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‘Bondmania’ had reached
its zenith with the release of Thunderball in 1965, with hundreds
of items emblazoned with the 007 logo, or linked with the character of
James Bond. The USA had even more promotional tie-ins - with toiletries,
clothing, road race sets, and even underwater diving equipment featured in
Thunderball (1965). However, during the filming of You Only Live Twice (1967),
its star Sean Connery announced that the fifth 007 adventure would be his
last, and the Bond bubble finally burst. Columbia Pictures released their
spoof version of Casino Royale (1967) ahead of You Only Live
Twice, and whilst not as successful at the box-office, did have an
impact on the overall takings of EON Productions’ latest offering.
Undaunted, EON continued to offer licences for new James Bond related
products, this time granted through Walter Tuckwell & Associates Ltd., in
association with Mervyn Brodie Associated Ltd, with whom they shared an
office in London's Piccadilly. A former Walt Disney employee, Walter
Tuckwell fostered a network connecting and linking commercial
and legal opportunities offered by television programmes, and the emerging
demand for products aimed at children. One of Tuckwell's most successful
marketing campaigns was the licensing of Doctor Who and the Daleks
for BBC television in 1965. A year later Tuckwell's company created the
enormously successful character ‘World Cup Willie’ - the Union Jack
wearing cartoon lion mascot of England's 1966 World Cup winning football
squad, which was seen on hundreds of licenced products in the UK. |
You Only Live Twice (1967) |
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As a tie-in with You
Only Live Twice, Somportex Ltd. manufactured something new. Instead of
the black & white pin-up cards produced for Goldfinger and
Thunderball, they came up with colour film slides. This new
collectible was titled “Chew & Colour View James Bond 007 Bubble Gum”. Each pack contained a strip holding three different 35mm
slides and a small piece of dusted chewing gum. There were 26 different
strips of three colour slides, making a total of 78 images. On the right
border of each slide was a brief description of the scene, with “Sean
Connery as James Bond” printed on the left. However, a few mistakes once
again occurred during the production of the slides, with
slide number 63
and 65 being exactly the same. The right-hand-side text on slide
number 58 [pictured above] reads “M Briefing Bond”, when it should be “Q
Briefing Bond”, as the slide shows Desmond Llewelyn and Sean Connery.
Collectors could obtain a free plastic slide viewer by sending off 36
wrappers. A free 18-page Mini-Book [pictured below] was also supplied with
the pocket viewer, and contained unique artwork of ‘Little Nellie’ and the
twin-rotor Kawasaki-Vertol KV107-11 helicopter (used by Japanese SIS to
removed unwanted SPECTRE agents!), along with the
story of the film. |
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Also for children, but
hardly at a pocket money price, was a James Bond version of the popular
slot car racing set from Scalextric. Featuring a white Aston Martin and
black Mercedes, the set retailed at over £11 which was well out or reach
for many families at the time, equating to at least half a week's wage for
the average manual worker in the UK in 1967. |
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Several products were
advertised in the You Only Live Twice Exhibitors' Campaign Book but
not illustrated as they were either still in development, or the company
had only expressed an interest in marketing their goods. One such item was
“Licence To Kill” - a James Bond card game, which unusually came from potato crisp
manufacturer Golden Wonder. Many of the villains featured on the
cards were illustrative versions of the actor playing the role in the film
series; with others taken directly from Ian Fleming's novels, in addition
to some completely new fictional characters. A ‘Volcano play set’
mentioned in the Campaign Book was only produced in France, and is one of
the rarer James Bond related licenced products.
AIRFIX
later produced a 1:24 scale model kit of the Wallis WA-116 Gyrocopter
‘Little Nellie’ seen in You Only Live Twice (1967), but again
this was too late to be included in the Exhibitors’ Campaign Book.
Similarly, a
1:12 scale James Bond and Oddjob kit [also featuring box art by Roy Cross] had
been issued in 1965, but never featured in the Campaign Book for
Goldfinger (1964). |
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Lone Star
repackaged the “James Bond 007 Sniper's Rifle” originally produced in
1965, and included existing products into a “James Bond new gun
presentation set” to tie in with the release of You Only Live Twice
(1967). The set included the 007 Badge, gold-handled pistol with
silencer, handcuffs, holster and an international passport. These
items would all be repurposed in subsequent years to tie in with later
James Bond films. Although James Bond wouldn’t do much
driving in You Only Live Twice, the film’s co-producer, Albert
R. Broccoli, had seen Toyota’s prototype 2000GT at the Tokyo
Motor Show in October 1965 and thought it would make an ideal car for
007's accomplice, Aki (played by Akiko Wakabayashi). However, there
was a problem as Sean Connery’s large frame meant it was impossible
for him to fit comfortably into the vehicle, and with several scenes
viewed from around the cockpit, a solution need to be found.
Toyota therefore made a Roadster version which would solve the
visibility issues. Two cars were produced, both painted white with
black upholstery and wire wheels. Neither had side windows or a roof,
so Sean Connery could easily fit inside. One car was utilised during
location filming in Japan, with the other used as back up and later
rear-projection filming back at Pinewood Studios. |
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The You Only Live
Twice Exhibitors’ Campaign Book mentions that several toy
manufacturers were in production with models of the Toyota 2000GT and
expected to be on sale by the end of 1967. AIRFIX came out with a
1:24 scale plastic construction kit, and
CORGI Toys issued a die cast
model. Although the car is not driven by James Bond in the film and
has no gimmicks other than a TV screen and communication device situated
in the rear of the vehicle, the CORGI edition included four firing
missiles concealed in the boot. |
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Not as successful as
CORGI's Aston Martin DB5, the Toyota sold 768,000 units during its
two-year lifecycle, and became highly collectible in its own right.
Neither model was illustrated in the Campaign Book, which goes on to state
that the full-sized Toyota Sports Car would not be imported into the UK. |
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Although the James
Bond films presented Ian Fleming's secret agent in many different
locations, foreign travel would be out of reach for most cinemagoers
until the 1970s, and even then only to affordable package holiday
destinations on the Continent. During the West End presentation of
You Only Live Twice, Pan American Airways devoted the whole of
their Piccadilly window display linking up the film with daily flights
to Japan. Installed in 1964 Pan Am's London offices had
the largest plate-glass window in Europe. |
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Pan American
produced a colourful double-crown (20" X 30") poster available free to
travel agents throughout the country, to be used in conjunction with the
quad-crown Style C poster
(featuring the Japanese bath-house girls) and stills of Sean Connery with
Akiko Wakabayashi. Doubtless most airline travellers to Japan in 1967
would be businessmen, and the You Only Live Twice Exhibitors’
Campaign Book also features the availability of 007 branded Antler luggage
designed to transport their suits immaculately to faraway places! The
cases (also featured in the Thunderball Campaign Book) had a simple
007 logo near the handle, and came in four sizes - ranging from the
one-suit overnight flight case at £8. 8s. for the occasional short trip
across the channel; up to the 27 inch four-suiter at staggering £17. 17s!
More affordable for the international jet-setter was “Morley 007 underwear
for men” [pictured above right] in the new Courtauld's wonder fibre,
Vincel. Unsurprisingly, the product did not prove particularly
successful and the company of I. & R. Morley Ltd, who were established in
1797, were ultimately acquired by the Courtaulds Textile Group at the end
of 1967. |
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The Exhibitors’ Campaign
Book also suggested that enterprising cinema managers team up with local
traders enthusiastic to participate in a JAMES BOND WEEK, noting that
previous United Artists James Bond releases had met with considerable
success with this kind of promotion. |
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The Campaign Book
suggested promoting James Bond's wedding to Kissy Suzuki, and link in with
hairdressers, jewellers, bakers, florists and car hire firms. You
Only Live Twice could also be promoted with stores selling
Japanese goods such as cameras, radios, tape recorders etc. The
heading block [pictured above] was designed to be used at the top of
newspaper pages to promote the traders participating in the promotion.
The following headlines were also suggested for use by local traders:
GET THE BEST OUT OF LIFE BY. . .; ENJOY LONG LIFE WITH . . .;
TWICE THE VALUE –; ONCE IN A LIFETIME SALE!; FOR GOOD
LIVING GET –; LIFE INSURANCE WITH TWICE THE COVER; LIVE IT UP
TONIGHT - VISIT THE –, and to promote stores selling 007
merchandise: IT'S NO SECRET - WE ARE AGENTS FOR –. When it came
to selling the James Bond films, anything goes!
The premise of a James Bond Week
was adopted by many local newspapers including the Coventry
Standard, [pictured left] and a full-page of 007-themed advertisements printed
in the October 19, 1967 edition to promote the opening
of You Only Live Twice at the ODEON Coventry. Advertised to
play for seven days from Sunday October 22, 1967 You Only Live
Twice ultimately screened for three weeks at the ODEON, before
returning to the city on Sunday November 26, 1967 to play for another
two weeks at the Godiva cinema, and then a further week at the Paris
cinema from Sunday March 31, 1968. |
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