bf.jpgA long, long time ago, boys and girls, there was a very funny TV series called Get Smart, starring a Borscht Belt comic named Don Adams as a brain-addled superspy named Maxwell Smart and a cute-as-a-button gamine named Barbara Feldon as his trusty sidekick, Agent 99. This was before most of you were born.

Adams left the building for the big Grossinger’s in the Sky a long time ago but Barbara Feldon, Agent 99, is alive and well and appearing this Wednesday night at 8 pm with the early music ensemble Parthenia, a Consort of Viols, in Hot Off the Press, a concert of new music and poetry at Picture Ray Studio, 245 West 18th Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues) in Manhattan. Other guests will be Paul Hecht, and soprano Kristin Norderval.

Scheduled works include Max Lifchitz’ Night Voices No. 15 (2008), for 4 viols, David Thompson’s 2:4 (2008), a fantasy for 4 viols, David Glaser’s Fantazy (2008), a duet for tenor and bass viols, Frances White’s Like the Lily (1999) for two bass viols and electronic sound
(arr. for Parthenia 2008), Paul Richards’ A Twelvemonth and a Day (2007) and Kristin Norderval’s selections from Nothing Proved for four viols, soprano and interactive audio processing (2008). Check out the program notes. $10 “rush” tickets at the door subject to availability. For tickets and more information, contact Parthenia at 212-358-5942 or visit them online.

I’m guessing that Agent 99 will be reading poetry rather than fiddling. She has a marvelous speaking voice and is nobody’s dummy. I’m sure I’m one of the last people alive to remember that she won $64,000 on The 64,000 Question in the category of Shakespeare.

6 thoughts on “Would You Believe…”
  1. I’m just under thirty and I remember watching Get Smart as a child. Somehow that shoe phone gag never got old. What are the chances that 99 will deliver her lines from inside the cone of silence? Or should I rather say, just outside of?

  2. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who fell in love with Barbara when I was younger, Tom!

  3. I’m dating myself, but I grew up watching Get Smart on Saturday evenings on NBC (which was channel 4, I believe, in NJ). Glad to see there’s still a following.

  4. Oddly enough, I knew that bit about Barbara Feldon being on $64,000 Question…

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