Cone of Silence

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For the British aviation drama film see Cone of Silence (1960 film).

Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) and The Chief (Edward Platt) once again futilely use the Cone of Silence.

The Cone of Silence is one of many recurring joke devices from Get Smart, an American comedy television series of the 1960s.

Invented by "Professor Cone", the device is designed to protect the most secret of conversations (aka "C.O.S. security risks") by enshrouding its users within a transparent sound-proof shield. Unfortunately, Control had purchased the device from a "discount place" rather than the federal government, so it has never worked properly. Naturally, this frustrating situation provides fuel for comedy.

Whenever Maxwell Smart ("Agent 86") wants to speak to his boss ("Chief") about a top secret matter, "86" would insist on using the comically defective technology despite being reminded that it never works. The Chief, usually with annoyed skepticism, would press a switch, causing the device to descend from above his desk, surrounding the heads of the two would-be conversers. The awkwardly impractical device appears to be constructed of clear plastic in the shape of a large oblong box with two interconnected inverted bowls on top.

Part of the humor is in the irony that Agent 86 and Chief cannot hear each other clearly, while bystanders outside the Cone of Silence can hear everything they say as well as speak to them. Sometimes the bystander would even act as a relay so that Chief and "86" inside the device could communicate. Often at the end of the labored conversation, Chief would become terribly frustrated and upset as it quickly becomes clear that the Cone of Silence is (as expected) completely useless.

Variations on the Cone included a portable version, made of two globes for the participants' heads connected by a tube; the "Umbrella of Silence", which supported up to four people, and the "Closet of Silence," into which two people were uncomfortably squeezed. In one occasion where the Cone wasn't even available, Smart convinced the Chief to use the (more efficient) "Coughing Code", where both parties communicate through strategic coughing, despite the Chief's claims that the Coughing Code wasn't used for years due to "too many agents giving each other the flu"

1 History
2 Variations within the show
3 Other uses
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

Although Get Smart popularized the term, the "Cone of Silence" actually originated on the syndicated TV show Science Fiction Theatre in an episode titled "Barrier of Silence" written by Lou Huston and first airing September 3, 1955—10 years ahead of the NBC comedy. The story focused on finding a cure for Professor Richard Sheldon who had been returned to the United States in a confused, altered state of mind after enemy agents bombarded him with intense sound waves while visiting Milan. Scientists reasoned that placing Professor Sheldon in an environment of total silence would reverse his condition. He was placed on a chair in the "Cone of Silence" which consisted of a raised circular platform suspended by 3 wires tied to a common vertex. Although the cone's surface was open, anyone sitting inside would experience a deafening silence due to the phased ultrasonic noise generators located just below the vertex. It was also demonstrated that anyone speaking inside the cone, could not be heard outside—the feature later used in Get Smart. Dr. Sheldon was cured by the cone in only a couple of minutes.

An episode of Mission: Impossible showed an inverted cone of silence (outside sounds could not get in, and substituted by different sounds) being used on a government official attending a theater play where subversive words were substituted to the normal innocuous line, in order to get rid of the playwright by jailing him for subversion.

The larger, plastic version of the "Cone of Silence", appeared in the pilot episode of Get Smart, entitled Mr. Big, aired on Sep. 18 1965. Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, the original scriptwriters for the series, devised many of the running jokes. Henry either borrowed or independently came up with the Cone of Silence concept, which debuted in the pilot along with other show standards, like Fang, the improperly trained dog-agent, and Max's shoe phone. The Cone of Silence scene was shot ahead of the rest of the pilot episode, and was used to sell the series to NBC.

In the later sequel movie, Get Smart Again!, when Maxwell is reactivated as a secret agent, he insists on following protocol to ensure secrecy by using the Cone of Silence. However, the device is considered as completely outdated, and the current methods used were the following:

Hover Cover: The participants converse on the roof of a building while helicopters hover nearby, drowning out all sounds with their rotor blades, thereby preventing anyone from eavesdropping. However, this also prevents those involved from hearing their own words and the intense winds caused by the helicopter's blades throws the participants about.

Hall of Hush: A chamber with sound-suppressing walls that allow a person's words to appear in front of him like subtitles in a movie. The problem with this device is that the words do not disappear and will eventually fill up the chamber, smothering the speakers in their own dialogues.

[edit] Variations within the show

Throughout the five seasons of Get Smart, the cone of silence appears many times, each time its use is insisted upon comically and pedantically by Maxwell Smart and each time it is defective in a certain way. Below are a list of scenes containing the cone of silence (More to be added).

1. During the first episode of the show the Cone of Silence is lowered for the first time, the Chief asks Hodgkins (a scientist working at Control) to lower the Cone of Silence, when lowered Max and the Chief can barely hear each other, the Chief becomes frustrated and asks Hodgkins to raise the Cone of Silence, adding to the laughter Hodgkins can't hear the Chief well either.

2. The Cone of Silence produces a very strong echo that gives both characters a headache.

3. In perhaps one of the most comical moments involving the Cone of Silence, the Chief and Max can't hear each other. However Hodgkins on the outside can hear them perfectly and acts as a relay between the Chief and Max.

4. In an episode where Max is asked to investigate KAOS headquarters, the Chief asks him what he found out, he once again insist upon the Cone of Silence, which the Chief reluctantly agrees, when it is lowered Max says he found out nothing, leaving the Chief highly frustrated. This is one of the very few occasions the Cone of Silence itself hasn't malfunctioned, however its use is completely unnecessary.

[edit] Other uses

The term cone of silence has been adopted in pop culture for any system that prevents eavesdropping, usually by creating a private or encrypted link between the clients. VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are a good example, as is any form of encrypted or hidden instant messaging.

The term cone of silence is also used when people are overtly zealous in trying to keep a secret: here the term usually refers to the fact that the "outsider" can see something is there, but he is unable to find out exactly what.

The term is originally from a 1930's airplane instrument navigation system, the AN (or "four-course") range; flying along the range and listening to the signal, the pilot knew he was over the transmitter and therefore at the only uniquely knowable point when the sound died. This region over the transmitter was known as the "cone of silence." This inverted instrument, signalling as it did the desired point by loss of sound, may have been Brooks' inspiration for the comic effect.

The term was later used in radar technology. As the radar beam projects outward, a volume in the shape of an inverted cone is created above the radar station where objects cannot be detected by the radar operator. This is known as the cone of silence.

Cone of Silence is also a British aviation drama film made in 1960 and directed by Charles Frend.

Cone Of Silence is also a music piece by Matt Ragan. It appears in the video game Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2.

"The Cone of Silence" is also the name of a song by Yo La Tengo on the album Ride the Tiger.

A "cone of silence" is also mentioned in the novel Dune, when Baron Harkonnen is having a private discussion with Count Fenring on Giedi Prime.

The term "cone of silence" was used in one episode of Everybody Loves Raymond (Boy's Therapy), by Frank Barone (Peter Boyle), after his wife Marie (Doris Roberts) said that she couldn't wait to talk more about his therapy session that he just got back from, Frank told her that he needed a "cone of silence" whenever he felt bad Frank coming on.

The term "cone of silence" was used in the 1996 movie Twister, though used inaccurately during the events of the scene. The term probably would have been more accurate during the drive-movie scene where the twister caught the cast unaware.

Cone of Silence is used as a metaphor for a lawyer's response to successive representation conflicts of interest by the court in Nemours Foundation v. Gilbane.

A new version of the Cone Of Silence appears in one of the trailers for the 2008 Get Smart film. Though this version seems much more high-tech (taking the form of a cone shaped beam of light shining down from the ceiling), it appears to be equally as ineffective.

The Cone Of Silence is also a Reichel-Pugh designed "Super 30" sailboat which has raced extensively in Australia and North America. See www.gothecone.com [1].