CLAUDINE AUGER R.I.P.

"Bond Girl" Claudine Auger, who co-starred with Sean Connery in Thuderball, passed away this week. Auger began her screen career in the early the Sixties with roles in Jean Cocteau's Testament of Orpheus (1960), Marcel Carne's Terrain vague (1960), the anthology film The Seven Deadly Sins (1962), and many other productions. But her star to fame really took off when she was spotted in Nassau by Thunderball collaborator (it's a long story), Kevin McClory, who suggested Auger for the lead in the new Bond film. The character was changed to fit Auger's French background and "Domino" was born. Thunderball made its debut in December, 1965 and the rest is history. Some of her projects that followed included crime drama That Man George (1966), Zig Zag spy drama, Triple Cross (1966), with Bond director Terence Young, Anyone Can Play (1968) with fellow Bond girl Ursula Andress, Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971) by Mario Bava, and many others. One of her last projects was the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes in 1994 with Jeremy Brett. Auger passed away after a long illness at the age of 78. As this year draws to a close, so does our era of 50th anniversaries of Sixties projects. So it is especially poignant to mark this first passing of one of the original Bond Girls. Spy Vibe sends condolences to Claudine's family, friends, and many fans. Below: some of the many images of Claudine Auger from 1960s modeling gigs and film promotion. 

Selected Spy Vibe Posts: OHMSS at 50, Italian Job 50th OST, Charles Schulz Modern, Paul Desmond, Python 50th, Randall Hopkirk 50th, Thunderbirds Day, Lazenby Returns to MI6, Dr. John R.I.P., Spy Vibe Radio: Lupin III, Lupin Ska, Spy Vibe Prime, Zigomar Translation, The Village: Part 1, Monkey Punch R.I.P., Bubble Girl 63, ITC Soundtracks, Spy Vibe Radio: Public Eye, UFO Prime, Spaceship to Mars, Modesty Blaise Companion, Spy Vibe Radio: Fantomas, George Day, Fantomas Blu, Dark Shadows Doc, Bedazzled Blu-ray, Mary Quant Exhibit, Laika Calypso, Lost in Space Japan, Spy Dust Calypso, Atomic Cafe, John Barry Mono, Interview: John Barry Book, Land of the Giants Score, Skyfall Concert, Dearest Emma, Spy Vibe Radio: Upperseven, Ogilvy at Elstree, Mabuse Propaganda, Bond Beatles Day, Spy Vibe Radio: Liquidator, Diabolik LP, Fab Dresses, Eurospy Music Collection, Beetle Bailey in West Berlin, Why Mort Walker?, Spy Vibe radio: The Beatles Help!, Avengers Critical Guide, The Spotnicks, Benny Spies, James Pond 0017', Satire Stones, Annette Andre Book, Cat Day, Spy Vibe Radio: Get Smart, Caine: My Generation, Interview: Ian Ogilvy, Horror of Party Beach, Sylvie Vartan Renown, Ringo At 78, Dark Shadows Strips, Spy Vibe Radio: Flint, Archie Batman 66, Paul at 76, Beatles Pac-Man, Spy Vibe Radio: Jerry Cotton, The Invaders, 007 Horowitz Book Tour, McGoohan/Prisoner Event at Elstree, The Prisoner Interviews Vol 1, British Underground Press, Interview: Fab4 Mania, Bond Cocktail Book, Bond at Bletchley, Spy Smasher, Spy Vibe Radio: Peter Gunn, Agent Zero M, New Prisoner Comic, Dr. No Villains Edition,  Spy Vibe Radio: Danger Diabolik, Dr. No 60th, Oy-Oy-Seven, Spy Vibe Radio (UFO), Cold War Comic Strips, Thunderball Event, Mission to India, Mort Walker Celebration,  Peter Wyngarde Celebration, Batman 66 Exhibit, Prisoner Fifty Event, Ian Fleming Publications 2017-2018, Interview: Ed Hulse Pulp, Avengers Audio Drama, Interview: Callan At 50, Interview: Playboys, Spies, Private Eyes, TWA Returns, Spy Vibe Radio 8, Interview: Ryan Heshka, Mid-Century Modern Schulz, Agent Werewolf, Johnny Sokko 50th, Interview: Trina Robbins, Eddie Izzard, The Prisoner Capt Scarlet 50th, Hugh Hefner R.I.P., Jack Good R.I.P., Interview: Shaken Not Stirred, Callan 50th, Spy Vibe Radio 7, The Prisoner 50th Event, Spy-Fi Event, Kaho Aso 007, Two Million, Bo Diddley, Carnaby Pop, Le Carre Events, Billy Bragg Skiffle, Elvis 68, Jack Kirby The Prisoner, Casino Royale Concert, Review: The Prisoner Vol 2, Interview: The Prisoner Essential Guide, Maud Russell Mottisfont, Spy Vibe Radio 4, Batman Gallants, Adam West R.I.P., Village Triangle, Roger Moore R.I.P., Spy Vibe Radio 3, Sgt Pepper 50th, Satanik Kriminal OST, 60s Overdrive, Make Love in London, Spy Vibe Radio 2, Spy Vibe Radio 1, James Bond Strips, Propaganda Mabuse, Interview: Police Surgeon, XTC Avengers, 1966 Pep Spies, Batman Book Interview, Exclusive Fleming Interview, Avengers Comic Strips, Robert Vaughn RIP, UNCLE Fashions, Thunderbirds Are Pop!, Interview: Spy Film Guide, Lost Avengers Found, The Callan File, Mission Impossible 50th, Green Hornet 50th, Star Trek 50th, Portmeirion Photography 1, Filming the Prisoner, Gaiman McGinnins Project, Ian Fleming Grave, Revolver at 50, Karen Romanko Interview, Mod Tales 2, Umbrella Man: Patrick Macnee, New Beatles Film, The Curious Camera, Esterel Fashion 1966, Exclusive Ian Ogilvy Interview, 007 Tribute Covers, The Phantom Avon novels return, Ian Fleming Festival, Argoman Design, Sylvia Anderson R.I.P., Ken Adam R.I.P., George Martin R.I.P., The New Avengers Comics, The Phantom at 80, 007 Manga, Avengerworld Book, Diana Rigg Auto Show, The Prisoner Audio Drama Review.

HONOR BLACKMAN TOUR

Avenger and Bond Girl, Honor Blackman, is currently on a short tour of speaking engagements. Taking the stage in Honor Blackman As Herself, she discusses stories from her career, including the Swinging London years portraying Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, as well as playing the original leather Avenger Cathy Gale in The Avengers. From her website: "Whilst Honor's career stretches over sixty glorious years, she has rarely appeared simply as herself. Here, in conversation with her colleague and friend Richard Digby Day she will look back over this astonishing life, her beginnings, her family, her rise to stardom with her usual sense of humour and perspective. She will also be singing a few of her favourite songs." Hopefully she will include the Avengers tune Kinky Boots! Upcoming UK dates are May 8th, 12th, and 25th. Story continues below.

Speaking to the Coventry Telegraph, the actress spoke about how The Avengers launched her as "a pin-up as the smart, sexy, gun-wielding, judo throwing anthropologist Cathy Gale. 'I really did go to judo classes,' she says. At the age of 37 she was cast as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger." And if you ever wondered if she really was a natural action star: “When I was in the Civil Service I became a dispatch rider. Because all the men were at war they asked girls to volunteer to learn how to ride a motorbike and go from hospital to hospital in an emergency carrying blood. Sadly I never got to because no-one ran out. But we used to ride across London- it frightened my mother to death. I was known as Top Gear Tessie. I remember riding on the A4 from London to Oxford with my feet on the petrol tank singing at the top of my voice.” Spy Vibe wishes Honor Blackman all the best for her upcoming shows and hope she will make it to some dates in the States. Below with Sean Connery in Goldfinger. 

Recent Ian Fleming posts on Spy Vibe: Cumberbatch as Ian Fleming, Fleming Jamaica Book, Bond Japanese Editions, Fleming Chinese Edition, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 50th, Ian Fleming: Mt. Demon Hell Japan, Collecting Fleming, Live and Let Die 60th, new poster announced, 007 Audio Books Update, Appropriating Bond Exhibit, Fleming Letters Mystery, The Goldfinger Variations, Double 007 Book Designs,  Double 007 designs II, rare Ian Fleming edition, Book Design Dopplegangers, Turkish Bond design, Ian Fleming Letters, Erno Goldfinger, Noel Coward, Whispering Jack Smith, Hawaiian Guitar, Joe Fingers Carr, new Ian Fleming Catalog, Jon Gilbert interview, Double 007 Designs, Bond audio book reissues, discovery of one of Ian Fleming's WWII Commandos, James Bond book covers, Ian Fleming's Playboy interview for Kindle, Spy Vibe's discovery of a rare Ian Fleming serialization, rare View to a Kill, Fleming's Royal gold typewriter, Ian Fleming's memorial address, Spy Vibe's Ian Fleming image archive.

Recent Spy Vibe posts: Playboy Bunny Interview, The 10th Victim Japanese and Kindle, U.N.C.L.E. Japanese Books, The 10th Victim German Edition, UNCLE Gun, The Saint books return, Spy exhibit at the Pacific Science Center, Trina Robbins Interview, Catsuits, Batman '66 Green Hornet Interview: Ralph Garman Ty Templeton, DC Fontana Prisoner Video, Edward Gorey's 1960s, Ipcress File cinematography, 007 SOLO cover designs, Gloria Steinem and Denny O'Neil on MOD Wonder Woman, Win Scott Eckert interview, Siegel and Shuster's SPY, David McCallum: Son of Batman, Wonderwall comes to Blu-ray, Kevin Dart talks Ringo & Powerpuff Girls, Fu Manchu history panel, Mod Tales Interview, Atomic Art, Shane Glines Batman.

BOND EXHIBIT ENDING

James Bond exhibit by photographer Taryn Simon ends this weekend. Simon's new book, Birds of the West Indies, is a series of portraits focussing on cinematic Bond girls, vehicles, and weapons. From Spy Vibe's original announcement: The development of the arts, like language itself, is an ongoing dynamic process of the rearrangement of elements and the redefining of signs and symbols. Whether we are looking at the use of found objects and ready-mades among the Dadaist and Surrealists, the borrowed imagery of artists like Warhol, Rauschenberg, Johns, and Lichtenstein, or the reuse of David Bowie's Heroes design for The Next Day, appropriation has been an integral element in the history of the arts. Photographer Taryn Simon has recently taken this step of appropriation by focusing her lens on icons from the James Bond movies. 

Ian Fleming wrote his first spy novel in the early 1950s, mixing a potent cocktail of fantasies and war-time observations. When he needed a name for his hero, Fleming famously appropriated one from the book Birds of the West Indies by James Bond. Recounting the process in an interview Fleming said, "I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, and 'James Bond' was much better than something more interesting, like 'Peregrine Carruthers.'" Taryn Simon's new series borrows the structure of Bond's original book, creating her own taxonomy of the three major elements in the James Bond films: women, weapons, and vehicles. Her images include contemporary portraits of actresses in their original costumes and formal studies of cars and props. Simon's work is on exhibit at the Gagosian Gallery through April 12th and her book is available here: Birds of the West Indies.

From the Gagosian Gallery press release: "In 1936, American ornithologist James Bond published the definitive taxonomy Birds of the West Indies. Writer Ian Fleming, an active bird watcher, appropriated the author’s name for his own now famous novels. He found the name “flat and colorless,” perfectly suited for a character intended to be “anonymous…a blunt instrument in the hands of the government.” This co-opting of a name was the first in a series of substitutions and replacements that would become central to the development of the Bond narrative."



"Conflating Bond the ornithologist with Bond the secret agent, Taryn Simon uses the title and format of the ornithologist’s taxonomy for her own two-part body of work, Birds of the West Indies (2013–14). The first element of the work is a photographic inventory of the women, innovative weaponry and luxury cars of Bond films made over the past fifty years. The resulting images comprise an index of interchangeable variables used in the production of fantasy. Testing the seductive surfaces of popular cinema, Simon continues her artistic process of revealing infrastructures of previously impervious cultural constructs.  Simon also created a film that takes as its subject Nikki van der Zyl, the most prolific agent of substitution in the Bond franchise. From 1962 to 1979, van der Zyl, an unseen and uncredited performer, provided voice dubs for over a dozen major and minor characters throughout nine Bond films. Invisible until now, van der Zyl further underscores the interplay of substitution and repetition in the preservation of myth and the construction of fantasy."

"In the second element of the work, Simon casts herself as the ornithologist James Bond, identifying, photographing, and classifying all the birds that appear within the 24 films comprising the James Bond film franchise. Often the birds are incidental; they function as background for the sets they happened to fly into. Simon analyzed every scene to discover these chance occurrences. The result is a taxonomy of birds not unlike the original Birds of the West Indies. In this case, the birds are categorized by locations both actual and fictional: Switzerland, Afghanistan, North Korea, as well as the mythical settings of Bond’s missions, such as the Republic of Isthmus and SPECTRE Island. Simon’s discoveries often occupy a liminal space—confined within the fictional space of the James Bond universe and yet wholly separate from it. In their new static form, the birds often resemble dust on a negative, a once common imperfection that has disappeared in the age of Photoshop. Other times, the birds are frozen in compositions reminiscent of different genres from photographic history. Some appearing as carefully conceived still lifes, while others have a snapshot quality.  Many look low-res or obscured, as though photographed by surveillance drones or hidden cameras that might have been used by MI6 within the context of the films.

"

"Simon also collected papers, correspondence, awards, study skins, and personal effects of James Bond the ornithologist, displaying them in vitrines alongside the photographic works. The character James Bond is so embedded in public consciousness that it is difficult to disengage from the fiction and view the ornithologist’s letters and effects independent of the cinema persona. In Birds of the West Indies, Simon creates a space in which fiction and reality collide and disappear, opening up a black hole that belongs to neither realm." Learn more: Series essay by Daniel Baumann, Tayn Simon website, New York Times page.

Recent Ian Fleming posts on Spy Vibe: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 50th, Ian Fleming: Mt. Demon Hell Japan, Collecting Fleming, Live and Let Die 60th, new poster announced, 007 Audio Books Update, Appropriating Bond Exhibit, Fleming Letters Mystery, The Goldfinger Variations, Double 007 Book Designs,  Double 007 designs II, rare Ian Fleming edition, Book Design Dopplegangers, Turkish Bond design, Ian Fleming Letters, Erno Goldfinger, Noel Coward, Whispering Jack Smith, Hawaiian Guitar, Joe Fingers Carr, new Ian Fleming Catalog, Jon Gilbert interview, Double 007 Designs, Bond audio book reissues, discovery of one of Ian Fleming's WWII Commandos, James Bond book covers, Ian Fleming's Playboy interview for Kindle, Spy Vibe's discovery of a rare Ian Fleming serialization, rare View to a Kill, Fleming's Royal gold typewriter, Ian Fleming's memorial address, Spy Vibe's Ian Fleming image archive.

Recent Spy Vibe posts: The Saint books return, Spy exhibit at the Pacific Science Center, Trina Robbins Interview, Catsuits, Batman '66 Green Hornet Interview: Ralph Garman Ty Templeton, DC Fontana Prisoner Video, Edward Gorey's 1960s, Ipcress File cinematography, 007 SOLO cover designs, Gloria Steinem and Denny O'Neil on MOD Wonder Woman, Win Scott Eckert interview, Siegel and Shuster's SPY, David McCallum: Son of Batman, Wonderwall comes to Blu-ray, Kevin Dart talks Ringo & Powerpuff Girls, Fu Manchu history panel, Mod Tales Interview, Atomic Art, Shane Glines Batman.

APPROPRIATING BOND

The development of the arts, like language itself, is an ongoing dynamic process of the rearrangement of elements and the redefining of signs and symbols. Whether we are looking at the use of found objects and ready-mades among the Dadaist and Surrealists, the borrowed imagery of artists like Warhol, Rauschenberg, Johns, and Lichtenstein, or the reuse of David Bowie's Heroes design for The Next Day, appropriation has been an integral element in the history of the arts. Photographer Taryn Simon has recently taken this step of appropriation by focusing her lens on icons from the James Bond movies. 

Ian Fleming wrote his first spy novel in the early 1950s, mixing a potent cocktail of fantasies and war-time observations. When he needed a name for his hero, Fleming famously appropriated one from the book Birds of the West Indies by James Bond. Recounting the process in an interview Fleming said, "I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, and 'James Bond' was much better than something more interesting, like 'Peregrine Carruthers.'" Taryn Simon's new series borrows the structure of Bond's original book, creating her own taxonomy of the three major elements in the James Bond films: women, weapons, and vehicles. Her images include contemporary portraits of actresses in their original costumes and formal studies of cars and props. Simon's work is on exhibit at the Gagosian Gallery through April 12th and her book is available here: Birds of the West Indies.

From the Gagosian Gallery press release: "In 1936, American ornithologist James Bond published the definitive taxonomy Birds of the West Indies. Writer Ian Fleming, an active bird watcher, appropriated the author’s name for his own now famous novels. He found the name “flat and colorless,” perfectly suited for a character intended to be “anonymous…a blunt instrument in the hands of the government.” This co-opting of a name was the first in a series of substitutions and replacements that would become central to the development of the Bond narrative."



"Conflating Bond the ornithologist with Bond the secret agent, Taryn Simon uses the title and format of the ornithologist’s taxonomy for her own two-part body of work, Birds of the West Indies (2013–14). The first element of the work is a photographic inventory of the women, innovative weaponry and luxury cars of Bond films made over the past fifty years. The resulting images comprise an index of interchangeable variables used in the production of fantasy. Testing the seductive surfaces of popular cinema, Simon continues her artistic process of revealing infrastructures of previously impervious cultural constructs.  Simon also created a film that takes as its subject Nikki van der Zyl, the most prolific agent of substitution in the Bond franchise. From 1962 to 1979, van der Zyl, an unseen and uncredited performer, provided voice dubs for over a dozen major and minor characters throughout nine Bond films. Invisible until now, van der Zyl further underscores the interplay of substitution and repetition in the preservation of myth and the construction of fantasy."

"In the second element of the work, Simon casts herself as the ornithologist James Bond, identifying, photographing, and classifying all the birds that appear within the 24 films comprising the James Bond film franchise. Often the birds are incidental; they function as background for the sets they happened to fly into. Simon analyzed every scene to discover these chance occurrences. The result is a taxonomy of birds not unlike the original Birds of the West Indies. In this case, the birds are categorized by locations both actual and fictional: Switzerland, Afghanistan, North Korea, as well as the mythical settings of Bond’s missions, such as the Republic of Isthmus and SPECTRE Island. Simon’s discoveries often occupy a liminal space—confined within the fictional space of the James Bond universe and yet wholly separate from it. In their new static form, the birds often resemble dust on a negative, a once common imperfection that has disappeared in the age of Photoshop. Other times, the birds are frozen in compositions reminiscent of different genres from photographic history. Some appearing as carefully conceived still lifes, while others have a snapshot quality.  Many look low-res or obscured, as though photographed by surveillance drones or hidden cameras that might have been used by MI6 within the context of the films.

"

"Simon also collected papers, correspondence, awards, study skins, and personal effects of James Bond the ornithologist, displaying them in vitrines alongside the photographic works. The character James Bond is so embedded in public consciousness that it is difficult to disengage from the fiction and view the ornithologist’s letters and effects independent of the cinema persona. In Birds of the West Indies, Simon creates a space in which fiction and reality collide and disappear, opening up a black hole that belongs to neither realm." Learn more: Series essay by Daniel Baumann, Tayn Simon website, New York Times page. Check out my Spring Sale on eBay here.

Recent Spy Vibe posts: Trina Robbins Interview, Catsuits, Batman '66 Green Hornet Interview: Ralph Garman Ty Templeton,  Solar & Bionic Man Return, The Saint Library Released, DC Fontana Prisoner Video, James Bond Comic Event, Turkish James Bond Design, Edward Gorey's 1960s, Ipcress File cinematography, 007 SOLO cover designs, Batman Valentines cards, Saturday Cartoons: Marine Boy, Mary Quant, Patrick Macnee, Gloria Steinem and Denny O'Neil on MOD Wonder Woman, Win Scott Eckert interview, Siegel and Shuster's SPY, David McCallum: Son of Batman, Jon Gilbert talks Fleming, Barbarella TV series, Meet the Beatles 50th, Wonderwall comes to Blu-ray, Batman Strips, David Bowie at 67, Kevin Dart talks Ringo & Powerpuff Girls, Sherlock Exhibit, Fu Manchu history panel, Andy Warhol box set, Six-Million Dollar Man, Striped Light Nude, Buckminster Fuller, Dylan at Newport, Jane and Serge, The Goldfinger Variations, Mod Tales Interview, David Tennant's Ian Fleming audio books, Atomic Art, Shane Glines Batman.

Recent Ian Fleming posts on Spy Vibe: Ian Fleming Letters, Erno Goldfinger, Ian Fleming Music Series links: Noel Coward, Whispering Jack Smith, Hawaiian Guitar, Joe Fingers Carr, new Ian Fleming Catalog, Jon Gilbert interview, Double 007 Designs, Bond audio book reissues, discovery of one of Ian Fleming's WWII Commandos, James Bond book covers, Ian Fleming's Playboy interview for Kindle, Spy Vibe's discovery of a rare Ian Fleming serialization, rare View to a Kill, Fleming's Royal gold typewriter, Ian Fleming's memorial address, Spy Vibe's Ian Fleming image archive.