Don Adams

Question: When I was a kid, my family used to always watch Perry Como Christmas specials. We loved them every year. But one thing I was never able to figure out: Who was he? Did he have his own show or something?

Answer: Not only did he have his own show, Kenny, he had several (both radio and TV), not to mention a long, successful music career. Matter of fact, Como's life in the biz was remarkable for precisely the reason you give: Like the Energizer bunny, he kept going, and going, and going — well into the rock-and-roll era, when many other crooners like him had long faded into obscurity.

Como started out, interestingly enough, as a barber when he was still in high school, but was already singing at weddings even then. In 1933 he began singing in bands and built enough of a following (and enough hit records) that NBC hired him to cohost The Chesterfield Supper Club radio show, which moved to TV in 1 read more

Question: My sister just called me at work. She's home sick, watching Get Smart, and wants to know what Agent 99's name was. We know, obviously, that Agent 86's was Maxwell Smart. Was 99's ever stated on the show? I seem to remember Max always calling her 99.

Answer: Would you believe it was never revealed? (Sorry, nearly every time I write about Get Smart I have to start off with that famous Maxwell Smart utterance.) Truth is, though, that even Max (Don Adams) knew her only by her CONTROL number despite eventually marrying and fathering a set of twins with his beautiful partner (Barbara Feldon).

In one episode, in which 99 quit CONTROL, she said her name was Susan Hilton. By the end of it, however, she admitted that was a false name. She'd merely — sorry, I can't resist — pulled a number on us.