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Cathy Gale—And
Venus Smith—Steed (1962-1964)
 Steed's
portrayal as described by Rogers remained more or less the same during
the first season, after which Ian Hendry packed his suitcase and said
goodbye. With the subsequent seasons existing in full, we viewers are
able to watch the episodes and find out what those "means" really
were.
One of the most evident
changes from the first to the second season, was the promotion of Steed
from mere assistant (a first class one, however) to leading character.
This wasn't the Hendry show anymore, but the Macnee show, plus...
Of course, the arrival
of a female partner would obviously produce a new human relationship in
which Steed no longer had to work with a straight and kindly doctor, but
with a tenacious, dynamic woman who had passed through higher education,
had an iron will, and indeed could look after herself in a fight.
The sexual factor
had entered the equation and set the stage for a good deal of Steed's
behavior which wasn't apparent during the Hendry season. However, Steed
maintained all his other traits that had already developed while being
Dr Keel's partner, traits which he expanded even further, leading towards
a picture of an urban, elegant and sophisticated English gentleman, whose
image still in this stage was neither perfectly nor exactly outlined.
That's why the Cathy
Gale-Venus Smith Steed could appear as an arrogant, self-assured, extremely
bemused, and somewhat irreverent character, with a rather more straight
than ironic sense of humor, even though dressed in fine three piece suits.
Often he employed drastic, non-chivalrous means to achieve his aims, ranging
from carrying guns with notable frequency, to accepting bribes, joining
racketeers, or even using innocent people as baits or hostages.
His attitude towards
women was slightly chauvinistic and at times, didn't seem to be too courteous.
Perhaps these qualities had arisen due to the fact that Cathy Gale wasn't
particularly amiable with him, at least during the second season. One
had the impression that both had created a certain reciprocal relationship
in which, although they were often seen together having breakfast or chatting
in Steed's (or Cathy's) apartment, everyone kept their distance and seemed
to have their limits.
With Venus Smith,
the situation was somewhat different. To Steed, Venus appeared merely
as a nightclub singer (whose merits, if the truth be known, were eminently
debatable). She was merely an amateur and occasional assistant, who, not
knowing exactly what kind of work Steed was involved in, could turn out
useful for carrying out vital inquiries for him, thanks to her cheerfulness
and her charm in making many friends. In fact, Steed took advantage of
Venus, as well as the qualities she showed, manipulating them at will
in their first episode together, "The Decapod," although soon
after, he slowly established a slight rapport with her, most obvious in
her last episode, "A Chorus of Frogs." All in all, the relative
cynicism the Venus Steed revealed, obviously was much more marked than
that of the Cathy Steed. Once again, Steed knew his limits—Venus was
a weak girl whom although efficient, preferred to hide under a table than
to face a villain or to take part in a fight. Cathy, on the contrary,
never had trouble in deciding who to toss over her shoulder in similar
circumstances.
During the third season,
which belongs exclusively to Cathy Gale, Steed emerges as a character
much more affectionately bonded to his partner. The relationship between
both is more flexible, and it happens to be that by now Steed grows worried
about her and her dangerous assignments. Consequently he takes care of
her more closely, especially when Cathy is wounded in "The Wringer"
as well as in "Lobster Quadrille." Likewise Cathy becomes quite
attentive when Steed apparently runs into trouble in "The Nutshell"
or the already mentioned "The Wringer."
The camaraderie created
between both is fortified visibly, and sometimes we catch them in scenes
which are widely open to doubt—is the relationship between them only
a partnership... or is there something more? At the end of "Man With
Two Shadows," an episode in which Steed is exactly duplicated by
another character, the still incredulous Cathy asks him how she could
know if he's the Steed she met the year before and he, just like Emma
would do later in "The Forget-Me-Knot," whispers something in
her ear... to which both wind up bursting into laughter. There is a hidden
sense of intimacy behind that laughter. In that same episode, Steed arrives
at her apartment and finds Cathy speaking on the phone dressed only in
her underclothes (or, perhaps, bathing suit) and both remain quite calm!
But that's no reason for keeping him from a leering glance accompanied
by a smile. One wonders what would make each of them so comfortable with
such a display of skin; has Steed in the past even seen more of Cathy
Gale? We just cannot be sure.
And to this end, why
not talk about that scene in the very first Cathy episode, "Death
Dispatch" in which Steed gets into Cathy's hotel room, wearing a
dressing gown and showing his bare legs, which makes one think that he
wears nothing underneath? "Camouflage," he grins solemnly
to a fearless Cathy (to whom, at least in that episode, he calls by her
first name instead of "Mrs. Gale") teasing the dressing gown
open and showing his rolled up trousers to his knees. These are all designed
to set the stage for sexual innuendo and we viewers fall for it 100%.
Since we mentioned
the clothes, it's time to bring up another very important, extremely unusual
aspect of the early Steed, which except for very few occasions, we no
longer perceive in the Emma or Tara seasons, not even in "The New
Avengers." Although Patrick already had designed his character's
façade, providing him with impeccable three-piece suits, bowler
hat, umbrella and Chelsea boots, in several episodes, particularly those
of Venus, that wasn't the common rule. That's why there's no better time
than the Cathy Gale-Venus Smith season to notice that Steed in fact seemed
to have quite an assorted wardrobe in his apartment. We see him wearing
T-shirts, striped ones mostly, short-sleeve shirts, jerseys, cardigans,
bathing suits, sunglasses, espadrilles, caps, panama hats... And in all
truth, he had none of these clothes on in a scene of the episode "Mr
Teddy Bear," in which he fully undresses—well, almost, of course—before
One-Ten & Co. so that they could check if the villain had placed some
sort of poison or another deadly device into his garments. Quite a strip-tease
for the forthcoming dandy of the Emma Peel era...
Another aspect put
aside from then onwards was Steed's penchant for pet, mostly seen during
the second season. As pointed out above, since the Dr. Keel times, Steed
had acquired a Great Dane named Juno. This dog continued appearing through
a few Cathy Gale episodes, until, according to Dave Rogers ( in "The
Complete Avengers" book), the dog was unfortunately killed in an
subway accident, while being taken to the studio to shoot a scene. His
replacement was his sister Junia, with whom the episode "Death of
a Great Dane" (heavy irony, huh?) was videotaped. This episode was
later remade in film in 1967 with Diana Rigg, as "The £50,000
Breakfast".
But Steed's dogs kept
on coming. At the end of "Mr. Teddy Bear," Cathy asks Steed
what the name is of the Dalmatian he has, and Steed answers "Freckles."
However we think his most durable pet has been Sheba, a female mongrel
whippet, who displayed a great affection for Steed (or should we say Patrick,
since the dog's owner was Catherine Woodville, his fiancée at that
time). The relationship between Steed and Sheba was adorable—we see him
walking her through a park in "Conspiracy of Silence," or inviting
her to climb to his lap in "The White Dwarf," or clutching her
tenderly into his arms in "Man in the Mirror," or giving Cathy
precise instructions on her food while he's away, and kissing her like
a happy boy at the end of "The Big Thinker"...
Providing Steed with
pets—sort of faithful sidekicks—as an expression of his affection for
animals, has been a sensitive trait that marked early Steed touchingly,
and one that unfortunately, in an attempt to give him perhaps another
more sophisticated dimension, would be disregarded from the times in which
the show began to be produced on film.
We shouldn't close
this section without approaching another subject mentioned above, typical
of the Keel-Gale periods, which would return, although with substantial
modifications, during the Tara King season—that of Steed's superiors.
Even when he was an agent who worked on his own account, Steed—and sometimes
Cathy—occasionally visited or was visited by a mysterious character with
outlandish name ("One-Ten", "One-Six", "One-Twelve")
with whom he discussed some aspects of the missions he was involved in.
Meetings would take place in the most unexpected locations—an exhibition
of art, an auction, a locker room, whatever. According to what Rogers
describes in his book, these characters were "the only link with
apparent officialdom, [their] use in the stories should be kept
to the absolute minimum and it is not necessary that [they] should
be involved in every episode". Perhaps for that reason, Steed
always enjoyed a virtual autonomy in his work, bestowing, in Patrick's
words, a "touch of academicism and quiet authority" upon
the series. This would not change until Tara came along with a Ministry
boss, "Mother".
Being the protagonist of a season in which
he had to find a clear definition of his personality, the early Steed
has excelled in many aspects which soon grew deeper during the ensuing
years. But he also offers the image of a Steed we wouldn't see anymore—the
professional who moved in a real world in the cops-and-robbers style.
The man who faced the situations in a direct way instead of a conscientiously
premeditated one. The man who was capable of giving a mocking smile to
his partner, loaded with a certain air of subtle machismo. The man who
wearing caps and fur-coated anoraks, also proved he had glamour and charisma,
beyond the bowler hat, the umbrella and his immaculate image of a starchy
dummy.
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