Mercedes (Tanya Lemani) is the hidden villainess in the 1969 epiosde "38-23-36" for the TV series "It Takes a Thief".
Alexander Mundy (Robert Wagner) goes undercover as a fashion photographer at an international beauty pageant. He knows only the measurements (38-23-36) of the girl who is a dangerous enemy spy. The suspected girl has possession of a microdot that contains information obtained on a visit to the Pentagon. The girl took pictures of the secret program HAWK, which is an anti-ICBM Missles system.
Mercedes Crios is posing as a contestant representing Miss Greece for the Miss United Nations pageant. Her talent is as a belly dancer, and Al has a photo shoot with her in which she poses on top of a giant beachball.
There is a bevy of well known 60's beauties in the field as well, including: Rosette, Miss Spain (Ann Morrell); Miss United States (Johnnie Leigh Avery); Miss Finland (Inge Jaklyn); Miss Norway (Rena Horten); Hilda (Jane Betts); Miss New Zealand (Gloria Mills); Miss Egypt (Shirleena Manchur); Miss Mexico (Susana Miranda); Miss Israel (Saundra Bettin); Miss Jamaica (Lavelle Roby); Miss Hong Kong (Bebe Louie); Miss Canada (Mary Charlotte Wilcox); Miss Bulgaria (Elizabeth Thompson); Miss Nigeria (Paulette Blair); 1st Queen (Gloria Hill); and 2nd Queen (Gari Hardy).
At first Al suspects the pageant organizer, Penny Colbert (Nancy Kovack). However, she is later taken off the list of suspects and helps Al solve the crime.
It is soon learned that Mercedes is the spy when she meets Kurt Kosbec (Curt Lowens) in the bar and he tells her he has transferred money to a safety deposit box in her name. She tells him that she will turn over the microdot when she has received the key for the deposit box. Later it is learned that she is a freelance spy working for the Parencia Consulate.
Al finally is on to Mercedes and goes to her room to snoop around. However, while there, Mercedes arrives and Al is forced to hide in her closet. While she is getting ready for bed, he slips out. After he leaves, we see the lovely Mercedes showing off her flexibility as she does exercises on the floor in her nightgown.
Back at Penny's office, Al is combing through blown up pictures of Mercedes trying to find where on her body she has hidden the microdot. Finally he notices that in pictures taken of her one year ago, she wore glasses. Looking at the current picture, the right one is duller than the left one, leading Al to suspect that the microdot is on her contact.
Back at Mercedes room, she carefully took off her contacts and placed them into containers that she then snapped into place on her earrings. Getting back into bed, she carefully opened up the dresser drawer making it easy to reach for her pistol.
Sneaking back into her room, Al removed the clip from Mercedes gun in the drawer and got a closer look at her eyes. However, Mercedes woke up, and attempted to reach for her gun. Al warned her not to, and Mercedes attacked him, knocking him to the ground. She then jumped on him and kicked him backwards into the closet and then flipped him head over heals to the ground. Mercedes then grabbed her nail file on the cabinet and was about to stab Al with it. Al turned the tables on Mercedes knocking her out with one punch to the chin, which landed her ontop of the bed. He then grabbed a ribbon and tied her hands behind her back.
It was later learned that she had been arraigned at federal court. Incidentally, Rosette, Miss Spain won the contest.
Trivia[]
- Tanya Lemani appeared Carla in the 1965 episode "Survival of the Fattest" for the TV series "Get Smart".
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