Would You Believe......

Another sad day for the world today. We have endured hurricanes and other chaos only to dealt this final and devastating blow. Ladies and Gentlemen, Don Adams is dead. The younger among you will know him as the voice of inspector gadget. For us older folk we will forever remember him as the lovable agent Agent 86 (a.k.a. Maxwell Smart). Don had been ailing since falling almost a year ago and breaking his hip, but ultimately died of a lung infection late Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

He was born as Donald James Yarmy on April 13, 1923 in New York City. Don actually began his working life as an engineer after a failed comedy attempt with a friend of his. Fortunately for us he found stand up comedy. It was during his stand up career that he changed his name to Adams since he was sick and tired of going last during auditions because of alphabetical order. After a failed attempt at the marines in WWII during which he nearly died from blackwater fever at guadalcanal Don decided to get to work in the real world. It was on whim that he actually auditioned for a television show called Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts which started him down the long path of entertainment as a career.

Don loved the role of Maxwell and was even quoted as saying that "The original (Get Smart) was the only job I've ever had in my life where I couldn't wait to get to work when I woke up in the morning." We could all be lucky enough to enjoy our work that much. The gadgets in the show were almost surreal at times. Who could forget the home security of Max's Disintegrator steps? Apparently some of the gadgets drew the attention of the government's intelligence agencies as some similar items were actually in development. One has to question their intelligence if they were coming up with the same ideas as a comedy show eh? I'm still working on a phone for my shoe and once I perfect that cone of silence, the kids won't be nearly as bothersome once they start screaming and wailing.

I'm going to miss the man responsible for my fitness regimen as heard in an episode.

Cmdr. Drury: Smart, you appear to be in pretty good shape, do you work out?
Maxwell Smart: I jog 100 miles every day! Would you believe it? 100 miles!

Cmdr. Drury: I find that hard to believe.

Maxwell Smart: Would you believe, 50?

Cmdr. Drury: No!

Maxwell Smart: How about two push ups and a deep breath?

Take care Don, I hope your hip's feeling better now.