Editor's Desk 
It’s 1966 WEEK — whether or not you choose to accept it…
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Welcome to 1966 WEEK — a 60th anniversary celebration of an extraordinary, landmark year in popular culture. For seven days, we’ve brought you a whole host of features on everything from Star Trek, to Batman, to the Beatles, to the Monkees, and much, much more. (Just check out Walt Grogan’s latest fab banner, above!) Click here for more of the far out fun! — Dan
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The first season cast with Steven Hill as the team’s leader, Dan Briggs (lower left).
By PETER BOSCH
Most of the shows and movies highlighted during 1966 WEEK debuted 60 years ago this week. But there was one still to come that certainly deserves the spotlight, and that’s Mission: Impossible, which premiered Sept. 17, 1966.
I do have one question, though — one that has been bothering me for years and years. The team consisted of world-famous Rollin Hand, a magician and man of many faces, world-famous Barney Collier, the president of Collier Electronics, world-famous Cinnamon Carter, a fashion model extraordinaire, and world-famous Willy Armitage, a record-breaking weightlifter. Since they were all world famous, why did no one – especially the bad guys – ever recognize them on their missions?
That’s one thing I still don’t know — but here are 13 more about Mission: Impossible you may not know:
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1. The original concept for the series was going to be an A-Team type of show and it was to be called “Briggs’ Squad.” As the script evolved, though, what Mission: Impossible became was inspired by two very popular caper movies, Topkapi (1964) and Rififi (1955).
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2. However, there may have been one other influence on the series’ pilot and it was a short-lived 1959 TV program called 21 Beacon Street. That series was about a private group of extraordinary people with expert skills who met in the home of their team’s leader to discuss a complex plan on how to use their talents to stop criminals and help people. In the second episode, “Safety Deposit,” the plan involved getting the team into a Mexican bank vault to snatch some documents from a safe deposit box.
The pilot episode of Mission: Impossible was about a team of extraordinary people with expert skills who met in the well-to-do apartment of their team’s leader to discuss a complex plan to get the team into the vault of a Caribbean hotel, where the country’s dictator has his headquarters. Inside the vault are two nuclear warheads and their mission is to remove them from the country.
Filmways, the producers of 21 Beacon Street, sued series creator Bruce Geller. Geller said he never watched 21 Beacon Street, but he settled out of court.
The episode of 21 Beacon Street that brought on the lawsuit against Bruce Geller.
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3. Most people know the first season leader of the IMF team was Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill. However, many don’t know that Hill’s one-season-only stay was due to several things that held up production. As an actor, he was a serious worker (one of the original members of the Actors Studio) but, being Jewish, he also faithfully respected not working during the Sabbath (between sunset on Friday and the end of sunset on Saturday) and left the set, which required body doubles filling in for him. Also, for whatever reason, he refused to climb a ladder leading up to a catwalk for a scene. He was not rehired for the second season.
Steven Hill with Barbara Bain and Martin Landau.
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4. One of the most famous moments each week was the tape recorder that would self-destruct after Briggs (later, Phelps) heard the assignment. In 2002, the smoking tape recorder used in the first season sold at Heritage Auctions for $6,875. The voice of “Good morning, Mr. Briggs/Mr. Phelps” belonged to Bob Johnson, who provided voices for several of the aliens on The Outer Limits and Star Trek.
The tape player from the first season that sold for $6,875 at Heritage Auctions in 2022. Pictured on the right is Bob Johnson, the mysterious voice of the recordings.
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5. Martin Landau (“Rollin Hand”) was also a member of the Actors Studio, as was wife Barbara Bain. When he was 17, before becoming an actor, Landau worked for the New York Daily News — as a cartoonist!
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6. Several actors were considered to replace Hill. But when an unsold TV pilot titled Call to Danger was screened, they knew they found their man. Peter Graves starred in that pilot as a government operative who recruited special people to help with assignments. (Coincidentally, the character’s name was “Jim.”)
Graves had a good reputation as an actor, including an important role in the movie Stalag 17 (1953), and for being reliable with five years starring in the TV series Fury.
The IMF team with their new leader. Left to right: Barbara Bain, Peter Lupus, Greg Morris, Peter Graves, and Martin Landau.
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7. Mischief: Improbable. The very concept of Mission: Impossible lent itself to being made fun of, so Landau and Bain sent Mad a photo of themselves reading the magazine. It appeared in the letters column of Issue #118 (April 1968), along with a short note asking when Mad would be doing a take-off on their program.
The editors replied it was appearing in that very issue — and it was brilliantly funny! Here are a few excerpts from that seven-page feature, written by Dick DeBartolo and drawn by Mort Drucker:
On the back cover of Mad #134 (April 1970), Jim Phelps gets his message for the start of what would turn out to be his final adventure. What’s most interesting about this gag is the talent behind it. John Cullen Murphy, who would take over the Prince Valiant newspaper strip when Hal Foster retired, drew it… and it was written by Chevy Chase, who — well, you know.
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8. In the 1960s, several The Man from U.N.C.L.E. movies were released theatrically that were edited together from two-part TV episodes. Mission: Impossible did likewise once, with a foreign release titled Mission: Impossible vs. The Mob (1969), using the two-parter, “The Council,” which aired November 19 and 26, 1967.
1968 French poster for Mission: Impossible vs. The Mob.
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9. Merchandising: There were actually very few items released that tied into the program, possibly because the TV show was aimed at an adult audience. However, there were a few good items over its seven-year history.
1966 Ideal board game, which has become a hard-to-find collector’s item.
Popular Library published four paperback novels between 1967-69.
Two Whitman hardcovers were published for the younger audience: Mission: Impossible – The Priceless Particle (1969) and Mission: Impossible – The Money Explosion (1970). Cover art for both books was by Michael Lowenbein.
There was also the comic book series. Dell Comics published five issues, each with photo covers. The first three issues featured Steven Hill and his character of Dan Briggs, and Peter Graves finally made it for the fourth issue — but his character was still called “Dan.” The fifth issue, which came out a year after the fourth, was a reprint of the first. Paul S. Newman wrote all the issues and Jack Sparling provided the art. (Sparling also drew DC’s Secret Six #3 through #7, a series that was inspired by Mission: Impossible.)
Top row: Dell’s Mission: Impossible #1 (May 1967) and #2 (Sept. 1967). Middle row: Issues #3 (Dec. 1967) and #4 (Oct. 1968). Bottom row: Mission: Impossible #5 (Oct. 1969), which was a reprint of the first issue, and DC’s Secret Six #3 (Apr.-May 1968, DC), with artwork by Jack Sparling, who also drew all the M:I issues.
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10. Martin Landau and Barbara Bain were with the series for three seasons and Bain won the Emmy for “Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series” all three years. However, in her acceptance speech for her final win, she gave a verbal middle-finger to some unnamed people involved with the show.
Skip the Bill Cosby opening by jumping to the 0:30 mark to see Bain’s restrained acceptance speech.
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11. There were several cast changes over the seven years, including the departure of Landau, Bain, and Greg Morris. Replacing them (and some leaving shortly thereafter) were Leonard Nimoy, Lynda Day George, Lee Meriwether, Sam Elliott,and Barbara Anderson.
The fifth season cast of Leonard Nimoy, Morris, Lupus, and Graves, with Lesley Ann Warren looking very unhappy.
Lesley Ann Warren joined the cast for the fifth season, but the public reception was cool toward her as they wanted a more mature, seductive female along the lines of Bain. The casting may have not been right but there was another problem… and it stemmed from the creator, Bruce Geller.
He insisted his actors be very subdued in their agent roles, preferring to have the plot be the star each week. However, Warren was a bright and expressive actress — as could be seen in the second TV version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1965) and Disney’s The Happiest Millionaire (1967) (and later in Victor/Victoria in 1982, for which she was nominated for an Oscar). In Mission: Impossible, though, she had to cut back the energetic and endearing qualities that made her a star… all the way back to practically being a mannequin. The fifth season was to be her only one.
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12. Very possibly, the most surprising thing you might not know is that Geller was physically escorted off the Paramount lot during production of the fifth season. It was felt he was too often over budget and he adamantly refused to change. Paramount removed his creative control and producer duties, though he still received screen credit. The job of looking over things went to Bruce Lansbury (brother of Angela), who also produced The Wild Wild West, Wonder Woman, Knight Rider, and Murder, She Wrote.
13. By the time the original television series ended on February 23, 1973, after seven seasons, it had been nominated for 36 Emmys and won 10, including two for Outstanding Dramatic Series (1967 and 1968). However, it was not really the end as it turned out. There were a number of pitches for a new Mission: Impossible, but it wasn’t until 1988 when Graves would head up another IMF team in a revival of the TV series. The new program stayed on the air for two seasons, from October 23, 1988 to February 24, 1990.
The new Mission: Impossible TV series cast. Left to right: Phil Morris (son of Greg – and playing the son of Barney Collier), Thaao Penghlis, Graves, Jane Badler, and Tony Hamilton.
The revival earned two Emmy nominations, bringing the grand total up to 38.
In just a few more years, the movie world would be set ablaze by the first Tom Cruise M:I movie.
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You’ve accomplished your mission of reading all of the above! Here is your well-earned reward: the openings for Seasons 1-7 with the great Lalo Schifrin theme, plus the opening of two seasons of the revival — and all the movie opening credits through The Final Reckoning. One note, though, the YouTube video caption says it is ALL the openings for the original series but that is not accurate. The opening credits were different each week because of the insertion of video clips from that night’s episode. It would take viewing 168 episode openings — and THAT would be a mission impossible.
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MORE
— The Complete 1966 WEEK INDEX of Features. Click here.
— TV’s GREEN HORNET at 60: GOLD KEY’s Comics Were Faithful to the Show — While Giving Something New and Groovy. Click here.
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13th Dimension contributor-at-large PETER BOSCH’s first book, American TV Comic Books: 1940s-1980s – From the Small Screen to the Printed Page, was published by TwoMorrows. (You can buy it here.) A sequel, American Movie Comic Books: 1930s-1970s — From the Silver Screen to the Printed Page, is out now. (Buy it here.) Peter has written articles and conducted celebrity interviews for various magazines and newspapers. He lives in Hollywood.
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