The Get Smart Gathering - Page 3

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Please note that all of the pictures on this page are licensed exclusively to WouldYouBelieve.com and may not be used on any other website.
Copies of these photos, along with many other wonderful photos from the evening can be purchased at Starstruckpictures.com.

After dinner, there was plenty of time to socialize.

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Barbara Feldon and Jeff Platt
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The drawing you see was done by Frank Brunner and was raffled off, with the proceeds going to charity. Jeff Platt was the lucky winner. Bernie giving his opinion on the Gathering.
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Don applauding Barbara Barbara, who never seemed to stop smiling throughout the entire night.

There's no way this event could have happened without the people below.

 

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Alan Spencer and his lovely date, Dana.

Among many things, Alan located and arranged for the event to be held at Barsac Brasserie, a fantastic restaurant with exceptional food. In addition, Alan helped with the preparations in many ways, including listening to me, which is no easy task.

Lisa, Leonard, and Sue
Lisa Fulfs, Leonard Stern, and Sue Kesler

Lisa spent a great part of her time in LA folding, cutting, and arranging nametags, table cards, and various other items. Without Lisa helping me at Barsac Friday afternoon, the event would never have come off.

Leonard Stern lent his support early on to my efforts, allowing the event to take place. Leonard encouraged the cast and crew to attend and his support and friendship gave me the confidence that the event could and would happen.

Sue Kesler was just amazing in her support of this event. From early encouragement, to invitation design, to locating crew members, Sue was invaluable. Whenever my spirits sagged or things got difficult, it was Sue who kept things on track. The Gathering was special because Sue made it that way.

 

I'd like to close by reprinting the speech I made at the end of the night, as I think it sums up how we all feel about Get Smart.

Many people have remarked how the show has remained strong and funny for almost forty years. I want to just give you a few statistics to back that up. In the seven plus years it’s been around, my Get Smart website has been visited by over 400 thousand people from over 87 countries, including China, Greece, Estonia, Sweden, Russia, and South Africa. There’s not a week that goes by that I don’t receive a wonderful message from another fan, telling me how much he’s loved the show and what an impact it has had on his life.

Women to whom 99 was their very first strong role models.

Writers who got into the industry because Get Smart inspired them.

Ordinary people who use the powerfully strong and honest character of Max as a role model to “fight rottenness.”         

The term hero gets bandied about a lot these days, with firefighters, soldiers, and police officers all hearing that term routinely. And those people are heroes. But there’s another type of hero, the everyday hero. The person who through his or her efforts the world is a better place for each of us. I’m talking about people who make us laugh and make us smile and create a world special in our lives. That’s you, the people who created Get Smart. Yes, it’s just a TV show, but it’s a TV show that by its quality and its humanity has made our lives just a little better. Put a smile on our face the day we really needed one. A TV show that gave us a family that we still hold dear.

The reason this show is so important to us is because it’s got a little piece of all of you in it. The humanity and grace that you shared with us lives on and permeates all our lives. I’d like to read you a few examples from the thousands of e-mails that I've received:

Get Smart is the ultimate relief for the stresses of the day.  Regardless of how bad the day was or what kind of mood I am in, Get Smart will always put a smile on my face and brighten the day!  There has not been and perhaps will never be another show that can do that.  Thank you, cast and all those that worked on the show, for all you have done to bring happiness and laughter into the lives of so many (and help fight off all the badness in the world).

Get Smart means a chance to laugh and share memories with my father; we both have a deep love for this show and in particular Don Adams. Some father and son relationships have football or baseball as their common bond. My father and I are lucky to have Get Smart as ours. Each episode is a moment in time for both of us. We recall the simple joy in our lives when we first watched this series and we make new memories watching the reruns today.

To Don Adams, Barbara Feldon and everyone else who brought Get Smart to life for 138 episodes I would like to say thank you. You have given me more joy than I would have ever thought possible from a 30 minute TV show, and I know that I will never be able to repay you. You have created a place of honor for yourselves in television history and you will never be forgotten.

I got hooked on GS when I was about 10 years old in Lebanon (would you believe Beirut?) in the late 60's. No matter what was happening around us, our family always had a half hour of laughter and smiles.

I love Get Smart because it let me live in a world that was made sense and was still funny.  This was really important to me, because the world I live in the rest of the time isn't funny and almost never makes sense.

Get Smart showed me that not only could a woman be beautiful, but she could also be smart and capable.  The wonderfully strong and talented 99 was my role model and one of the reasons that I was able to become a doctor. I just have to say that I can't imagine how my life would have turned out if I hadn't had the opportunity to grow up watching Get Smart during it's run on Nick-at-Nite.  It was great to come home from high school and just laugh my head off in the evenings while watching the show.  It was crucial for my survival during my angst-filled adolescence.  Get Smart is still one of my favorites!  Thank You all!

In looking back, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m a lot like Max . . . short, not especially ‘smart’ (but not dumb), shy, prone to drop things, have things not go exactly as they should, so I came to identify with this guy who, week after week, tried his best, keep plugging away and would eventually come through successful . . . even though many of his methods were a bit unorthodox.  “Get Smart” teaches us friendship.  Friends who will stand by you, one of the grandest things we have in our lives. You created a show that, for nearly forty years, has been a constant in my life, my escape, my refuge.  Through good times and bad, “Get Smart” has been there to make me laugh, cheer and, yes, even shed a tear . . .

So to all of you from all of us, thank you.

 

Finally, I'd like to thank he following cast and crew members who attended The Get Smart Gathering. Each and every one of them helped to make this a magical evening that none of us will ever forget.

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