SECRET SQUIRREL

Secret Squirrel is an agent with the ISS.

Note for politeness sake, my usual custom of referring to an agent by his/her last name will be suspended this one time. Calling someone 'Secret' seems a nicer than 'Squirrel'.

The acronym ISS stands for the International Sneaky Service. It is, as the name indicates, a global intelligence gathering and special operations handling organization. The immediate supervisor to Secret is Double-Q although sometimes Secret will refer to him simply as 'the Chief'.

     As his name tells us, Secret is an anthropomorphized squirrel, walking about on two legs as he takes on enemies of the nation, foreign and domestic. He is brownish-orange in color with two very prominent front teeth and one very long, very bushy tail. When Secret talks, he does so in a voice that is highly reminiscent of Humphry Bogart.

Secret has his own theme music, the lyrics of which give some valuable intelligence about the man:

Secret is one very eager beaver who really enjoys his escapades fighting criminals and enemy agents and evil geniuses and would-be world-conquerors. Or in the case of his arch-enemy, Yellow Pinkie, a combination of all of these.

     Secret does so with an impressive arsenal of weapons.

     First and foremost is his remarkable hat, a purple fedora pulled down so low on his head that he has eye slots in the brim to allow him to see. The top of the hat is hinged to open up to let a variety of different 'tools' to spring forth on elongated rods to better perform their functions. These tools include a boxing glove he uses to knock bad guys out with, a hand gun to shoot guns out of assailants, a mirror to reflect enemy ray gun attacks, and so on. When that lid pops open, it is hard to guess what nifty item will emerge.

     He is always clad in his white body-length trenchcoat which happens to be bulletproof and inside which in many pockets he has immediately available even more wonderous tools.

     Then there is his machine gun cane which not only makes him look dapper and sophisticated but is also capable of an impressive number of shots.

     He is often seen carrying a brown briefcase which itself is a wonder for he can open it to have it turn into a sports car, a helicopter, and other things as the need arises.

     Aiding him in all his escapades is the diminutive Morocco Mole, a constantly fez wearing fellow who is, as his name states, of the mole persuasion. Morocco is ever present and ever faithful but not always of a lot of use but he does obviously feed the ego of Secret as his sidekick which makes his presence useful. That and he is a joy to listen to as he speaks very much like Peter Lorre.

     For quite a few years I refused to consider adding this fellow to the compendium not because there were no books out with his adventures, which was a requirement for some time, but because he was a cartoon rodent, not a human. In today's ultra political correctness phase, that seems so human-centric.

     Okay, to be honest, after I added, on an amazingly odd whim Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp, a fellow spy-fan teased me and asked why I was ignoring Secret Squirrel. And since the whimsy mood was still controlling me, I decided, 'why not?;

     Looking at this series from a clinical perspective, looking beyond the fact that is was created first and foremost for children, this series is a wonderful satire of the then growing spy craze.

     The first three James Bond movies had taken the entertainment world by storm and his ever-growing array of gadgets definitely affected Secret Squirrel's creators. The year before this series came out, the Man From U.N.C.L.E. had become an overnight hit and its influence can be seen here as well.

     Considering both these 'models' it is impressive but not surprising that the highly creative team of Hanna-Barbera knew to piggy-back on their successes and give little kids something of their own to enjoy. And truth be told, quite a few not-so-little kids such as myself who was just sliding into adolescence at the time.