The Man from U.N.C.L.E
Card Game
ID 96.80.1
Sears Catalog, 1966
TV Guide
99.189.32
Get Smart Lunchbox
99.12.13
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By the mid-1960s, spies
were everywhere—in books, on records, at the movies, and on countless
products. Even Mad magazine picked up on the trend with its offbeat
cartoon “Spy vs. Spy.” In 1966 alone, 23 spy movies were released,
including Our Man Flint, The Silencers and Modesty
Blaise.
Television, of course, was quick to capitalize on the spy craze. The
Man from U.N.C.L.E. was the first TV spy show, conceived with initial
assistance by Ian Fleming himself. Introduced in 1964, the show featured
Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum) as small-screen
Bonds—suave, cool, detached, wise with women and weapons, even subtly
tongue-in-cheek, battling the evil-doers from Thrush. The popularity of
Goldfinger in early 1965 increased its appeal, especially among
youthful audiences. It even produced a spin-off of its own, The Girl
from U.N.C.L.E. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. stayed on the air until January
1968, when it was replaced by Laugh-In.
Other TV spin-offs of the mid-1960s included The Avengers, Secret
Agent, Mission Impossible, I Spy (notable for featuring an African
American—Bill Cosby—in a lead dramatic role for the first
time), Honey West (with its female lead), and The Wild Wild
West (which combined the western and spy genres).
Perhaps the most memorable TV spin-off was Get Smart, the classic
spoof of spy shows that aired from 1965 to 1970. It featured Don Adams
as bumbling Agent 86 (Maxwell Smart) and Barbara Feldon as the beautiful
and steadfast Agent 99 (we never really knew her name). Max used a shoe
phone decades before cell phones were introduced and a cone of silence
that looked alarmingly like the bubble umbrellas of the 1980s. Get
Smart introduced phrases into the American language like “Sorry
about that, Chief” and “Would you believe…” that
can still be heard today—by original viewers of the show as well
as by younger viewers of the show in syndication.
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