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 Two: A comedy of continuity gaffs

What's wrong with this picture? Read on and find out.

Another post “from the archives”, this one originally commemorated the pilot episode, “Mr. Big”, which aired Sept. 18, 1965. Now it makes a nice second part to last week’s review of that episode. This is a bit different than what I've previously written on the pilot. Instead of an overview, it's a glimpse of a few things we probably overlooked.

TV in the not so far distant past didn't offer the “extras” viewers are used to seeing today. Outtakes and behind the scenes footage wasn't at everyone's fingertips. Shows also weren't produced with the notion that there would be repeat viewing and over-analysis. An airing of a TV episode was a one-shot deal – unless the show was blessed with syndication.

Of the bloopers included in the Get Smart Time Life DVD set (which have wormed their way to YouTube), most of them were from the later seasons. Don Adams had saved and stored them away and his son in law, actor Jim Beaver, would later provide them for the DVDs.

As for the pilot episode, the only outtake floating around is footage of Don Adams being told he was a father.

Detective work, a discerning eye and repeat viewing, however, has revealed what was changed as well as biffed in the Get Smart pilot. Now this isn't a criticism - it's like finding Easter eggs. Here are a few (but not all) of the inconsistencies, goofs and changes in Mr. Big:

Agent 99's hair makes an appearance before the big reveal.

99's hair

This was one continuity error I noticed, probably from the first time I saw this episode. Would you believe the second time? It is glaring, but I always ignored it. One of the most iconic scene of the pilot (and the series) is when Max and 99 are together in the novelty shop. The Inthermo is activated, Fang saves Max's life and a Kaos agent gets zapped. 99's reaction is to take off her chauffeur's hat and shake out her hair. Max reacts to that by going for a kiss. Fang interrupts. 

Obviously, the idea was that 99's hair was supposed to stay tucked up in the hat and Max was supposed to be too distracted to notice she was a female. The scene is both hilarious and absurd and played with complete earnestness. It's a fantastic parody of all those smoldering moments of classic film where the guy eyes the girl. 

Unfortunately, there's a booboo. We see 99's bob sticking out of her hat twice before this scene. The first time, and the most noticeable, is when Max and 99 go out to the parking lot to talk to Zelinka. You can see 99's hair as the camera shoots from above. 

The second time her hair appears is after they pull up to the novelty shop and get out of the limo. Most viewers probably didn't notice this because they were watching Max struggle to get the door to the limo closed. It's worth a mention 99 was written into the script as a blonde – even though brunette Barbara Feldon had always been eyed for the role of 99.

The East Coast is looking an awful lot like Southern California in parts of "Mr. Big".

Wrong scenery

This episode is first set in Washington, D.C. and then in New York City. We get some nice stock footage of the U.S. Capitol Building and later the Statue of Liberty. However, we also get the wrong vegetation for the East Coast. As Max and 99 are driving to the city, en route to the novelty shop, palm trees and mountains can be seen in the background.

The old boom mic appearance

More discerning viewers can catch a cameo appearance made by a boom mic. It shows up in the windshield of the limo when Max and 99 are listening to the Kaos radio broadcast. Again, this is not something that would have stuck out because our attention would have gone to 86 and 99.

The old disappearing bullet holes trick.

Misplaced bullet holes

Like the boom mic, this is something you have to look for. During the melee on the garbage scow, Max gets his hands on a rifle and tries to take out Mr. Big and the Kaos frogmen. He fires away but ends up shooting into the wall and a door before the gun jams up. In the scene before the gunfire, we see a Kaos agent that needs obvious patching to his wet suit and a door full of bullet holes. In the next scene, after everyone dodges bullets and the smoke clears, the door is no longer damaged.

Cut Smart

Evidence of a cut scene is shown in this gum card.

One scene that got cut/reworked was documented – but not in the way you would think. We have collectibles to thank for evidence of this. 

On the bottom of the Get Smart lunchbox is a scene that looks like it came from the pilot. In it, we see a chauffeur suited 99 tied up with Max, Professor Dante and there's even a glimpse of Fang's nose. Max is fending off two Kaos frogmen with a blast of smoke from a cigarette. Also, there is a Get Smart trading card that shows Max, 99 and Dante laughing hysterically in the same scene.

These two images came from a scene that was rewritten. In it, Max, 99 and Dante were tied up below deck together. Max and Dante start talking but a Kaos agent interrupts and begins intimidating them. Max requests a final cigarette – one of his cigarettes. As the Kaos agent lights the cigarette, a stream of smoke explodes in his face. He starts to laugh and 99 points out that it's laughing gas. Eventually the rest of the group is overcome with laughing gas. Max manages to summon Fang who rescues them by chewing apart the ropes. This was re-shot with Max's weapon of choice being the inflato coat. Only Max, 99 and Fang (who was tied rather than roaming freely) were below deck together – Dante was somewhere else.

This sounded like a funny scene, and I wonder why it got changed. The most logical reason is that it probably took too long, and they needed to tighten things up. 

Now, a theory for those of us that like to over-think things is that it might have conflicted with the characterization of Smart – he wasn't supposed to be wise to the joke. The surreal idiocy the viewer sees in Mr. Big is Maxwell Smart's unwavering reality. 

Mel Brooks pointed this out in Joey Green's book, The Get Smart Handbook. “I would say the best thing about Maxwell Smart is that he was always wrong and always intense. He never played the joke. He never shared with the audience that he was aware that what he was doing was funny,” said Brooks.

Evidence of another cut scene is found on the Get Smart lunchbox.

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.

Welcome to Control's Log Books - Take 2!

 

Nearly 25 years ago I started a Get Smart website, The Unclassified Get Smart Site. Its initial home was over on the now defunct Geocities. I eventually moved the site under a domain name, www.ilovegetsmart.com 

Beyond being an online Get Smart shrine, it became a library of sorts for various news articles on the show, which I had collected over the years. Other fans have also contributed to that part of the site with their own collection of GS articles.

In addition, I also added a section on all the goofy nit-picky things we would debate on the GS list serve and during our old Friday night chat sessions.

I started this blog in 2015 on a WordPress page attached to ilovegetsmart.com. Unfortunately, due to events beyond my control, that page had a catastrophic failure during a hosting change over. All of my previous blog entries were lost. This has left me scrambling to find where I might have had those original entries stored. Ope! I guess I shouldn't have put Larabee in charge of filing.

One of the original focuses of the blog was to address individual episodes -something I had not gotten to the point of doing on my website.

Other notions for this blog include a few words about some of the Get Smart collectibles out there. 

This blog is going to be focused on the original series. The section on my website regarding the 2008 movie is about all the time I’m going to spend on that.

One thing of note: I'm in the process of salvaging those old entries, so they'll be brought over here first. Depending on what condition they're in, they'll be dusted off and either updated or re-written.

In other matters: Bear with me. I tend to get swamped with work, life and everything. It seems some people out there prefer I spend my time only thinking and writing about bureaucracy. *sigh* They don't know me.

And just one more thing: When I do post entries on the episodes, they'll be in the order that they appear on the DVDs. The episodes on the DVDs are in order by their original air date. The show wasn’t always aired that way in syndication. For example, Diplomat’s Daughter was the second episode to air, but for those that grew up watching GS on Nick at Night or TVLand, the second episode is Our Man in Toyland. Syndication of the series had another issue – some episodes were not shown as often as others. This matter was addressed over in The Smartian Controversies, but it largely boils down to contract. Syndicated episodes have various scenes cut out of them – which is a whole other thing depending on which network you watched your reruns on. Nick at Nite aired GS in the early '90s and pulled it in early 1995. TVLand began airing GS in 2001. Each channel had different edits of the show and at the time caused a bit of fan confusion.

And I suppose you’re wondering where you can ‘get’ Smart? See what I did there ;-) The DVDs are easily available via the internet and are available in two versions – the Time-Life box set and the HBO release. The Time-Life version has all kinds and varieties of extras. Choose wisely.

As well, Get Smart can be streamed on sites like Amazon Prime, but you have to pay for each individual episode or buy the whole season.

The show also airs on Decades at 1:30 a.m. ET. The channel can be picked up over the air via antenna – if you're lucky. If you think that’s a little too late, I will point out that there was a six-year period where GS wasn’t been shown at all in the U.S., so I’ll take what I can get.

Would you believe I have fond memories of staying up ‘til the crack of 2 a.m. to watch it on Nick at Nite?

*Would you believe after this was posted Decades rebranded and changed format? The channel is now called Catchy Comedy. Get Smart is no longer in the line up. Boooo! Now I don't feel so bad about my antenna not being able to pick it up.

This Sunbeam and cardboard Max were once owned by late Get Smart fan Sue Kesler. She let myself (pictured) and other fans sit in her ultimate GS collectible during the Get Smart in the Park portion of the Get Smart Gathering in Beverly Hills in 2003. Sue is greatly missed.