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The Illustrated Guide to I Spy
 The Deborah Young-Groves Page
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The “I Spy” archive is a da EARLE HAGEN - SOUNDING THE RIGHT NOTE
THE JOYS OF SLOW TRACKING
A BRIMMING CUP OF KINDNESS
see also the I Spy Poetry Page
 Poet and journalist, Deborah Young-Groves, rightly counts herself as one of the
 first rank of “I Spy” aficionados. She was not only THERE on the night the series premiered in September 1965, but was a fan of Robert Culp and Bill Cosby even before that. She admits to the series having a major impact on her life, inspiring her not just as a writer, but to her early career in the travel business as well. She has recently published an article on Earle Hagen, musical director of "I Spy" in Film Score Monthly. Proud of her Canadian heritage, she resides in the Province of Ontario with her husband, acclaimed Civil War sculptor, Randy Groves, and two demanding cats, Punky and Ripley.EARLE HAGEN - SOUNDING THE RIGHT NOTE
By DEBORAH YOUNG-GROVES
Since I can remember going to the movies both TV and film scores have played a huge role in my psyche. Most people do not hear the fleeting sequence of notes that enhance the tone of a story. They usually are 'pulled' more fully into the `feeling 'of it by the music.
 Earle Hagen could not have been more innovative or original with “I Spy.” His perfect marriage of American Jazz mixed with the `local' instruments cannot be overestimated, starting with the haunting heartbeat main theme, as thrilling now as it was 35 years ago.All his eclectic themes seemed a precursor to Stewart Copeland's scores for THE EQUALIZER' - dissonant, but unerringly perfect.
In the opener, SO LONG PATRICK HENRY, there is a charming, six-minute chase scene with building suspense. The action begins with big-band brassiness,
 emphasized by the ever-closer bad guys - as Kelly and Scott run along the harbor front over rooftops, reach a dead end and strike upward towards the tenement dwellings of Hong Kong. Immediately as they run higher we pick up - like a bright afterthought - a thread of an oriental note, lightly reinforced. Some particularly creative musical sequences come to mind:
: in the episode TIME OF THE KNIFE there is a lovely slow sad flute movement (but Japanese otherwise) as Kelly and a new widow stroll through a quiet garden … the flawed trumpet playing `Auld Lang Syne' during the betrayal at the end of CUP OF KINDNESS … the reminiscent “Manchurian Candidate” trumpet when Scott witnesses Rodin's Thinker. So many episodes with such variety!
 But the two best episodes for music are HOME TO JUDGMENT and THE WARLORD, for equally fascinating reasons. THE WAR LORD borrows again on heavy oriental imagery for the action sequences, once more punctuated by snare drums and brass, then takes a delicate plangent note for the love theme. It is somberly powerful, almost painful. In one of the critical scenes Chuang Tzu lies wounded and vanquished, waiting for the enemy to break in the door. The constant battering is actually INCORPORATED INTO the score. There are No words to describe the impact this has.
HOME TO JUDGMENT uses much less music, but with equal punch. There is a delicate, simple quality over the title credits which flows quickly into horror when we realize that Kelly and Scott are injured and running for their lives.
Earle Hagen
 In pastoral, late-summer Idaho Kelly spots the sanctuary he knew as a child - an old barn - and we are struck by it, due to the sudden shift in the music - a tender burst of sweet harp notes, taking him back 27 years. When he lies in the hayloft, crippled and weak, again with a few minimal notes, we fall into his childhood.There are so many lovely moments. One more which comes to mind - the frantic, joyous race across Mexico in BET ME A DOLLAR- trumpets - brass, but definitely Spanish in flavor.
A scene in this episode also stands out for its artful restraint in the use of music. As the little boy is running for help when Kelly is lying ill at the bottom of the hill, all you hear is the child's breathing and his pounding feet - very effective in its simplicity.
All of this adds to the rarest of impressions - each one separate, unique and wonderfully drawn.
 Read more about Earle Hagen on the PRINCIPALS page And be sure to visit the EARLE HAGEN website, "The Best of All Worlds" Order Earle Hagen's new autobiography on line Check out the ALL NEW CD of music from the "I Spy" soundtracks - available ONLY from FILM SCORE MONTHLYTHE JOYS OF SLOW TRACKINGBy DEBORAH YOUNG-GROVES
It is impossible for me to explain in this instant replay society, the situation before the days of VHS and DVD players how it felt to be an unworldly twelve-year old in 1965, anticipating the emergence of I SPY.
From the murky puddle of black-and-white, abjectly filmed early sixties television, this adult, lush series burst onto the screen like a glittering exotic jewel. I remember beautiful moments from almost every episode, but they flowed by so quickly, and then vanished forever.
The best moments, I thought, were always fleeting. I knew I was in the midst of beauty, and never hoped to preserve it. I would be inarticulate after an experience such as "THE WARLORD," and this silence almost allowed me to keep the moments alive. Perhaps that is why I love the series music so much. The cues were so evocative, they could summon up the power of a favorite scene so perfectly.
The other evening I re-watched "TATIA". As with so many of those first-year episodes I resorted to the pause/slow-track mode to re-experience the moments that had so captivated me 36 years ago. And there are so many …
 On their first date in the restaurant, with Tokyo glittering behind them, the dashing Kelly is completely dazzled by Tatia's radiant, distant eyes. One rarely saw his character exude such naked hope, but there it is again afterward, in his charming Kelly-the-Child two-step, when he tries to convey his happiness to Scotty. The next day, Kelly and Tatia glide down those worn temple stairs, he raising beseeching eyes as he confronts his crumbling facade in the face of love … the two lovers alone in the tall pines . . . tenderness in the shadow and mist . . . all haunting and perfect. Every nuance, every look is maintained forever in its original purity when slowed down and caught on screen. One might consider this practice an affliction, but to a rabid fan, it is a gift. There is a beachside scene in "NO EXCHANGE ON DAMAGED MERCHANDISE": Kelly's face metamorphoses in an instant from jocularity to real tenderness and virile envy as he cradles Louise's face, while she only has eyes for the sea, where her husband awaits rescue.
In "THIS GUY SMITH" Culp (Kelly) manages a magnificent pratfall as he is shot - no stunt man used here! (Even slowed down, it appears too fast to follow.) In "THE TIGER" a dusty, bloodied Kelly gives Sam, an equally disheveled fellow agent an unforgettable kiss- a redemption from the despair that surrounds them.
 "SO LONG PATRICK HENRY," the first episode ever aired, sports a classic rooftop chase scene which 'hooked' many fans, and which I have never forgotten. The two men exhibit a natural running grace with their balletic jumps and unrehearsed ease. Almost better than their lithe movements is the earnest way one pulled the other to his feet if he stumbled. .
But "THE WARLORD" stands alone. Almost every scene is frameable: Chuang Tzu's attention to his sleeves, while the teacup slowly orbits in his willowy fingers … Kelly's menacing grace in the rooftop garden; an aberration in black leather against the temple wall as he pleads with Katherine in her hopeful hopeless cause … the last touch of the lovers hands, one bloody, one pristine … the slow fade as her face moves very finally away from his sight, forever.
 The closing scene in the boat has the most meaning - with Kelly's Brando Face grieving silently when he realizes the magnitude of the loss. It is perhaps the most exquisite hour of television drama ever produced. In slow tracking mode, one could even say it is the most exquisite TWO HOURS ever produced!I do not watch these special episodes often, in order to keep them 'fresh.' There is a line here I do not wish to cross, which might render the poignant, mundane. Remember the words, "in all memory is implicit loss"? The memory wounds and redeems, but it is still MINE
A BRIMMING CUP OF KINDNESS By DEBORAH YOUNG-GROVES
How well do you really KNOW another person? How far would you be willing to go, and how many friends would you risk, for old times sake? For someone YOU owed? Questions that pertain to us all.
This is the premise of "A CUP OF KINDNESS", probably my favorite episode Robert Culp DIDN'T write! It struck me intensely at every level, visually, emotionally, musically.
David Friedkin, who has cameoed in many I SPY episodes does a stunning turn here, as Russ, the central protagonist. He also co-won an Emmy for his writing of this piece.
 This episode was only the second broadcast (airdate September 22, 1965), but shows clearly the rapport already established by Kelly and Scotty. It begins sharply with that jazzy 'flip' trumpet theme that Earle Hagen used so often for Scotty. The two men are returning to their room after a tennis match, chatting merrily. But quickly they revert back to agents when they note Russ's shoes under the curtain. It is an excellent teaser - one has no idea who he is.
A Cup of Kindness glides effortlessly from lightheartedness to darkness- from comedy to pathos. It is probably the most perfect example of the light/dark style I SPY ever exhibited. We are relieved to see who Russ really is, then are warned by the music as Kelly begins to decipher Russ's coded note.
What it states hits him with appalling force. But he recovers quickly, and with a spare curt gesture, hands the note to Scotty, who has immediately sensed a problem. Russ's natural curiosity about the 'new' assignment prompts him to repeatedly question Kelly about it, until finally Kelly responds jocularly. His comment is jarring, as it does not answer Russ, but it WORKS.
 Culp is in perfect form in this episode: note how his smiling face tightens imperceptibly as he watches Russ leave the room. In the first scene on Victoria Peak he gives the slightest twitch in reaction to Russ's statement about becoming corrupt. All his reactions are nuanced, but laden with portent … his downcast eyes when he cannot kill his friend.How sinister he suddenly can become. Note how he leans slowly back on the bed in act 2 and says gravel-voiced: 'So far, you haven't saved your life.'
Cosby is also flawless, playing alternatively sceptical/clever/compassionate. All he has to do is "glance" correctly at Kelly and we grasp he has implicitly agreed to help Russ. Play that off with the scene when he reaches behind him and feels the gun barrel - then lapses into Cantonese.
There are only a few tiny flaws - it is around 2 pm during the 'break-in' scene - BUT, note in the locked-room Scotty looks at his watch and states 'It's twenty of eleven, now,' THEN, just after that, the camera lingers on someone's wristwatch and again it is 2 pm! I also did wonder how the taxi driver reacted to the gun scene; it is never addressed.
I think the fireworks scene was a trifle overdone. BUT I could not see a stunt double in the fight scenes, and I enjoyed the varied athletic display by Culp, swinging from lights and throwing hammers.
The locked room sequence remains a classic: the emotions flowing seamlessly from amusing, then sarcastic, to downright bleak. There is the innovative use of the prototype, the camera panning from voice to voice instead of face to face (something I noticed aged 13).
The dialogue is as smart as the action - rapier repartee made me wonder how much was improvised. I loved Kelly's now-famous line "Is there no limit to the wonderfulness of your mind?"
 But the BEST scene is the second last, overlaid with Hagen's sour rendition of Auld Lang Syne on Victoria Peak. Kelly's face, torn from rage to betrayal to disillusionment keeps that in my top three endings of the whole series. I have never heard an "I'M SORRY" rendered in such a heartfelt manner. His expression as he apologizes to Scotty establishes forever, that they are brothers. Mainly because of this series I went to Asia and stood on so many of the same spots where this episode was filmed. It was 12 years later: it looked the same. To have it rendered so vividly on DVD imbues it with that much more poignancy.
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Get all episodes from
I Spy Season 1
I Spy Season 2
I Spy Season 3
Read the I Spy Book
Film Score Monthly has released an album of five “I Spy” scores
by Earle Hagen on CD.
 Direct from the soundtracks of "So Long, Patrick Henry" - "A Time of the Knife" - "Turkish Delight," - "The Warlord" - "Mainly on the Plains" along with a 24-page booklet of liner notes and photos and foreword by Robert Culp It'
Buyt it through Amazon
Earle Hagen, composer of the music from “I Spy” has now published his autobiography
"Memoirs of a Famous Composer - Nobody Ever Heard Of"
 Read the inside story on I Spy!
scouting locations with Sheldon Leonard - life on the I Spy set
and the rest of Earle Hagen's fascinating career in big bands, movies & TV
Buy it Now
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