<--Back to Books Part One

BOOKS

(Part Two)

The page is just as the title implies! More Smartian reading for all!

TV Weddings. Marissa Keller and Mike Mashon, 1999, TV Books. $14.95. ISBN: 1-57500-068-7.
This book came out in March of 1999. It features TV weddings and has a page or two focusing on Max and 99's nuptials. It also has a quote that was printed in the script of "Love and Twitches" but was never said on the actual episode.

Cult TV: The Comedies. John E. Lewis and Penny Stempel, 1998, Bay Books. $19.95. ISBN: 0912333-65-0.
This book should still be available as it came out in the fall of 1998. Don't confuse this with John Javna's book (personally I like Javna's better, but that is neither here nor there). The book has a paragraph or so on Get Smart and Max and Fang even got to grace the front cover.  There is also some information on Brit. comedies.

Total Television. Alex McNeil, 1997, Penguin. $29.95. ISBN: 0-14-026737-9.

Total Television has gone through several revisions (thank goodness) and the present edition features a CD ROM with it. I'm not sure, though, what this edition had to say about Get Smart. Frankly, I'm not a fan of this work. One of the very first editions claimed that 99's name was Susan Hilton, but that information is false because 99 never had a name. The later edition that I have (I think mine is from 1994) has that statement corrected.

The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows 1946-Present 6th ed. By Tim Brooks (1995) ISBN: 0-345-39736-3.
This is another, and far better, alternative to Total Television. As an added bonus Mr. Brooks' book is better written and neatly organized. Unlike Total Television, this book only features the primetime TV shows.

The Complete Directory to Prime Time TV Stars 1946-Present By Tim Brooks.

This would be the TV encyclopedia of TV stars. This is one of my personal favorites, but I am not sure if it is still in print. The book features a gross majority of the TV actors and notable figures that had some television involvement. The more notable actors each have a pretty good sized biography while the small time actors have just a filmography.

The Best of 60's TV. Michael McCall, 1992, Mallard Press. ISBN: 0-7924-5831-1.
A nice coffee table book, The Best of 60's TV is an overview of the more noteworthy TV shows of the 1960s. The book has a brief description of Get Smart as well as a picture of Max and 99. Presently, this book is out of print.

Tvactions. Fran Wenograd Golden, 1996, Pocket Books. $12.00. ISBN: 0-671-89024-7.

This volume would be the travel guide to TV locations: fictional and actual. The book includes a summary of Get Smart as well as tips on what to do when visiting the District of Columbia.

Dictionary of Teleliteracy: Television's 500 Biggest Hits, Misses, & Events. David Bianculli, 1997, Syracuse UP. $22.95. ISBN: 0-8156-0505-6.

Get Smart is ranked somewhere in this book's hits, misses, and events. As well as covering notable TV events throughout television's history, there is also has a brief section on Get Smart and a picture of Don Adams. Whether this book is really accurate or not is up for debate. The book states that Don Adams made a guest appearance in The Man From Uncle. Although Barbara Feldon did appear on Uncle in her pre-Get Smart years, Adams' appearance has not been verified by expert Don Adams watchers. So... Did he or didn't he?

The Encyclopedia of Espionage (previously published as: Spy Book: The Encyclopedia of Espionage) Norman Polmar and Thomas B. Allen, 1997, Gramercy. $12.99 (previously $30.00) ISBN: 0-517-20269-7.

A hefty, although incomplete, overview of the history of spydom. The book traces espionage and its foul-ups, bleeps, and blunders from the biblical story of Joseph all the way up to Aldrich Ames. Also included in the book is a substantial section on James Bond and a brief section on Maxwell Smart. The book was originally published as Spy Book: The Encyclopedia of Espionage and that version is still available in paperback for $18.00. The difference between the two is probably just paper and binding materials.

Drawing and Cartooning 1,001 Faces Dick Gautier, 1993, Perigee. $10.95. ISBN: 0-399-51767-7.

Mr. Gautier's series of drawing books are not exactly TV tie-ins, but they do feature one-of-a-kind art by Hymie himself. One of the great highlights of Gautier's books is his drawings and caricatures of celebrities, starlets, and media muckety-mucks. Will Gautier's book teach stick figure fanatics how to draw? Well, uh, er- I found that this book contains many useful tips, but, being the bull-headed, cocky artist-type jerk I am, I have to conclude that a Michelangelo will not be produced from this book. Michelangeloes have a natural habit of producing themselves. Other books in Gautier's series are:

-The Career Cartoonist 0-399-51434-1 $10.95
-The Creative Cartoonist 0-399-51732-4 $10.95
-The Art of Caricature
-Actors as Artists*

*This is not associated with Gautier's how-to series. The book was produced by Gautier and partner Jim McMullan and is of the coffee table size and variety. I know nothing of how and where it can be found.

Cue the Bunny on the Rainbow, Tales from TV's Most Prolific Sitcom Director. Alan Rafkin,  Syracuse University Press; Syracuse, NY. 1998. ISBN: 0-8156-0542-0

Whether Rafkin is truly the most prolific sitcom director is yet to be debated -against perhaps Bruce Bilson.  What is not to be debated is the fact that he directed six episodes of Get Smart during the CBS years. In his memoir, which is filled with other TV tales, he sums up his Get Smart experience into two pages. He had lovely things to say about Barbara, nice things to say about Ed, and he had things to say about Don. Devout fans of Mr. Adams: Beware.

Swingin' Chicks of the '60s: A Tribute to 101 of the Decade's Defining Women. Chris Strodder, Cedco Publishing, 2000. $19.99. ISBN: 0-7683-2232-4  

Girls, Girls, Girls -and our own Grande Dame of spydom, Barbara Feldon, is one of them! Barbara gets an entire page all to herself in this swingin' encyclopedia of gear 60s girls. Aside from having a groovy pic of Barbara, the book also features Bond girls and great 60s fashions!

Hollywood TV and Movie Cars.  William Krause.  MBI Publishing Co. 2001.  $21.95.  ISBN:  0-7603-0755-5 

Published in August of 2001, this book covers cars from Bond to the Dukes of Hazzard.  Get Smart is given an albeit brief mention on a couple pages.  While there are no pics, there is an error!  The book falsely states that Max's cars are "sans" Bondian gadgets.  The last time I checked my Latin, "sans" meant without.  The last time I checked out Max's car, it came with the Cigarette Lighter Grenade, an Ejector Seat, and an Exhaust Pipe Machine Gun -to name a few.

TV Themes.  Hal Leonard.  Hal Leonard Publishing Company.  December 2001.  $7.95.  ISBN:  0-634-02906-1

Now from the folks that brought band nerds across America their music, comes a whole book of TV Themes!  Actually, the reason I'm ranting and raving is because the theme to Get Smart can be found in this book!  It has music to the show plus the guitar chords. (I am assuming this is the more popular NBC theme rather than the CBS one.  I don't know... I didn't sight read it...)

Big Book of TV Theme Songs.  Hal Leonard.  Hal Leonard Publishing Company. July 1999.  $19.95. ISBN:  0-634-006142

This book is pretty much the same deal as the one above, only it's bigger, mightier and can be propped up on the average music stand. 

Living Alone and Loving It:  A Guide to Relishing the Solo Life.  Barbara Feldon.  Fireside.  December 2002. $10.00.  ISBN:  0-7432-3517-7

Spy Television. Wesley Britton. Praeger. 2004. ISBN: 0-275-98163-0 Finally! A book all about spy shows! In addition to The Avengers, Wild Wild West and the X Files, Wes Britton gives us a great big look at Get Smart. Well researched, this is a must have for Smartians, spy nuts and anyone who likes to spend their spare time analyzing TV shows -and I'm not just saying that because Mr. Britton was nice enough to put me in his acknowledgements.

The Incredible World of Spy-Fi. Danny Biederman. Chronicle Books. 2004. ISBN: 0-8118-4224-X

Rickles' Book. Don Rickles. Simon & Schuster. 2007. ISBN: 0-7432-9305-3

Equal opportunity insulter Don Rickles has written his memoir --no it's not as mean as you thought it would be, but there is a small story about Rickles and his good buddy Don Adams.