Cone of Silence (Get Smart)

The Cone of Silence is one of many recurring joke devices from "Get Smart", a 1960s American comedy television series about an inept spy. The essence of the joke is that the apparatus, designed for secret conversations, makes it impossible for those inside the device – and easy for those outside the device – to hear the conversation.
History.
Precursors.
Although popularized by "Get Smart", the term "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. The story focuses on finding a cure for Professor Richard Sheldon, who had been returned to the United States in a confused, altered state of mind after abduction by enemy agents while visiting Milan. Scientists discover that placing Sheldon in an environment of total silence had been the means of brainwashing, a precursor to later ideas of sensory deprivation, celebrated in such films as "Altered States" and sundry spy thrillers. Sheldon is placed on a chair in the "Cone of Silence", which consists of a raised circular platform suspended by three wires tied to a common vertex. Although the cone's surface is open, noise canceling sound generators located just below the vertex shroud anyone sitting inside in a complete silence impossible in natural surroundings. It is also demonstrated that anyone speaking inside the cone could not be heard outside, which was the feature later parodied in "Get Smart". Only a speculative, "science fiction" possibility at that time, such technology is now commonplace in active noise canceling electronics for personal and industrial use.
The concept is also explored in Arthur C. Clarke's 1950 short story "Silence Please", which features a device capable of cancelling sound waves.
In Frank Herbert's science fiction novel "Dune"—first serialized in "Analog" from 1963 to 1965 and then published independently in August 1965—the Baron Harkonnen employs a "cone of silence" when having a private discussion with Count Fenring. In the novel's glossary, Herbert describes the device as the sound-deadening "field of a distorter that limits the carrying power of the voice or any other vibrator by damping the vibrations with an image-vibration 180 degrees out of phase". Used for privacy, the field does not visually obscure lip movement. Herbert had previously mentioned the cone of silence, on a much smaller scale, in his 1955 short story "Cease Fire".
"Get Smart".
The larger, plastic version of the "Cone of Silence", appeared in the pilot episode of "Get Smart", entitled "Mr. Big", which aired on September 18, 1965. Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, the original screenwriters 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.
Cones of Silence appear in "The Nude Bomb" (1980), the first attempt at a theatrical "Get Smart" movie. Max, the Chief, and the delegates all have their own cone placed over them. Neither the characters nor the audience hear what is being said. In the later sequel movie, "Get Smart, Again!" (1989), 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 to be completely outdated (however Max and 99 still have one at home), and the current methods used were the following:
A new version of the Cone of Silence appears in the 2008 "Get Smart" film. One of the early versions of the Cone used in the television series is on display in the CONTROL museum seen in the beginning of the film. The new version has an appearance more consistent with the cones of silence used in "The Nude Bomb" than in the television series. It was apparently constructed by the lab guys Bruce and Lloyd, and was untested at the time it was used. It seems much more high-tech, being a small handheld device which, when the button is pressed, creates a cone-shaped beam of light shining down from the ceiling, forming a force field around the person highlighted. This field ought to block all exterior sound, making external communication all but impossible. However, as usual, this updated version is ineffective, creating individual force fields around each person at the table instead of one big field. The force field was shown to be solid, though, to the point where a panicking Larrabee found he could not escape, to the cause of his greater panic. When Max himself attempts to use the device to hide his glee at being named field agent, it malfunctions and does not even raise the field, permitting everybody to hear his embarrassing shouts. However, in fairness to the manufacturers, this was because Max didn't push the button hard enough.
Variations and related devices.
Throughout the five seasons of "Get Smart", the Cone of Silence appears many times. For security reasons, Maxwell Smart insists upon using it to discuss his case. Despite this, its use is always counterproductive in some way:
The series also employs related technology: