al Molinaro) in two episodes. (Prior to starting
as 44, Victor French has a brief guest role in the season-one episode
"Too Many Chiefs" as Smart's Mutual Insurance agent. French
is better known for his role in Little House on the Prairie.)
Carlson (Stacy
Keach, Sr.) is CONTROL's gadget man during season two. While
inspecting the gadgets, Max usually creates minor mayhem. Carlson
follows several CONTROL scientists who fulfill the same function in
season one. They are the similarly named Carleton (Frank DeVol), the
egotistical Windish (Robert O. Cornthwaite), and Parker (Milton Selzer).
Admiral Harold Harmon
Hargrade or The Admiral (William Schallert) is the former chief.
He founded CONTROL as a spy agency just after the turn of the 20th
century. The admiral has a poor memory, believing the current U.S.
President is still Herbert Hoover. He's 91-years old, has bad balance
and falls over... a lot.
Hymie
the Robot (Richard "Dick" Gautier, left) is a humanoid
robot built by Dr. Ratton to serve KAOS, but in his first mission,
Smart manages to turn him to the side of CONTROL. Hymie has numerous
superhuman abilities, such as being physically stronger and faster
than any human and being able to swallow poisons and register their
name, type, and quantity, though his design does not include
superhuman mental processing, most significantly characterized by an
overly literal interpretation of commands. For example, when Smart
tells Hymie to "get a hold of yourself," he grasps each arm
with the other. Hymie also has emotions and is "programmed for neatness."
Dr.
Steele (Ellen Weston, right) is a CONTROL scientist who makes
three appearances in season three. Dr. Steele is an intelligent,
extremely attractive woman whose cover is a chorus dancer at a
high-class burlesque theatre. The entrance to her laboratory is
through a large courier box sidestage. Dr Steele often performs
complex scientific procedures while wearing her revealing performance
costumes. She is often seen explaining her findings while warming up
for her next dance, and then suddenly departing for her performance.
Dr. Steele is replaced with the similar Dr. Simon (Ann Elder), who
appears in two episodes of season four, is mentioned once in season five.
Harry Hoo (Joey
Forman) is a Hawaiian detective from Honolulu, who is depicted as a
send-up of the fictional detective Charlie Chan. Hoo is not a member
of CONTROL, but they work together on murder cases. Hoo's
introduction usually creates confusion in the manner of Abbott and
Costello's "Who's on First?" routine. Hoo always analyzes a
mystery by presenting "two possibilities," of which the
latter (if not both) is absurd. Max likes to upstage Hoo by jumping
in with "two possibilities" of his own, which are even
crazier than Hoo's. Hoo responds with "Amazing!", spoken in
a tone of disbelief rather than approval, but Max is oblivious to this.
KAOS
KAOS is a
(fictional) "international organization of evil" formed in
Bucharest, Romania, in 1904; like "CONTROL,"
"KAOS" is not an acronym. In an episode of the series,
after making a series of demands in a recording, the speaker mentions
the demands are from "KAOS, a Delaware Corporation." When
Smart asks the chief about this, he mentions they did it for tax reasons.
Mr. Big (Michael
Dunn) is the presumed head of KAOS and a little person. He only
appears in the black-and-white pilot episode, and is killed by his
own doomsday death ray. A successor is chosen in another episode but
is arrested by CONTROL. A few nameless KAOS chiefs appears in
subsequent episodes.
Ludwig
Von Siegfried, Konrad Siegfried, Count Von Siegfried or simply
Siegfried (Bernie Kopell, right) is a recurring villain, and the Vice
President in charge of Public Relations and Terror at KAOS though his
title does vary. Siegfried is Maxwell Smart's "opposite
number" and nemesis, even though the two characters share
similar traits and often speak fondly of one another, even in the
midst of attempting to assassinate each other. Speaking English with
an exaggerated German accent, the gray-haired, mustachioed, and
dueling-scarred Siegfried's catch phrase is, "Zis is KAOS! Ve
don't [some action] here!"
Shtarker
(King Moody, left) is Siegfried's chief henchman. Shtarker is an
overzealous lackey whose most notable trait is his abrupt personality
change from sadistic KAOS villain to presumptuous child, interrupting
conversations to helpfully elaborate, using silly vocal noises to
imitate things such as engines or guns. This prompts Siegfried to
utter his catch phrase, "Shtarker... Nein! Zis is KAOS! Ve don't
[weakly imitates Shtarker's sound effect] here!"
The
Claw (Leonard Strong, right) is a Dr. Julius No type Asian
villain representing the east-Asian branch of KAOS. In place of the
Claw's left hand is a powerful mechanical prosthesis with immobile
fingers and an occasional attachment, hence his name. Sometimes the
Claw would accidentally nab something with it, creating confusion. He
is unable to pronounce the letter L and mispronounces his name as
"Craw," with Smart repeatedly referring to him as "The
Craw," much to his annoyance. Like Siegfried, he has a huge,
dimwitted assistant, named Bobo. (The Claw presumably inspired the
villain Dr. Claw in the animated cartoon Inspector Gadget, whose
title character was voiced by Don Adams.)
Simon
the Likeable (Jack Gilford, left), who appears in "And Baby
Makes 4" Parts 1 & 2 is a KAOS killer whose nice face
mesmerizes everyone into liking him, except 99's mother (played by
Jane Dulo), who knocks him out with a right cross, because Simon
resembles her late, much-hated, and unlamented husband. (99's father
never appears in any episode.)
Natz or Spinoza (Ted
de Corsia) is a villain who was arrested by Max at an unknown point
and desires revenge for it. He attempts to extract his revenge using
the KAOS robot Hymie, though Hymie ultimately defects to CONTROL.
Later, Spinoza hatches a plan to destroy Hymie using a new robot
named 'Groppo,' though this plan, too, ultimately fails.
Doctor Ratton (Jim
Boles) is a scientist who defected to KAOS. He built the robot Hymie
for KAOS, but his abuse of Hymie ultimately leads to Hymie defecting,
who shoots the Doctor. Doctor Ratton survived the wound to construct
the robot Groppo for Spinoza. However, to insure that Doctor Ratton
does not return to the side of CONTROL and create more robots to
counter KAOS, Spinoza uses Groppo to kill Ratton.
Gagets and Cars
Telephones
are concealed in over 50 objects, including a necktie, comb, watch,
and a clock. A recurring gag is Max's shoe phone (an idea from
Brooks). To use or answer it, he has to take off his shoe. Max's
shoes sometimes contains other devices housed in his heels: an
explosive pellet, a smoke bomb, compressed air capsules that
propelled the wearer off the ground, and a suicide pill (which Max
believes is for the enemy).
In the season one episode
"Too Many Chiefs", Max tells Tanya, the KAOS informer which
he is protecting, that if anyone breaks in to pick up the house phone
in his living room, dial 1-1-7, and press the trigger on the handset;
that converts it to a gun. The phone-gun is only used that once, but
Max once carried a gun-phone, a revolver with a rotary dial built
into the cylinder. In the episode "Satan Place", Max
simultaneously holds conversations on seven different phones: the
shoe, his tie, his belt, his wallet, a garter, a handkerchief and a
pair of eyeglasses. Other unusual locations include a garden hose, a
car cigarette lighter (hidden in the car phone), a bottle of perfume
(Max complains of smelling like a woman), the steering wheel of his
car, a painting of Agent 99, the headboard of his bed, a cheese
sandwich, lab test tubes (Max grabs the wrong one and splashes
himself), a bunsen burner (Max puts out the flame anytime he
pronounces a 'p'), a plant in a planter beside the real working phone
(operated by the dial of the working phone), and inside another
full-sized working phone.
Other gadgets include a
bullet-proof invisible wall in Max's apartment that lowers from the
ceiling, into which Max and others often walk; a camera hidden in a
bowl of soup that takes a picture (with a conspicuous flash) of the
person eating the soup with each spoonful; a Mini Magnet on a belt,
which turns out to be stronger than KAOS's Maxi Magnet; and a
powerful miniature laser weapon in the button of a sports jacket (the
"laser blazer").
On
February 17, 2002, the prop shoe phone used by agent Maxwell Smart
was included in a display entitled "Spies: Secrets from the CIA,
KGB, and Hollywood", a collection of real and fictional spy gear
that exhibited at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi
Valley, California.
Another of the show's
recurring gags is the "Cone of Silence", an idea from Henry
(though preceded by the syndicated TV show Science Fiction Theatre in
an episode titled Barrier of Silence written by Lou Huston and first
airing September 3, 1955, 10 years ahead of the NBC comedy. Smart
would pedantically insist on following CONTROL's security protocols;
when in the chief's office he would insist on speaking under the Cone
of Silence, two transparent plastic hemispheres which are
electrically lowered on top of Max and Chief, which invariably
malfunction, requiring the characters to shout loudly to even have a
chance of being understood by each other. Bystanders in the room
could often hear them better, and sometimes relay messages back and forth.
The
car Smart is seen driving most frequently in the show for seasons
1–4 is a red 1965 Sunbeam Tiger two-seat roadster. Due to the
various custom features of this car, like the machine gun and
ejection seat, the Sunbeam Alpine was the picture car actually used
by customizer Gene Winfield, because a 4-cylinder afforded more room
under the hood than the V8 Tiger. AMT, Winfield's employer, made a
model kit (left) of the Tiger, complete with hidden weapons, it is
the only kit of the Tiger and has been reissued multiple times as a
stock Tiger. The picture car cannot be located, but the personal car
of Don Adams (also a 1965 Sunbeam Tiger) was restored in 2005 and
still exists and the Alpine/Tiger was also recreated, in 2002. In the
opening credits (only) of seasons three and four, Smart drives a
light blue Volkswagen Karmann Ghia, as Volkswagen became a sponsor of
the show. In season five (1969–70), Buick became a show sponsor,
so the Tiger was replaced with a gold 1969 Opel GT, which appears in
every episode. In the short-lived 1995 TV series, 'Smart' is trying
to sell the Karmann Ghia through the classified ads. The Sunbeam
Tiger, the Karmann Ghia, and the Opel GT make brief appearances in
the 2008 film. Both are first seen in the CONTROL Museum, along with
the original shoe phone, which 'Smart' also briefly uses.
The Nude Bomb
The Nude Bomb (also known
as The Return of Maxwell Smart or Maxwell Smart and the Nude Bomb) is
a 1980 comedy film based on the television series Get Smart. It
starred Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, and was directed by
Clive Donner. It was retitled The Return of Maxwell Smart for
television so as to avoid any trouble with the censors. Smart is
called back into service in order to stop a nefarious KAOS terrorist
plan from exploding a bomb that destroys only clothing, so as to
leave KAOS as the only supplier of clothes to the entire world.
Adams' cousin Robert
Karvelas (Larrabee) is the only other cast member from the television
series to return for this film. Dana Elcar plays the Chief in this
film (as Edward Platt had died in 1974); no reference is made to
Barbara Feldon's character from the TV series, Agent 99, or even her
marriage to Smart. Sylvia Kristel, at the time well known for her
appearances in the Emmanuelle film series, makes a brief appearance
as Agent 34, with actress Andrea Howard playing as Agent 22 (Agent 99-type
role) and Vittorio Gassman playing the Blofeld-like villain. Agent
13 was recast as Joey Forman, who played Harry Hoo in the TV series.
Pamela Hensley, who was by now well known to science fiction fans for
playing Princess Ardala in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, appeared
as Agent 36.
Smart's agency, called
CONTROL in the TV series, was called PITS in this film, an acronym
standing for Provisional Intelligence Tactical Service. The Nude Bomb
was a box office disappointment and was nominated for a Golden
Raspberry Award for Worst Picture.
Get Smart Again
After the disappointment of
the theatrical release, The Nude Bomb, Maxwell Smart returns to the
small screen in 1989 in the made-for-TV Get Smart, Again! The TV
movie aired on ABC, the network that rejected the original pilot for
the Get Smart! TV series.
Get Amart, Again! is not as
well known as The Nude Bomb, but was better received by fans of the
original program and featured all of the surviving original cast
reprising their roles. The tone and feel of Get Smart, Again! was
also closer to that of the 1960s TV series, especially as it was
written and produced by Leonard Stern, co-producer of the original
Get Smart. It also ignored completely the continuity established in
The Nude Bomb, such as the renaming of CONTROL as PITS. The twins
(boy and girl) that 99 gave birth to in the late 60s were ignored in
the film, but mentioned briefly in the TV-movie. Get Smart, Again!
also reprises the TV program's original theme music and opening
credit sequence, which were absent from The Nude Bomb. In this case,
however, the corridors were covered in cobwebs and the phone-booth
elevator that led to CONTROL headquarters worked in reverse, causing
Smart to be thrown to the top of the booth.
Maxwell
Smart (Don Adams), acting as a protocol officer since CONTROL was
disbanded in the early 1970s, is reactivated as a counterintelligence
agent by Commander Drury (Kenneth Mars) of the United States
Intelligence Agency. KAOS, long considered defunct, has been
revitalized by a corporate takeover. Its first scheme involves
turning a forgotten American scientist and using his weather control
machine to extort $250 billion from the United States Government.
(This plot is similar to the one used in the 1990s Avengers movie,
another film based on a 1960s TV spy series.)
Drury, convinced that only
Smart has the expertise to combat KAOS, gives him carte blanche to
reactivate former CONTROL agents to assist him in his task. Along
with Drury's bumbling aide, Beamish (Steve Levitt), Smart recruits
Larrabee (who, believing that he was under orders from Richard Nixon
to stay at his post until relieved, has been living in his office in
the now-abandoned CONTROL headquarters tending his office plants),
Agent 13, Hymie the Robot (now employed as a crash test dummy) and
ultimately, his wife 99 (Barbara Feldon) to find the security leak
that allowed the scientist to defect, locate the weather machine and
disarm it. They are opposed by a KAOS mole (John de Lancie) within
the USIA, who is able to predict Max's every move with the aid of
stolen copies of 99's unpublished memoirs and Max's old nemesis,
Siegfried (Bernie Kopell).
The script is littered with
typical Maxwell Smart verbal gags. Barbara Feldon's character, 99,
even makes a reference to THRUSH, the evil organization in The Man
From U.N.C.L.E., a show on which Feldon once guest-starred. Large
portions of the plot serve only as set-ups for Get Smart style sight
gags such as a duel between Max and a KAOS hitman using remote
controlled file cabinet drawers. The film also features the array of
bizarre gadgetry and political satire that were hallmarks of the
original series.
Get Smart - 1995
The
relative success of the film prompted the development of a
short-lived 1995 weekly series on FOX, also titled Get Smart, with
Don Adams (now the Chief of CONTROL) and Barbara Feldon reprising
their characters as well as Dave Ketchum as Agent 13 and Bernie
Kopell as Siegfried. Max znd 99's bumbling son, Zach (Andy Dick),
becomes CONTROL's star agent. (Zach's unnamed twin sister is not seen
in the new show.) Zach is teamed with the reluctant Agent 66 (Elaine
Hendrix) and Heather Morgan plays Max's secretary, Trudy, who is
convinced she works for a talent agent. The series premiered on
January 8, 1995 and ended its original run on February 19, 1995.
With the revival series on
FOX, Get Smart became the first television franchise to air new
episodes on each of the current four major American television
networks, although several TV shows in the 1940s and 1950s aired on
NBC, CBS, ABC and DuMont. The first four seasons of the original Get
Smart series aired on NBC, while the fifth and final season aired on
CBS. Get Smart, Again! aired on ABC. The show failed to recapture the
spirit of the original. There were not high hopes for the series as
Andy Dick had already moved on to NewsRadio, which premiered weeks
later in 1995.
Get Smart - Movie
Get
Smart is a 2008 American spy-fi comedy film which was produced by
Leonard B. Stern, who is also the original series' producer. The film
is based on Mel Brooks and Buck Henry's 1960s spy parody television
series of the same name. The film stars Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway,
Dwayne Johnson and Alan Arkin. The film co-stars Terence Stamp, Terry
Crews, David Koechner and James Caan. Bernie Kopell, who played
Siegfried in the original series, also appeared in the film. Bill
Murray makes a cameo appearance.
In the film version,
Maxwell Smart is an analyst for the top secret American intelligence
agency, CONTROL, and yearns to become a field agent like his idol,
Agent 23. Despite his amazing scores in the acceptance tests, Max is
denied the promotion because the Chief of CONTROL feels that Max's
analytic skills are best used for his present assignment. When
CONTROL headquarters is attacked by the terrorist organization KAOS,
led by Siegfried, almost all of CONTROL's agents' identities are
exposed, leaving only Max and Agent 99, to pursue the culprits while
former field operatives are demoted to desk jobs. Max is promoted to
field agent as Agent 86, but the experienced 99 is reluctant to
partner him because of his clumsy personality.
A corresponding film, Get
Smart's Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control (featuring Oka, Torrence,
Miller, Warburton, Terry Crews and a cameo by Hathaway),
was released on DVD on July 1, 2008, 11 days after the feature
film's theatrical release. The film tells a standalone story that
takes place concurrently with the events of the film (including a
scene in which Agent 99 calls Lloyd and angrily chews him out for the
poor quality of her gadgets compared to Max's; that scene takes place
immediately after Max accidentally renders himself unconscious with a
blowgun during a stakeout in the main film).
On October 7, 2008, it was
reported that Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures are
producing a sequel. Carell, Hathaway, and Arkin are set to return,
but the status of other cast members has not yet been announced. In
July 2010, Steve Carell stated that he had recently been given a
potential script for the sequel to Get Smart, but had passed on it.
He said that he is still very interested in eventually making a Get
Smart sequel, but is willing to wait until a decent script is
developed. "I took a pass at Get Smart 2, wrote a completely new
story and we'll see what happens with that somewhere down the line.
Anne Hathaway is definitely in and Alan Arkin, so at some point, we
don't have any projected date and the script still needs some
tweaking and some rewriting."
The
show was inspired by the success of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Daniel
Melnick, who was a partner, along with Leonard Stern and David
Susskind, of the show's production company, Talent Associates,
commissioned Mel Brooks and Buck Henry to write a script about a
bungling James Bond-like hero. Brooks described the premise for the
show they created in an October 1965 Time magazine article: "I
was sick of looking at all those nice sensible situation comedies.
They were such distortions of life. If a maid ever took over my house
like Hazel, I'd set her hair on fire. I wanted to do a crazy, unreal comic-strip
kind of thing about something besides a family. No one had ever done
a show about an idiot before. I decided to be the first."
The
series centers on bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart, also known as
Agent 86. His female partner is Agent 99, whose real name is never
revealed in the series. Agents 86 and 99 work for CONTROL, a secret
U.S. government counter-intelligence agency based in Washington, D.C.
The pair investigates and thwarts various threats to the world,
though Smart's bumbling nature and demands to do things by-the-book
invariably cause complications. However, Smart never fails to save
the day. Looking on is the long-suffering head of CONTROL, who is
addressed simply as "Chief."
Although
the cast and crew, especially Adams, contributed joke and gadget
ideas, dialogue was rarely ad-libbed. An exception is the third
season episode, "The Little Black Book." Don Rickles (left)
encouraged Adams to misbehave, and ad-libbed. The result was so
successful that the single episode was turned into a two-part episode.
Actress
Rose Michtom (pictured at right, the real life aunt of the show's
executive producer Leonard Stern) appeared in at least 44 episodes,
usually as a background extra with no speaking role. In the season 1
episode "Too Many Chiefs" when she is shown in a
photograph, Max refers to her as "my Aunt Rose," but the
Chief corrects Max by saying that it's actually KAOS agent Alexi
Sebastian disguised as Max's Aunt Rose. Fans refer to her as
"Aunt Rose" in all of her dozens of appearances, even
though her character is never actually named in most of them.
Other
famous Get Smart lines included:
Maxwell
Smart, code number Agent 86 (born 1930, portrayed by Don Adams,
left) is the central character. Despite being a top secret government
agent, he is absurdly clumsy, very naive and has occasional lapses of
attention. Due to his frequent verbal gaffes and physical miscues,
most of the people Smart encounters believe he is grossly
incompetent. Despite these faults, Smart is also resourceful, skilled
in hand-to-hand combat, a proficient marksman, and incredibly lucky.
These assets have led to him having a phenomenal record of success in
times of crisis in which he has often averted disaster, often on a
national or global scale. This performance record means his only
punishment in CONTROL for his mistakes is that he is the only agent
without three weeks annual vacation time. Smart uses multiple cover
identities, but the one used most often is as a greeting card
salesman/executive. Owing to multiple assassination attempts, he
tells his landlord he is in the insurance business, and on one
occasion, that he works for the "Bureau of Internal
Revenue". Smart served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War
and is an ensign in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
voice
characterization was an exaggeration of the speaking style of actor
William Powell. Occasionally, he also enjoyed doing a more explicit
impersonation of Ronald Colman. Adams was the voice of Brain the Dog
in the end credits for the film version of Inspector Gadget in 1999.
The
Chief (Edward Platt, left) is the head of CONTROL. Although
sarcastic and grouchy, the Chief is intelligent, serious, and
sensible. He began his career at CONTROL as "Agent Q." (He
joined the organization back when they assigned letters rather than
numbers.) He is supportive of Agents 86 and 99, but he is frustrated
with Smart for his frequent failures and foul-ups. As revealed in the
season-one episode "The Day Smart Turned Chicken," his
first name is Thaddeus, but it is rarely used. His cover identity
(used primarily with 99's mom) is "Harold Clark." Another
time, when KAOS arranges for the Chief to be recalled to active duty
in the U.S. Navy (as a common seaman with Smart as his commanding
officer), his official name is John Doe.
Fang/Agent
K-13 (played by Red) is a poorly trained CONTROL dog, who is
seen during seasons one and two. He was a very successful CONTROL
agent for quite a few years. He was trained by Max, which probably
explains why he does not always follow directions properly. Their
relationship began in Spy School, where they were members of the same
graduating class. He sometimes uses the cover name Morris and his
favorite toys are a turtleneck sweater, a rubber ducky and one of
Max's slippers. Fang's career ends in the second season, as he is no
longer showing energy in solving his cases. In honor of his
outstanding service to CONTROL, the Chief retires Fang to a desk job,
burying evidence. (He has a brief role in the 2008 film, being a
pet-store dog that Max is in the habit of complaining to.) He appears
in six season-one episodes and two season-two episodes. He appears
first in the pilot, "Mr. Big", and his last one was the
season-two episode "Perils in a Pet Shop". Shots that
involved Fang ended up running long and costing the production a lot
of money in overtime so he was written out of the series. He was
handled by Bill Weatherwax.
Agent
Larabee (Robert Karvelas, left) is the Chief's slow-witted
assistant. In a season five episode, it is reported that if anything
happens to Smart, Larabee will take his place. Robert Karvelas was
Don Adams's cousin. Larabee also appears in The Nude Bomb.
Agent
44 (Victor French, right) is Agent 13's predecessor and is also
stationed in tight corners. Agent 44 sometimes falls into bouts of
self-pity and complaining, and he would sometimes try to keep Max
chatting for the company. Agent 44 appears in several episodes in the
second half of the season one. In the final season, there is a new
Agent 44, (played by Al Molinaro) in two episodes. (Prior to starting
as 44, Victor French has a brief guest role in the season-one episode
"Too Many Chiefs" as Smart's Mutual Insurance agent. French
is better known for his role in Little House on the Prairie.)
Hymie
the Robot (Richard "Dick" Gautier, left) is a humanoid
robot built by Dr. Ratton to serve KAOS, but in his first mission,
Smart manages to turn him to the side of CONTROL. Hymie has numerous
superhuman abilities, such as being physically stronger and faster
than any human and being able to swallow poisons and register their
name, type, and quantity, though his design does not include
superhuman mental processing, most significantly characterized by an
overly literal interpretation of commands. For example, when Smart
tells Hymie to "get a hold of yourself," he grasps each arm
with the other. Hymie also has emotions and is "programmed for neatness." 
Dr.
Steele (Ellen Weston, right) is a CONTROL scientist who makes
three appearances in season three. Dr. Steele is an intelligent,
extremely attractive woman whose cover is a chorus dancer at a
high-class burlesque theatre. The entrance to her laboratory is
through a large courier box sidestage. Dr Steele often performs
complex scientific procedures while wearing her revealing performance
costumes. She is often seen explaining her findings while warming up
for her next dance, and then suddenly departing for her performance.
Dr. Steele is replaced with the similar Dr. Simon (Ann Elder), who
appears in two episodes of season four, is mentioned once in season five.
Ludwig
Von Siegfried, Konrad Siegfried, Count Von Siegfried or simply
Siegfried (Bernie Kopell, right) is a recurring villain, and the Vice
President in charge of Public Relations and Terror at KAOS though his
title does vary. Siegfried is Maxwell Smart's "opposite
number" and nemesis, even though the two characters share
similar traits and often speak fondly of one another, even in the
midst of attempting to assassinate each other. Speaking English with
an exaggerated German accent, the gray-haired, mustachioed, and
dueling-scarred Siegfried's catch phrase is, "Zis is KAOS! Ve
don't [some action] here!"
Shtarker
(King Moody, left) is Siegfried's chief henchman. Shtarker is an
overzealous lackey whose most notable trait is his abrupt personality
change from sadistic KAOS villain to presumptuous child, interrupting
conversations to helpfully elaborate, using silly vocal noises to
imitate things such as engines or guns. This prompts Siegfried to
utter his catch phrase, "Shtarker... Nein! Zis is KAOS! Ve don't
[weakly imitates Shtarker's sound effect] here!"
The
Claw (Leonard Strong, right) is a Dr. Julius No type Asian
villain representing the east-Asian branch of KAOS. In place of the
Claw's left hand is a powerful mechanical prosthesis with immobile
fingers and an occasional attachment, hence his name. Sometimes the
Claw would accidentally nab something with it, creating confusion. He
is unable to pronounce the letter L and mispronounces his name as
"Craw," with Smart repeatedly referring to him as "The
Craw," much to his annoyance. Like Siegfried, he has a huge,
dimwitted assistant, named Bobo. (The Claw presumably inspired the
villain Dr. Claw in the animated cartoon Inspector Gadget, whose
title character was voiced by Don Adams.)
Simon
the Likeable (Jack Gilford, left), who appears in "And Baby
Makes 4" Parts 1 & 2 is a KAOS killer whose nice face
mesmerizes everyone into liking him, except 99's mother (played by
Jane Dulo), who knocks him out with a right cross, because Simon
resembles her late, much-hated, and unlamented husband. (99's father
never appears in any episode.)
Telephones
are concealed in over 50 objects, including a necktie, comb, watch,
and a clock. A recurring gag is Max's shoe phone (an idea from
Brooks). To use or answer it, he has to take off his shoe. Max's
shoes sometimes contains other devices housed in his heels: an
explosive pellet, a smoke bomb, compressed air capsules that
propelled the wearer off the ground, and a suicide pill (which Max
believes is for the enemy).
On
February 17, 2002, the prop shoe phone used by agent Maxwell Smart
was included in a display entitled "Spies: Secrets from the CIA,
KGB, and Hollywood", a collection of real and fictional spy gear
that exhibited at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi
Valley, California.
The
car Smart is seen driving most frequently in the show for seasons
1–4 is a red 1965 Sunbeam Tiger two-seat roadster. Due to the
various custom features of this car, like the machine gun and
ejection seat, the Sunbeam Alpine was the picture car actually used
by customizer Gene Winfield, because a 4-cylinder afforded more room
under the hood than the V8 Tiger. AMT, Winfield's employer, made a
model kit (left) of the Tiger, complete with hidden weapons, it is
the only kit of the Tiger and has been reissued multiple times as a
stock Tiger. The picture car cannot be located, but the personal car
of Don Adams (also a 1965 Sunbeam Tiger) was restored in 2005 and
still exists and the Alpine/Tiger was also recreated, in 2002. In the
opening credits (only) of seasons three and four, Smart drives a
light blue Volkswagen Karmann Ghia, as Volkswagen became a sponsor of
the show. In season five (1969–70), Buick became a show sponsor,
so the Tiger was replaced with a gold 1969 Opel GT, which appears in
every episode. In the short-lived 1995 TV series, 'Smart' is trying
to sell the Karmann Ghia through the classified ads. The Sunbeam
Tiger, the Karmann Ghia, and the Opel GT make brief appearances in
the 2008 film. Both are first seen in the CONTROL Museum, along with
the original shoe phone, which 'Smart' also briefly uses.
Maxwell
Smart (Don Adams), acting as a protocol officer since CONTROL was
disbanded in the early 1970s, is reactivated as a counterintelligence
agent by Commander Drury (Kenneth Mars) of the United States
Intelligence Agency. KAOS, long considered defunct, has been
revitalized by a corporate takeover. Its first scheme involves
turning a forgotten American scientist and using his weather control
machine to extort $250 billion from the United States Government.
(This plot is similar to the one used in the 1990s Avengers movie,
another film based on a 1960s TV spy series.)
