AGENT 99’s SURPRISE TV APPEARANCE AS “GET SMART” SHOE PHONE TAKES SPOTLIGHT
Barbara Feldon’s surprise greeting during my appearance on METV’s “Collector’s Call.”
Discussing the Shoe Phone from “Get Smart” on “Collector’s Call”
Actress Barbara Feldon—who played Agent 99 alongside Don Adams’ Maxwell Smart on the 1965-70 TV spy spoof “Get Smart”—surprised viewers when she turned up on a “Collector’s Call” episode on METV. Her remote video dial-in occurred just as Max’s famous Shoe Phone and other iconic spy movie artifacts from my collection were showcased for the program’s baby boomer audience.
In the video, Feldon reminisced about the day 22 years earlier when she and I met up at C.I.A. headquarters in Langley, VA., where I gave her a tour of the 400 artifacts on display in my very first SPY-Fi exhibit. Reuniting with the Shoe Phone—which was the star of the exhibit—she generously posed for photos taken by CIA staffers who were thrilled by her visit.
During Feldon’s video “call-in” to the METV show, she recalled learning that CIA engineers occasionally used imaginative spy gadgets and technology seen on ‘60s television as their inspiration for creating real devices to supply to the agency’s field operatives.
Touring the SPY-Fi exhibit at CIA headquarters with Barbara, as she makes a call on the Shoe Phone
Barbara Feldon with Robert Vaughn in a scene from "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." (1965)
Barbara’s visit to a real-world spy agency might have felt like a dream wrapped in a time warp with a twist of déjà vu. After all, Feldon landed her first job working for a counterspy organization on NBC-TV’s “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” In a 1965 episode she portrayed Mandy Stevenson, a Portuguese translator employed by the secret law enforcement agency, U.N.C.L.E. But that job didn’t last long. Within six months she was stolen away by Control, another counterspy agency also dedicated to fighting evildoers. Assigned the secret agent number “99,” she was teamed with Agent 86, Maxwell Smart, and spent the next five years on the satirical “Get Smart” providing laughs for TV viewers across the U.S.
Barbara and Don Adams in a scene from Get Smart (1965)
Thirty years after operating out of U.N.C.L.E. and Control, Feldon surfaced at the headquarters of a third spy organization—this time America’s premier intelligence agency, the C.I.A. It was there that everything came full circle, bringing her in contact with operatives of the agency as well as a tour of the hundreds of props in my exhibit that had originated with the fictional spy organizations that Barbara Feldon—aka Mandy Stevenson, aka Agent 99—had worked for.
Two decades later, Ms. Feldon showed up back in Hollywood to reminisce about our day at the C.I.A., and to thoughtfully express her appreciation for my efforts at preserving entertainment history. In closing she said, "Thanks so much, Danny, for keeping these shows alive through your collection, and preserving the nostalgia needs of so many fans."
Barbara Feldon is a talented actress and author, and a lovely, charming lady. I’m grateful for her friendship and especially for the pleasure that her work in television and literature has brought to millions of people the world over.
“Hey Max, it’s 99, sure wish you were here.”
