From page to screen: Get Smart marks 60 years

Maxwell Smart answers his shoephone during Get Smart's debut on Sept. 18, 1965.

(Editor's note: This is another post “from the archives” with some adjustments. I've been absent due to life, universe and everything, but Get Smart's 60th anniversary merits recognition.) 

Sixty years ago this week a few of spyfi's noted 60s TV shows were birthed – I Spy, The Wild Wild West and Get Smart.

 

It was on Sept. 18, 1965 that viewers may have tuned into NBC and found themselves watching the beginning of a black and white show, which starts off with a tuxedoed man sitting at concert next to his elegantly dressed and perfectly coiffed date. Then a phone rings. People stare. He excuses himself and takes the call in the nearest closet, where it's revealed that the ringing is coming from a phone in, of all places, his shoe. 

We learn from that one-sided conversation this character is a spy. We're clued in early on that he's an awkward person, since he can't help but get stuck in the closet before driving off to his assignment. What we don't learn is what happened to that woman he left back in the concert hall, but that's just how Get Smart rolls. 

The seeds to Smart were planted by Dan Melnick, a partner in the New York-based production firm of Talent Associates. The other partner in Talent Associates was David Susskind. 

With spies galore on screen, Melnick felt the world was ready for James Bond and the like to be parodied. 

Max and 99 sort out how to thwart Kaos.

Melnick initially approached Mike Nichols to work on the project, but the logistics didn't work out. He then contacted his pal Mel Brooks and, following that, brought Buck Henry into the fold. He pitched the idea to ABC, which gave Talent Associates the funds for a screenplay. 

“We wrote this take off on spy stories. We figured the people running our country were completely inept and we'd show the world,” Brooks noted in an audio commentary of the pilot. 

The group worked out the nuts and bolts of the show, namely that their version of James Bond should be named Maxwell Smart – because he wasn't smart. 

“We...gave him, as his most sterling quality, a remarkable lack of insight,” said Henry, as stated in The Life and Times of Maxwell Smart. 

Since secret agents of the day were all about code numbers, they gave Smart the number 86 – the signal bartenders use to cut off service to drunks. 

It took Brooks and Henry three and a half months to write the script – a processes mostly worked out over Henry's pool table. 

“We could have done it in a week, but we loved playing pool,” said Brooks. 

Getting Smart from page to screen was a bit of a process, part of which was meeting the desires of the network. At some point in that process ABC suggested adding a dog to the cast – and a mother. 

Brooks' opposition to Max having a mother, in most writings about Get Smart's back story, has been well stated. He and Henry did relent on the matter of a dog – only they made sure this dog would be the antitheses of Lassie. 

ABC's head of programming, Edgar Scherick, didn't find the script funny. Some reports have quoted him as calling the script “un-American,” however, he denied that statement. Still, ABC gave Smart a no-go. 

“ABC commissioned this pilot. Somebody looked at it and said, no, it's creepy. It's not funny. It's basically un-American,” Henry noted in an audio commentary of the pilot. 

Some may respond to that with a well earned, “Seriously?” However, when I first wrote this blog 10 years ago I stated that I didn't think today's social conscious was so different. Presently, I think the idea of a spy satire would have been spiked entirely. 

The script revolved around a terrorist plot to blow up the Statue of Liberty. In our post- 9-11 world of terrorism and shootings, Americans may have a hard time immediately grasping that concept as funny. ABC's reaction no longer feels far-fetched 

ABC's opinion really didn't matter. Talent Associates, which had brought in Leonard Stern to head its west cost operation, moved on – specifically to NBC. 

There were some minor tweaks NBC wanted – and one rather significant change. Earlier in the process,

Don Adams and the cast of The Bill Dana Show.

when the team presented the show to ABC, Tom Poston was named to play the lead. NBC, however, had an actor they wanted to play Smart: Don Adams.

Adams was under contract with NBC after the sitcom he had co-starred in, The Bill Dana Show, was canceled. As the story goes, Adams had a year to pick and choose a pilot – and was waiting for a possible Sheldon Leonard produced project. Instead he was asked if he'd consider a script about a bumbling James Bond. He was initially hesitant. When he found out Brooks and Henry were the writers, he agreed to do it without even reading the script.

Adams brought elements from his stand-up routine to the mix, specifically his exaggerated impression of actor William Powell and the “Would you believe” gag, which had been created by writer Bill Dana.

"Smart is a very dedicated spy but totally inept," Adams told United Press International in 1965. "I think if Smart is warm and sincere he will appeal to viewers . . . He's never mean or nasty, so viewers can identify with him."

While the part wasn't originally intended for Adams, Henry has described the casting as serendipitous and Brooks called it a wonderful marriage. 

“I think the energy behind it all . . . the jet engine . . . was Don Adams, who really believed in what he was doing,” said Brooks. “He could work from morning to night and never quit.” 

The part of Smart's femme fatale, the never-named Agent 99, was written with actress Barbara Feldon in mind. Prior to spots on such shows as The Man From Uncle, Mr. Broadway and the Talent Associates produced series East Side/West Side, Feldon garnered fame for crawling on a tiger skin rug to pitch Top Brass hair cream. 

Barbara Feldon growling for Top Brass hair cream.

Chosen to play 86 and 99's boss, The Chief, was character actor and opera singer Ed Platt. One of his most memorable pre-Get Smart roles was as James Dean's juvenile officer in Rebel Without A Cause. He also had roles in Written on the Wind and Hitchcock's North by Northwest. 

The pilot was not created with a logo or opening. Leonard Stern later added the noted opening and closing sequence with the multiple doors Max walked through. That scene itself has been parodied a number of times and is as iconic as the shoephone. 

As for that shoephone, Brooks noted in DVD commentary that he thought a bizarre place for anyone to have a secret telephone was in the heel of a shoe. 

“That was the first time a phone went off in an audience,” said Brooks, in reference to the pilot's opening scene. 

Henry said, as stated in DVD commentary, it was ironic that the show started with a phone ringing in an audience. 

“Now of course there's nothing unusual about this,” said Henry. “Then, this was a remarkable instance of strangeness.” 

This was actually a simplified glimpse of what went into the premiere of Get Smart. There's a lot more to digest on the matter and more insights can be found in my reference guide. Also, the DVD box set features two rounds of wonderful audio commentary on the pilot from Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. 

Also premiering on NBC the night of Sept. 18 was another iconic 60s sitcom, I Dream of Jeannie. That show, along with the other shows in NBC's fall lineup were featured in a TV special, A Secret Agent's Dilemma, or A Clear Case of Mind Over Mata Hari. Airing Sept. 6, 1965, this was the first appearance of Maxwell Smart on TV. 

Maxwell Smart appears in color prior to Get Smart in A Clear Case of Mind Over Mata Hari.

So what was the world like when Get Smart aired? Perhaps it was as confusing and turbulent as it is today. The country was both in the midst of changing social norms and engaged in a war. 

In a nutshell, here's what kept people glued to the news in the month prior to Get Smart's premiere: 

• The war in Vietnam had escalated and the American ground war was underway. On Sept. 11, 1965, the 1st Cavalry Division of the United States Army arrived in Vietnam. During this period President Lyndon Johnson, signed a law penalizing the burning of draft cards with up to five years in prison and a $1,000 fine. 
• The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 was ongoing. The day of Get Smart's airing, Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin invited the leaders of India and Pakistan to meet in the Soviet Union to negotiate. 
• In Iraq, Prime Minister Arif Abd ar-Razzaq's attempted coup fails. 
• Hurricane Betsy hit the New Orleans area with winds reaching 145 mph. There were 76 deaths and $1.42 billion in damage.

In non-scary news:

• Bob Dylan released Highway 61 Revisited, featuring "Like a Rolling Stone." 
• The fourth and final period of the Second Vatican Council opened. 
• Gemini 5, with a crew of Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad, was launched. 

September inches us closer to the World Series. Here's what was going on in sports around this time:

• Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitched a perfect game against the Chicago Cubs. 
• On the night Get Smart aired, Mickey Mantle played his 2,000th game at Yankee stadium.

Born in September of 1965 were: President of Syria Bashar al-Assad, boxer Lennox Lewis, actress Marlee Matlin, musician Moby and actor Charlie Sheen.

From the archives: Diplomat’s Daughter

 

Agents 86 and 99 ponder how to do their jobs without looking conspicuous.

(It’s been a super hectic week so here’s another post from the archives)

Episode Two

Multi-tasking: Max gets his shoes shined
and gets scolded by the Chief.

Diplomat’s Daughter (original air date: 9-25-65)

Cast: The Claw – Leonard Strong, Princess Ingrid Swenson – Inger Stratton, Carleton – Frank De Vol, Toto – Bill Saito, Bobo – Lee Kolima, Club Patron – Jerry Rush, Doorman – Bernard Sell

Director: Paul Bogart

Writers: Gerald Gardner and Dee Caruso

Producer: Jay Sandrich

Filming Location: Paramount Studios, Hollywood

Synopsis 

After eight random blondes are abducted in the same area of the District of Columbia by the Claw and the "Oriental Arm of Kaos," Control decides to beef up security for visiting Princess Ingrid of Scandinavia. Max, having five years earlier saved the life of the princess's father, is assigned to the case. He soon finds out that the freckle-faced teenager he remembers is now a partying blonde bombshell.

How Princess Ingrid greats old friends. 99 disapproves.

My Thoughts

The Claw, so named for his large magnetic appendage, strikes me as an overburdened middle manager that really doesn't want to be bothered with the minor details that it takes to execute his assignment. As much as he'd like to score a victory with Kaos by getting Maxwell Smart out of the way, his patience wears thin in the process.

The Claw admits to detesting violence and instructs his henchman, who suggests torture by forcing air bubbles into the bloodstream, to "…do your fiendish work, but don't tell me about it." However, he's not above attempting to place bamboo shoots under Max's fingers or using a KAOS branding iron as a torture tool.

The Claw also apologizes for kidnapping the wrong girls.

Claw: "Unfortunately Mr. Smart, all Americans look alike to us. We may be diabolical, but we're not perfect," he admits.

Also amusing in this episode is 99's jealousy. This is a trait that will appear in other first season episodes and this early in the series tends to come off as a bit cartoonish. Still, it has its moments — like in one scene where Max asks 99 for advice on how to handle the princess. 99's response is nothing but snark.

Max: Well, 99, you're a woman, aren't you? What can we do to stop her?

99: How about a tranquilizer?

99 also goes as far as to forge Max's report at the end of the mission and makes arrangements so that he won't be escorting the princess back to Scandinavia. Those honors were given to Fang.

As for Max, he displays the usual flubs – like being oblivious to a kidnapping that occurs just feet from him. He also manages to destroy his smoke pellet before even heading out on assignment.

Nevertheless, Smart always works best under pressure. He puts an end to the Claw by chucking a container of silverware at his magnetic arm.

This episode also tends to make much of '60s dancing. 99 appears to be having a great time at the club. Max, however, isn't up on the Pony, the Frug or the Watutsi – and seems bothered by it all.

Max: The poor devils! What have they done to them?

Watch for: Max's obsession with the photos of the missing blondes, the Claw's George Washington painting, the Old Picture in the Keyhole Trick, the banter between Max and the Claw and when 99 gives the Chief dancing lessons.

Max mistakes a bug in a bouquet for a bomb in a box.

Footnotes

• Frank De Vol had a storied career as an orchestra leader, having written the scores for many movies. He also had a handful of roles in old TV shows.

Don't be fooled by the size of 99's gun.

• Leonard Strong specialized in Asian characters and became best known for the Claw and the title character in the Twilight Zone episode, "The Hitchhiker." Strong appears two more times in Get Smart — he gets a second round as The Claw in "The Amazing Harry Hoo" and plays Lin Chan in "The Laser Blazer."

• Bill Saito appeared in numerous TV shows from the 1960s through the 1990s.

• The play Get Smart by Christopher Sergel merges this episode with "Mr. Big." That play, by the way, is still being used in high school theatres across the U.S.

• Buck Henry is asked to collect his poodle during the airport scene

• Some Gen Xers and Millennials may recall in the Inspector Gadget cartoon Gadget (voiced by Don Adams) faced an adversary also named Claw.

Glick meter: A nice collection of catchphrases are used, but Don Adams backs off a bit from "The Voice."

Oh Max meter: A first season 99 is a jealous 99.

Control Agents: Carleton of the lab. Also mentioned: Saltzman, Saxon and Schwartz who is described as a real go-getter but is being held prisoner in Rangoon.

Kaos Agents: The Claw (not the Craw), Toto and Bobo.

Gadgets: Shoe Phone, 27F Cigarette lighter - it's supposed to fire a .22 caliber bullet. Key word: supposed. Wrist communicator T37, 99's mini gun — fires a poison pin that kills instantly. Max also gets new shoes that feature steel enforced toes for kicking and compartments that contain three pellets: a suicide pellet, a concussion pellet and a smoke pellet.

Episode Locations: Washington, D.C. — The Hotel Cramley and Shanghai à Gogo

How 99 works her way into a Kaos dance club. Max disapproves.

Mr. Big – take one

Invoking the gaze: Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) finally gets a good look at Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon) while Saturday night NBC viewers get their own good look at the start of a five year series parodying the 1960s spy craze.

(From the archives) 

Episode One

Max clocks in for the first episode.

Mr. Big (original air date: 9-18-65)

Cast: Maxwell Smart – Don Adams; Agent 99 –  Barbara Feldon; the Chief – Ed Platt; Mr. Big – Michael Dunn (special guest star); Dante – Vito Scotti; Zelinka – Janine Gray; Garth – Kelton Garwood; Mother – Karen Norris; Fang – Red; uncredited scientist - George Tracy; uncredited audience members - Steve Carruthers, Stuart Hall, Sam Harris, Ron Nyman and Monty O'Grady; uncredited henchmen - Charles Horvath and Bob Hoy

Director: Howard Morris

Writers: Mel Brooks and Buck Henry

Producer: Jay Sandrich

Filming Location: Paramount Studios, Hollywood

Synopsis

Meet counter-espionage organization Control and its top agent Maxwell Smart who has been specially trained never to disclose the fact that he’s a spy – except maybe when his shoe phone rings in symphony hall. Agent 86 must: find Agent 99, rescue Professor Dante and get his mitts on Dante’s Inthermo before Mr. Big uses it to blow up the Statue of Liberty.

The initial usage of Max's favorite useless toy - the Cone of Silence.

My thoughts 

I guess if I have to blame something for my Get Smart addiction, it would be the black and white pilot. I never get tired of this episode. Over on www.ilovegetsmart.com I have it listed as my number four favorite episode. In comparison to how the series progressed, Max, 99 and the Chief are a bit "raw," yet this really is a tight little episode.

I first saw this episode in January of 1991 when Nick at Nite began airing Get Smart. Unlike the rest of my Chicagoland pals who watched the show in reruns during the '80s on Channel 32, I had never seen it before. I lived in the Mid-Atlantic prior to the '90s and there was no Get Smart to be found on Baltimore TV.

Being an '80s kid, there was one thing that made me raise an eyebrow the first time I saw the pilot — the voice. I wondered, why does this guy sound like Inspector Gadget? He's even got an inflatable coat, a dog and a brainy female sidekick like Inspector Gadget did! My 12-year-old mind was impressed.

The scene in this episode I love the most is Max and 99's near kiss. After Fang saves Max from being vaporized, 99 takes off her hat and shakes out her hair. This prompts Max to utter, "Why you're a girl!" The two then go for a kiss, which Fang interrupts.

Logically the whole concept of this scene is absurd – evidently Mr. Smart clearly needed a stronger pair of Bino-Specs when he first laid eyes on 99. Comically it takes the opportunity to mock spy movie heroes that make out with Bond girls they've just met.

It's worth noting that the original script had 99 described as a blonde. That, of course, would change as Barbara Feldon was sought out by Buck Henry.

But unlike Feldon, Don Adams was not originally considered for Agent 86. The series had initially been pitched to ABC and Tom Poston, then known for being one of Steve Allen's "Men in the Street" was cast as Maxwell Smart. I'll write more on that in a future blog.

Watch for: Mr. Big’s little cigarettes, 99’s bad driving, the humorous fight scene on the garbage scow and Max discovering that 99 is indeed a girl. There’s a bunch of booboos in this episode and those will be discussed in the next weeks blog.

Max discovers that Agent 99 is indeed a girl - at least until Fang barks and tells them to get back to work.

Footnotes

• This is the only black and white episode of the series.

• The opening is slightly different. Max drives a Ferrari 250 GT Cabriolet and tosses a hat into the back

The first Get Smart car was this Ferrari 250 GT Cabriolet.

seat. This is the only time this car is used. In the rest of the episode 99 attempts to drive a limo and Max attempts to close the vehicle's door.

• During filming of the pilot Don Adams learned that his wife Dorothy gave birth to their daughter Stacey Noel.

• Michael Dunn had quite a bit of experience playing the archenemy of secret agents – he had a reoccurring role as evil Miguelito Loveless on The Wild Wild West.

• "Zelinka" is an in-joke – Executive Producer Leonard Stern’s co-writer on The Honeymooners was Sydney Zelinka.

• Howard Morris worked with Mel Brooks on Your Show of Shows and he played Ernest T. Bass on the Andy Griffith Show.

• Dante’s Inthermo is a reference to Dante's Inferno.

• Vito Scotti was probably in every old TV show known to man.

• Karen Norris had a role in the movie Fitzwilly which starred Barbara Feldon.

• A child actor, Monty O'Grady was an early member of the Our Gang group.

• George Tracy appears in another first season Get Smart episode, "Double Agent" as a barfly.

• A noted stuntman, Charles Horvath had a more substantial role in a second season Get Smart episode, "Island of the Darned" as Igor.

Glick meter: 100%

Oh Max meter: Probably the only episode 99 refers to Agent 86 as Maxwell. They haven't quite hit their stride.

Control Agents: Hodgkins, Agent 34 (in locker), Fang. Also mentioned: Agent 57 who is in Hong Kong

Kaos Agents: Mr. Big, Zelinka, Garth, un-named Kaos agent at the airport and random Kaos Frogmen

Gadgets: Cone of Silence, Shoe Phone, Mirrored Cuff Links, Bino-Specs, Locker Key, a Beretta and the Inflato-Coat

Episode Locations: Washington, D.C., New York City, Cravehaven Laboratory, South Street Novelty

After successfully defeating Kaos, a mussed Agent 99 beams with pride while Max phones it in to a wrong number.