BREAKING THE CODE
Would you believe that 86 was chosen for Maxwell Smartʼs number for a specific reason? Well, it was. In 1930s restaurant parlance, the slang term 86 could be used to either denote “weʼre all out of that menu item,” “throw it away” or “deny that customer service.”
P
hilly Gum’s James Bond wasn’t the only spy guy to grace trading cards in the 1960s. There was The Man From U.N.C.L.E. from Topps, of course, but the most indomitable (well, actually domitable) secret agent was Smart, Maxwell Smart. As bumbling CONTROL Agent 86, Smart, along with his adoring, unnamed sidekick, Agent 99, battled the forces of the evil organization KAOS, every week for five laugh-filled seasons.