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Spy Treasures of Hollywood
Oct. 7th, 2005 11:06 amLast night I went to the International Spy Museum for the opening of a display on "Spy Treasures of Hollywood." It had items from James Bond, Get Smart, Alias, The Avengers, the Man from UNCLE, Mission Impossible, I Spy, Austin Powers and Wild Wild West. For the opening, they had the collector Danny Biedermann and the former head of the CIA's Office of Technical Services talk about the intersection of life and art. The OTS guy was really interesting about what's really important to a spy (secrecy and the ability to communicate the information gathered).
The best parts were the two long videos they showed before the presentations, with lots of clips from the shows. I had forgotten just how handsome Robert Vaughn and David McCallum were.
The exhibit itself is in a small room. It has about 50 artifacts. Some of them are rather poorly presented - too low down to see without blocking other people. There was a third video showing on continuos loop. Lots of the prop guns of course, but also James West's vest and jacket, Emma Peel's leather trousers, John Steed's bowler hat, Maxwell Smart's show phone, and Austin Power's glasses. Lots of fun. The collector calls it spy-fi, a play on scifi.
It was the first time I've been to the Spy Museum - it's one of the few you have to pay for in DC. I had a chance to see some of the other exhibits. The museum looks like it's worth the price of admission, especially if you are at all interested in this special exhibit on those 60s-70s spy movies.
The best parts were the two long videos they showed before the presentations, with lots of clips from the shows. I had forgotten just how handsome Robert Vaughn and David McCallum were.
The exhibit itself is in a small room. It has about 50 artifacts. Some of them are rather poorly presented - too low down to see without blocking other people. There was a third video showing on continuos loop. Lots of the prop guns of course, but also James West's vest and jacket, Emma Peel's leather trousers, John Steed's bowler hat, Maxwell Smart's show phone, and Austin Power's glasses. Lots of fun. The collector calls it spy-fi, a play on scifi.
It was the first time I've been to the Spy Museum - it's one of the few you have to pay for in DC. I had a chance to see some of the other exhibits. The museum looks like it's worth the price of admission, especially if you are at all interested in this special exhibit on those 60s-70s spy movies.
