The Big Bond Sounds of the 60's

Several years ago, when Larry King still had his program on CNN, he asked Michael Caine to discuss background music in movies. Caine became famous as a movie star when he starred in "Alfie" in the early 1960's. He was also a friend of Sean Connery when both were struggling actors and this continued while Connery become a household name by starring in the early James Bond movies. Caine also was to play Henry Palmer in a 1965 movie, "The Ipcress file", produced by one of the partners who produced the James Bond movies, Harry Saltzman, from a book by the author Len Deighton. Caine answered King's question by citing an example: he claimed to have seen an early Bond movie prior to the title and background music being applied and it certainly was not impressive or so Caine thought. Probably he was talking about "From Russia With Love" and the movie certainly was helped by a great soundtrack created by two great artists: Lionel Bart and John Barry.

This script was originally planned as part of thediscoordinator 0014 rollout as the set of disks designated as Golden I,II and III contain kickers in homage to James Bond's 50th or 60th anniversary depending on whether you are literary or film oriented. (And, above are pictures of the cover of Dr No as a book, a Dr No movie poster and a scene from the movie) But additional material has been researched and added as the direct result of the "Bond and Beyond" concert performed by the Philly Pops during the weekend of April 26 through 28, 2013. The orchestra that weekend was conducted by Michael Krajewski who will be taking over for Peter Nero, the long time guilding light of the Philly Pops, next year. Several of the songs were accompanied by the soprano, Debbie Gravitte.

Apparently this team of Gravitte and Krajewski has been travelling around the US for these concerts. We have been able to document "Bond and Beyond" concerts throughout the Northeast United States through May, 2013. Apparently the end of the summer will see this team move west toward Seattle. We hope this script will provide more insight for those who have and who will be attending these concerts and, of course, this type of documentation is the norm for the coordinated CDs produced and distributed to Israeli dance classes in the Philadelphia area by this web site.

Per the concert: Several of the Bond movie themes were featured as was related themes of other similarly themed movies and characters. In addition, Maestro Krajewski accompanied his conducting with some information about the creation of the early Bond moves. One of the purposes of this script is to add to the information indicated from the stage particularly about the early Bond movies. But, a serious omission emanating from the stage during that performance was the lack of information about the literary Bond, the character created by Ian Fleming, who the world first knew before any of the movies were made. So, this will be a discussion that will primarily deal with Ian Fleming and the first 6 Bond movies produced by Eon productions (a result of the partnership of Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli) their music and how it was enveloped into the films. You could also call this a discussion of the Bond music of the 60's and we have humorously titled this as "The Big Bond Sound of the '60s".

This is a span of 8 to 9 years. The first four Bond movies were produced and distributed yearly from 1962 (63 in the US) through Fall 65. Then the next two were produced and distributed at two year interval, 1967 & 1969s. Sean Connery starred as James Bond in the first 5 of these movies and, in his only real film appearance, George Lazenby replaced Connery in the sixth of the series. This is, of course, dealing with the "official" Bond movies. In 1967, another of Fleming's books, Casino Royale, was produced. As will be indicated below, it wasn't much of a movie but it does have some interest as per its music.

Let's start with the creator of the character and muse about his experience with music. Ian Fleming would have become cognizant of music in the 1920's as he reached puberty and went through the English public school system. Higher education in England at that time would have immersed the student in classics and this no doubt included music. Several references to classical music are in the books as for example when Bond meets Tiffany Case in her apartment in the fourth book, "Diamonds are Forever". Keep in mind as we discuss the intersection of the books and their film adaptions that many fans, especially male readers, of Fleming's writing forget details based on his creative placement of Bond into various situations especially those involving near naked women as was the case in this meeting of hero and heroine of the book, "Diamonds are Forever". A recent rereading of this book was necessary to secure the details of the music.

Fleming also was quite a womanizer and one would assume that evenings in clubs was a major part of his lifestyle as a man around town (in this case London) when not travelling in the 1930's where he would have been exposed to the popular music of the time. In addition Fleming may have gotten an idea of the look he wanted for his secret agent from this music scene. A popular American artist in the 1930's was the songwriter Hoagy Carmichael who Fleming mentions as a Bond resemblance in many of the books. Carmichael's music would have been popular around the world during the 30's (he wrote Stardust, "In The Still Of The night" and "Georgia On My Mind" among many other hits) and would have been Bond's perpetual age of 37 during the 30's (in 1936).

In addition, Fleming spent an annual 2 month stint in Jamaica during the winters of the 50's and 60's where the pictures above were taken of this author. There is much speculation as to Fleming's participation in Jamaican life with most observers concluding that Fleming was immersed in the Jamaican culture and much of this immersion could have been the result of various affairs with Jamaican women or permanent British residents on the island that he reportedly had during his yearly two month vacations at Goldeneye, his residence on the North Shore. So, no doubt in some ways Fleming would have had exposure to the up and coming musical scene that Jamaica was in the 50's. Starting with the native Calypso – possibly a variation of African rhythms – with the addition of American jazz and other influences, Jamaican music would evolve into some of the most dynamic in the world during the late 50's, early '60s.

So, what about his creation, the secret agent James Bond. In looking at this at this point we have to separate and concentrate on the literary Bond and not the Movie Bond. Keep in mind that it has been over 60 years that James Bond has been with us. For the first 10 years he was beholden to Fleming for his personality, expertise and adventures. For an additional two years there is an intermix between the literary and movie Bond and since 1964 his evolution has been in the hands of Eon productions, the producers of the Bond movies, which for the most part represents Albert Broccoli and family. (We are aware that other writers have produced Bond stories since Fleming's death but we have to be fair as to which media has had the greatest impact.)

As a literary character it is apparent that Bond has a sense of music and art but it is not in his thoughts. It is in recollections to events. Bond has discussions and therefore mental images that indicate interests in cars, cards, food and wine, skiing, skin diving and women. And that's probably about it except for matters pertaining to his profession. As to art and music, culture and science, we only know that he recognizes these where appropriate. In "Dr No", written in 1957 and published in 1958 we see this very clearly. During his encounter with a poisonous centipede Bond remembers seeing one in a museum at one time. Encountering the giant squid, Bond has knowledge about these monsters that could only have been known by some study of these animals at an aquarium or natural history museum. And, finally, when he encounters Honeychile Rider, he recognizes her as a personification of a famous painting, Botticelli's Venus. Above is a rendition of Honey Rider as Bond first saw her (attributable to Martin Schlierkamp) next to Botticelli's venus.

But, he also recognizes the song that she is humming, if not singing, and that is the famous "Marianne" (variously known as Marion and Mary Ann). This song was originated by Hubert Raphael Charles (known as Roaring Lion and other names) during the '40s and made famous in this country by Terry Gilkyson (and his group, the Easy Riders), a native of Phoenixville in the Philadelphia suburbs, in 1957 in the US. It would be very well known during that period in the Caribbean where it would have been performed by a number of artists singing Calypso numbers. The last picture above shows the lyrics as sung by Gilkyson and they're not that easy to memorize quickly. Yet, in "Dr No" Bond can sing the next line to her as she is singing the song. Obviously Bond is familiar with this tune to be able to participate but an impartial observer of Bond might be surprised that he would be so familiar. To be fair, most male readers of the novel probably would be concentrating on another aspect of Bond's first encounter with Honey to ignore what musical selection was chosen by Fleming. Why? Well, surprise, surprise! Bond is introduced to the girl when she is wearing only a belt with a knife just in case you hadn't noticed this in one or more of the pictures above. This exotic nakedness certainly would be what most readers would remember.

Searching through the Internet, one does not read about inquiries of whether Bond should even know this song. Theoretically he is in Las Vegas two years prior (thanks to the aforementioned Miss Case) probably at a point where American pop culture had not discovered calypso. The year before his encounter with Rider he is in Turkey being romanced by Titiana Romanova (who by the way is completely naked, although under a bed sheet, in their first meeting) in a complicated KGB plot. There is a mention of music within the Gypsy camp that he visits with Kerim Bey but it would be a far stretch to assume that the gypsy musicians are playing Calypso. And, as all the literary Bond fans know, the ending of "From Russia With Love" means that Bond is facing 6 months of rehab in London hospitals recovering from Fugu poisoning. One doubts that his hospitalization provided this exposure and, as the books make clear, Bond's only previous exposure to Jamaica and its culture is some 5 years earlier in "Live and Let Die" when he is holed up at the end of the island, in essence incommunicado, in preparation of a watery intrusion against a nearby small island .

Again, dealing with Bond and his cultural attributes is a difficult question given that Fleming naturally gave his hero attributes of himself. This is what makes the novels interesting and Fleming wanted Bond to be a very blunt instrument, almost a sort of boring policeman on an international level. As mentioned previously, little is told to you of Bond's exposure to anything other than his profession, what he needs to deal with that profession and his vices. However, it is clear that Fleming, given his exposure to Jamaican culture during his annual two month vacation in January and February on the island, would know of this song, Marianne

It's a little different problem for the producers of the first James Bond movie. Being the first movie, and the first of a genre as it would turn out, they are sensitive in trying to determine what really will be attractive to a movie audience. So, no doubt, all the books were read by the screenwriters with especial concentration on "Dr No". In this book, as indicated above, is Bond's encounter with the heroine, music and all. One could be assured that this was going to be a crucial element in the proposed movie although standards at the time would require the actress playing Honeychile Rider to be a little more dressed, although as it would turn out as you see above, not by that much more.

The book, "Dr No", also has one more musical interlude occurring at a combination bar/dance bar known in the movie as PussFella's. No mention of song titles are in the book, but it is clear that popular Jamaican and Caribbean music was being played for tourists and locals alike during Bond's visit.

We are now at the question of Bond film music having given a brief intro of the music of the books. There can be no question that the next great influence on Bond music is not a musician but a director, Terrence Young. Young in many ways was similar to Fleming in background. You can read many discussions of Young's influence on Sean Connery as he readied Connery to play Bond including taking Connery to Young's tailors for a complete clothes makeover. Connery has said that many of the one-liners that he, as the movie Bond, uttered was suggested by Young to soften the character and this certainly was not from the novels which are virtually devoid of humor in any way. Young also worked with the film editor, Peter Hunt, to speed up the movie which is depicted in the right-most photo above. Not having studied Young's previous films, we don't know if his interesting use of music was his normal directorial approach or an additional attempt to speed up the movie. We do know that it made his Bond films more interesting.

In watching the first few Bond movies that were directed by Young, you are struck by the inclusion of music into the action and we indicate this by the montage above. In "Dr No", the screenwriters and Young duplicate the "Marianne" first meeting between Honey and Bond using a different piece of music. There is also plenty of music performed at Pussfella's and this music is not that incidental especially in the performance of "Jamaica Jumpup". This is a personal favorite as the performance is done by Byron Lee and the Dragonaires (they are the performers in the movie as indicated above) and Lee was one of the legends in the Jamaican Ska movement of the late 50's, early '60s. And, of course, there is the victrola at the bungalow in the mountains where Bond waits for Professor Dent. In "From Russia with Love", also directed by Young, there is plenty of music in the gypsy encampment but you also have an encounter with a radio playing the"From Russia With Love" end credit theme song as Bond hooks up once again with Sylvia Trench at a picnic. Young's last directorial attempt at a Bond film, Thunderball, has music performed in the streets during carnival and a band performance at the Cafe Kiss Kiss. Interestingly enough, it would not be until the movie, "On her Majesty's Secret Service", directed by the aforementioned Peter Hunt, who worked as film editor under Young in previous movies, that this type of music, as a part of the action, would again be so prominent.

Anyway, as we return to 1961 the producers have the director set for the first Bond movie and could now concentrate on the composition of the music. The next name mentioned, who the producers especially Albert Broccoli would choose, is not the name most fans associate with the early Bond movies. No, we are taking about Monty Norman. Norman apparently was born in 1928 in London of eastern European émigré parents. Like many of the names that we will be discussing, Norman changes his last name so it is more British sounding. He is joined in changing last names by others we will be mentioning including John Barry (who drops his last name), Lionel Bart, Don Black from Blackstone and Tom Jones.

Self taught in terms of music, he became a cabaret type performer during the early 1950's.At that time generally he might be the first act preceding a bigger star. After a while he moved into musicals (the second picture above shows Norman to the left as he collaborates on a musical song) and you can search on the internet for a list of musicals that he was involved in. The only one that strikes a chord is "Irma La Duce" debuting in 1958 where he is credited, with several others, for the lyrics. Whether or not there is a connection or just happenstance, we should add that Fleming uses a reference to Irma La Duce in his novel, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", written in Jamaica in early 1962 while Dr No was being filmed on a nearby beach, characterizing the villianess, Irma Bunt, as Irma Not So Duce.

How Norman becomes involved with Albert Broccoli is something that remains hidden from research. But, there is one connection. At least two plays, the "Ballad Of Dr Crippen" and "Expresso Bongo", were created in conjunction with Wolf Mankowitz who was a very respected playwright and writer. Mankowitz had apparently done an uncredited treatment of Dr No for Albert Broccoli (and took credit for introducing Broccoli to Saltzman) either before or during the time that the credited film script by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood and Berkely Mather was completed. He would later be credited for his work on the script of 1967's "Casino Royale" that we will also be covering. Perhaps Mankowitz again acted as a middleman to introduce Norman to Broccoli. A new book by Anthony J Dunn has been written about Mankowitz's works and the last picture above indicates the cover.

Since, at minimum, a substiture for "Marianne" has to be found, Norman flies to Jamaica to pick up the local flavor of the music. His website indicates that he was on the flight taking Sean Connery there also. At this point, early 1962, Jamaica is a hotbed of music from various sources. The native Calypso has morphed into Soca and Ska with plenty of local artists vying for these genre's supremacy. In addition, all of North America is transfixed by a Latin music invasion with dances like Mambo, Rumba and Cha Cha all the rage. While these dances generally originated from Pre-Castro Cuba, one assumes these beats to be popular throughout the Caribbean including Jamaica. While in Jamica Norman makes the acquaintance of Byron Lee who leads a group called the Dragonaires - all of the early members of this band were graduates of Jamaica's St George University - and it is the Dragonaires who will be the band performing at PussFella's cafe in the movie. Of course, there is another possibility per this hookup that we should mention as to Jamaican connections. Apparently Fleming was having multiple affairs with Jamaican (and Jamaican based) women and most of these women pressured Fleming to intercede on their son's behalf for some part, both in front and behind the camera, in the first James Bond movie. In some cases Fleming did mention names to Broccoli and Saltzman and one can never be assured that Byron Lee's name wasn't mentioned in this regard. Rumor at the time after the movie was released also had it that Norman may have been influenced by another group, La Playa Sextet, but this author can't confirm this and who knows how these rumors are started.

Anyway, Norman writes a replacement for "Marianne" called "Underneath The Mango Tree" (credited as "Under The Mango Tree" on the album). This song becomes the underlying theme of the film" Dr No" and this tune is heard in several places throughout the film including at the end as Bond and the girl (Sean Connery and Ursula Andress) are rescued by Leiter (Jack Lord) using a coast guard cutter just before the ending credits begin. And, of course, this song replaces "Marianne" in the first interchange between the hero and heroine on Crab Key. And it is this song that is played on the phonograph as Bond awaits professor Dent. Keep in mind that Norman does both the music and lyrics for this and the other songs mentioned in the next few paragraphs.

Before discussing the other songs associated with "Dr No", we should resolve one of the mysteries of the music for this movie. Who is the female singer of "Underneath The Mango Tree". Obviously, given the accent, the singer must be Caribbean born or so one would think. As Norman relates, Broccoli extended the trip to Jamaica to include both Norman and his wife at the time, the actress Diana Coupland. However, Coupland started her career as a singer and she was asked to dub for Ursula Andress' rendition of the song on the beach on Jamaica's North Shore which substituted for the fictitious island of Crab Key while filming. Coupland's rendition, fake accent notwithstanding, of her then husband's song was extended to the movie album although non credited.

Returning to the "Dr No" music, Norman also produces several other songs that make it onto the film and the soundtrack. One is a personal favorite,"Jump Up Jamaica". This is the song being played at Pussfella's bar/disco when Bond meets Leiter and Quarrel and is again confronted by the free-lance photographer working for Dr No. There is a somewhat interesting story attached to Jump Up Jamaica. Apparently Norman found that a faddish dance had taken over the island, the Jumpup, which he could see at every bar and disco. Norman took this name and went to the logical conclusion as we quote part of his lyrics, "Hold her very tight, then for all de night you'll be doin' the Jump up!". So, besides the upbeat music that is "Jump Up, Jamaica", the lyrics are delightful to listen to albeit somewhat tough to understand in full because of the accent. In addition Norman creates a variation of three Blind Mice which you can hear just before the assassination of Strangways and his assistant which starts the action of the movie.

Norman also uses something that we might today call electronic music(although he probably used real musicians to give such an expression) as a theme related to the villain, Dr No. One hears this music at the beginning of the movie at what would eventually be called the gunbarrel sequence (this was created by Maurice Binder using Bob Simmons as Bond) and one hears another version of this as Bond and Quarrel sail into Crab Key.

With the wrapping up of the movie version of "Dr No", a movie soundtrack was issued through United Artists records, a subsidiary of United Artists which was a distributor (and major investor) of the movie. This record is interesting in itself: several pieces of music are separated on the record although combined in the movie. Other tracks on the record don't make an appearance in the movie. Listening to it today, one gets the impression that several hands were at work on this although only one name, Monty Norman, is indicated in the music credits. Now, consider looking at this record in 1963 as this writer did when he was 15 years old. Media is very different at that time. There is no internet or youtube to help define the music pieces vis a vis the movie and the record. Further, you couldn't watch HBO or Cinemax to review the movie while listening to the album – walking into a movie house while the movie was being distributed was the only possibility and this opportunity only existed for perhaps a few months at best. You are confronted with a James Bond theme on side 1 and on side 2 of this soundtrack. And, while there may be some similarities, side 1's edition is very different (and much better) than side 2's. In addition there is a track on Side 1 designated as "Twisting With James" which naively one would think at that age and time is a souped up version of whatever is the real Bond theme only to find that you are listening to a revised side 2 version which doesn't seem to be a part of the movie. For many fans, including yours truely, this was very confusing. Where did this second track on the second side described as the James Bond theme come from?

In answering this, we enter the realm of the individual most movie goers associate with the early James Bond movies' music themes and soundtracks. We are of course talking about John Barry on the first row pictured above. Barry, whose real name was John Barry Prendergast, was a son in a family owning multiple cinema theatres throughout England. His early exposure to music was playing the organ at these cinemas during the time of the transition from silent to talkie movies when such sporadic music support precluded the hiring of a full time organist. His early training is in classical piano but as his interests start to change he begins to focus on jazz and the trumpet. In the early 50's he serves in the British army, apparently in Crete, and this led to a movie called Beat Girl where he did all the creating, composing and arranging of this movie's music. The movie posters and soundtrack of "Beat Girl" are pictured second row above. We should add one other thing in our discussion of John Barry which would be in line with many fans' view of James Bond – Barry was quite a ladies man. Somewhat independently weathy through his family, he was also tall and handsome. During his life he had many marriages and multiple affairs. While the literary Bond was never as promiscuous as the film Bond, for the public that was aware of Barry's tendencies, he would seem the perfect musician to handle the music of the James Bond films.

Anyway, in some way, given that Broccoli and Saltzman were not pleased with Norman's arrangement of what would become known as the James Bond theme, these producers call in Barry to recreate the music. Does he do a good job? Well, the theme he orchestrates and records, what we hear on the first side of the Dr No soundtrack album and in the front and ending titles of the same movie, is probably the best known movie theme in the world. For much of the world, only a few bars are needed for its recognition. And the tempo of the notes have been copied and parodied by other musicians from the day the movie was released.

Yet, Barry has never been given credit for this piece of work and this includes the credits in "Dr No". For some 50 years each James Bond movie title and sountrack album has carried the words "The James Bond Theme created by Monte Norman" or, more correctly as far as spelling, "The James Bond Theme created by Monty Norman". But, given our discussion, you might be asking who did what to create this theme: what parts of Norman's composition were kept and what was jettisoned. We are now into the issues that would become a court case in 1992, thirty years after the release of the movie "Dr No". This web site and this author of this script does not have the expertise to retry this case. By that time Norman had grown tired of hearing that John Barry had really created the theme - in some cases directly from John Barry - and went to court to prove the opposite contention. Norman won the case and legally we must say that the theme was created by Monty Norman although even Norman would agree that Barry's arrangement made it the memorable and iconic piece of music that it is today.

We can analyze the theme, however, with the help from above which is a spectrum analyser of side 1, track 1 of the "Dr No" soundtrack. The track runs for 1 minute and 45 seconds. Above we have broken it up into transitions, ending and three parts. The parts in themselves have been broken down. Notice in this form that part 2 & 3 occur once although by the 5th of the James Bond films there is a version which has parts 2 & 3 being played twice. Anyone who has ever been to a Bond movie up to the last 10 years should know the transition. It is most of the notes that one hears during the gunbarrel sequences. Here, even though it is not the largest transition as you can see, the most prominent transition is between the first and second parts.

Part 1 (red underline below) is best heard when using an electric guitar. For the movie "Dr No", we have to thank Vic Flick, the guitarist of the John Barry Seven, whose guitar work gave the theme its emphasis and force. Notice by the spectrum that part 1B is more robust than part 1A and part 1B is repeated after parts 2 and 3. You can hear this added background quite clearly. The second part consists of 4 almost identical renditions (let's call them 2A,2B,2C and 2D) with 2C and 2D being a little more robust with additional background and resonance. Part 3, composed of 3A and 3B, is a salute to trumpets and this is the part (either played as 3A and 3B or just 3A) that begins the gunbarrel sequence in most of the movies. With 3B completed, the music either returns to the transition and part 1B or to the end which consists of 4 rising sequence of notes and then the gong.

So, to repeat what was indicated, the traditional James Bond Theme has the first part played, then the second and third, back to the first with an ending that involves a rising set of notes ending with a imitation of the banging of a gong. It is this version of the James Bond theme that was the first offering of the Philly Pops on April 27 during their "Bond and Beyond" concert. However, by the second of the James Bond movies, "From Russia With Love". John Barry had modified the theme on occasions to start with part 3 and sometimes with just part 3B.

[Ed Note]Since it's been 50 and more years since Dr No was filmed, there has been some interviews with Vic Flick and his interaction with the James Bond Theme that can be found on the Internet. You can watch him go through his paces with the same guitar as he did in the movie by Clicking here.. In addition it is reported that he disagreed with John Barry's original intention to have the guitar play using high musical notes throughout the song. Flick convinced Barry to use a lower note in part A - some say it is in the G range using the first fret of the guitar - which possibly broadened the music's appeal.

We mention this because this theme becomes a part of the beginning and ending credits of "Dr No". In the beginning credits one first sees what will become known as the gunbarrel sequence developed by Maurice Binder with the role of the Bond walk-on being played by Bob Simmons, a well known stuntman of that era. What would seem like electronic music today is in the background. It would not be unto the next movie that the norm of the gunbarrel scene's background music would be established. The movie goer then sees the beginning titles with the background of what would be the John Barry composition of the James Bond Theme. In this instance the theme is played in the order of part 2, part 3, transition, part1 and the ending and then the theme repeats with transition and part 1. Above, we have shown some of this sequence in terms of the title. The fourth in line is at 1 minute into the titles: the point where the end of the Bond theme sequences into the beginning. Since the repeat of the theme only involves part 1, the viewer does not hear what the world would recognize as the James Bond Theme in their ordered parts in these opening titles and the viewer has to wait for the ending titles to hear the correctly ordered rendition of the theme.

As the credits end, female animated figures come into view as the music shifts to a version of "Three Blind Mice" which is officially designated as Kingston Calypso. While this music plays the dancing figures morph into even animated agitation and then the viewer sees the first action of the movie with three supposed blind men walking down a Jamaican street. It will be these men who carry out the assassinations of British Secret Service agent John Strangways and his assistant. The movie action ends after another 100 minutes or so with Bond and Honey Rider being rescued (and then not rescued if up to Bond) by Leiter as a musical version of "Underneath the Mango Tree" is played in the background. Above we document these movie scenes.

As the ending titles roll, this transitions to what we now know as the traditional arrangement of the James Bond Theme. Although at that point, sometime late in 1962, early 1963, you really didn't know what was "The James Bond Theme" unless you bought the Soundtrack album. But, of course, even this is confusing given that the album claims two James Bond themes, one to each side, and both audiobly different.

If the music is confusing to those seeing the movie whether having purchased the album or not, those who know Bond from the books are even more bewildered by the advertisement campaign of the movie and this would probably have included the author, Ian Fleming. Fleming made clear in the books that Bond disliked the violence he sometimes had to administer, especially killing in cold blood, and his license to kill only applied to enemies of the British state. Yet the back of the album, attempting to introduce the character to an American audience, indicates Bond's secret designation of "007. In this interpretation the double "0" means he has a license to kill when he chooses…where he chooses…whom he chooses". Above, at the left we show the supposed "license to Kill" attributes attributed to the character as part of the publiciity behind Dr No including the back of the soundtrack cover (quite easily seen) and the bottom right of the movie poster (which you will have to zoom to see). At the right (again you will need to zoom to see this) is a page from the novel "You Only Live Twice" (and we could have picked excerpts of any of the novels) indicating Bond's hesitation and moral concerns when confronted with the prospect of killing Dr Shatterhand as a favor to the Japanese government. Of course, in the novel, Shatterhand is discovered to be Ernst Stavro Blofeld and this quickly resolves Bond's ethical delemma. Whatever you think about this, it is well known that Fleming did not enjoy watching the transformation of his creation during the two movies he saw, "Dr No" and "From Russia With Love". One can only imagine his reaction to this language as displayed at the back of the "Dr No" movie album and on the movie posters. And, one can also imagine how negative he would have felt viewing the third movie, Goldfinger, where almost all constraints on the literary James Bond were broken. However, Fleming never had this opportunity having died about two months before the movie Goldfinger premiered in England.

With this movie about to be released, the literary and now movie character of James Bond was quickly becoming a media frenzy and all those associated with this character were swept along for the ride. Sean Connery got his first taste of fame with this movie and his part and, of course, Ursula Andress became a much photographed starlet. Needless to say that her husband, John Derek, did not fail to take advantage of this new publicity. Of course, publicizing Ursula Andress was a trial run for John Derek as he would repeat this with his next two wives - Linda Evans and Bo Derek - after his divorse from Andress. Above, we picture John Derek with his respective wives.

Even the author, Ian Fleming, was quickly becoming a household name and the producers reaped financial rewards (and professional jealousy) for their success. With "Dr No" finished attention was now to be paid to the next of the Bond movies, "From Russia With Love". One would think that all the pieces would remain in play: the same director, the same editor, the same actors on recurring parts and that the same musicians would reprise their respective parts as this new movie was adapted from the novel, developed and produced.

But this was not to be the case at least in three areas. Peter Burton, who played Major Boothroyd in"Dr No", was unavailable to reprise his part in the next movie and his replacement, Desmond Llewelyn, became famous as Q as a recurring character of the series. In Burton's case it was just the misfortune of a scheduling conflict. Another change in personel pertained to the main titles. Maurice Binder, who had thought up the gunbarrel sequence for the previous movie, left after some type of disagreement with Broccoli and Saltzman. His gunbarrel sequence would still be used but the main title creation in the next two Bond movies would fall to Robert Brownjohn although Binder would return for the production of Thunderball. Curiously, Binder and Brownjohn were born days apart in the New York Area (Binder was a native New Yorker and Brownjohn was born in Newark NJ) in 1925. Both moved to England to work on films among other things so their professional careers in some ways paralleled each other although their private lives were very different. Finally, the music of Monty Norman would be replaced in the next James Bond movie. Why? Norman's website cites an odd incident as to the cause: That Norman asked Harry Saltzman for money for all the efforts he had made in "Dr No" and in "Call Me Bwana", the only non-Bond film ever produced by Eon productions in its existance during the hiatus between "Dr No" and FRWL. Since Norman's initial entry into the Bond films was through Albert Broccoli, one would think that his efforts at getting paid would have been directed there. There could be another possibility besides money: Most historians of the Bond movies seem to indicate that the producers were not satisfied with Norman's rendition of the James Bond theme and this may have been the cause of the split. But, then again, why invite Norman to compose the music for "Call Me Bwana", if the dissatisfaction was so high. However one looks at this, it doesn't make sense as to why the split but obviously there was a split given that Norman never again would be a party to the music of James Bond.

As an aside, since we have just mentioned "Call Me Bwana", let's have a short discussion about it. Short is the operative word here since from a personal standpoint, we would recommend highly not watching it. While Bob Hope was a fabulous comedian and a personal favorite, and having tried to watch this movie, if it's up to us we would recommend watching the "Road To" series that Hope costarred with Bing Crosby. Norman's account of the problems in creating this movie is more than consistent with the results. Above are some pictures of Hope in "Call Me Bwana" and the "Road to" series. On the Internet it is reported that Eon productions initial agreement with United Artists was for two movies a year, one a Bond movie, the other not. Broccoli and Saltzman apparently had several offers per the second movie including one detailing the activities of a quartet of musicians from England. This may have been "A Hard Day's Night", the Beatles first movie. Broccoli and Saltzman elected to go with "Call Me Bwana". Let's assume that they would have gone the other way and produced the Beatle's movie. In this case Eon productions would have controlled the movie rights to the two biggest manias of the sixties which would have been amazing from any stand point. Of course, Broccoli and Saltzman did very well just controlling their interest in James Bond 007.

So, as the production moves forward for the second James Bond movie, the producers turn again to a successful creator of music in theater. This time they choose Lionel Bart who had gained fame for his music and lyrics for the play, Oliver, a musical adaptation of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Bart is in many ways similar to Monty Norman. Both grew up in rough and tumble London to émigré parents and both were Jewish. Both changed their real names after serving in military service and both dealt with pop music as well as theatre music. And both generally dealt with music as a song writer/lyricist putting words to their own songs. And in one other way both were similar: neither had a formal music education. In Norman's case, he was self-taught in learning to read music. In Bart's case this was not to be and his music was recorded by his humming vocally the tune in his head to be recorded as musical notes by an associate. While this might work in a theater setting given the limited number of songs needed for plays at that time (before the advent of Andrew Lloyd Webber), this would prove impractical in terms of the variety of background music a film like "From Russia With Love" might need. So, sometime in 1963, Bart creates a theme for "From Russia With Love" but just doesn't have the capacity to write the needed background music for the movie. Having turned to him in previous film(s), the producers again bring in John Barry, first to set the arrangement for Bart's theme song and then to create all the background music for the movie.

Before discussing Barry's efforts, we should mention one other thing as to Bart's efforts: and that is what ultimately would be the uniqueness of the words that Bart sets to his compilation of "From Russia With Love". As of this writing there have been 23 official Bond movies with music themes for all. We have already talked about "Underneath The Mango Tree" in "Dr No" which acted like a main theme for that movie. The words to that song talk about a girl flirting with her boy friend. The words certainly don't have anything to do with James Bond. After "From Russia With Love", the main title songs in the Bond movies would describe villians (Goldfinger), projects (Skyfull or Moonraker), the woman (in the case of "You Only Live Twice" and the not used "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang") or Bond himself in laudatory terms (Thunderball and "Nobody Does It Better" from "The Spy Who Loved Me"). "From Russia With Love"'s lyrics can be interpreted as Bond singing about his longing for Titiana Romanova, the heroine. Talk about the changes in the character between this movie and Thunderball, filmed 2 years later! You can see that the playful fun and wonderment of the initial movies was replaced by a cult of a superior intellect and personality in the title character. This was painfully obvious to the fans of the novels although probably oblivious to those with only the experience of the movies.

So, how is Barry able to do these types of arrangements where first Norman and then Bart cannot. This probably has to do with Barry having wide exposure to many forms of music. You are already aware that he was a master of two instruments, the piano and trumpet, which no doubt added to his expertise. But Barry had also studied Jazz and the John Barry Seven was a jazz orchestra that he conducted. So, given his study of Jazz, he was very adept at taking musical themes and running with them - not a trait of the other two artists. Above are several pictures of Barry leading (and playing the trumpet) with the John Barry Seven and an album that he and the group released in 1958.

Anyway, by the time Barry works his magic yet again in salvaging the theme, there remains an abundant need for incidental and background music. This need comes from the novel itself and the fact that the screen play generally follows the novel's plot line with some exceptions. For most of the fans of the literary Bond, this novel is generally a favorite. The characters – Darko Kerim better known as Kerim Bey played by Pedro Armendariz in his last acting role before his death, Red Grant played by Robert Shaw in his acting debut and Rosa Klebb played against type by Lotte Lenya and all three are shown above - are larger than life and the book's location involves Istanbul and a trip from Istanbul to Paris aboard the Orient Express. The book includes vivid descriptions of the tunnels beneath Istanbul not to mention a memorable visit to a Gypsy encampment. In the novel Bond doesn't even make an appearance until the middle of the book as Fleming tries to describe the inner workings of Smersh, the killing section of the KGB. With the screen play following the novel – except for substituting Specter for Smersh – you can see that there would be a great need for additional music.

And Barry comes through spectacularly as the music of this movie can only be so described. Whether background, incidental or part of the plot, the music adds to the viewing pleasure and this is probably what Michael Caine was talking about on Larry King's show. This is not the same movie without the sound track and, for the most part, we have John Barry to thank for it. At this point, we might add that this writer treated himself to another listening of the "From Russia With Love" soundtrack as he was doing research on this script. This is highly recommended if you really enjoy good movie music as it is a treat to listen to, especially the music that Barry added. Below will be detailed discussions of specific tracks but we recommend "The Golden Horn" track which is a surprise after all these years as Barry does the 2 long, 2 short intro that he would become famous for in Goldfinger and subsequents themes. Perhaps this was the first time he tried this. Spectre Island and Girl Trouble are also two additional tracks that are easy to listen and bring forth, in music, the light hearted, possibly efflusive, energy that was the early Bond movies. In addition, we would be remiss not to mention Vic Flick's contributution in "Guitar Lament", "Gypsy Camp" and other tracks associated with the Gypsy encampment. To be fair, if you like any or all of Guitar, Bongo, or Tambourine instrument music, you have to love the "From Russia With Love" soundtrack. The only minus note that can be added, which is as obvious today as it was in the 60's, pertains to the positioning of the tracks on Side 1. In the movie, track 5 - Girl Trouble - directly precedes track 7 - the 007 theme and it would have been nice if the sound track could have captured the same effect of this music as on the screen. This web site, thanks to our editors, can now resolve this problem assuming that your browser will invoke the correct objects in your computer. Click here to see a write up of this portion of the music and the music that covers the background of the action.

Besides what was mentioned above, let's discuss several others of the music tracks that are part of this movie. When Bond is met at the airport in Istanbul by the Rolls Royce sent by Kerim Bey, we hear a track designated as James Bond with bongos. The music starts as the James Bond theme as Bond leaves M's office and jets to Istanbul. The second part of the theme is applied as he enters the Rolls Royce and is tailed by several agents. And then the music goes into what can only be called a concerto by bongo drum probably using Mideast music themes. We follow along above as we track the Rolls from the airport to the city. This is not to shortchange the James Bond theme as mentioned in our discussion of "Dr No". As Bond is shown his room at the "Kristal Palas", the Side A James Bond theme in "Dr No" is played although this is not part of the FRWL soundtrack. This is the first time in the series that this theme appears anywhere else than the titles. Even here we can discuss the genius of John Barry. Listen to both either in the movie or on the respective soundtracks. The background of James Bond with Bongoes has a consistent use of cymbols. In addition, the transition is different and more complex. It's almost like a jazz recital: Barry is feeling his oats and manipulating the Bond theme compared to what was required of him to do with the theme in "Dr No".

In addition: When Bond meets Titiana at St Sofia church there is a wonderful piece of music played throughout the scene. The music makes you think of Church bells ringing. And, at the gypsy camp there is another set of great music backgrounding the belly dancing not to mention what becomes known as "the girl fight". But it is in the title music and in the creation of an action music theme that Barry really outdid himself. In "From Russia With Love's" screenplay, there are several action scenes involving agent 007. One involves the attempted killing of Kerim Bey at the Gypsy camp and the other pertains to the heist of the Lektor machine in the Russian Embassy (although the Russian Embassy is not a scene in the novel). Both of these scenes are accompanied by a similar music theme, what is now called the 007 theme.

This theme has been used in many of the subsequent movies. Its next use would be during the underwater fights in Thunderball. As Barry designed it, it has so many cutouts and hesitations that it is the perfect piece of music when multiple highs are necessary as a background to a gunshot, a knife thrown or a punch. In between these highs, a rich melodic overview is heard. The selection, "007 Takes The Lector", was played during the Bond and Beyond concert.

We might add a bit of trivia here. Most fans think that these action scenes are accompanied by the James Bond theme. Interestingly enough, the first time the James Boond theme is used for such an action sequence is in the 5th movie, You only Live Twice, as Bond in little Nellie fights off a herd of helicopters. The 007 theme by that point in the Bond films had been used twice in this movie, FRWL, and several times in Thunderball, the fourth of the Bond movies.

In addition Barry worked on the main theme. He created two versions and both were used for the titles/credits. The ending title version had the singer Matt Monro singing the lyrics to "From Russia With Love". This redition starts as Bond and Romanova are sightseeing in a gondola along the canals of Venice after the Lektor is saved from Rosa Klebb at their hotel. The underlying music (and lyrics) are the perfect romantic musical theme for these scenes. Bond is making a move on Romanova who scolds him that they are in public and being filmed by tourists and Bond remembers the film he has secured of them making love at the hotel. As he tosses the film into the water, you have a similar ending to that of "Dr No": Bond and his girl lowering themselves into the boat for some serious romantic pleasure. All the while, somewhat like "Underneath the Mango Tree" in the previous film, Matt Munro is singing the lyrics of "From Russia With Love" and the end of this song covers the ending credits. Keep in mind in those days the roles of the ending credits and beginning credits were reversed so limited listings were displayed at the end of this movie with the inclusion that this was the end of "From Russia with Love" but Bond would return in Goldfinger. To this script's mind, this is another creative use of music by Terence Young.

In picking Monro, pictured above, the Bond series started the practice of using well known contempory singers for these movies. Monro had released the hit "Sof\tly As I leave You" the year before and in England was best known for the 1960 hit, "Portrait Of My Love". Monro had for a time been a bus driver who sang songs along his route so you will see references of "The Singing Bus Driver" on the internet if you google his name.

The front titles have a very different scenario. What seems like a compressed version of part 3B of the James Bond theme is used to introduce an instrumental version of "From Russia With love. This music moves much faster than the vocal described above. At its end, the transition and part 2 of the James Bond theme are played with a repeat of the first notes heard when the titles are displayed. All this music plays while the titles are played on one of belly dancers, designated as Leila in the credits, who will appear in the movie at the gypsy camp. Above, we show the music credits reflected off the dancer's hands for Bart and Barry. It is this version of the "From Russia With Love" theme, used in the front credits, that is played at the Philly Pop's Bond and Beyond concert. By the way, in listening to this version of From Russia With Love, make note of the background use of tambourines. The entire soundtrack uses tambourines, bongoes, possibly castinets to give a middle eastern flavor to the music.

The title sequences of the early Bond movies were a combination of the ideas of Maurice Binder, who also came up with the gunbarrel sequence that has been used in one way or the other in all the Bond movies, and Robert Brownjohn, who was influential in projecting the credits onto women. In Dr No, Binder had the titles placed in blocks with the 007 description prominent as the blocks create the lettering. Here, for this movie, Brownjohn creates an erotic fantasy using this woman's body as a projection screen for the credits. In the next movie, Goldfinger, Brownjohn would again use a woman – the golden girl – to be the basis of the credits.

With this rich assortment of music (not to mention creative uses of art and logo) the music and sound adds excitement to the movie and there is several additions or enhancements that will become staples of any future Bond Movies. The gunbarrel scene of Dr No reprises its location as the first scene on the screen in "From Russia With Love" as indicated in the montage above which uses the stuntman Bob Simmons to act as James Bond. But this time in FRWL, the sequence is accompanied by part 3B, transition and then part 1 of the James Bond theme before petering out. The gunbarrel sequence seques into what becomes known as the Red Herring section of a Bond movie, the action before the beginning titles. In this case it is the duel in the statue garden park between a James Bond impersonator (played by Sean Connery until a mask is taken off to reveal the supposed imposter) and Donovan (Red) Grant, the assassin played by Robert Shaw.

However popular "Dr No" was to the film audiences, it is "From Russia With Love" that makes James Bond a media sensation. If you come to this through the books, there is enough of the book's plot to entertain you. And, if you are now part of the masses that are influenced by Bond through the movies, this is a great movie involving a sensible plot, great actors, great locations and in the exploding briefcase, the beginning of the special effects efforts that will always be associated with this series. And, of course, the music is fabulous as Barry masters the James Bond theme of the earlier movie while arranging and adapting Lionel Bart's music theme.

And, one must take note of the director, Terrence Young, whose influence is felt in all aspects of this movie. Take the fight scene in the railroad car between Bond and Grant (above, we have provided a few frames of the fight). Young sequestered the actors for several weeks on the set as they filmed the fight blow by blow. If Alfred Hitchcock gets credit for his frame by frame imaging of Janet Leigh in the shower scene of Psycho, no less credit can go to Young for his directon of Connery and Shaw in this portion of the film. It is one of the greatest fight scenes ever put together in film.

In addition, there is some before camera heroics by Young in this movie. We already have mentioned Armandariz's health problems. He had agreed to do the movie if his scenes were done at Pinelands studio prior to the scheduled location shooting in Istanbul. But Armandariz's character is important to the story and any shots of Kerim Bey on the outside locations in Istanbul was played by his double, none other than the director Terence Young disguised in mustache. This is especially important as Bond and the girl board the train at the Orient Express station as partially shown in the last photo above. One more thing should be mentioned about Young's contribution to the film. Because many scenes had to be scraped given Armandariz's illness and early departure from the movie shoot, an additional chase scene, the confrontation on the water, was at the last moment added to the movie script. Young was involved in scouting a location in Scotland to film this when his helicopter crashed into the water and he just about escaped drowning. Above, we indicate the publicity about the crash that was carried worldwide on the left and show Young subbing for Armandariz on location in Turkey's largest city on the right.

The one problem with "From Russia With Love" has to do with its bumping into the real life effects of history. The book will always be associated with John F Kennedy as it was included in a list of Kennedy's 10 favorite books released shortly after he became president in 1961. It is the only fictional book on the list. Even today, over 50 years after the list's release, there is question of how Fleming's book makes Kennedy's top ten. Was it really one of Kennedy's favorites or was it placed there by an aide who wanted to humanize the newly elected President given the assumption that most Americans would not have empathy with a list of history books (which were the other nine books on the list). However it makes the list, whether a favorite of Kennedy or placed there with some other purpose in mind, there is no question that Kennedy was a fan of Fleming's writings having first met the author at a Washington dinner party sometime in 1957. It has been reported that Kennedy had a good laugh at Fleming's suggestion of how to deal with Fidel Castro, and especially the image of Castro's beard - have Washington issue a report indicating that beards picked up nuclear radiation making men impotent.

"From Russia With Love" debuted in London on Oct 17th, 1963 to generally good reviews (except for Fleming who watched the film and hated it about as much as he did when he viewed "Dr No"). Originally this author thought that the movie was scheduled for a late November or early December release in the United States that year, but research indicates that the original intension of the producers Broccoli and Saltzman was to release the film in the spring of the next year in this country. A recent book by Thurston Clarke, "JFK's Last Hundred Days", indicates that on October 23rd, 1963, the White House screened "From Russia With Love" for the Kennedy family and several guests including Ben Bradlee who was at that time the Washington Bureau chief for Newsweek. Bradlee reports that on most movies Kennedy would leave early but on this occasion he stayed till the end. It's pretty apparent that President Kennedy really liked the movie. Kennedy is assassinated on Nov 22, 1963 but apparently the assassination was not a factor in United Artists distributing this film in April, 1964 in this country.

So, It is not until April (New York) or May 1964 (rest of the country) that the movie and soundtrack is released in the United States. The album itself is of interest due to an aspect of uniqueness. In the "Dr No" album, you can see Connery supporting Andress but this is obviously a photo shot and not part of the movie. In the "From Russia with Love" album there appears to be a scene from the movie involving Sean Connery and Daniela Bianchi (the actress who plays Titiana Romanova) in Haga Sophia, the 6th century church built by the Emporer Justinian. It really looks like it was part of the movie until one studies Bianchi's "dress". This is the lingerie presented to her on the train well past this incident in the church and as lingerie is hardly appropriate with her character's meeting in this public place with James Bond. It could have been filmed as if part of the movie given the trememdous amount of rewriting that was necessary for the script as filming was going forward (perhaps even best described as forward and backward) despite the medical problems (and premature death by suicide) of Pedro Armendariz. However, As far as this author can determine, this is one time in the series that one shot that looks like it's from the movie has been featured on a James Bond movie's album's cover. Generally a caricultured presentation, or a series of photos have been used.

Two further points should be made about the music of "From Russia With Love" (and possibly "Dr No"). Matt Monro, who sings the ending credits version of the theme, never got the career bounce off this work that others got from singing Bond themes. Perhaps it was because of the delay in the distribution of the movie in the United States where interest in the next Bond movie, Goldfinger, would cancel out the effects of "From Russia With Love". This script has another theory: Monro sounds very similar to Frank Sinatra and it is possible that the American public assumed Sinatra had recorded the song. Even today you can get on to the internet and see Sinatra credited for singing the second James Bond movie theme. In time a Sinatra would have the distinction of singing a James Bond movie theme but this would not be until 1967 when Sinatra's daughter Nancy sings "You Only Live Twice". However, as a corollary to this first point: It wasn't all bad for Monro. He had been introduced to John Barry for this movie and when Barry wrote the theme for "Born Free" he picked Monro to sing this song. And it is this song, "Born Free" that people remember when they think of Monro. The second point is less significant. Again, put yourself into the shoes of a teenaged fan of the books and now the movies. You still have a problem trying to decipher what is the true James Bond theme through these 2 movies. 6 instances have been encountered: the supposed James Bond theme on either side of the Dr No album. A rendition in a different order in the beginning credits of Dr No and what seems to correspond to the Dr No album side 1 version of "The James Bond Theme" during the ending credits of Dr No. Now, we have what seems to be part 3B, transition, and then part 1 of the theme during the gunbarrel sequence in FRWL, parts 2 and 3 of the theme during the FRWL opening credits after the instrumental version of FRWL, when Bond arrives in Istanbul (now known as James Bond with Bongoes) and finally the "Dr No" side 1 edition as Bond arrives at the "Kristal Palas", his hotel for his stay in Istanbul and where he will meet up with the girl.

By majority rule one would assume that the "Dr No" side 1 version is the real thing but you could easily be wrong. And, this was not just a question pertaining to some teen-aged boy with a lack of music skill and common sense. With the popularity of James Bond and these movies, Bond music started to filter into the main stream. James Bond with Bongoes was mistakenly performed by some artist as his version of the James Bond theme (Chuck Barry rings a bell but this involves memories going back 50 years so we could be wrong). No doubt there were others who were similarly mistaken. In addition, local TV stations across the country started to use the 007 theme as the introduction to what became known as "Eyewitness News", a style of local news whose main intent was covering events around a coverage area using remote cameras and on the scene correspondents. The first instance of the 007 theme introducing the news may have been on the Eyewitness news show on KYW 3(a local Philadelphia channel) in late 64 early 65 and above we have included pictures of several of the news personalities of that show.

Anyway, by the spring of 1964 there are two James Bond movies in the can, "Dr No" and "From Russia With Love". It probably is appropriate at this point to mention that these two movies have a high participation of theater based talent which we doubt will ever be seen again in the Bond Series. The music, netting the efforts of John Barry, is the result of two London based theater composer/song writers (what today is called "book" creators). The two main villians, Dr No and Rosa Grant, are portrayed by two giants of Theater, Joseph Wiseman and Lotte Lenya. Another villian, Red Grant, is portrayed by Robert Shaw who at that time was best known for novels, "The Hiding Place" and "The Sun Doctor" and whose exposure to acting at that time was through theater and TV series. Finally, it is said that an impressive stage performance in some play in London at the time that Eon productions was casting the role of James Bond was a significant factor in Connery's selection. These movies may have been created on small budget but there was an excess of acting talent that ended up on the screen.

The next scheduled Bond movie was to be Goldfinger. Budgets had expanded for these films and the producers were going to go all out per the special effects and sets needed for the movie. Perhaps this encouraged Terence Young to make added monetary demands (we believe in terms of a share of the profits) for the next movie, Goldfinger. Or perhaps it was because of his efforts in the filming of "From Russia With Love" as he directed, doubled and took his life in his hands in the creation of the movie that boldened his move. Whatever, it was Young's opinion that he had shaped the movies in such a way that success was a foregone conclusion and, in hindsight, a lot could be said for this thesis as Young did create a style in the first two movies that really would not be repeated for the rest of the series until Daniel Craig stepped into the role in 2006. At minimum, the first two Bond movies under Young's directorship established a new type of genre. Frames were cut out and transition between scenes was sped up to give these movies a different type of movement. You can access the internet and see technical discussions of this.

But, in addition, he installed a boyish charm in the Bond character to the point that Bond seemed to have a regular, but somewhat kinky, girlfriend known in the first two movies as Sylvia Trench played the actress Eunice Grayson. Young also created the repartee between Bond and Miss Moneypenny, played by Lois Maxwell, (not to mention the hat toss) that did not exist in the books. But Young also was influencial in the incorporation of the film's music into the individual scenes as indicated above. Records, radios and bands (in nightclubs or gypsy camps) would play the movie's music to create a type of music background.

All this was a style of the first two Bond movies and it seems to be that this was under the creation and direction of Terrence Young. It would be interesting to study Young's earlier directorial efforts to see whether this was an on-going style or one influenced by his idea of what was the world of James Bond. In any case, Young's demands for a piece of the action of the next movie prompts his dismissal and a new director, Guy Hamilton, takes the helm as Goldfinger goes into production.

In the previous two films John Barry has riden in to save the question of music. So, the producers decide to give him free reign on the music for this movie. This will be the first time the words "composed, conducted and arranged by John Barry" will make a debut although in the next 25 years or so this will be stamped on a whole assortment of movies as you can see above. As he is assigned this, Barry is on the road in another musical capacity. A very popular cabaret singer has hired Barry as her musical coordinator on a tour of the United Kingdom (if not more of the world). Barry's assignment is to create the arrangements of her popular songs and conduct the orchestra that accompanies her on the nights of the tour. He takes to writing the Goldfinger musical theme on his off hours from this assignment.

And, this now brings us to the next person associated with James Bond and his music. Monty Norman is known for the James Bond Theme. John Barry is known for composition, arrangement and conducting the music of the titles and background. But, the singer most famous for singing the titles is our next person of interest, Shirley Bassey.

Bassey is the daughter of a Welsh woman and a Nigerian who grew up along Cardiff bay in Wales. One doubts that her early life was easy in such an environment but apparently early on became known for her voice. There are many accounts of her early life on the internet and as we understand it she tried to break into "show business" as a pre-teen into her early teens. She became disillusioned at age 15 when she began to wait table. It is reported that she became pregnant at the age of 16 and maybe this is the child who died prematurely several years ago.

She got a break when she signed with a talent agent and shortly thereafter was in Scotland singing at bars where the patrons generally were common laborers (perhaps miners) ending their day at the bar. She recounts one episode very early on when she was heckled unmercilessly as she began to sing. This is supposedly at the tender age of 17. She had enough gumpshun to tell the men in the audience that if they didn't stop heckling her she would summon her mother to punish them. They were so surprised at the words that they let her sing. This was a good decision on their part: with her voice, they were in for a treat.

When she was young (and this is not to slight her today but age does takes a toll) she had a tremendous vocal range and it was not long before aspiring song writers were sending her their compositions for consideration as part of her act. She established a rule: The song not only had to have the music written but the lyrics also had to be set. An early hit of Bassey's was "As I Love You" which reached No 1 in the British charts. She expanded her reach by singing with Mitch Miller's band in the United States for a time and having several entertainment runs in Las Vegas. A search of the database pertaining to the Ed Sullivan show and its performers shows Bassey appearing on Sullivan's show in December' 1960 just a few weeks after John F kennedy was elected President of the United States. In essence this juxtipositioning of the President elect and this British singer is highly ironic given that both their careers would intermingle with a certain British author and his fictional secret service creation.

In 1960 she recorded "As Long As He Needs Me" from Lionel Bart's Oliver – Bart is mentioned above showing you that it is a small world – and this became her trademark song, along with her rendition of "What Now My Love" until a special meeting with John Barry during her 1964 cabaret singing tour. Remember, Barry is acting as her musical director/arranger during the tour. The music theme for Goldfinger has been written on his off hours. He reported several interesting anecdotes about this including one where a colleague - upon hearing the first few notes – thinks that Barry is playing Moon River, the theme from Breakfast at Tiffany's. To counteract this, Barry fashions a flourished introduction to his theme that this writer characterizes as two longs/two shorts which would mark many of Barry's compositions for the next 25 years and can be found on his composition of "The Golden Horn" in FRWL. He also sets a flourish of notes to emphasize the first word of the music and separate it from the rest of the sentence.

The music is written but the lyrics are not. Barry is aware of Bassey's instructions but he plays the music for her anyway telling her that he would like her to be the vocalist of the next James Bond movie. In spite of the lack of lyrics, she readily agrees on the spot. The lyrics are resolved when the producers hire Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse of "Stop The World – I Want To Get Off" fame and they come up with absolutely great lyrics for a great song. Their lyrics evoke all sorts of imagery including reference to King Midas as well as references to spiders per Goldfinger and his web of sin. Interestly enough, it is said that the producers of the Bond movies, Broccoli and Saltzman, were either indifferent or hated the theme when it was played for them which is somewhat ironic given the music's longevity and popularity as we write this today.

As with all the music for the early Bond films, there are elements of uniqueness and interest in Barry's composition of the music of Goldfinger. There is limited additional incidental music as the directorial approach of Guy Hamilton was very different than Terrence Young although Hamilton was very experienced in the film industry and even more so in the spy film indistry having been an assistent director under Carol Reed during the production of "The Third Man".

Barry did create an instrumental version of Goldfinger but this is not part of the movie and Shirley Bassey's vocal rendition is heard on both the beginning and ending titles (although the music of the ending title is truncated). Only one other serious piece of music is composed for the film titled "into Miami" which is played immediately as beginning credits end and aerial views of Miami appear on the screen and we show some stills of this above. All the other music for the most part is theme and variation of the Goldfinger theme and this is something that Barry was an expert in doing.

Sometime during the summer of 1964 the movie and music is ready. A stage is rented as is an orchestra and with John Barry conducting, Shirley Bassey begins to sing the song that would define her, Goldfinger. There are several differing stories pertaining to the ending of the song but, as she relates, she is in for a surprise at the end. She assumes the music will end long before it actually does. Barry has forgotten to mention this change to her. As she normally does, she attacks the music and the lyrics. When you listen to the movie soundtrack album, you hear her roll the o's of Goldfinger, cold and gold and she does this multiple times through the song. The manner that she does this expends a lot of energy. Even on the rest of the song, like the I for midas, there are no shortcuts. She gives her all until a variation of the transition of the James Bond theme is played to the end of the music. She gets to "He Loves Gold" with the expectation, as she relates, that the music will end only to find Barry motioning her to continue to hold the note as the music plays on. It is said that she was near collapse as she ends the note. The result was a great song, perfectly tuned to the aspects of the movie and probably one of the greatest hold of notes ever recorded.

The Goldfinger music and album was the commercial success that "From Russia With Love" was not. The song was played constantly on easy listening stations and the album was a hot seller rising to either No 1 or No 8 on the best selling album list depending on what source is used. To some way of thinking, Goldfinger was the high point of the world's fascination with James Bond both as a film and music. The movie opens in September, 1964 in London and on Dec 21st in New York to throngs of movie goers. Riots occur around the world where patrons are not allowed to see the movie due to an undercapacity of seating availability. In New York, it seems to be the first movie ever to go 24/7 there. It is said that it made back the cost of production in several weeks just from the United States. Everything the movie touched became golden and this included the music. Above is the movie soundtrack and several knockoffs pertaining to Bond music. You can see a more thorough discussion of the movie Goldfinger by clicking here. Anyway, the vocal rendition of Goldfinger was the second presentation of the Philly Pops at the Bond and Beyond concert although our reporters indicate that there was a change to the lyrics by the singer that day substituting "world of sin" for "web of sin". And, of course, there is only one Shirley Bassey so the rolling o's were not as prominently heard.

It was hoped by the producers that the next movie, Thunderball, would repeat this success financially and culturally. But many things combined which allowed the next movie to be wildly financially successful but a real let down as to the content of the movie. Perhaps this would have occurred no matter what but Thunderball had a very interesting lineage and the producers of the first three Bond movies found themselves dealing with another player.

Anyway, we next turn to Thunderball and its complications. This all dates back to Fleming's attempt to get a movie deal for his books before finalizing the deal with Saltzman and Broccoli. While in the Caribbean he came in contact with Kevin McClory through Ivar Bryce. Bryce was a friend of Flemings since childhood and his marriage to an A & P heiress certainly didn't hurt his position. Eventually he became a movie producer who worked with McClory in the production of the movie, "The Boy and the Bridge". At the time of the Fleming, Bryce, McClory meeting, this was really the only real movie produced by McClory as the only other credit that can be found per movie production is "One Road" which chronicles McClory's attempt to drive around the world. From what we can discern McClory main claim to fame at that time was romancing Elizabeth Taylor while he was the second unit director on "Around the World in 80 days" although in the end the producer of that film, Mike Todd, would win this battle of romance. Above are pictures of Bryce, McClory, Taylor and Todd.

In that meeting in 1959, McClory and Bryce became interested in the character James Bond although McClory didn't think that the previously published books about this character could be made into a movie. Eventually a screenplay was written about an attempt to steal an HBomb and hold Nato hostage for a payoff. At minimum, Fleming used this premise when he wrote the ninth of the James Bond thrillers, Thunderball. It is possible through some channels that Fleming attempted to contact Alfred Hitchcock with an offer to direct this screenplay/book but there was no answer and Hitchcock at that time would have been involved with the planning and filming of "North By Northwest". With the publication of the book McClory promptly sued Fleming for plagiarism.

For a fiction writer, there is nothing worse than being sued for plagiarism. Questions about your creativity are now in play. Fleming certainly was not in the physical shape for what promised to be quite a legal battle and in some ways mixed loyalties were involved given that his oldest friend, Ivar Bryce, was also a party to the suit. Fleming during this time was smoking eighty cigarettes a day and drinking quite a bit of hard liquor. By time the case goes to court Fleming is an ill man with a chronic heart condition having suffered at least one heart attack. No doubt his medical problems, not to mention the death of John Kennedy in Nov 1963, his biggest proponent in the United States, put Fleming in the mood to resolve this lawsuit and an arrangement was made in December 1963 to negotiate an end to this lawsuit. The agreement meant that the movie rights to Thunderball would have to go through McClory who also fancied himself as an expert in the art of making movies. If one studies Thunderball as just a movie, it's probable that McClory was incorrect on his assumptions. It is episodic and difficult to follow in a convulated plot. While Fleming was able to join the threads together in the book so that the plot moved strongly and naturally along, this didn't occur in the movies at least to this writer's view.

However, for the general movie audience and the press, the pre production and then the production of Thunderball is a world wide media event. In the same waters that two and a half years before had seen naval activity that included the Cuban blockade, the world turns its attention to The hydrofoil controlled by Specter, the Vulcan bomber hijacked by this same organization, the nuclear bombs used to threaten civilization and, of course, the secret agent James Bond. Above are some pictures of the props used for this movie. Given the coverage of the two events, most unbiased observers might conclude that the filming of Thunderball held greater sway in world history.

In addition, Thunderball would see the return of Terrence Young as director for what would be the final time in a James Bond movie. But what was experimentation and creation of a new genre, as in the filming of the first two Bond movies, has now changed. Young returns to a somewhat formulistic set in terms of martini's drunk, women bedded and actions of the villians. It really isn't as much fun as the first two movies. And, as it will turn out, there is less use of music as an integral part of the action than seen in his directorial approach to "Dr No" and "From Russia With Love."

Nevertheless, with the success of Goldfinger the movie not to mention Goldfinger the music, the assignment to write the theme and background music again would fall to John Barry. Barry apparently did not like the word Thunderball and asked the producers if he could write a theme whose name and point of view would be different. In this he had some help. Bond had become a mania almost throughout the world. In the countries where the books take place, a special feeling for James Bond would appear in the native populations. This accounts for Jamaica's enthusiasm when "Dr No" was filmed there. Few people remember the riots in Instanbul as people thronged the locations where "From Russia with Love" would be filmed (and, in one case it is said, the production group premeditated a riot to help film the railroad station scene where Bond and Romanova board the Orient Express). When filming "You Only Live Twice" in Japan, the interest by that public was overwhelming creating multiple security and privacy problems for Connery during the film production.

In France, where the entire first novel Casino Royale takes place in the fictional Royale Les Eaux and where "From Russia With Love" concludes at the Hotel Ritz (pictures of the fictional casino as created on the web and the Ritz are above), they knew of James Bond as "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and it was this nickname that Barry used as he wrote the proposed theme (the background to the beginning and ending credits) for Thunderball. Leslie Bricusse wrote the lyrics to this song, titled "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang". You can access the Internet and see the Thunderball credits with this song substituted for what would have become the theme. Apparently both Shirley Bassey and Dionne Warwick did renditions of this theme and one gets the impression that both versions would have appeared in the movie, Warwick's at the front and Bassey's at the end. Supposedly both released albums with this song although checks on the internet have yet to verify this. One can verify that in 1992 an authorized compendium of 30 years of james Bond music from the movies was released, entitled "The Best Of James Bond 30th Anniversary", which included these two tracks by bassey and Warwick.

We've talked about Shirley Bassey above. If Dionne Warwick's version of "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" had appeared at the beginning title, she would have had the honor of being the first American singer to be in a James Bond movie. With the removal of "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", that honor would fall to Nancy Sinatra in the next movie, "You only Live twice".

Warwick comes from a family of singers. Her real last name is Warrick but apparently was misspelled during an early gig and she adopted the misspelling. Her sister is a famous Gospel singer (as was Dionne when she was younger) and both were cousins of the late Whitney Houston. Warwick's career blossomed in the early '60s. She was in some capacity associated with the duo of Burt Bacharach and Hal David who wrote songs and lyrics for many artists at that time (and, as we will see Hal David wrote the lyrics to the music associated with "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" not to mention the 1967 spoof of Casino Royale). By 1964, with hits like "Walk On By" and "Do You Know The Way To San Jose", she was an international star and therefore well known in England.

If the music in question had made it onto the screen, John Barry would have had to increase the 2 longs, 2 shorts overture that he had used in Goldfinger. It has been reported (and its apparent when you view the Thunderball credits with a background of "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang bang") that the producers, Broccoli and Saltzman, had stipulated that the movie name of Thunderball had to appear on the screen prior to the vocal starting and this would have produced a delay in hearing Warwick's voice. This delay was exascerbated by having to add McClory's name on the screen in addition to what had now become the norm: Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli present[new screen]Sean Conney as James Bond[new screen] In Ian Fleming's{new screen]* Bond movie title* with the title name in this case being Thunderball.

But Thunderball had a history of missteps and music was one of them. Apparently United Artists, the distributor of the Bond films, asked the producers of this movie to create a new theme using the word Thunderball. This was but a few weeks before the movie was set to open and Barry, in conjunction with Don Black who wrote the lyrics, created a theme titled "Thunderball" that Tom Jones sang. This was used in the opening credits and for the second time, like "Dr No", a version of the James Bond theme was used for the ending credits. In the lyrics for this song, Thunderball occurs at the end of the first stanza so the result was Tom Jones voice appearing as the credits start with his first utterance of the word "Thunderball" synced with the title "Thunderball" appearing on the screen.

The choice of Tom Jones as vocal artist is interesting. Like Shirley Bsssey, he grew up in a poor neighborhood of Wales. Not as well known as Bassey by this time, he did have an internationally recognized hit of "It's not Unusual" in late 1964. Like Bassey, he had other problems, in this case medical, growing up including it is said a bout of tuberculosis as a teenager. His singing of Thunderball is similar to Bassey's singing of Goldfinger in terms of intensity and it is remarkable that someone who suffered respiratory problems in earlier years could perform at this level. Thunderball was played by the Philly Pops during the "Bond and Beyond" concert but they would have done well to have substituted and played the theme that should have been part of that movie, "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" which is a more interesting composition.

Barry had incorporated a undelating theme of music in "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and that theme and variation was incorporated all through the movie creating another musical question similar to that mentioned earlier: What's the true James Bond theme. In this case, sitting through the movie, one would hear Tom Jones and his rendition of Thunderball and, except for one sequence, all the other background and incidental music would be of a different theme. In fact, "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" is the music played in the Kiss Kiss club as Spectre attempts to murder James Bond.

All this added to the confusion of this movie which quite frankly didn't need any additional help. Perhaps a continuity of music theme would have helped somewhat. Whatever, the Thunderball theme as sung by Tom Jones had nowhere near the popularity of the Goldfinger theme of a year before. We might add that in the lyrics of Thunderball (and to some degree in "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang") you could see the direction of the psyche and image of Bond and how it was changing from the earlier films and from what Ian Fleming aimed for in his concept of the character. Two years earlier Lionel Bart's lyrics for "From Russia With Love" could be interpreted as Bond's longing to again make contact the female Russian agent of that film. With Thunderball, you have lyrics about "The winner who takes all" and "His needs are more so he gives less". This is consistent with the discussion with the villian Goldfinger in that movie when Bond knows that the gold will be radioactive for 57 years and consistent with the next film's contention that Bond had majored in languages at the University so that naturally this included a fluency in Japanese. Bond was becoming a superhero, not just a hero, under the aegis of Saltzman and Broccoli.

However, one piece of music had been resolved for even the most tone deaf, music illiterate Bond fan (and, of course, we are talking about the writer of this script). For the second time the James Bond theme had been played during the ending credits in full and one now knew what this music was comprised of. Although it would again be modified in the next film, one could hum the song, with the millions of other fans, in a reasonably accurate rendition.

By now another tradition had been born: besides having read the book, then seen the film , one also was required to buy the album. The front cover was a artist rendition of one of the underwater fight scenes of the movie and the back of the cover contained caricultured aspects of the plot similar to what clip art is today in Microsoft office. Given the quick change in beginning credit theme, one assumes that large changes had to be included in the soundtrack album just as the movie is being released.

As usual the listener was left with some questions when looking at the credits of the different tracks. Thunderball, the musical theme of the front credits, was credited to Barry and Black. Other background music was credited to Barry but the last track of each side had a different theme song, both instrumental, titled as "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" on one side, credited to Barry and Bricusse and by this point, knowing Goldfinger's origin, one could assume the Bricusse meant Leslie Bricusse. Of course there was no mention of why an instrumental version of this music would need a lyricist and it would not be until the 1990's when the Warwick and Bassey versions of this song would be released.

Several further notes. First: Recently, in preparation, the author of this script forced himself to sit through a viewing of Thunderball. Unfortunately, it was not any easier to view this with age although we understand that there are many fans who have enjoyed this movie. Nevertheless, he enjoyed listening to the 007 theme during the underwater fight scenes near the end of the movie. At the time of Thunderball's release this was the third movie appearance of this theme (if you count each of its appearances in "From Russia With Love") and it's great background music for action scenes like this. Interestingly enough, by this point the James Bond theme had not been played during any type of battle or action. This would change by the next movie.

And, second: perhaps you've noticed a preponderance of last names starting with the letter B. Of course, we have James Bond the secret agent, without whom there wouldn't be much to write and one assumes that movies about James Bond, the ornithologist, would be few and far between (We've included Dr Bond's picture above second from left). There is Albert Broccoli who, with Harry Saltzman, produced all the movies mentioned and many more in the future. There is Ivar Bryce who introduced Fleming to McCorry leading to the law suit referenced and other problems as well. Daniela Bianchi played the heroine in "From Russia With Love". There is John Barry (although his real last name was Prendergast) who became famous based on his work with the music behind these movies. Shirley Bassey, already a singing star, still became associated with singing in these movies and finally, Leslie Bricusse and Don Black who wrote the lyrics for Goldfinger and Thunderball respectively. Finally, as will be discussed, we have Ernst Starvo Blofeld, head of Specter (not shown here but discussed later).

With the distribution of Thunderball, attention is paid to the next movie, "You Only Live Twice", which would have to have substancial filming in Japan besides the imaginary sets at Pinewoods studios in England. The Bond movies are becoming quite the production as sets get more advanced, special effects more explosive and lethal. It is decided that a two year hiatus will be in play before filming of this next movie is begun. The two year breaks between these films would be the norm through 1989.

So, given our time line, we are half way through the time period spanned by the first 6 Bond movies. We should discuss the question of the sequencing of this and the other movie adaptions of the books. For you music fans, please excuse this interlude and we will return shortly to our history.

The first three movies represented the 6th, 5th and 7th book. In these books Bond does battle with one or more villains per book and survives, although barely, as he kills each book's adversaries. Each of these villians are larger than life. Goldfinger is a type of Midas the king, Dr No is a type of Fu Man Chu, Rosa Klebb as a type of Himmler and Donovan Grant and Oddjob are professional assassins. For many fans of the books, these three are the epitome of Fleming's creativity. Psychologically they are fun as well as Fleming weaves an exotic tale for most although the prior histories of Dr No and Donovan Grant are especially fascinating.

The next three movies would be Thunderball, "You Only Live Twice" and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" which were the 9th, 12th and 11th book. These entail what Bond's literary fans call the Blofeld Trilogy where Bond is sent to do battle with Blofeld's Spectre (In the US this was also referenced as Specter but designated as Spectre in both the novels and the movies) organization of international crime which leads to a confrontation with Blofeld himself in Japan (You Only Live twice). In the literary world, the books before the publication of Thunderball have the Russians for the most part as the villians. In the movies, except for Goldfinger, the foes are Specter and Blofeld.

To this point per the movies, Blofeld's appearance remains a mystery. Specter is mentioned in the first movie but the head of this evil organization is not named. In the second movie, you can watch Rosa Klebb and Blofeld interact but his face remains hidden. His white cat, however, is clearly identified. In the third movie, Goldfinger, the villain is working with the Red Chinese. In Thunderball, Blofeld is again visible but his face is obscured (the cat however is again seen). In all of these movies where Blofeld makes an appearance he is played by Anthony Dawson (who played Professor Dent in "Dr No") but the face is obscurred. But, in the fifth movie, in two years hence (1967) all will be revealed as Blofeld is portrayed by the famous British actor, Donald Pleasence.

As we return to music, in the two years between these films, John Barry is able to capitalize on his success dealing with the music of James Bond. For a while now, the John Barry Seven has received less and less of his attention and probably by this point the members of that band have new gigs. One of the members of the John Barry seven, Vic Flick, whose guitar work made its impression in "Dr No's" The James Bond Theme, worked with many British musical artists after his work with the Bond films (although his web site reports that he was involved with the music of Diamonds Are Forever in 1971)

John Barry would become involved writing the music for several movies during this period most notably for "Born Free" in which he would be awarded an Oscar for his efforts. You may remember this movie about Elsa the lion and one still hears the theme song played today. Given that he would compose, arrange and then conduct the music, it was not unusual to see "Music Composed, Arranged and Conducted By John Barry" on the credits of many movies and on the covers of many sound track albums (including Born Free). In addition, For "Born free", Barry brought along some of the musicians already mentioned in this script. Don Black wrote the lyrics and Matt Monro sang the song as you can also see above.

And, speaking of other alums from the prior musical efforts on the part of the James Bond movies: For Shirley Bassey, Goldfinger became and would be forever her signature song. Most of her concerts during the 60's and 70's would have her start her performance with this song. To many in the audience, it would be enough just to relive that song as they attended her concerts. But, Bassey had had many hits before Goldfinger and was acquiring wealth through her singing such that, for tax purposes, she moved to Monaco in 1968 and was banned from performing in England for a time.

Tom Jones was also busy during this period fresh off of Thunderball. He sang the title song to "What's New Pussy Cat" (which became a kind of signature song for him) and in 1966 performed "The Green Green Grass Of Home" which has endured throughout the years.

No doubt, when so busy, the two year hiatus between Thunderball and "You Only Live Twice" must have flown by but sometime in late 1966, early 1967 it was time to deal with the music for the 5th James Bond movie, You Only Live Twice. As a novel, YOLT followed On Her majesty's Secret Service (OHMSS) but as movies these would be reversed with YOLT preceding OHMSS. This was not the first time for such a reversal. of course, as the movie series opened with Dr No and then came From Russia With Love whereas Fleming had written these in the opposite order.

For the fan of this movie and the music, what would be interesting is the first use of the James Bond theme in an action sequence as hinted above. A detriment would be the knowledge that Sean Connery had said that "You Only Live Twice" would be his last James Bond movie and even worse for the fan and movie goer was Connery's almost indifferent acting in the film. To be fair to Connery, the almost constant attention to him while in Japan, including Japanese reporters following and hounding him in bathrooms, must have turned him completely off and unfortunately, at least to this writer, he showed it.

Part of the special effects of this movie was "little Nellie", an autogyro created by and piloted in the movie by Ken Wallis. The pictures above are split between Connery faking the flying of this craft to the left and Wallis flying the gyro to the right and we've also included one of the stunts representing the destruction of one of the helicopters. The story line, for the use for the first time of the full James Bond theme for an action sequence, had Bond reconnoitering a suspicious area around what turns out to be an extinct volcano disguising a Spectre base of operations while piloting Little Nellie. He and the machine are attacked by a fleet of helicopters that mysteriously appear. Remember, this is a James Bond film so all modes of transportation contain enough armament to hold off entire armies, let alone a few helicopters. The sequence of the attacks and counterattacks and then the downing of the helicopters were choreographed to an extended version of the James Bond theme. Not only, as indicated, was this the first time the Bond theme was used for this type of action, the extended theme then became the standard for many artists as they performed the James Bond theme where appropriate.

If you were a fan of the books, you would and should be asking, what volcano? The first four movies at least dealt with the plot lines that the corresponding books had covered. Dr No involved the jamming of signals to American missle launches although in the book Bond discovers this when captured by Dr No. In "From Russia with Love" both the movie and book involve a trap to kill Bond, although in the book it is the Russians who are the villians. Goldfinger, the movie, is almost the negative of the book but involves an attack on Fort Knox. And, in Thunderball, both the book and the movie deal with a nuclear ransom of Nato. But with "You Only Live twice", except for the location of Japan, there is almost no tie in between the book and the movie as the book dealt with Bond's personal revenge on Blofeld while the movie version went back to the space race as the element of its plot.

As to the main theme music, to be played with both the beginning and ending titles, Barry worked his magic to create another highlight to the music associated with agent 007. Elements of Asian music were in play as was his characteristic 2 long and 2 short. We might add that the music worked (and still works) especially well with the main titles which included exploding Japanese crysanthemums.

Finally, the singing would be coming from across the Atlantic as Nancy Sinatra was chosen for the vocal. We are of course talking about Frank Sinatra's daughter and having this pedigree could not hurt anyone's career. The year before Sinatra had made her mark with "These boots are made for walking". From the point of view of this writer, that song and the "You Only Live Twice" theme song she sang from this movie makes up her singing career although we are not the experts in this. She is probably more well known for her appearances on American TV generally as a kind of comedianne and had a career as an actress in several movies. One thing can definitely be said about "You Only Live Twice" per the beginning and ending titles: In the four previous movies the James Bond theme (as indicated in side 1 of the Dr No album) had made an appearance in one way or the other. In "Dr No" and Thunderball, the ending titles were accompanied by the James Bond theme. In "From Russia With Love", part 2 & 3 of the theme was heard in the beginning titles and Goldfinger (and also the Thunderball song as sung by Tom Jones) have elements of the James Bond theme (whether transition or a part) in their compositions. However the beginning and ending titles of "You Only Live Twice" as sung by Nancy Sinatra have no hint of music developed previously for the series. Of course, it may have been so designed given that it was realized that Ms. Sinatra did not have the vocal range or capacity of her predecessors as singers of these title themes.

This movie reunites John Barry, creating the music, with Leslie Bricusse, doing the lyrics. By this point considering You Only Live Twice, in essence, Bricusse, pictured above, had worked on the last three Bond films with his lyrics for Thunderball shelved at the last instant. He had shared the creation of the Goldfinger lyrics with Anthony Newley at that time. In all three of these compositions Bricusse lyrics are from the point of the woman either in warning or explanation.

Barry used his You Only Live Twice theme all through the movie including for romantic atmosphere and throughout the battle of the opposing armies within the volcano. As opposed to earlier movies there really was no breakout tunes or melodies except for this theme and the souped up James Bond theme mentioned before in the battle of the helicopters. As opposed to the previous movie, Thunderball, the music was set but the editing was not at the time of distribution. If you saw this as a first run movie in 1967, it's possible that a replaying may seem somewhat different.

And, perhaps if you watch this movie today, it might seem like a completely different movie from what you remember in 1967. Perhaps it is! "You Only Live Twice" was released at the same time as another James Bond movie, "Casino Royale", pictures of which are above including the album and movie poster.

Through several quirks, most of which quite frankly are not understood by this author, Ian Fleming had sold the movie rights of his first James Bond book, "Casino Royale", during 1954. Apparently the rights were either sold or bartered through various entities over the years. When Saltzman and Broccoli make their deal with Fleming, they are buying the film rights to all the James Bond books (including any future novels) except for this first book. Later, as already indicated, Fleming cedes his rights in terms of Thunderball and this is why Saltzman and Broccoli had to deal with other parties when this movie was created as mentioned previously. Therefore, "Casino Royale" was never a part of the original mix.

As this is written in 2013, "Casino Royale" has been produced for viewing 3 times as the pictures above represent. The most recent was in 2008 when a deal between the various parties brought all of Fleming's works under one production authority for the first time. The time previous (which would be production no. 2) is this movie, "Casino Royale" in 1967 that we are about to discuss after one little interruption as mentioned directly below.

However, "Casino Royale" was originally produced for the first time during 1955 on live TV as part of CBS presents Climax or something to that nature. This was a time of live TV broadcasts. The movie plot is americanized but similar to the book without the book's specific torture scene although other methods of torture are applied. The part of the American spy, Jimmie Bond, was played by Barry Nelson whom you may remember as a panelist on "What's My Line" (or perhaps "I've Got a Secret") during the 1960's. The agent Bond is abetted by "Maurice Bond" of some foreign service and Linda Christian becomes the first Bond Girl as she appears as Vesper Lynd. The music is somewhat canned if you ever watch this. At that time all the networks had in-house orchestras and there was a generic sound for many of these programs so probably the background music on this TV program would be used on the next live broadcast of a drama the next week.

It does bring up an interesting question, though. What could Barry Nelson, as he guessed identities and issues on the abovementioned quiz show during the '60s, have been thinking as he watched the publicity about Sean Connery being the First James Bond during that time? And, perhaps watch an edition of What's My Line (one that he was not on) that featured Sean Connery as the mystery guest as pictured above. (This occurs sometime in 1965 after the filming of Thunderball while Connery was on location in New York filming "A Fine madness")

The next production of "Casino Royale" is the movie released in 1967 at about the same time as "You Only Live Twice" makes its appearance. it's plot, if there really was such, has absolutely no connection with the book, something that would also gradually be the norm of future Bond movies produced by Saltzman and Broccoli. Per this 1967 movie, the best one can say is that any movie that has both David Niven and Woody Allen playing James Bond is asking for trouble. Of course, to be fair, Niven was considered for the role of James Bond in "Dr No". Although not privy to who tested for the part of James Bond at that time, we feel absolutely confident in assuring you that Allen was not so considered. This version of "Casino Royale" also had all sorts of production problems and may hold the record for number of directors credited in a movie. But, it did have one notable feature: a song called "The Look of love". Written by the team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, the song was performed by Dusty Springfield (the three are picured above in combinations) with the music performed by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Even today it is considered a classic romantic love song and few remember its origins as part of this movie.

With the distribution of "You Only Live twice" - in whatever state - the Bond movies would have another 2 year hiatus before the next film. But changes were afoot. Sean Connery had had it with the role and vowed never to come back. Ultimately he would violate this oath twice, one for a ton of money and the other for artistic reasons, or so he intimated in a subsequent interview. This avowal of a non-Bond world was so humorous that one of his Bond reappearances was the movie called Never say Never Again. But this did create a problem in terms of the next film, first in terms of who would play the title role and in some ways dealing with the question of music. Per the hero, in one of the truely great mysteries of film, the producers hire an Australian clothing model, George lazenby, who had absolutely no experience in acting other than modeling and commercials. Above, we show a scene from one of these commercials for a company called "Big Fry". Whether the producers (especially Albert Broccoli) are duped by Lazenby's ficticious accounts of movie experience or duped perhaps by their own ego in the assumption that they had such a magic touch that the inexperience of the actor playing James Bond would not be a detriment, this will turn out to be a failure. And, for those seeing the movie, this lack of experience was all too apparent and Lazenby gave the impression that he had little interest in learning anymore about this craft. This was the one and only movie he would play James Bond and he didn't do much in way of other films once he left the part. Given his performance, who knows whether the producers would have invited him back, but he saved them from a decision when it is said that he fell in love with a woman (although in recent years this has changed to a supposed discussion with his agent) who told him that there was no future in playing Bond and he quit the role after this one shot.

However poorly the producers did with the Bond that was chosen, these same producers strike gold with the woman chosen to play Teresa Di Vicenzo, Tracy, in the coming film. Tracy is the most unique character in the James Bond books being his only bride and only that for a few hours. The actress playing this part would be asked to carry the romantic scenes of the coming movie (especially difficult given the neophyte actor in the leading role) backgrounded by music that would be far different from most of the previous (and future) Bond movies. Diana Rigg had grown up acting in the British Royal Shakespeare Company and had in some way replaced Honor Blackman in the British TV series, "The Avengers", when Blackman left to star in the aforementioned Goldfinger. By 1969, Rigg is well known on both sides of the Atlantic as Mrs Emma Peel, the female part of the team of Peel and Steed in this popular TV series. In this part she is as much of an icon to the small screen as Bond is to the big screen. And, for the second time in five years, the female lead of "The Avengers" leaves the show to star in a James Bond movie. Rigg is signed to portray the doomed Tracy Bond.

As to the music of the coming movie, by 1968/1969 John Barry had become a maestro of the music soundtrack. Along with John Williams, the next 25 years would see music soundtracks dominated by the two. To some degree they replaced the Nelson Riddle, Henry Mancini duo of a prior generation. Barry had matured greatly in the intervening years since he had recreated the James Bond theme for Dr. No.

And so, the next scheduled movie, the last this script will cover, would be based on the 11th book of the series, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (OHMSS). All signs seemed to promise a return to much of the book's plot. In this book, the most poignant (perhaps romantic) of all the novels, Bond becomes involved with a woman who has many of the same personality characteristics of himself. He eventually marries her but she is assassinated less than two hours after the marriage ceremony by Ernst Starvo Blofeld (This book is part of the Blofeld trilogy). This is not to say that action is missing from the book plot. Fleming manages to include two instances of ski chases (one resulting in a villian being chopped up by a snow fan attached to a train), one instance of a car chase leading to a car plummeting off of a mountain and a full fledged attack on the mountain retreat of Blofeld by helicopters and an ad-hoc army. Therefore, for this movie, this promised scenes of romantic dinners, pre-wedding ceremonies and a wedding. Music would have to be written for the background of these scenes not to mention that music would have to be written for the many action and fight scenes. There could be no doubt that the soundtrack would be very wide in its scope. And, by this time, as mentioned above, Barry was ready for whatever was thrown at him by the demands of a Bond film. The question probably in his mind was whether the new 007, Lazenby, could rev up his acting capacity to the level of the music. Unfortunately, most observers did not believe this to be the case when the reviews were in.

Of course, the entire team of musicians had learned from previous mistakes and missed opportunities. One assumes that if Barry felt that a movie name of Thunderball would be difficult to write music for, what could he have been thinking for a title of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". Yet, one imagines that the experience with United Artists demands on the Thunderball music had made the producers, and therefore barry, leery of substituting a different name.

Barry's answer was to write a great instrumental track designated as "On her majesty's Secret Service". This melody would be heard during the opening titles and would be the basis of the background music for all the chases and action scenes. For the dinners, pre-wedding, wedding scenes, not to mention the death of the wife, Barry created two great songs, "we have all TheTime In The World" and "Do You Know How Christmas Trees are made".

All series, whether film or book, create a trail of personalities, events and wording. Fleming's books were no exception although personal history was minimumly created. One of these titles, "We Have All The Time In The World", was verbatim from the book where it is used in a specific way. It is what Bond tells a German motor policeman when he comes to and sees his wife dead by his side after a revenge attack by Blofeld a scant two hours after their wedding. For the book fan, you already knew at a minimum where this musical number would be applied. And, for you the reader of this script, in conjunction to what was described above, Fleming was quoted to have already known the fate of Tracy, the wife, even as he started to write this book at the beginning of 1962 (the book was published in 1963) so this was not an added element to the plot by the screen writers. In the book as indicated above, Tracy acts the counterpoint to Bond appearing eventually as a lone, self sufficient woman with few female friends and whose interests seem to be more male oriented than most women.

In what must have been a thrill for John Barry, the producers secured the services of Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong to do the vocal for "We Have All The Time In The World" written by Barry with lyrics by Hal David, who you may remember as the lyricist with Burt Bacharach on the "Casino Royale" movie discussed previously. Armstrong was a legend in the United States and throughout the world. Appearing with his trumpet, Satchmo, with his gravily voice and white handkerchief, entertained audiences throughout the world from the late 20's to his death in 1971. Born and bred in New Orleans, a kind of mecca for jazz, he came by his interest and passion in jazz naturally.

Throughout his career, Armstrong moved in and out of mainstream popularity. Prior to World War II, Armstrong was a major star as a pure jazz artist although by the '50s he was already encountering criticism from some that he had gone mainstream. In the middle '60s, his version of "Hello Dolly" (from the musical of the same name) was a No 1 in the United States for a time which says much about his appeal because the No 1 position in the middle '60s was usually held by one Beatle song after another. Prior to the 60's, Armstrong, it is said, was a fan of the British songwriter Hoagy Carmichael and performed many of Carmichael's compositions. Which in itself is quite humorous and proves in the Bond world that there is a lot less than 6 degrees of freedom since Fleming based Bond's looks in his books on a young Hoagy Carmichael. Above are some pictures of Carmichael to the left and at right a cartoon image of what is said to be Ian Fleming's idea of what he imagined Bond to look like.

You will remember that Barry was first the leader of the John Barry Seven which specialized in jazz. In fact, it was Barry's study of jazz at an early age that encouraged his study of the trumpet. Perhaps it was Louis Armstrong's records that was the impetus. At minimum, Barry would have been interested in Armstrong's experiences of performing this genre throughout the years. At maximum, and this is what this author assumes, is that Armstrong was an idol to Barry and Barry now had the clout, given his Oscar for "Born Free" by that time among other things, to force the producers to hire this icon of jazz for this gig.

One assumes that anyone watching the movie would have been disappointed in the acting of George Lazenby vis-a-vis Sean Connery but one couldn't argue about the music or its placement. The instrumental theme is one of the more exciting of the series and Satchmo's rendition of "We Have All The Time In The World" was remarkable given his health - he would be dead within two years. This version, surprisingly as we expect most couples do not know of its origin, is a favorite piece of music played at weddings even today.

After the distribution of the movie, every now and then Armstrong's rendition would go to the top of the charts in a particular country. Barry is quoted as being surprised that he found out some two and a half years after the movie was released that this song had become very popular, not to mention high on the pop charts, in Italy. Even more interesting, if the internet can be believed on this,is that this rendition rose to the top of the charts in England in 2005 (thirty six years after it was recorded) when it was rereleased. The fact that a recording of a track recorded so long ago could once again become popular is a great tribute to Armstrong, Barry and David.

Besides Armstrong's singing and the main theme, the movie soundtrack and therefore the movie soundtrack album is a delight to listen to. One track, "Journey to Blofeld's Hideaway" is like listening to a classical music concert. Since Blofeld's hideaway is on a mountain, one gets that impression from this music. In addition, there is another song that one hears today during the Christmas carol season at the end of the year that was recorded for this movie by Nina van Pallandt called "Do You Know How Christmas Trees are grown". We are sad to report that none of the music of this movie made it to the "Bond and Beyond" concert although many fans of the James Bond movies' music consider this as one of the best movie soundtracks.

We've tried in this script to give highlights about the musicians and singers. Louis Armstrong already was an icon before this movie. Matt Monro was known to English audiences. Shirley Bassey was also known and would become a Dame of the British Emplire. Tom Jones would have a similar situation being knighted a bit later than Dame Bassey. Although never heard officially in a Bond movie, Dionne Warwick would have a long and distinguished career without "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" being a title track. But, how do we describe Nina?

At the time of the production of this movie, Nina Van Pallandt was in the process of separating from her husband who had been her partner in her singing career. This duet specialized in folk singing. Nina would become the girl friend of Clifford Irving. Irving was a writer in the Hemingway mode living the high (and expensize) life style on Ibiza, one of Balearic islands in the Mediterranean Sea, south and part of Spain.

Irving became notorious during the early '70s as he tried one of the great literary scams in history. Studying everything he could about Howard Hughes, he wrote what he claimed was an autobiography of this multi millionaire who by that time was a recluse. The title wasn't too creative: The Autobiography Of Howard Hughes but the interest in such a book, if real, was very high. However, Hughes debunked this by holding a press conference by phone. Irving went to jail for this and, if memory serves, his girlfriend, this Nina, was also implicated by association with the scheme through her relationship with Irving. This was at a time when these types of things were held against celebrities and her further gigs were rather sparse and apparently did not include any further singing.

So, as we end this script and you are now the expert in the Bond music of the '60s, we can inform you, the reader, that there have been multiple times that "Do You Know How Christmas Trees are grown" sung by Nina has been playing in malls visited by this author during Christmas seasons. It's always a surprise to whomever is accompanying this writer to learn the "James Bond" oriented origins of this song. No doubt the extracurricular activities of the singer would also be a surprise although this is never mentioned. In the future, if you are the accompanier, you already have been so informed of the many ironies.