Get Smart Locations and Props: Season 4, Episode 3-8

Finishing off the trilogy of plane-focused episodes that start Season 4.

Episode 3: Closely Watched Planes

Stock footage of the back of an airport. Which one?

A funny gag with prop magazines. The Chief's has a 1950s photo of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Here is the same spot today.

In most scenes with Max's many cups of coffee, he is using a real TWA coffee cup.

Close-up of the cup.

An interesting matchbook too. It's not a blank, but I can't tell what is on it.

The prop magazine appears to have a toy ad, or something with kids playing.

When the informant dies he drops his coffee cup, and here it is not a TWA cup, but a generic one. I guess TWA didn't want to be associated with poison.

Later on we see the Chief using the same mug.

Episode 4: The Secret of Sam Vittorio

Sam Vittorio has an old Philco radio. Originally founded in 1892, Philco (short for one of the company's earlier names, Philadelphia Company). Radios were one of many areas that the company was an electronics pioneer. The brand still exists today as an appliance company, though it no longer makes radios.

This one is a 1937 Model 37-10X. According to the Philco Radio Gallery website, this sold for $125. That's the equivalent of over $2,800 today. What depression?

Episode 5: Diamonds Are a Spy's Best Friend

Lots of interesting stuff here. The circus poster is real; The Arthur Bros. Circus operated in California for a short time during World War II. Reed and Prince is real too; it's a tool manufacturer that has been in business since 1886. They have always had green and white logos, but I couldn't find any other examples online of that snazzy 60's logo. There's another box that says "606 KUP", but I couldn't figure out what that was.

The bowling alley stock shot features the distinctive sign of the famous L.A. bowling alley Picwood Bowl.

Dr. Jake's Bowling History Blog has a nice photo of the sign during the day.

Sadly, the bowling alley is long gone, replaced by a drab-looking mall.

Could the interior also be Picwood?

This 1976 Starsky & Hutch episode was filmed at Picwood. It looks similar, but there are enough differences to make it questionable.

The AMF logo is all over the bowling alley. Automated Machine Foundry was founded in Brooklyn in 1900 and manufactured a variety of machines. After World War II the company began selling bowling equipment, and soon branched out to owning bowling alleys as well. The AMF brand still exists today.

Here you can see a very similar setup from a vintage bowling collection.

The bowling alley appears to have been named Frankie's. I couldn't find a Frankie's bowling alley in Los Angeles; it may well have been made up for the show.

You get some good looks at parts of the bowling alley operation that the public normally doesn't see.

I like the signs in this scene.

Literally bringing a friend!

Frankie's did have a nice logo.

Episode 6: The Worst Best Man

We start off with some boxing stock footage. It would be fun to know the specifics of the bout.

Tiger Schlermer's trainer is wearing a sweatshirt that says Marquette Crusaders. The Crusaders are the team name for Marquette Academy in Ottawa, IL.

The carnival has a Skooter ride. Seems to have been a popular name for bumper car rides.

The ice cream truck is parked in front of a building with an interesting logo just inside the door. It looks sort of like a Teamsters logo, but with the horses at the bottom instead of the top.

Episode 7: A Tale of Two Tails

The episode starts with this odd, rotating contraption, with the camera zipping away from it to Brigitte's Beauty Salon. I have no idea what this might be. A sculpture? Some kind of antenna?