JAMO THOMAS

Greetings from lock down! I hope Spy Vibers are doing ok out there. I've been teaching my students remotely now for a couple of weeks; I actually really enjoy the process of reviewing images and providing feedback this way. So far so good. The larger issues and anxiety can be pretty overwhelming, though. How are you all coping so far? I've been busy recording new segments for the Cocktail Nation radio show and working on the Spy Vibe book. Been Immersed in 1960s Japan these days, which is really fun (and not too out of character, anyway). This video crossed my radar recently and I thought you all might enjoy seeing it. Jamo Thomas performs his minor 1966 hit, I Spy For the FBI. I love the mod discotheque set and the white go-go boots. It's a cool soul-infused groove that captured the mid-60s spy vibe. Enjoy!

Selected Spy Vibe Posts: John Barry Event, RSD Vinyl Spies, James Bond's DB5, UFO CD Set, Spy Vibe radio: Phantom Agents, Steranko is Revolutionary!, Interview: The Saint I Ain't, Diabolik Interview, New 007 Song, Diabolik Figures, Diabolik Sounds, Diabolik Set Design, Diabolik Park Ride, Danger Diabolik Blu, Count Arthur Strong, Honey West Title Cards, Bowie Day, New Year Cosmonauts, Neil Innes R.I.P., Claudine Auger R.I.P., 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.

DEAN MARTIN

Dean Martin was born on this day in 1917. The crooner/actor is best remembered by Spy Vibers for his role as Matt Helm in the film series from the 1960s. Based on the popular novels by Donald Hamilton, Martin portrayed the character in four films: The Silencers (1966), Murderer's Row (1966), The Ambushers (1967), and The Wrecking Crew (1969). Noted by Mike Myers as an inspiration for Austin Powers, Martin's Matt Helm played up the camp and swinging 60's conventions that were being established during the spy boom. His gadgets included a revolving bed that tipped him into a giant bath and mini-bars stashed in every location he might frequent (including his car). One of my favorite elements of the films is the use of experimental and mod fashion. The audience is often treated to a fashion shoot with models dressed in imaginative (and revealing) outfits, and female spies sometimes get to wear gun bras ("booby traps," quips Martin) ala Mike Myers' fembots. Simply put, the movies are a hoot! Happy birthday Dean Martin! What a lovely voice and legacy of laughs and classic recordings.

I have a spy novel coming out. Get ready to meet MIKI ZERO, a Japanese fashion model and spy from 1965! Stay tuned and follow Spy Vibe by clicking the Follow link at top right of this page.

Check Spy Vibe for recent posts about our fiendish villains archive, Cold War Comics, Sam Mendes back for Bond, Spy Vibe heroes and Wild Things, book design dopplegangers, Christopher Lee, Bettie Page, Dashiell Hammett, Miles Davis, WWII spy Krystyna Skarbek, recycled James Bond covers, interview with Fu Manchu author William Maynard,  Man From UNCLE manga. new James Bond omnibus, Orson Welles the Shadow, rare Piero Umiliani Kriminal soundtrack, new Beatles Yellow Submarine game, James Bond audio book re-issues, Mid-Century Modern in Peanuts, Ralph Byrd Dick Tracy, my review of SKYFALL and more. Spy Vibe is now on Pinterest! Check out our image archives and follow us here.

Ian Fleming on Spy Vibe: recent posts include Fleming birthday tribute, Ian Fleming Music Series links: Noel Coward, Whispering Jack Smith, Hawaiian Guitar, Joe Fingers Carr, new Ian Fleming Catalog, 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, Fleming's Royal gold typewriter, Ian Fleming's memorial address, and our Ian Fleming image archive link here.

Can you help to support Spy Vibe? Please make a small donation with our secure Paypal tip-jar link at the top left of the main page. Nothing is too small to help cover the increasing bills for the domain, web-forwarding and other costs to maintain the site. Thank you! 

SPY SPOOFS TONIGHT

Our fellow C.O.B.R.A.S. site Double O Section has alerted us to a special spy event tonight on Turner Classic Movies. TCM will be airing a fantastic lineup of fun spy flicks, including Our Man Flint, the Matt Helm movies The Silencers and Murderer's Row, Carry On Spying, and the wonderful Vincent Price movies, Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine and Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs. I wish we could all be in the Spy Vibe lair to watch these together. What are your favorite spy spoofs? More details about tonights program at Double O Section here. 

Check Spy Vibe for recent posts about our fiendish villains archive, WWII spy Krystyna Skarbek, recycled James Bond covers, interview with Fu Manchu author William Maynard,  Man From UNCLE manga. new James Bond omnibus, Orson Welles the Shadow, rare Piero Umiliani Kriminal soundtrack, new Beatles Yellow Submarine game, James Bond audio book re-issues, Mid-Century Modern in Peanuts, Ralph Byrd Dick Tracy, my review of SKYFALL and more. Spy Vibe is now on Pinterest! Check out our image archives and follow us here.

Ian Fleming on Spy Vibe: recent posts include Ian Fleming Music Series links: Noel Coward, Whispering Jack Smith, Hawaiian Guitar, Joe Fingers Carr, new Ian Fleming Catalog, 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, Fleming's Royal gold typewriter, Ian Fleming's memorial address, and our Ian Fleming image archive link here.

Can you help to support Spy Vibe? Please make a small donation with our secure Paypal tip-jar link at the top left of the main page. Nothing is too small to help cover the increasing bills for the domain, web-forwarding and other costs to maintain the site. Thank you! 

MATT HELM BOOK

Fans of Matt Helm can now dive deeper into his world of Booze, Bullets & Broads, in a new e-book available for Kindle on Amazon: "Matt Helm, spy of the Mad Men era. After his creation by Donald Hamilton, Helm went from being a literary rival of James Bond to being a cinematic rival with the production of four movies starring crooner Dean Martin as a woozy, boozy secret agent. Produced by Irving Allen, the former partner of 007 film producer Cubby Broccoli, the Helm movies influenced not only the Bond films but also Austin Powers, and remain a "guilty pleasure" viewing favorite of red-blooded males everywhere." The author's previous work includes 007-related documentaries and James Bond: The Legacy with John Cork. Thanks to our sister C.O.B.R.A.S. site, the HMSS Weblog, for putting this on our radar!

I have a spy novella coming out. Stay tuned and follow Spy Vibe by clicking the Follow link at top right of this page. 

Check Spy Vibe for recent posts about our discovery of a rare Ian Fleming serialization, my review of SKYFALL, Mark Lewisohn's Beatles biography series, 007 at the Intnl Spy Museum, Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot, tributes to Donald Richie and Tony Sheridan, the Les Vampires serial on Blu-ray, Lucy Fleming, The Beatles first record session, Ian Fleming's desert island interview, new Ian Fleming book designs, Fantomas, Spy Smasher, Barbarella tv show, British spy comics, Piper Gates retro designs, Cinema Retro, and more. 

Want to support Spy Vibe? Please make a small donation with our secure Paypal tip-jar link at the top left of the main page. Nothing is too small to help cover the increasing bills for the domain, web-forwarding and other costs to maintain the site. Thank you!

MATT HELM TRIBUTE

Nothing says "weekend" like Matt Helm: dancing, refreshments, battling evil, and an electronic bed that delivers you gently into your own gigantic bubble bath! The character Matt Helm was created by novelist Donald Hamilton and appeared in 27 books since 1960. A spy-spoof film series with Dean Martin (1917-1995) included The Silencers (1966), Murderers' Row (1966), The Ambushers (1967), and The Wrecking Crew (1969). A brief TV adaptation ran for 13 episodes in 1975. Info about the Matt Helm books here. Cinema Retro's piece about The Wrecking Crew here.


Here's a fun tribute piece to The Silencers, which co-starred Victor Buono (1938-1982), a great character actor who made appearances on all of the major spy shows of the 1960s, including The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., I Spy, Wild Wild West, and many others. You may remember him as King Tut on Batman. Soundtrack by Elmer Bernstein (1922-2004/Magnificent Seven). Happy Weekend, Spy Vibers!

OCEAN'S 11 BLU!

In celebration of the epic Mondo Lounge fest this weekend in Las Vegas, which will feature rare film screenings, fashions shows, cocktail parties, music, and exhibiting artists Shag and Bosko, Spy Vibe wants to give fans the heads-up about the 50th anniversary Blu-ray edition of the original Ocean's 11 (1960). This Frank Sinatra/Rat Pack classic is an excellent time capsule that centers around a group of post-war buddies who knew which way the cultural winds were blowing in 1960. The characters embody a rejection of the suburban values of the era to live life as swingers. Sinatra and his gang occupy a Hugh Hefner-inspired lifestyle based on individual freedom, pleasure, adventure, and fraternal loyalty. They are the jet-setting first wave of the sexual revolution, middle-aged heroes at a turning point before the culture shifted toward the space race and the youth market.


The film, similar to the modern version with George Clooney and Brad Pitt (2001), centers around cool characters, cool outfits, cool apartments, and impossibly cool schemes to rob casinos in Las Vegas. Check out the bachelor pad decor above where Sinatra and Martin shoot some pool. It's a stylish ride! It's interesting to think about other iconic works from this era. Along with Ocean's 11, the world also saw the release of Kind of Blue by Miles Davis (1959), Time Out by Dave Brubeck (1959), Danger Man with Patrick McGoohan (1960), and by 1961, a couple of movie producers were working with Ian Fleming to launch 007 to the big screen. Seven days after the premiere of Ocean's 11 on August 10th, 1960, The Beatles began their first residency in Hamburg, West Germany, at the Indra Club on Grosse Freiheit on Wednesday August 17th. A cultural tidal wave was forming, but the Rat Pack would hold their place for a little longer. Although I had seen news of a delay in production for the Ocean's 11 disc, it appears that the Blu-ray is available on Amazon for a November 9th release. Blu-ray.com review here.


From Amazon: New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas. Roulette wheels spin, cards snap, slots chime, champagne fizzes, shows go on…and the lights go out. It’s the perfect time to steal a kiss or a $25 chip. But for Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra) and 10 partners in crime, it’s the ideal moment to steal millions. Sinatra and off-screen pals Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop and more play army buddies who scheme to knock out power to the Vegas strip, electronically rig five big casino vaults and raid them all at the same instant. Packed with location-lensed glamour, sweaty suspense, swinging comedy and a stunning twist ending now in gorgeous hi-def, Ocean's 11 is your entertainment best bet.

THE AVENGERS & MATT HELM: WATCHDOG

THE AVENGERS & MATT HELM: WATCHDOG
Spy Vibers will want to stop by Barnes and Noble this weekend and pick up a copy of issue #154 of Video Watchdog. The front and back cover not only feature beautiful photos of John Steed and Cathy Gale from The Avengers, but also cinema's original international man of mystery, Matt Helm. Much of the issue is devoted to writer Kim Newman's excellent (and thorough!) coverage of surviving episodes of the first season of The Avengers as well as complete coverage of season two episodes in the order they were originally taped. In addition to the meaty, Spy Vibe tasty text, Newman provides a number of fantastic photographs. If that wasn't enough to whet your secret agent appetites, Newman also reviews the Matt Helm Lounge box set of the four Dean Martin classics, The Silencers, Murderers' Row, The Ambushers, and The Wrecking Crew. If you can't find Video Watchdog at your local retailer, you can also order issues directly from them here.


Fellow C.O.B.R.A.S. agent Bish reported recently about another special edition magazine on stands now. Put together by the editors of American History, "100 Greatest Spy Movies" is available at Borders and other retailers. The magazine highlights most of the top espionage thrillers throughout cinema history. Though I did not see Deadlier Than the Male listed (what gives?), I did note the newsworthy mention of Triple Agent by French New Wave auteur, Eric Rohmer, who recently passed away. Titles covered from the 1960s are: The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, Goldfinger, Manchurian Candidate, Ipcress File, Dr. No, Funeral in Berlin, Looking Glass War, Army of Shadows, The Deadly Affair, From Russia With Love, The War is Over, Torn Curtain, The Counterfeit Traitor, Our Man Flint, Operation Crossbow, Billion Dollar Brain, Guns of Navarone, The Venetian Affair, Modesty Blaise, Ice Station Zebra, and Quiller Memorandum. The films are not listed in order of rank or alphabet, so I'm hoping a Spy Vibe reader will uncover a code. The magazine also features many sidebars about how some of the films relate to real spy cases in history.