TV Spy Gadget Props
by Bruce Shawkey From 1966 TV Guide: It used to be that when you saw a character in a television play pull out a cigarette case and lighter, you could safely assume that he intended to have a smoke. And if he wanted to phone somebody, you could expect him to head for the nearest phone booth. Now, however, the arrival of all those gimmick-laden spies and sleuths on the television scene has changed all that. With these devious ladies and gentlemen of intrigue, the viewer can’t be sure of anything—except that things are seldom what they seem. That cigarette case may be a gun or a radio transmitter or a tape recorder. The lighter just might be a camera or a gun—or a telephone. Those underprivileged spies who can’t talk into their lighters, however, are probably equipped with fountain pens, sun glasses, lipsticks or thermos bottles which are either phones or two-way radios. Here’s a sampling of gadgets from three current series. None of them really work, but the special-effects men who...
