Fans Who Remember James Bond in the 1950s and 1960s?

Dragonpol

Are there people on this forum who became Bond fans in the 1950s from reading the novels by Ian Fleming? Or alternatively are there any fans here who saw the early Bond films of the 1960s in the cinema?

I consider these the true Bond fans who started the slow burning success of Bond and it would be interesting to hear an account of how they discovered Bond as a literary figure.

Does anyone here remember Ian Fleming interviews at the time, the early radio and TV adaptations that are very rare, and press interviews?

It may seem an obvious question, but has anyone here ever met or corresponded with Ian Fleming, or even know anyone who's ever met the author?

This may seem an odd thread (I tried it over on CBn Forums in January 2004 and it did get some interesting replies there, so I thought I'd dust it off again), but it's worth a try. I'm sure such fans would have made themselves known before now.

Kingsley Amis famously found Casino Royale on a railway bookstall and became a James Bond fanatic from there, of course.

Looking forward to hearing from any 'Originals', though this time for the literary James Bond!

Perilagu_Khan

I, too, would be very interested to hear from these very earliest of Bond fans. They are the foundation, as it were.

Tracy

Such a long time ago , realisticly some might even have passed away by now :(

CrabKey

Summer 1963 was the summer between my eighth and ninth grade years. I went to see Dr. No without knowing a thing about the film or having seen a preview. Had never heard of Ian Fleming. From the very start, I knew this was something very different. In those pre-internet days it was very hard to find information. Lots of library time scouring newspapers and magazines. Gradually I discovered there were novels associated with films. Much to my sophomore English teacher's chagrin, I did book reports on several of the novels. He asked me to broaden my horizons. I too would be very interested to know if some of the visitors to this site were aware of Bond before the first film.

Dragonpol

Perilagu_Khan wrote:

I, too, would be very interested to hear from these very earliest of Bond fans. They are the foundation, as it were.

Indeed. I feel the same way, so I think this thread is worth a try.

Perilagu_Khan

CrabKey wrote:

Summer 1963 was the summer between my eighth and ninth grade years. I went to see Dr. No without knowing a thing about the film or having seen a preview. Had never heard of Ian Fleming. From the very start, I knew this was something very different. In those pre-internet days it was very hard to find information. Lots of library time scouring newspapers and magazines. Gradually I discovered there were novels associated with films. Much to my sophomore English teacher's chagrin, I did book reports on several of the novels. He asked me to broaden my horizons. I too would be very interested to know if some of the visitors to this site were aware of Bond before the first film.

Ah, so the anti-Bond/Fleming snobbery was alive and well even at that early date, eh?

Dragonpol

Perilagu_Khan wrote:

CrabKey wrote:

Summer 1963 was the summer between my eighth and ninth grade years. I went to see Dr. No without knowing a thing about the film or having seen a preview. Had never heard of Ian Fleming. From the very start, I knew this was something very different. In those pre-internet days it was very hard to find information. Lots of library time scouring newspapers and magazines. Gradually I discovered there were novels associated with films. Much to my sophomore English teacher's chagrin, I did book reports on several of the novels. He asked me to broaden my horizons. I too would be very interested to know if some of the visitors to this site were aware of Bond before the first film.

Ah, so the anti-Bond/Fleming snobbery was alive and well even at that early date, eh?

Not all that surprisingly, it would appear so. Later, Fleming was replaced by his friend Roald Dahl in this category.

timmer

I knew a guy who was a casual Bond fan going back to the first film. He saw DN in theatre when he was about 16 and followed the series faithfully. He's a relative. He didn't live to see SF. He died suddenly in his mid '60s.
He was good with all the Bond films but for QoS which he absolutely hated. He bitched about it during a dinner at his place once. He basically said it wasn't a proper Bond film and wanted his money back and blamed it on me like it was my fault, as he knew I was a serious fan. I told him I also considered the film to be an abomination, so was allowed to stick around for after dinner drinks.
I think a lot of young guys in the '60s really related to the young Bond.
He used to like borrowing my dvds when he had his Bond urges. He wasn't a collector but he did read all the Fleming novels.
He'd give me a list and I'd drop the dvds off for him. He was pretty much ok with all the films but for for QoS. He'd even borrow the Brozzer movies.
I wouldn't be surprised if he might have read a few Flemings in the '50s but he would have been kind of young. I never asked him. DN the film, might have introduced a bunch of teenage guys like him to the books though.

Villiers53

As I've posted elsewhere, I discovered literary Bond in 1963 and owe Fleming a huge debt. He was the one who really introduced me to reading for pleasure and made me dream about the possibilities that life could offer and although the Dr.No movie was pivotal in introducing Fleming to a wider audience (myself included), it is sometimes underestimated how established he was prior to the film.
I well remember visiting my local bookstore in Durham City (NE. England) and finding all of his published PAN paperbacks in stock with a huge off shelf display of his latest,Thunderball,with its fabulous Raymond Hawkey cover design. In addition, the store also had a significant window display of has latest JC hardback, OHMSS. Few authors would warrant this level of exposure and it would not have come as a result of one single film. This illustrates how established he already was.
That year, mother and I bought everything that was available in paperback and read them back to back. Something that caught the attention of an uncle who was quite a well known literary critic. One who specialised in more highbrow works and I remember being quite surprised when he commented that he'd read the first two or three when they'd been published in the '50s and said that he quite rated them and found Fleming a cut above the norm.
That said, his pole position amongst spy novelists was relatively short lived. Contemporary fans may not realise is how quickly Fleming was outflanked in the genre.
His impact was huge but his success provoked an avalanche of new entrants. Some were equal contemporaries, the likes of James Munro, James Mayo, James Leasor, Adam Diment and John Gardner. Writers who brought their own take on the glamorous spy but pretty much adhered to the Fleming formula.
Some however were genuinely new, different and better - Peter O'Donnell and Adam Hall to name but two and some, like Le Carre and Len Deighton took the spy novel to a literary level previously only achieved by Graham Greene and possibly Eric Ambler.
Many of the aforementioned sold better than Fleming and much as I love the man and his creation, I have to say that it is really the unprecedented success of the movies that has secured his longevity. Indeed, I would challenge any literary spy aficionado to read Peter Odonnell's "Sabre Tooth" and deny that it isn't better than anything in the Bond canon.
That said, without Fleming I doubt how many of his contemporaries would have ever put pen to paper. We owe him a huge debt — not just for Bond but for a whole genre!

Dragonpol

Any other early Bond fans of either the books or films that want to chip in on this thread. As always, I'd be delighted to hear from you!

Dragonpol

Birdleson wrote:

I don't think I quite qualify. I was born in '62, saw my first Bond film in '65.

No, I'd say that you do, @Birdleson. Tell us more...

FLeiter

Color me old. I think my first memory of Bond is seeing a tv ad for 'Dr. No'. And while it's tame by today's standards, it was pretty interesting and peaked my interest. Then I found out that Pres. JFK liked the Fleming novels(there were novels?) and I began to read the novels, but probably not in order. PLAYBOY began to run some of the short stories in the early 60's, but honestly it was all I could do to get by the centerfold and other pix. There was a huge article about Bond and filming 'Thunderball' in either LOOK or LIFE(can't pin it down) magazine(circa 1965 or so). Remember a photo of movie techs working on Sean's tanned shoulders, I believe to remove a stray hair or two.

The release of an early Bond movie in the U.S. was a big deal and people stood in line to be at the first showing. Some theatres had weekday airings starting at 7AM in major cities. ABC bought the rights to the Bond movies and began airing them, which was a big deal with vcr's not yet invented. Technology has made the movies and books so readily available to everyone which is great. It was probably more of an innocent time back then with limited choices, so you savored each book and movie.

timmer

Even though I was a child in the sixties, I don't qualify as I didn't discover Bond until I saw Diamonds Are Forever in cinema in 1972, but from thence forth, I was bouncing off the walls hooked.
Being a young pup with only paper route money, I had to buy the Fleming books in willy nilly random order. First one I read was YOLT, as a neighbor's parents had it lying around. I still have it, I am embarassed to say.
Karma though. Friends that I will never see again, still have my original TMWTGG and TSWLM lp soundtracks, borrowed from my dorm in university.
Think I had all the Flemings owned and read by age 15, and of course the Bond cinema double bills of the '70s allowed one to catch up with the old films.
Bond did shape me as a youth. I delved heavily into other British espionage stuff, such as anything I could get my hands on regarding real intrigue such as the Intrepid and Kim Philby stories. These stories were all connected to Fleming's world.
Because of Bond I became a huge fan of all the good Bond-inspired spyfy, most notably The Avengers and Uncle.
And I elevated Sean Connery to demi-god status among us mere mortals.

Dragonpol

timmer wrote:

Even though I was a child in the sixties, I don't qualify as I didn't discover Bond until I saw Diamonds Are Forever in cinema in 1972, but from thence forth, I was bouncing off the walls hooked.
Being a young pup with only paper route money, I had to buy the Fleming books in willy nilly random order. First one I read was YOLT, as a neighbor's parents had it lying around. I still have it, I am embarassed to say.
Karma though. Friends that I will never see again, still have my original TMWTGG and TSWLM lp soundtracks, borrowed from my dorm in university.
Think I had all the Flemings owned and read by age 15, and of course the Bond cinema double bills of the '70s allowed one to catch up with the old films.
Bond did shape me as a youth. I delved heavily into other British espionage stuff, such as anything I could get my hands on regarding real intrigue such as the Intrepid and Kim Philby stories. These stories were all connected to Fleming's world.
Because of Bond I became a huge fan of all the good Bond-inspired spyfy, most notably The Avengers and Uncle.
And I elevated Sean Connery to demi-god status among us mere mortals.

Thank you for that fascinating read, @timmer. Nothing to be embarrassed about in that lot, let me tell you!

RC7

A semi-vicarious post...

My Grandfather was 24 when DN was released. He saw it at the Manchester (England) premiere. He said they had search lights, music, the works. He'd been a massive fan of the books, so much so he remembers very specific descriptions. It was the descriptive genius of Fleming that got him hooked and several decades later it hooked me too.

Regards that premiere evening, one comment always sticks in my mind. He said, 'When I saw Doctor No, that night, Connery appeared on screen and that was the man I'd read about'. I'll always remember him saying that. He thought they'd absolutely nailed it and it's difficult to disagree.

He's always been a Bond fan, but you'd never know it. He doesn't shout about it, but quiz him and he'll be absolutely on it. He'd kept a close eye on the Roger era, but I think it was my own personal love of Rog, during the 80's/90's that reminded him how brilliant the Moore Bond was. A personal fave of mine and his being TSWLM.

He is, like myself, both a big Dalton and Brosnan fan. He's said on many occasions, 'Dalton was good, wasn't he?' Which in his world means Dalts was bang on. He always used to cite the Bond-Saunders relationship as a key scene. 'Section 26, paragraph 5'. He loves it.

As for Brozzer, well, my grandfather took me to the cinema on the opening night of GE. I was 2 months shy of 12 years old and when the usher quizzed my grandfather on my age he, being the honest man he is, said 11. The Usher refused me entry. My heart sank. Cue my Grandfather explaining in minute detail my love of James Bond, plus his personal history with James Bond... 5 minutes later I'm waiting for Brozzers gunbarrel. Good times.

After that we watched every Broz together, opening night, without fail. And we loved every minute.

As for Craig, well, he loves him too. Not to quite the extent of his predecessors, but he thinks the films are superb and he's seen them all multiple times.

I hope we get to see B24 together.

Dragonpol

Thank you for sharing your story with us, @RC7. This is precisely the sort of thing that I wanted when I started this thread. Your grandfather sounds like quite a guy.

Murdock

That was a very nice story @RC7, thank you for sharing. :)

SaintMark

@RC7 I do hope you will see Bond 24 with the old man as well.

BeatlesSansEarmuffs

I too shared the story of my introduction to Bond on Sir Henry's Originals thread... boiling it down, my introduction came in the form of a television commercial on Saturday morning TV. The advertisement for the toy version of Bond's FRWL attache' case showed a few brief snippets from the then-current movie -- Q's scene introducing the case, Kerim Bey and Bond using the rifle against Krilencu, and the tear gas bomb going off in Grant's face stick out in my mind, but of course, these are memories from 5 decades past, so they are highly suspect. Nonetheless, I was hooked on Bond from that time on. And yes, @Birdleson, I am pretty much oblivious to the Bond video games. I've watched a few -- but not all -- of Calvin Dyson's reviews of the games, but I've never played one, nor do I have much desire to do so. Old dogs and new tricks, I suppose.

connerybond

"Are there people on this forum who became Bond fans in the 1950s from reading the novels by Ian Fleming? Or alternatively re there any fans here who saw the early Bond films of the 1960s in the cinema?"

YES, yours truly here! I was a university student when I read 3 Bond novels: FRWL, DN and GF by 1959, and watched the very first Bond film DN in 1962, FRWL in 1963, GF in 1964 and TB in 1965. Listened to the BBC news reporting Fleming's death in the Summer of 1964, and read the news in The Times. Then I watched the films including OHMSS when it was released in 1969 having read that novel in 1963, and finally, after watching Diamonds Are for Ever, I stopped watching Bond Films until CR was remade with Craig.

BAIN123

I take it you aren't a fan of DAF connerybond?

BeatlesSansEarmuffs

@connerybond: Interesting response. Have you had the opportunity to watch any Moore, Dalton, or Brosnan since? If so, what did you think and if not, why not?

Villiers53

RC7 wrote:

A semi-vicarious post...



I hope we get to see B24 together.

What a great relationship.
My mother and I shared the same passion for Bond.
In 1962, I saw Dr.No three times in one week at my local flea pit. The first time with a friend — we were both stricken. The second time with my mother who wanted to know what all the excitement was about. The third time on my own because I'd become completely indoctrinated and couldn't get enough.
My mother was an avid reader and after seeing the movie said that she'd read one of the books. As a consequence we went out and bought everything available in paperback and read them back to back. So it began.
In truth, although we saw every Bond film together up to her death. For us it was always about the books. The first four Connery movies and Lazenby's only offering were the only movies we rated highly. Although we both loved Moore as 'The Saint' we always considered his Bond as a travesty.
The big thing I owe Fleming is that he got me into a life time of reading for pleasure.
He was a good writer. Perhaps not a great writer but a good writer but he was a phenomenal plotter with an amazing descriptive power and that's what made him such a pleasure.

connerybond

@BAIN123 I did not like DAF that much because I felt the story line was not good, also Connery was getting old, but I knew that was his last Bond film.

AlexanderWaverly

I discovered Bond through the 1965 television special The Incredible World of James Bond. NBC pre-empted The Man From UNCLE to show the Bond special. I then saw Thunderball at a drive-in theater sometime in the spring of 1966.

connerybond

@BeatlesSansEarmuffs I watched Moore as the Saint: I was a fan of Charteris Saint novels. But for me, Connery was the quintessential Bond I did not watch Moore, Dalton and Brosnan films when their films were released. But when my son was growing up as a teenager, I introduced him to Bond books and films and we bought the DVDs which we watch together these days.
After 1971, I went to USA for further studies ( had Neil Armstrong as one of my professors- a really wonderful person) and work . With Connery gone, read Forsyth novels, and watched the Day of the Jackal and The Odessa file when they were released. Read Ludlum books when they were published etc.. But to me Fleming is the amazing author with his formidable power of imagination; I had 5 wonderful years reading his novels in late 1950s and early 1960s, and seeing Bond come to life in the wide screen.

chrisisall

My first 'Fleming contact' came with Man From UNCLE in the 60's. It wasn't until 1971 that I got to see Bond.

Cameron_Mott

Friends were blowing up over the movie Goldfinger after Christmas 1964 break. Went to see the movie and started buying the pocketbook paperbacks at the local drugstore.

OHMSS69

I remember the Bondmania that swept the nation and world after GF. I remember the ripoffs on TV and in the cinema. I remember the Beverly Hillbillies episode when Jethro, after seeing GF was so intent on being a secret agent. (A very funny and enjoyable episode BTW). It was so funny when he told Jed Clampett that he wanted an iron hat, just so that when someone threw one at him, "they were gonna get one right back at them." Priceless.

Dragonpol

Birdleson wrote:

I was 3 when I saw DR. NO and GOLDFINGER at the drive-in 1965. Double-Bill.

That's some devotion from an early age right there!

Villiers53

Dragonpol wrote:

Birdleson wrote:

I was 3 when I saw DR. NO and GOLDFINGER at the drive-in 1965. Double-Bill.

That's some devotion from an early age right there!

Mon Dieu @ Birdeleson, how old were you when you started reading the Fleming novels?