The James Bond Bedside Companion Page 4
The first American paperback edition of MOONRAKER, published in 1956. Both front and back covers are shown. (© Copyright 1956 by Perma Books, Inc. Photo courtesy of collection of Michael Van Blaricum.)
In June, something happened that lifted Fleming's spirits. He had recently become friends with Raymond Chandler, and Fleming had given the writer copies of the Bond novels to read. Chandler liked Fleming's work, and offered to endorse one of the books for the benefit of Fleming's publishers. As a result, Chandler commented on LIVE AND LET DIE, saying that "Ian Fleming is probably the most forceful and driving writer of what I suppose still must be called thrillers in England." Chandler's praise greatly encouraged Fleming. When Ian Hunter, representing the Rank Organization, offered to buy film rights to MOONRAKER, Fleming asked for £10,000, which was a little over three times what was paid for CASINO ROYALE. The Rank Organization sat with the property until the spring of 1959, when Fleming bought it back.
In July, Fleming heard through his friend at Scotland Yard, Sir Ronald Howe, that an Interpol conference was being held in Istanbul. It was arranged for Fleming to attend the conference as a journalist, and in September, he journeyed with Howe to that famed city in Turkey. The trip provided experiences which went into his next book, FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE. In Istanbul, Fleming met an Oxford-educated shipowner named Nazim Kalkavan, who gave the author an inside view of the city. Kalkavan became the model for the character of Darko Kerim, the head of the Secret Service station in Turkey. From Istanbul, Fleming took the Simplon-Orient Express to Paris, finding it to be less romantic than he had envisioned. From there he rejoined his family at their house at St Margaret's Bay, near Dover.
That autumn, CASINO ROYALE was published in England in paperback by Pan Books, Ltd. But Ian Fleming was tiring of James Bond, and felt that he was running out of ideas. So for his next novel, he decided to try something different and began to think about how, on the advice of Raymond Chandler, to elevate the literary merits of the Bond books.
In January and February of 1956, Ian Fleming labored with what might have been James Bond's swan song. In the front of his own copy of FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE, he wrote that he "took great trouble" over this particular novel. It is clearly one of the author's best. The original manuscript, 228 pages long, was heavily corrected. At the end of Chapter Nine, in which Rosa Klebb attempts to seduce Tatiana Romanova in her office/apartment, Tatiana does not run out of the room in a panic. Instead, the chapter ends as Klebb sits on the sofa and gestures for Tatiana to sit beside her, saying they should become better acquainted! And the final scene is altered, as Bond is not kicked by the poisoned blade in Rosa Klebb's shoe. Instead, he succeeds in pinning the woman down with a chair. After she is taken away by Mathis' men, Bond tells Mathis he has a date with the "most beautiful woman in SMERSH" (Tatiana). Therefore, it was after Fleming returned from Goldeneye that he decided to "kill" Bond at the end of the book.
About the time he was finishing the manuscript of his fifth novel, Fleming received a telegram invitation from Ivar Bryce to join Dr. Robert C. Murphy (American Museum of Natural History), Arthur Vemay (Bahamas Flamingo Protection Society), and Bryce in the first scientific expedition since 1916 to a flamingo colony on the island of Inagua. He couldn't resist such an invitation, and on March 15, he flew with the party to the small island in the Bahamas. The men lived in tents and roughed it as Fleming gathered material for what would be his next James Bond adventure. Inagua became the model for Dr. No's island fortress, Crab Key, and the marsh buggy on which the party rode was the germ for the "dragon" tank. It was pure adventure for Fleming.
The party stayed part of the time at the house of a family called Ericson—three brothers who were virtually "The Lords of Inagua." Inagua had a small population of about 1,000, and the Ericsons employed them all in their salt works, salt being the family's (and island's) only export. The Ericsons were originally from Boston, two brothers graduates of Harvard, the other having done graduate work at MIT. The two Audubon wardens who guided the party around the island were Bahamian brothers, Jim and Sam Nixon. The center of activity on Inagua was Matthewtown, which consisted of a few fairly solid shacks and one communal store. Fleming wrote about his experience for the Sunday Times. Just before dawn on the first day, the group rode out in the buggy to the flamingo colony. Fleming, Bryce, and Dr. Murphy sat in garden chairs placed on a platform of the truck. Dr. Murphy wrote in his journal that as they rode through the hot wind, "stinging particles" began hurting their faces. The truck was moving through a swarm of tiny flies. Jim Nixon warned them that if one got in an eye, it would "burn like fire." The threesome immediately donned sunglasses. Arriving at the flamingo colony, Fleming wrote that everywhere one looked there was nothing but pink He began to appreciate even more the purpose of the expedition. The group had a good laugh as the marsh buggy rode over swarms of "wonderfully grotesque land crabs" that had been brought by the rain. Although Jim Nixon did his best to avoid hitting them, invariably one would "explode with a plop" under a wheel. Eventually, the party, organized by Dr. Murphy, made an approximate count of the flamingoes on the island. Fleming reported that the final estimate was 15,000; but if hurricanes (the season concurred with the mating season) happened to miss the island that year, another 5,000 would be added.
The Inagua expedition party of 1956. Left to right: Ian Fleming, Ivar Bryce, Sam Nixon, Arthur Vernay, and Jim Nixon. Inagua served as the model for Crab Key Island in DOCTOR NO. (Photo by Dr. Robert C. Murphy, courtesy of American Philosophical Society.)
Fleming also reported that a very aged fisherman lived on the island. Two or three times each year, he would go to the local bank, which was the commissioner's office, and lay on the table a "neat pile of Spanish doubloons of the sixteenth century." After the old man received his pound notes in exchange for the treasure, he would leave as discreetly as possible. The old man died the year Fleming visited the island, and no one had ever discovered where the fisherman was getting his gold coins. Fleming presumed that perhaps Inagua held something else besides salt and flamingoes.
It is easy to see how Ian Fleming could embellish an exciting but tame adventure such as this into the background of a James Bond story. In DOCTOR NO, the flamingoes became spoonbills as Bond travels to a mysterious island to investigate an Audubon Society complaint. Fleming imaginatively turned Inagua into the dreadful island of Crab Key.
On April 4, 1956, Jonathan Cape published DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, and the Daily Express bought the serial rights to the novel. The jacket was the first to be designed by Pat Marriott, who would later revise some of the earlier jackets. DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER featured the neck and shoulders of a girl in a V-neck dress, painted in orange, pink, and black. Around her neck is a pearl-shaped diamond pendant.
Most critics lauded Fleming's writing style and descriptive passages, but complained that the dialogue and characters were weak. The Birmingham Post, however, called it "the best thriller of the season," and Raymond Chandler particularly praised Fleming's descriptions of America. It was around this time that through Eric Ambler, Fleming was introduced to literary agent Peter Janson-Smith. Fleming was disappointed with James Bond's performance in the international market, and Ambler suggested that the author meet his agent. Janson-Smith was successful in obtaining a Dutch publisher for the existing Bond novels on the very first day of working for Fleming. From then on the agent handled all of the author's literary negotiations for the world (excluding the United States), being appointed to the board of directors of Glidrose in 1964. He is still a director.
Also around this time, Fleming visited a health clinic called Enton Hall. His sciatica was bothering him, and the ten-day treatment not only helped that but revitalized him. He would one day use the experience in a Bond adventure called THUNDERBALL. But Fleming didn't take his doctor's advice upon returning from the clinic. Told to cut down his intake of alcohol and tobacco, Fleming showed only minute signs of cooperation. Already, his doctor wrote, Fleming's heart was going.
During this period of ill health, Fleming became disenchanted with James Bond again. He wrote to Raymond Chandler on April 27 that he personally didn't think very highly of his own books, and should perhaps take them more seriously. On May 1, Chandler replied that Fleming didn't do himself justice with Bond, and should try something of higher quality. Chandler admitted to feeling that CASINO ROYALE was still Fleming's best book. On June 22, Fleming replied, saying that he was weary with Bond and it wasn't easy guiding the character through his "tricks" in FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE, which he was still revising at the time. It was probably during these few weeks that Fleming decided to have Rosa Klebb kick Bond with a poison-tipped shoe at the end of the novel, leaving the reader to wonder if the secret agent was dead or not. Fleming may have wanted to do away with Bond altogether, killing him with a jarring, cynical ending. Or he might have done it with tongue in cheek, knowing full well that a resurrection was indeed possible and it would be great fun to pull such a joke on his readers. Indeed, when one fan wrote to him after the novel was published, Fleming replied, saying not to worry; if and when Bond "goes," he will do it with a "bang."
In May of 1956, a curious friendship began between Fleming and a gun expert and writer, Geoffrey Boothroyd. Boothroyd wrote to Fleming out of the blue, first explaining how much he liked the Bond books. But then he went on to complain about Bond's use of a .25 Beretta, saying that in reality it was a "lady's gun, and not a really nice lady at that." He suggested that Bond be armed with a revolver, in particular, a Smith and Wesson .38 Centennial Airweight. Boothroyd then described his own model, which had a barrel sawed-off to 2-3/4 inches and a cutaway trigger guard for quicker shooting. He went on to suggest a Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum for long-range work, and a Berns-Martin triple-draw holster instead of Bond's chamois shoulder holster.
Fleming welcomed the criticism and suggestions, and throughout the summer of 1956, he corresponded with Boothroyd, who lived in Glasgow. Several types of guns were discussed, and Fleming was delighted at having an entirely new source for the kind of detail he loved to write into the Bond books. What he finally did was create a character called "Major Boothroyd," the Armourer, who, on M's orders, recommends that James Bond change his guns. This happens at the beginning of DOCTOR NO, after Bond has recovered from Rosa Klebb's near-lethal kick. Bond is armed with Fleming's preference, a Walther PPK in a Berns-Martin triple-draw holster, and a Smith & Wesson .38 Centennial Airweight for long-range. But Fleming must have mixed up his notes—a Berns-Martin triple-draw holster is made only for revolvers and a Walther PPK would slip out. And it was the .357 Magnum that was for long range, not the .38 Centennial model. Fleming jokingly passed the letters of complaint as to accuracy he received on to the expert from that day forward.
Boothroyd's services came in handy again when the jacket for FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE was devised that summer. Fleming wanted a trompe l'oeil style painting, and Cape hired the excellent artist, Richard Chopping. Fleming asked Boothroyd to lend him his Smith & Wesson with the sawed-off barrel so that Chopping could use it for a model. Boothroyd sent the gun, and Fleming delivered it to the painter's studio in Essex. About that time, a multiple murder took place in Glasgow, which would later become known as "the Burnside Murders." The bullets recovered from the three corpses were .38 caliber. Boothroyd, whose Smith & Wesson was registered, was visited by the police. He worriedly explained that Fleming had the gun in London and a few hours later, Fleming himself was visited by Scotland Yard. Not wanting the police to disturb the artist at work, Fleming produced his correspondence with Boothroyd and explained the situation. The police granted Fleming's request to allow Chopping to keep the gun until the painting was finished. As it happened, Chopping finished the painting the next day and promptly returned the gun. Needless to say, Boothroyd's revolver was not the murder weapon.
In June, Ivar Bryce sold his share of NANA, as he and Ernest Cuneo were planning to acquire some independent American television stations. Fleming was invited to join them. The project was eventually dropped, but Fleming continued his interests in American television when NBC producer Henry Morgenthau III approached him about collaborating on a series provisionally called "Commander Jamaica." It was to be an adventure series filmed in the Caribbean. Fleming worked on a script, which featured a character named James Gunn. The plot involved Gunn investigating an island fortress in the Caribbean where a group of criminals were believed to be deflecting missiles from Cape Canaveral from their course. The project fell apart, but Fleming later used the basic plot for DOCTOR NO.
In October, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER came out in America. Anthony Boucher was kinder this time, saying that Fleming's "handling of America and Americans is well above the British average; as before he writes excellently about gambling; and he contrives picturesque incidents and a moderately believable love story." But Boucher went on to say that the "narrative is loose-jointed and weakly resolved. . ." In America the works of Ian Fleming were still enjoyed by only a small group.
But in November an event occurred that placed Ian Fleming's name more prominently in the press. The Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Eden, was suffering from severe exhaustion; on the advice of his doctors, he was looking for a spot to enjoy a "restful holiday." It was most likely Lady Eden, an old friend of Anne Fleming and godmother to Caspar Fleming, who suggested Goldeneye, and Fleming was eventually approached on the matter by the Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs, Mr. Alan Lennox-Boyd. On November 24, Goldeneye received its distinguished guests, but the Edens did not enjoy the peace and quiet they expected. The governor of Jamaica at the time had inspected Goldeneye and had decided that it did not befit a Prime Minister. As a result, additional servants were called into the house, despite the protests of Violet the cook. A telephone was installed, and the area was provided police protection. Anthony Eden's "private" visit was anything but private. Goldeneye was beseiged by reporters who caused Fleming some embarrassment when the Evening Standard revealed that Goldeneye had rat trouble. But the Prime Minister seemed to enjoy his stay anyway, and wrote to Fleming later saying so.
After Eden's visit, the sales of Fleming's books rose.
The publicity in a way foreshadowed the publicity and increased sales that resulted when another political figure, President Kennedy, in 1961, said that FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE was one of his ten favorite books. Late in the fall of 1956, the Daily Express bought the serial rights to the yet unpublished novel, and the James Bond snowball began to increase in speed and size.
The January-February stint in 1957 produced DOCTOR NO; and an examination of the original manuscript suggests it was a much easier novel for Fleming to write than FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE. Two hundred and six pages long, it contained less revisions than its predecessors. The first chapter was originally titled "The Quick, Neat Job," rather than "Hear You Loud and Clear," and Honey's last line was changed from "Do what I tell you," to "Do as you're told."
That spring, against the advice of his friend and reader William Plomer, Fleming sold the rights for the Daily Express to turn James Bond into a cartoon strip. For £1,500 a novel, Fleming went for the deal, but kept a strong hand in approval of the strip for publication. CASINO ROYALE was the first book to be featured, followed by LIVE AND LET DIE, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, and others. The cartoon strip was enormously successful and managed, as well, to retain a level of quality faithful to Fleming's writing.
April brought another opportunity for adventure. Sir Percy Sillitoe, former head of the International Diamond Security Organization, decided to have a book written about the organization's efforts in combating illicit diamond trade. He commissioned one of his own men, an English solicitor named John Collard, to write the story. The piece that Collard wrote was shown to Denis Hamilton at the Sunday Times, who was impressed but thought it could use some flair. Hamilton, of course, knew Ian Fleming, and arranged for the two men to meet. A series of articles for the Sunday Times concerning diamond smuggling was the result, all told to Fleming by Collard (who was using
a pseudonym of John Blaize).
Fleming flew to Tangier to meet Collard, and the two men spent two weeks in a hotel room fleshing out the manuscript. The articles involved the IDSO's solving of several smuggling cases. Fleming's talents as a thriller writer added that extra touch of drama to the facts which made the articles a success.
The British and American editions of FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE were published within weeks of each other that spring. It was an immediate success, and Richard Chopping's jacket design received special attention. Featuring Geoffrey Boothroyd's Smith & Wesson with the sawed-off barrel and a rose, the jacket won several prizes. Chopping would design the jackets for all but one of the remaining Bond books. FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE received tremendous critical support as well. The London Times called it "Mr. Fleming's tautest, most exciting and most brilliant tale." Anthony Hartley in Spectator said that "Mr. Ian Fleming's latest thriller will be another shot in the arm for addicts. . ." In America, James Sandoe of the New York Herald Tribune Book Review wrote that it was "the best thriller we have had since whatever you may admire most of the admirable Ambler." Only Anthony Boucher of the New York Times was not enthusiastic, referring to it as "a halfguinea dreadful." FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE, though, is easily one of Fleming's best novels, and is still cited today as a favorite among fans.
Richard Chopping's award-winning dust jacket cover to FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE, published by Jonathan Cape, Ltd. in 1957. (Photo courtesy of Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. Reprinted by permission of Jonathan Cape, Ltd.)
That summer, Fleming was invited to compete in the Bowmaker Professional-Amateur golf tournament at the Berkshire Golf Club. He had loved golf most of his life, and was an avid player. He partnered the three-time Open champion Peter Thomson at the tournament, and was pleased with his performance. Fleming also frequented the Royal St George's golf course at Sandwich, an exclusive club whose members included royalty. It was from here that Fleming pulled the background for the famous golf match between James Bond and Auric Goldfinger, that he would use in his next novel.