Birding Bond

RichardTheBruce

Moonraker, Ian Fleming, 1955.
Chapter XIX – Missing Person
…
So there was no question. You don't take a sick girl for a drive like a sack of potatoes. Not at that speed for the matter of that. So she was a prisoner. Why? What had she done? What had she discovered? What the hell, in fact, was all this about?
Each dark conjecture came and for a moment settled like a vulture on Bond's shoulder and croaked into his ear that he had been a blind fool. Blind, blind, blind.

Diamonds Are Forever, Ian Fleming, 1956.
Chapter 15 – Rue de la Pay
…
Bond suddenly felt he had had enough of the ghastly glitter of The Strip. He only wanted to get indoors and out of the heat, have some lunch and perhaps a swim and take things easy until the night. He said so.
"Suits me," said Cureo. "Guess ya shouldn't get into much trouble ya first night. Take it easy though and act kmda natural. If ya got work to do in Vegas ya better wait till ya know ya way around. And watch the gambling, friend." He chuckled. "Y'ever hear of those Silence Towers they have in India? They say it takes those vultures only twenty minutes to strip a guy to the bones. Guess they take a bit longer at The Tiara. Mebbe the Unions slow 'em down."

You Only Live Twice, Ian Fleming, 1964.
Chapter 5 - Magic 44
DIKKO HENDERSON came to fetch Bond at ten o'clock next morning. He was considerably overhung. The hard blue eyes were veined with blood and he made straight for the Bamboo Bar and ordered himself a double brandy and ginger ale. Bond said mildly, 'You shouldn't have poured all that sake on top of the Suntory. I can't believe Japanese whisky makes a good foundation for anything.'
'You've got something there, sport. I've got myself a proper futsukayoi - honourable hangover. Mouth like a vulture's crutch. Soon as we got home from that lousy cat house, I had to go for the big spit. But you're wrong about Suntory. It's a good enough brew. Stick to the cheapest, the White Label, at around fifteen bob a bottle. There are two smarter brands, but the cheap one's the best. Went up to the distillery some whiles ago and met one of the family. Told me an interesting thing , about whisky. He said you can only make good whisky where you can take good photographs. Ever heard that one? Said it was something to do with the effect of clear light on the alcohol. But did I talk a lot of crap last night? Or did you? Seem to recollect that one of us did.'

RichardTheBruce

The Living Daylights, 1987.
Should have known you'd take refuge behind that British vulture Wellington!

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BcMANVvl0zM/U-FdU6mK2CI/AAAAAAAARoU/cKPTjmFQJWY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-05+at+6.39.32+PM.jpg

https://bplusmovieblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/the-living-daylights-178.png

Never Say Never Again, 1983.
In Spain (specifically Almeria—which is not Granada, which in turn is not Grenada), the film showcases the Griffon vulture or Eurasian griffon in a way bird life is rarely seen in Bond films. Well done.
http://www.agonybooth.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/neversayneveragain1983part6.0100.jpg

This video shows them scrambling out of the way as OO7 executes his escape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1AuOoDw25g

Griffon vulture, aka Eurasian griffon




A kettle

A committee

A wake

RichardTheBruce

Franz Kafka’s story “The Vulture (Der Geier)" is the bizarre tale of a poor soul unable to resist the vulture’s slow assault. Even when intervention occurs, help is no help. Very Kafkaesque.
http://albalearning.com/audiolibros/kafka/elbuitre-en.html#inicio

Suggested readings of Kafka: “The Eagle”; “Prometheus”.

Inspired art from Israeli Yosl Bergner for Kafka's "The Vulture".




Modern uses of the vulture naturally align with comic-book storytelling.

DC Comics. Vulture organization.


Marvel Comics. Vulture villain.


And who can forget the 1967 British film The Vulture? Or remember at this point.

Thunderfinger

The Vultures are also a recurring criminal organization in The Phantom.

Thunderfinger

RichardTheBruce

A good time for that, @Thunderfinger, the meeting of James Bond and Ian Fleming in Jamaica.





So Ian Fleming was open about using ornithologist James Bond's name for his fictional spy, and Americans James and Mary Bond were aware. Mary read the novels, and corresponded with Fleming to recognize shared experiences at the involved locations.

Just a matter of time, bird business took the couple to Jamaica and they stopped at Fleming's estate Goldeneye unannounced. Introducing himself as "James Bond" apparently shook up Fleming's cook.
The photo at the doorway is taken by Mrs. Bond.


Also on hand were Mr. and Mrs. Hilary Bray, friends of the Flemings. I've read reports that Fleming made comments on their meeting during the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) interview filmed on site that day, but I couldn't locate a video for that. Fleming passed on a signed copy of You Only Live Twice as thanks to the couple.


Mary Wickham Bond did write her own book on the subject.

0BradyM0Bondfanatic7

That's crazy, @RichardTheBruce, thanks for sharing. I had no idea Fleming and Bond actually met, nor that a book was made by Mrs. Bond that had a cover in tribute to the Chopping originals. What a wacky world, much stranger than fiction.

RichardTheBruce

The dustjacket is my favorite part of the story, appreciate you calling it out, @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7.

Credited to Barbosa, what a beautiful callback to the Richard Chopping covers of the original Fleming novels.

RichardTheBruce

I'm not ready to really go down this particular road--here, they're bird food.

But @MooseWithFleas and some others may enjoy Richard Chopping's own novel The Fly, Secker & Warburg 1965, and his cover art. (No relation to the 1958 film. Still, maybe an evolution from his The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopusssy & The Living Daylights dustjackets that, um, gathered flies.)

0BradyM0Bondfanatic7

Chopping definitely seemed to be interested in portraying animal life on his covers, usually in instances where they are involved in a predator/prey relationship (the frog and the dragonfly of YOLT) or showing their decay, like the fish. Each of the covers give off a feeling of impermanence, or something ominous too. A gun parted with a thorny rose signifies to me a dangerous love affair, and the images of a dead skull with a rose, a greedy and skeletal hand grasping cards, and a knife through a private note really transmit the dangerous world of Bond in a very intimate way and show the pitfalls men and women get themselves into. There is a sense of vice I get while looking at them, and they aren't your expected covers at all. Yet the very incongruous images somehow compliment each other well and don't come off as that strange.

Did Fleming ever give praise to the covers? I'd be interested in knowing what he thoughts of them. As the first prints, I'm sure he had some say in what the final covers sent to market would look like.

RichardTheBruce

There are some interesting anecdotes for that. This piece by Vince Cosgrove is a good collection of those.

The art of Bondage: The great book covers of Richard Chopping
Thursday, May 31, 2012, 9:56 AM
BY VINCE COSGROVE
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pageviews/art-bondage-great-book-covers-richard-chopping-blog-entry-1.1638425
...
Ian’s wife Ann came across Chopping’s work in 1956 while attending an exhibition of several painters, including her friend Francis Bacon, who urged her to take a look at Chopping’s flower paintings and trompe-l’oeil works. Impressed, she suggested to her husband that Chopping (1917-2008) might make the perfect artist for the covers of the Bond novels.
Fleming (1908-1964) liked what he saw, declaring Chopping “the only English master” in the art of trompe-l’oeil. Splitting the cost with his English publisher, Jonathan Cape, Fleming paid Chopping 50 guineas (about $147 in 1957), insisting that the cover of “From Russia, With Love,” show both a Smith & Wesson .38 with a modified trigger guard for faster firing and a rose with a drop of dew. Despite such specifics, Chopping always insisted that he and not Fleming ultimately designed the covers.
...
Writing to Chopping about ideas for the cover of “Thunderball,” Fleming said that the covers were “marvelous” and offered to increase Chopping’s fee, perhaps to 100 guineas.
Chopping asked for 200, and Fleming agreed “on condition that you do my jackets every year,” according to Andrew Lycett’s excellent 1995 Fleming biography.
...

Short article, worth reading.

RichardTheBruce

The Recurrent Kiss, Richard Chopping

Trompe l'oeill, Richard Chopping

Looking around, I see he even has A Book of Birds. Published by Bantam, of course, 1944.

0BradyM0Bondfanatic7

That is awesome, @RichardTheBruce. It's great that the Flemings were so involved in how Bond was marketed, and that Mrs. Fleming had so much say too and a big role in the Bond books being such a high quality item.

As an artist and wannabe designer, I find it very interesting how Chopping was able to cling to the same motifs and ideas in so much of his work, often using similar backgrounds and that same 3D effect that really makes all of his creations derived from the same roots.

In a way, those covers make Fleming's books feel like what I hold they are: works of literary art. His art really gave the pedigree to books that might have been looked down upon by the "elite" literary banner-wavers. "That Fleming, he writes smut. Sex and secret agents, how barbarian." Chopping made the books feel like something you just had to experience, a perfect example of why cover art is instrumental in sales and getting consumers to even pick up your book in the first place. It's great to hear that Fleming loved the final products so much, and was a real ring-bearer for Chopping's continued involvement in his work.

I also find it utterly perfect that-of course-Chopping had a book called A Book of Birds. The parallels between Fleming, his associates and the occupation and name of the man who inspired his character are staggering. You couldn't make it up.

CommanderRoss

Indeed, fascinating stuff there!

Agent_99

@0BradyM0Bondfanatic7, 'The Man with the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming's James Bond Letters' has a lot of correspondence between Fleming and Chopping, if you're interested in the evolution of the covers.

0BradyM0Bondfanatic7

I've heard of that one of course, @Agent_99. It's definitely on my list of must-read Bond books, and I hope to get to it sometime. After reading all the books for the Bondathon and having the context for the series and how it development from beginning to end, I think a collection of Fleming's letters would be the logical next step for me.

Agent_99

It will be perfect, Brady - they're arranged by book, so you can get the proper context. I found it a really interesting and entertaining read.

RichardTheBruce

Agent_99 wrote: »

@0BradyM0Bondfanatic7, 'The Man with the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming's James Bond Letters' has a lot of correspondence between Fleming and Chopping, if you're interested in the evolution of the covers.

For completeness, which seems to be a thing for some of us, I want to give some detail to that book.

The Man with the Golden Typewriter : Ian Fleming's James Bond Letters,
Ian Fleming. Bloomsbury, New York NY, 2015.
391 pages, 8 pages of plates: illustrations.
Introduction (by Fergus Fleming, Editor) p. 1
1 Casino Royale p. 9
2 Live and Let Die p. 30
3 Moonraker p. 51
4 Notes from America p. 74
5 Diamonds are Forever p. 92
6 From Russia with Love p. 109
7 Conversations with the Armourer p. 140
8 Dr No p. 164
9 Goldfinger p. 191
10 For Your Eyes Only p. 209
11 The Chandler Letters p. 223
12 Thunderball p. 236
13 The Spy Who Loved Me p. 262
14 The Liebert Letters p. 299
15 On Her Majesty's Secret Service p. 313
16 You Only Live Twice p. 341
17 The Man with the Golden Gun p. 362
Afterword p. 377
The Works of Ian Fleming p. 379
The James Bond Films p. 380
Acknowledgements p. 382
Index p. 384

I don't. But I will.

CommanderRoss

Hey! Where's the next page! I NEED TO READ MORE!!!!!!

0BradyM0Bondfanatic7

CommanderRoss wrote: »

Hey! Where's the next page! I NEED TO READ MORE!!!!!!

Looks like you'll have to give it a purchase!

[Be sure to read that as me doing my best loud salesman impersonation]

Agent_99

My favourite bits were the manuscript critiques by William Plomer - 'M ought not so often to speak drily' - and the precision F-strike from Noel Coward.

j_w_pepper

I just noticed that one of the Vulcan crewmen in TB, though uncredited, was played by Derek Partridge.

RichardTheBruce

Noted, @j_w_pepper. Maybe I can also find one in MOONRAKER. Anyway, I'll take a look.

RichardTheBruce

Researching an item here related to a suggestion from @Thunderfinger, I came across another surprising book resource. Not for everyone, not inexpensive, there are two volumes. The second is of particular interest to me.

Witness volume one:

Birds of the West Indies, Taryn Simon, 2013.
http://www.jamesbondlifestyle.com/product/birds-west-indies-taryn-simon

In the 2013 art project and book Birds of the West Indies, a meticulous and comprehensive dissection of the Bond films, artist Taryn Simon inventories women, weapons and vehicles, constant elements in the films between 1962 and 2012.
This photography art project features photos of every actress who appeared as a Bond Girl, starting with Ursula Andress of Dr. No. In October 2013 the project Birds of the West Indies was displayed at Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, PA.
The art book featuring the photos of the Bond girls, cars and gadgets is still available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
The contents of these categories function as essential accessories to the narrative’s myth of the seductive, powerful and invincible western male. Maintaining the illusion the narrative relies upon - an ageless Bond, state-of-the-art weaponry, herculean vehicles and desirable women - requires constant replacements, and a contract exists between Bond and the viewer, which binds the narrative to that set of expectations. Continually satisfying those obligations allowed Bond to become a ubiquitous brand, a signifier to be activated with each subsequent novel and film.
The name of the art project and book is taken from the book written by an ornithologist called James Bond, who released the definitive taxonomy of birds found in the Caribbean, titled Birds of the West Indies in 1936. Ian Fleming, an active bird watcher living in GoldenEye, Jamaica, famously used the name of the ornithologist for his spy novel’s main character. Fleming found the name "flat and colourless", a fitting choice for a character intended to be "anonymous ... a blunt instrument in the hands of the government." A Birds of the West Indies book can briefly be seen in Die Another Day, as a nod to this trivia fact.
About the author
Taryn Simon was born in New York in 1975. She is a graduate of Brown University and a Guggenheim Fellow. Her photographs and writing have been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions including The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2012), Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2012); Tate Modern, London (2011); Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2011); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2007) and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York (2003). In 2011 her work was included in the 54th Venice Biennale.

RichardTheBruce

Witness volume two:

Field Guide to Birds of the West Indies, Taryn Simon, 2015.
jamesbondlifestyle.com/product/field-guide-birds-west-indies

Every bird that ever flew in a James Bond film, meticulously recorded by artist Taryn Simon.
In the book Field Guide to Birds of the West Indies (2015), artist Taryn Simon casts herself as James Bond (1900-1989) the ornithologist, and identifies, photographs and classifies all the birds that appear within the 24 films of the James Bond franchise.
As you might know, Ian Fleming, an active bird-watcher living in Jamaica, took the name "James Bond" from an American ornithologist who published the definitive taxonomy Birds of the West Indies. Fleming found the name "flat and colourless", a fitting choice for a character intended to be "anonymous ... a blunt instrument in the hands of the government." A Birds of the West Indies book can briefly be seen in Die Another Day, as a nod to this trivia fact.
...
In October 2013 the project Birds of the West Indies was displayed
at Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, PA. The art book is also still available on Amazon.

Of course this creation is an unexpected treat for me specific to my interests. There's a methodical and holistic approach. It's beautifully and simply executed in an artful way: birds on screen in the Bond films are isolated and presented in black and white. Recognizable species or even subjects in focus are a rarity, but that goes back to what the film itself allows usually in the background or edge of frame.

01:10:22 Crab Key, Caribbean Sea. 1962


You may suspect clarity is given on screen to Columba livia or Ara ararauna and Gyps fulvus. But not much else.
A mix of a select few closeups, the rest elusive but on screen nonetheless.


[Clockwise from upper left.]
01:37:13 Ionian Sea. 1981
00:09:21 Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong. 1967
01:41.50 North Africa. 1983
01:16:23 Swiss Alps, Switzerland. 1969


As taxonomy, there's also a purity to the approach. No film names. [And no bird IDs.]
There is simply the run time reference, city, country, and year of film release. For example, an iconic Bird Bond moment is represented as "00:40:57 Venice, Italy 1979". Of course. It had to be.
And it's the story location, not the real world filming location. So "00:11:47 SPECTRE Island. 1963", rather than some film lot or shooting locale.

01:16:23 Swiss Alps, Switzerland. 1969


The back half of the book recognizes ornithologist James Bond with color photos of research specimens
(apparently still on hand) and papers. A nice contrast for cinema versus stark reality.

Disclaimer: an expensive volume for a very specialized audience.

Revelator

The CBC interview with Ian Fleming is at one point interrupted by a bird, to which Fleming says "go away". Any clue on the type of bird?
Here's the video: http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1856624190
The interruption is around the 7:55 mark. If you haven't watched the entire interview, please do--it's the only substantial footage of Fleming around.

RichardTheBruce

A nice little moment in the interview, @Revelator. It's a Grackle, Fleming himself calls it the Kling kling
as the local Jamaica name for it. A feature of his last full-length novel The Man with the Golden Gun,
we covered the bird on Page 8.

You're right, that's the most complete version of the CDC interview I've seen.

RichardTheBruce

j_w_pepper wrote: »

I just noticed that one of the Vulcan crewmen in TB, though uncredited, was played by Derek Partridge.

Partridge - ˈpär·trij/ - noun
1. a small game bird with a short tail
Middle English (partrich). Old French (pertriz, or perdriz). Latin (perdix).

Partridge (Phasianidae, or subfamily Perdicinae): ground-dwelling birds that eat bugs and seeds. Smaller than Pheasant, larger than Quail. Old World game birds found across Europe, Asia, Africa. May be raised for release in the wild for hunting purposes, introduced to North America that way.

Varieties: Snow partridge (Lerwa lerwa), Verreaux's monal-partridge (Tetraophasis obscurus), Szechenyi's monal-partridge (Tetraophasis szechenyii), Arabian partridge (Alectoris melanocephala), Przevalski's partridge (Alectoris magna), Rock partridge (Alectoris graeca), Chukar (Alectoris chukar), Philby's partridge (Alectoris philbyi), Barbary partridge (Alectoris barbara), Red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa), See-see partridge (Ammoperdix griseogularis), Sand partridge (Ammoperdix heyi), Grey partridge (Perdix perdix), Daurian partridge (Perdix dauurica), Tibetan partridge (Perdix hodgsoniae), Long-billed partridge (Rhizothera longirostris), Hose's partridge، Rhizothera dulitensis[/i]), Madagascar partridge (Margaroperdix madagascarensis), Black wood-partridge (Melanoperdix nigra), Rubeho forest partridge (Xenoperdix obscuratus), Udzungwa forest partridge (Xenoperdix udzungwensis), Hill partridge (Arborophila torqueola), Sichuan partridge (Arborophila rufipectus), Chestnut-breasted partridge (Arborophila mandellii), White-necklaced partridge (Arborophila gingica), Rufous-throated partridge (Arborophila rufogularis), White-cheeked partridge (Arborophila atrogularis), Taiwan partridge (Arborophila crudigularis), Hainan partridge (Arborophila ardens), Chestnut-bellied partridge (Arborophila javanica). Grey-breasted partridge (Arborophila orientalis), Bar-backed partridge (Arborophila brunneopectus), Orange-necked partridge (Arborophila davidi), Chestnut-headed partridge (Arborophila cambodiana), Red-breasted partridge (Arborophila hyperythra), Red-billed partridge (Arborophila rubrirostris), Scaly-breasted partridge (Arborophila chloropus), Chestnut-necklaced partridge (Arborophila charltonii), Sumatran partridge (Arborophila sumatrana), Vietnam partridge (Arborophila merlini), Ferruginous partridge (Caloperdix oculea), Crimson-headed partridge (Haematortyx sanguiniceps), Crested partridge (Rollulus roulroul), [/i]), Mountain bamboo partridge (Bambusicola fytchii), Chinese bamboo partridge (Bambusicola thoracica).

Snow partridge

Rock partridge

Chukar

Red-legged partridge

Black wood-partridge

Grey partridge

Taiwan partridge

Chinese bamboo partridge

Miscellaneous.

RichardTheBruce

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Ian Fleming, 1963.
Chapter 2 – Gran Turismo
It was to efface all these dyspeptic memories that Bond now sat at his window, sipped his Taittinger and weighed up the pros and cons of the local eating places and wondered what dishes it would be best to gamble on. He finally chose one of his favourite restaurants in France, a modest establishment, unpromisingly placed exactly opposite the railway station of Staples, rang up his old friend Monsieur Becaud for a table and, two hours later, was motoring back to the Casino with Turbot poche, sauce mousseline, and half the best roast partridge he had eaten in his life, under his belt.

Turbot poche and Sauce mousseline

Roast partridge

You Only Live Twice, Ian Fleming, 1964.
Chapter 2 – Curtains for Bond?
EXACTLY one month before, it had been the eve of the annual closing of Blades. On the next day, 1 September, those members who were still unfashionably in London would have to pig it for a month at Whites or Boodle's. Whites they considered noisy and 'smart', Boodle's too full of superannuated country squires who would be talking of nothing but the opening of the partridge season. For Blades, it was one month in the wilderness. But there it was. The staff, one supposed, had to have their holiday. More important, there was some painting to be done and there was dry-rot in the roof.
M., sitting in the bow window looking out over St James's Street, couldn't care less. He had two weeks' trout fishing on the Test to look forward to and, for the other two weeks, he would have sandwiches and coffee at his desk. He rarely used Blades, and then only to entertain important guests. He was not a 'clubable' man and if he had had the choice he would have stuck to The Senior, that greatest of all Services' clubs in the world.

Moonraker, 1979.
Pheasants, confirmed. Quail? Likely. Partridge? Why the heck not.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-35qOfUQDDa4/VNptF4bwnTI/AAAAAAAAJgs/6PzPmjUEuQk/s1600/DSC02304.JPG

Terance James Bond, UK bird artist, Partridge.

Derek Partridge - Vulcan Bomber Crewman, Thunderball, 1965

Tim Partridge- Dolby sound consultant, GoldenEye, 1995

Rob Partridge – Armorer, Skyfall, 2012

RichardTheBruce

Greek myth: Daedalus (son of Icarus!) in anger threw nephew Perdix (Latin for Partridge) from the sacred hill of Athena to become a partridge. Therefore the bird sticks to low ground rather than trees or flights at altitude.


Actually not partial to pear trees. [Potential sloppy translation of "une perdrix".]


Several ships of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Partridge.

HMS Partridge, 1893

HMS Partridge (#7 overall), launched 1941 (sunk 1942)

Partridge Family