God Got Smart

[Elspode]

Agent Maxwell Smart has "missed it by *that* much" for the last time. Don Adams, the unmistakable voice of Tenessee Tuxedo and Inspector Gadget, as well as the inimitable Agent 86 of 60's spy parody hit show "Get Smart" has gone to the great cone of silence in the sky at age 80.

Adams was exactly the right person to play the bumbling oaf secret agent conceived by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. The 60's was the decade of the Cold War's highest heights, and spy stuff was *the* defining fad. TV had its serious Bond imitations in The Man from UNCLE and other shows, but Get Smart was the definitive parody of the spy movie genre, at least at first.

Over the four year run of the show, it got rather predictable and the slapschtick became stale, but Adams gamely played his character to the hilt. His popularity and fame was cemented in the 80's when a new generation heard him voice the equally bumbling and bionic Inspector Gadget. Don Adams was typecast, but his stereotype was just as lovable as Gilligan, Barney Fife and Uncle Jed, characters who burdened their portrayers for life as well.

Don Adams was a terrific comic both before and after his Get Smart run, but it is Maxwell Smart for whom he shall be remembered. I think *I* could deal with a life where I was remembered for making people laugh a little.