The classic brilliance of Get Smart

On a recent trip to Washington, DC, I visited the International Spy Museum. The tremendous collection of artifacts housed there (such as this shoe with a heel transmitter used by the Romanian Secret Service) brought back memories of Get Smart, one of my favorite TV series of all time.

The classic spy spoof lasted for 138 episodes from September 1965 through May 1970. The first four seasons aired on NBC on Saturday night while CBS carried the final season on Friday night. The show then experienced a lengthy run in syndication. The Get Smart pilot was filmed in black & white, but all subsequent episodes were in color.

Mel Brooks and Buck Henry created the TV series which parodied the James Bond movies. The sitcom was set in the nation's capital and featured a trio of lead characters who worked for a secret espionage organization known as CONTROL.

Don Adams starred as Maxwell Smart - CONTROL Agent 86. Adams was brilliant in the role of a clumsy, dimwitted, and seemingly incompetent spy. Despite his numerous flaws, Smart was considered the top agent for CONTROL. Adams had a very distinctive vocal delivery which was ideal for playing Agent 86. He had previously been the voice of penguin Tennessee Tuxedo in a Saturday morning cartoon series. Adams was a former comedian and many of the Maxwell Smart antics and the classic "Would you believe?" sequences actually originated from his old stand-up routines. His mannerisms and wealth of one-liners put a stamp on Get Smart.

Barbara Feldon portrayed CONTROL Agent 99. Her character was never identified on the series by name and simply went by the moniker "99". In stark contrast to the bumbling Max, Agent 99 demonstrated intelligence, poise, and style. Feldon's low-key demeanor was perfectly suited for that role. During scenes involving Max and 99, Feldon would often lean or slouch to avoid drawing attention to the fact that she was taller than Adams. Her character married Max during season 4 and gave birth to twins in season 5. In the 1960s, it was rather rare to see a lead "career woman" on a TV series. According to Feldon, many female fans told her that they viewed Agent 99 as a role model.

Edward Platt played the Chief of CONTROL. No matter how badly Smart would bungle things, the Chief always trusted him with the most important assignments. Whenever Max made an inane remark, the stares and exasperated facial expressions by the Chief were priceless. Both the Chief and 99 were splendid in playing a "straight man" role to Max. The characters played by this trio on Get Smart were clearly the signature marks of their respective acting careers.

The show was memorable for the various spy gadgets used by the agents. On many episodes, Max and 99 would visit the CONTROL lab to obtain special weapons and equipment for their assignment. Max's apartment was also set up with various gizmos such as an invisible wall and a net which drops from the ceiling.

Obviously, the most famous gadget was Max's shoe phone which rings during the first scene of the pilot episode Mr. Big. Max would take off his shoe to make or receive a call with the Chief. Agent 99 used various phone gadgets including a comb and compact mirror. I find it fascinating to see the frequent usage of "mobile" phone devices on the 1960s Get Smart TV series in light of the modern cell phone.

My favorite gadget was the Cone of Silence. If the Chief was about to discuss top secret information, Max would claim that CONTROL regulations required them to use the Cone of Silence. The Cone was a clear plastic contraption which lowered from the ceiling of the Chief's office and covered their heads. As an aside, the name of the device seems curious as it was not in the shape of a cone. Of course the running gag was that the device never worked properly. The Chief and Max would have trouble hearing each other and would start yelling or leaning outside the Cone. Like the shoe phone, the Cone also debuted in the pilot episode. The writers creatively incorporated different failures of the Cone into various episodes. On one show, Max and the Chief resorted to using a set of cards called the CONTROL Secret Word File while still under the Cone. Another episode featured a portable Cone of Silence.

In a typical episode, the Chief would assign Smart and 99 to investigate and thwart a devious plan from KAOS, the so-called international organization of evil. The CONTROL agents would inevitably find themselves in a precarious position in the clutches of KAOS. Fortunately, some quick thinking by 99 or an occasional brilliant (or lucky) maneuver by Max would save the day for CONTROL - often assisted by the ineptitude of the KAOS agents.

The series featured a set of villains who made repeat performances. The most prominent of these was KAOS agent Siegfried who was played by Bernie Kopell using a thick German accent. The interplay between Smart and the recurring villains is classic as they seemed to treat each other as friendly rivals rather than arch enemies.

The plots incorporated other secret agents in minor roles. David Ketchum played CONTROL Agent 13 on several episodes where he would be stationed in a bizarre hiding location such as a vending machine, mailbox, garbage bin, ice machine, or airport locker.

An iconic feature of Get Smart was the show opening sequence and theme music. Max enters a building and walks down a hallway as an elaborate set of doors open and close until he enters a phone booth and then disappears from view. During the closing credits, he walks through the same doors in the opposite direction before the doors start closing in rapid fashion.

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The series featured many other legendary Maxwell Smart catchphrases:

• "Sorry about that Chief"
• "And loving it"
• "Missed it by that much"
• "The old < ... > trick"
• "I hope I wasn't out of line with that crack about < ... >"

You could spend a few minutes on any random episode and recapture the magic of this series. I'll spotlight a few episodes which had somewhat of a sports theme and point out some examples of the catchphrases and classic scenes:

<UPDATE 12/31/14: I needed to refresh the video clips to embed from a different account, so the "bookmark" time stamps in the text may be off a bit.>

In The Last One In Is A Rotten Spy, Max has a cover assignment as an American swim team trainer. This episode contains an awesome scene from 0:45-4:00 where Smart unsuccessfully attempts to record a phone conversation and then searches for a pencil ("Two drawers and only one shot left"). It also features a memorable "Would You Believe?" sequence at 6:20. The scene starting at 7:40 demonstrates a classic Smart delay tactic which is capped off by the Chief screaming "Get in the pool!". There is a "Sorry about that Chief" at 10:16 and an example of  "And loving it" at 13:11.



I Shot 86 Today uses a golf course story line (and a double entendre title). At 8:20, Smart receives his special equipment from the lab complete with a golf shoe phone. Max predictably spikes himself in the face while using it at 17:30. Max spots "the old <mortar in the rocks on the 14th hole> trick" at 20:03. I get a kick out of the sidebar moment at 21:10 where a golfer patiently waits for the cart chase with gunfire to pass through before playing his stroke from the fairway.



While not a sports-related episode, A Spy for a Spy includes an epic scene at 18:22 where Smart and Siegfried negotiate trades of kidnapped CONTROL and KAOS agents like a pair of professional sports team general managers. Siegfried, who was making his first appearance on the series, utters what would become one of his classic recurring lines "We don't shush here" at 7:30. The banter between Smart and Siegfried highlights this episode, especially the weapon check scene starting at 8:00. This episode also contains an example of the phrase "I hope I wasn't out of line with that crack about <Fathead>" at 15:53.



Get Smart won a total of seven Emmy Awards including two for Outstanding Comedy Series. Adams received the Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series honor three times while Feldon was among the nominees for Outstanding Actress twice.

This post is part of the Summer of MeTV Classic TV Blogathon hosted by the Classic TV Blog Association. Please check out the complete schedule of blog posts for this event.

The Odd Couple - and Big Mouth Howard Cosell

The classic TV series The Odd Couple is one of my favorite comedies. ABC televised it from September 1970 through March 1975. The network continually bounced the sitcom between Thursday and Friday nights using different time slots. The show received mediocre ratings during its original run of 114 episodes, but achieved much greater success during syndication.

The Odd Couple was set in New York City and starred Tony Randall as Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison. Randall played a commercial photographer while Klugman portrayed a sports columnist for the fictional New York Herald newspaper. The TV show was based on a 1965 Broadway play of the same name written by Neil Simon. The initial season used a laugh track, but for subsequent seasons, the show was filmed before a live studio audience in Hollywood.

The two central characters were both divorced and shared a Manhattan apartment. Felix was quite meticulous, obsessed with cleanliness, and prone to sinus attacks. Oscar was rather sloppy and disheveled and would often wear a Mets hat backwards. Felix loved the opera while Oscar frequently gambled and smoked cigars. Randall and Klugman played their respective roles brilliantly. The duo had tremendous on-screen chemistry and the contrast between the opposite personalities of the characters worked perfectly. The episodes often featured sequences of rapid-fire dialogue filled with humorous one-liners. The banter between Felix and Oscar defined the show.

During some of the early seasons, the show used a variation of the following opening theme narration which ended with the classic question: "Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?"



Garry Marshall produced the TV series. The cast included two prominent supporting characters. One was Murray Greshler played by Al Molinaro. Murray was a policeman who was a regular in Felix and Oscar's poker game. The other was Myrna Turner played by Garry's sister Penny Marshall. Myrna was Oscar's secretary at the newspaper. Both Penny and Al would later surface on the sitcom Happy Days which Garry would also produce.

The Odd Couple utilized guest stars on several episodes. One of the most notable of these was Howard Cosell who was the most recognized sports announcer at the time. His Q score and notoriety were exploding as Monday Night Football on ABC grew in popularity. He also called many boxing matches and did segments for Wide World of Sports.

In a bit of ABC cross-promotion, Cosell made two appearances on the sitcom, both times portraying himself. As an aside, is there any TV personality in history more suited to playing himself/herself than Cosell? I would think not.

His first appearance came in a 1972 episode appropriately titled Big Mouth. In this show, Felix has landed a photography job for a cola advertisement spot featuring Cosell. The script contains several verbal clashes between Cosell and Oscar which played on the real-life disdain that Cosell and the New York Daily News sportswriter Dick Young demonstrated toward each other at that time.

The first part of the episode illustrates a typical exchange between Felix and Oscar. I especially like the way Felix exclaims "You took a cab to come here to borrow money?" As soon as Cosell enters, he and Oscar immediately start trading insults. Next, we have a super scene where Felix is ranting at Oscar who is at the typewriter working on a column which blasts Cosell. And note the way he "files" the article with Myrna.



The next clip includes a memorable "handshake" between Oscar and Cosell. Then there is the classic sinus and nasal twang routine resulting in Cosell calling Felix an "inane drone". Later, the script calls for Cosell to show off by rapidly rattling off the entire Colts defensive lineup from memory.



The final segment begins with Oscar learning that despite his request to pull the column, Myrna convinced the editor to run it. During the photo shoot, Cosell sees the article and storms out of the studio. In a broadcast scene, Cosell introduces Charlie - winner of the (classically titled) "Why I Want to Be Like Howard Cosell" contest. Cosell then tries to embarrass Oscar by putting him live on the air without warning. Oscar remains silent, overcome with stagefright, but Felix takes the microphone and jumps in with some elegant and longwinded play-by-play to bail out his best friend.

One more point of interest - According to a book by Mark Ribowsky, the lengthy departing remark from 8:09-8:36 mark on this clip was actually written by Cosell.



Cosell made a return appearance on The Odd Couple in the 1975 episode Your Mother Wears Army Boots. ABC executive producer Roone Arledge also played himself in that show as did opera singer Martina Arroyo. That episode also used the Monday Night Football angle with ABC hiring Oscar as a temporary fill-in for Alex Karras in the booth.

For a "non-actor", I feel that Cosell demonstrated rather impressive acting skills on these shows and added greatly to the entertainment. He sounded authentic with his distinctive and deliberate vocal pattern. The writers gave him many great lines, but Cosell was willing to play a caricature of himself and was quite successful in doing so. At various points in the 1972 show, Cosell describes himself as "the big man", "the great one", "the gifted one", "the single most identifiable voice in all broadcasting", and refers to "my own special talents". In the 1975 episode, he brazenly refers to Monday Night Football as "my show".

The production was surprisingly shoddy regarding the football games Cosell was broadcasting. The 1972 episode covers two Giants games and both times the displayed footage contains artificial turf. The show implies that the first game was in New York and specifically describes the second game as being at Yankee Stadium, but it had natural grass. The Giants didn't play home games on artificial turf until 1976. Charlie calls a play as ending at the 49-yard line, but the footage shows a tackle around the 30-yard line. On the play Felix calls, he describes Roger Staubach being stopped for no gain, but the footage shows Duane Thomas being tackled. In the 1975 episode, Cosell describes a 19-yard pass by Joe Namath, but the footage shows the play covering only 11 yards. Finally, both episodes portray Cosell as an NFL play-by-play announcer rather than the unique "third man in the booth" role he actually filled on the ABC games.

Other guest stars with sports ties who played themselves on this series included Deacon Jones, Bubba Smith, Bobby Riggs, and Billie Jean King. Some additional celebrities who did likewise: Bob Hope, Dick Clark, Betty White, Richard Dawson, Hugh Hefner, and Wolfman Jack along with game show hosts Allen Ludden (Password) and Monty Hall (Let's Make a Deal).

Randall and Klugman each had long and successful acting careers, but both were best known for their roles on The Odd Couple as evidenced by virtually any obituary or tribute written for either one. Klugman won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in both 1971 and 1973 for his role as Oscar while Randall took the same honor in 1975 for his role as Felix. During the entire 5-season run of the series, both Randall and Klugman were among the handful of nominees for this award every year.

In addition to the Me-TV network, The Odd Couple is also currently available on the Cloo TV network and many clips from the series appear on Youtube.

This post is part of Me-TV's Summer of Classic TV Blogathon hosted by the Classic TV Blog Association. Go to http://classic-tv-blog-assoc.blogspot.com/ to view more posts in this blogathon. You can also go to http://metvnetwork.com/ to learn more about Me-TV and view its summer line-up of classic TV shows.