I just received an e-mail from Carl that Chris Hayward, a writer and producer on the Get Smart series has passed away. Here is what it said:

I'm sorry to announce that Chris Hayward, Get Smart writer and
producer, passed away recently. Chris was very active in the 4th and
5th seasons of Get Smart and also helped create The Munsters and Rocky
& Bullwinkle.

...Chris was responsible for mostly writing the 1957 color version of "CRUSADER RABBIT"...that was his first major assignment in Hollywood.
I remember, in one episode, as a diversion to keep his old friend Rags the Tiger from "shooting the bunny" [he has amnesia, and thinks he's a bad guy], Crusader fixes it so that Rags gets a phone call....

CRUSADER: (to Rags, handing the receiver to him) It's for you! {scoots off}
RAGS: (into phone) Duh, hello......say, we're in the middle of a cartoon here, so make it snappy! Huh? Yes, of course, I paid my dues! You bet your sweet life I did.......duh, no, I don't have no Yellow Cross benefits! Oh well, back to the script...

This kind of dialogue eventually led him to Jay Ward and Bill Scott, where he got to know a fellow writer named Allan Burns...and they collaborated on a great number of scripts after they left Ward Productions...they also created the format for "THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS SHOW" (1965-'66), and wrote the original pilot episode (which was largely rewritten by Alex Gottlieb, who got sole credit on it when it aired)- one of their gags that made it into the reworked pilot, was when Dick Smothers realizes, after all the testing he's endured, he's gotten the job at Pandora Publications, and then, Gary Owens' narrative voice says:

OWENS: (v.o.) In fact, his aggregate score was even HIGHER than that, of Pandora's hard-riding, hard-driving president...Leonard J. Costello!
[camera zooms in on Costello's (Roland Winters) desk]
COSTELLO: (to camera) ...and I cheated!

and then, "MY MOTHER, THE CAR"......and then came "GET SMART"...eventually, Chris worked for Danny Arnold on "BARNEY MILLER".......

what a comedy mind!

:tv:

That's too bad. As soon as I saw his name, I remembered it from the closing credits of Get Smart.

That's quite a record of accomplishment that he had.

People like Hayward really don't get enough credit for what they do.

And yes, what a comedy mind!

He was 81 when he passed away. Our thoughts are with his family.

Well done, Chris!

:rip: