The Bond Market: OHMSS Collectibles

In the last decade or so, I’ve noticed a distinct change in how On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) is regarded by the serious James Bond fan. A movie, which was almost universally dismissed by the critics as well as the general movie going public back in the winter of 1969 - 1970, has since had a rebirth. In many Bond movie polls it now invariably ranks in the top ten of the entire series, if not higher. Some of the reasons for its initial dismal showing are, at least to me, quite obvious. The movie was released at a time when cinema in general was changing to a much darker and serious tone than it had been throughout the majority of the sixties. Combine that with the fact that movie theaters, starting in 1966, had been inundated with spy pictures ranging from Matt Helm, Derek Flint, Harry Palmer, to “The Man from UNCLE” movies, etc. and the public was pretty much burned out on the whole genre. Finally, this was to be the first official Bond movie that didn’t star Sean Connery, an actor that to this day, for many, is the only true incarnation of the character. Many in the industry as well as the public were just not interested in a non Connery Bond. George Lazenby, the new Bond, was reportedly difficult to work with on-set, refused to sign a multi-movie package deal to star as Bond and didn’t think that Bond movies had any future to them. Before production was wrapped, he announced that he would not return to play Bond again. At this point, United Artists had no idea what to do with this bastard child of a film and pretty much dumped it on the market with little to no fanfare. So the movie pretty much flopped. It reportedly didn’t make back its initial production costs until well into the 1970s, after re-releases and television package deals. Another reason could be that the hard core Bond fans, after dealing with the dark ages of the films that was the 70s and early 80s, realized that OHMSS was much closer to what they longed for. Many Bond fans began to revisit the film with a different mindset… and here we are today. To my thinking, OHMSS is one of the best and most important Bond films of them all and it’s arguably the closest we may ever see of Fleming’s Bond on screen.

Because of the initial lack of interest in the film, there was very little movie tie-in product available at the time the film was released or immediately afterward (as we saw during the Thunderball marketing craze in 1966). In fact, the items that were released are so obscure that the beginner or novice collector has little or no idea of what was available at the time. There were in fact, a few very rare items released to the public. That is not to say however, that there is little or nothing for Bond collectors in relation to the film. There are quite a few items out there to be had, you just have to search very hard to find them and be willing to shell out some significant cash to obtain them! With the fortieth anniversary of its premiere December 18th, I thought it important to revisit the collectibles associated with this film. The following is a brief breakdown of some -- but by no means all -- of the items that were available from OHMSS.

THE VINTAGE RETAIL END OF THINGS

As previously stated, there were items available to be purchased near the time of the films release. But unless you are a fairly advanced collector, odds are you may not be familiar with them. During the sixties, one company that was to able to cash in on The Bond Market in a big way was Corgi (who in 1966 won the first Toy of the Year award ever issued for its James Bond 007 Aston Martin DB-5). They followed that up with a Toyota 2000GT from You Only Live Twice and continued in the same vein for OHMSS with their Corgi Juniors Whizzwheels and Rockets line which were competing head to head with Mattel’s Hot Wheels, which had taken the toy industry by storm a year or so earlier. The Corgi Rockets line included Tracy’s Mercury Cougar, a S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Mercedes, a Ford Escort and Ford Capri, which were all involved with the movies ice race scene. These four cars were available to purchase separately on a bubble pack or in an incredibly rare OHMSS Gift Set. The Juniors Whizzwheels line consisted of The James Bond Bobsleigh, a S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Bobsleigh and a Volkswagen Beetle (the last, also from the ice race). These also could be purchased individually, or in an equally rare Whizzwheels Gift Set. Strangely, Corgi did not see fit to release a James Bond 007 Aston Martin DBS, although inexplicably they had a generic version of it in their line at the same time! This was finally put right a few years ago when Corgi came to their senses and released a larger OHMSS version. Not to be outdone, our friends at SpyGuise took it one step better and released a very limited version of the same car, in an exquisitely illustrated box with art by Jeff Marshall. Winding things up for Corgi, I must mention a piece that although it has absolutely no official connection, has to be included; the Corgi Rockets Alpine Ski Set. It was released around the same time that the OHMSS Rockets and Whizzwheels were available, but is not branded with the James Bond or movie name. However, by just taking one glance at it, there is very little doubt where the inspiration for this toy came from, right down to the blue ski suit and hat!

Trading cards were another childhood staple during the sixties. Those of us in the States are familiar with the two James Bond sixty-six piece sets produced by Philadelphia Chewing Gum Corporation (a division of Topps). The first was a black and white set consisting of photos from the first three movies, the second was a sepia tone set devoted exclusively to Thunderball. In the U.K., they had three black and white sets released during the mid-sixties; James Bond 007, Film Scenes, and Thunderball. Then in late 1969 Anglo Confectionary of the U.K., released a fifty-six card set from OHMSS called The New James Bond. This was the very first full color Bond trading card set ever produced. The wrappers were printed in three different color combinations and were sold in a full color cardboard display box. To call these cards rare is a total understatement, they are just about impossible to find today and it could literally take years to compile a complete set in collectible condition.

Also, made for the kids, was a board game named Al Servizio Segreto Di S.M. (the Italian translation of the title).Unfortunately, it was only available in Italy! The cover shows a Union Jack with a crown and a silhouette of Bond in his iconic stance holding a gun and a large yellow 007 logo. I have not been able to track down much information on this piece, but from what I have been able to determine, it was available only for a short time in or around 1970 and is very difficult to find.

Another collectible available at the time of the film's release was the movie tie-in paperback novels. Due to the mass quantities of these being produced, you would think that they would still be readily available in the secondary market. However, these movie tie-in editions were only in print for a very short length of time, that, combined with the throw-away nature of paperbacks make them somewhat rare these days. In the States, Signet actually had two versions available with the same artwork (a four panel photo of Lazenby, surrounded by a bevy of bikini clad women against a black background), the difference being in the color of the book title. One version had the title printed in orange and the other had the book title printed in green. In the U.K., Pan’s version had the same artwork on the cover, but included some black and white movie stills on the inside. The Pan paperback is extremely rare today. In France, Plon’s movie edition had the gorgeous full color European poster art of Lazenby standing and holding his skis, which is next to impossible to find. In four decades of collecting Bond, I’ve only seen one available and I jumped on it! Italy also produced a Garzanti paperback movie edition with art developed and used only in that country for their movie poster, showing a portion of the standard poster art with Piz Gloria exploding in the background, but with Lazenby and Rigg wearing totally different ski outfits. In 1979, the Japanese released a paperback with a color photo of Lazenby and Rigg from the casino scene on the cover. Also, in the seventies, the Serm Luckutr Language School Film Dialog book of OHMSS was produced in Thailand, one of a series of dialogue books from the 60s and 70s James Bond films.

Probably the rarest OHMSS movie memorabilia which was marketed at the time, was a licensed reproduction of Tracy’s wedding ring. It was produced by Arts Galore of London in 1970 and like the original, it spelled out the phrase All The Time In The World in solid gold against a sterling silver band. Only 50 pieces were produced and I have yet to see one come up for sale on the secondary market.

SOUNDTRACK ALBUMS and RELATED MUSIC

Another area to look into is the original movie soundtrack records. They were available everywhere, but because the movie was not that popular at the time, not too many were sold. This is truly unfortunate, because the music in OHMSS is arguably the best of the entire series! John Barry knew he had to really deliver this time around due to the new Bond and he composed his tail off on this one! It’s reportedly the first film soundtrack recording to feature a Moog synthesizer and it also included the last song Louis Armstrong ever recorded -- We Have All The Time In The World. Now, most soundtracks albums the world over are pretty much the same. The Japanese soundtrack is the same as the Spanish, which is the same as the Australian, etc. Well that’s not the case here my friend! The track titled Do You Know How Christmas Trees are Grown? was sung by Nina in most of the world,but on the French soundtrack album that same song is sung by Isabelle Aubret and the German soundtrack album has the track sung by Katja Ebstein, both of them in their native tongues with completely different musical arrangements! Unlike the U.S. album, the British, French, Italian and German LPs had gatefold covers, with the art of Lazenby in the "Bond stance" with his skis in the centerfold. (The German edition also contained a bonus poster, folded in to the gatefold.) All of the record's front covers show the "coat of arms" poster art-- except for the original Japanese album, which has a full color close up photograph of Lazenby aiming a pistol directly at the camera. The Japanese also used the main movie poster art for the jacket of two James Bond compilation albums.

There were also scores (pun intended) of seven inch extended play and single records with various jacket artwork throughout the world. Most of these had a combination of the main theme, We Have All The Time In The World, Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?, and Pretty Little Missy (a Louis Armstrong tune that had nothing to do with the film). The soundtrack was also released on cassette, 8-track, and an extremely difficult to find reel-to-reel tape in the U.S. There was also a very rare version of the soundtrack album that was produced and released through the Capitol Record Club in the States. Throughout the world the soundtrack album had an orange and pink label, but the record club version had the familiar black label used on all the original album releases of Dr. No through You Only Live Twice-- very rare indeed! However, the strangest OHMSS record that I have ever seen was a Swiss single entitled 007 Ilse Steppat 007. The record sleeve has a black and white photo of our beloved henchwoman with the legend: "Beware Mr. Bond, My name is Irma Bunt!" I don’t own it, but I can only imagine what that thing sounds like…...

Speaking of music, the hard-core completist can also seek out the sheet music that was published world wide at the time. These were released in the U.S., U.K. and Italy as far as I know, but I’m sure there were probably many more. Those I’ve encountered cover the main theme, We Have All The Time In The World, and Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?.

MAGAZINES

Contrary to popular belief, back in the day there was some interest for this film with various popular magazines. Unfortunately, very few of these publications used it as a cover story. I think the largest coverage a major U.S. magazine gave this film, was a multipage article in LIFE, after George Lazenby was picked as the new Bond, which mostly consisted of photos of who was reportedly in the running for the role and why he eventually got the part. Film In Review and American Cinematographer are the only publications (that I know of,) that featured the film as a cover story in the States. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case worldwide. Cover stories could be found in magazines from Argentina, Portugal, and Hong Kong as well. In the U.K., there was even a special OHMSS "Bond Girl Hunt" print advertisement, put out a few years earlier when the film was reportedly going to be the follow-up to Goldfinger. Then there was a Kronenbourg Beer print ad featuring a very Bond-like Lazenby that circulated in glossy magazines around the time of the films release.

STUDIO PROMOTIONAL ITEMS

Now this is were things really start to get interesting! In almost every country of the world (this side of the Iron atCurtain that is -- remember, this was 1969), there were promotions for the film. Unfortunately, it wasn’t up to the same fevered pitch that had accompanied the preceding four Bond films. Still, there was quite a bit of stuff out there for the crazed collector. In the United States, the teaser (or advance) was the first real disappointing poster since the series began. Obviously, the powers-that-be at United Artists were extremely nervous over how to market this film. In the previous campaign for You Only Live Twice, the posters screamed THIS MAN IS JAMES BOND! with a huge rendering of Mr. Connery (I’m sure he was very pleased about that!). George Lazenby was virtually an unknown entity. So what did they do? They put together an image of a man in silhouette, naked from the waist up, holding a Walther against a stark white background, surrounded that with eight bikini babes and then proceeded to put copy and the 007 gun logo across his darkened face. Brilliant. Granted, at this point Lazenby had probably already made it quite clear that he was not coming back as Bond and United Artists was probably not in the mood to give him a whole lot of publicity, but come on…

Things were eventually rectified for the main marketing blitz, with Robert McGinnis and Frank McCarthy once again called upon to develop the poster key art -- and they did not disappoint! However, in the United States, the only art that was used to promote this film was the well-known "Piz Gloria" illustration. The only time the "coat of arms" art was used here was for the cover of the soundtrack album. In the U.K. and Europe, they were fortunate enough to get the superb illustration of Lazenby holding his skis, a cocktail, and a pistol! I didn’t even know this art existed until well into the 1970s! In the U.S. at this time, a typical poster print run for National Screen Services, was somewhere between three to five thousand per film. I tend to think that the run for this movie would have been on the low side, thus these gems turn up less frequently than one would imagine and this is reflected in the price. They don’t go for as much as the first five Bond posters, but they are by no means inexpensive!

Then you’ve got the lobby cards or Front of House still sets to collect. Again, trying to find a complete set in good collectible condition is no easy task. The eight piece U.S. set is a major disappointment, with only three cards showing Bond, one of them a behind-the-scenes shot of Lazenby with Peter Hunt - the director, and a few more behind the scenes personnel hanging over a railing! Another one has a stage hand using a lint brush on Savalas’ tunic! Only two or three of the cards actually show scenes from the movie! Please… The U.K., and larger German or French sets are much better, but much more difficult to track down.

Posters and lobby cards are items most familiar to the collector, but United Artists released many more interesting items! In France, there was a single page herald, a press book, and a press synopsis. The Japanese produced a fantastic multi-page movie program, press book, press sheet and charashi. The Germans had an even better movie program as well as a press book and flyer. The Italians had a press synopsis, the Spanish another press book, etc. In the United States, United Artists released an open-end interview vinyl album compete with printed script with questions for the radio personalities to ask George Lazenby, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas and Peter Hunt, which were all answered by the stars reportedly from the set in Switzerland. U.A. also produced a radio commercial (or radio spot) record. Both of these are nearly nonexistent at this point. Then of course there was the U.S. press book.

But the real treasure trove was from England, where there was a huge full color cover on their incredible Exhibitors Campaign Book and a press synopsis. For the Royal Premiere, held on December 19, 1969 there were full page print ads heralding the movies premiere, Royal Premiere programs, Royal Premiere tickets and Royal Premiere Theatre cards. There is even a set of EON Productions OHMSS business letterhead (two versions no less, one with the gun barrel art, the other with the crest art) to go with an OHMSS business envelope! Production notes and background information were released on this letter head to the press. Even a special lapel pin with the films name was produced for theater ushers.

AFTERMARKET ITEMS

As mentioned previously, in the early 80s I believe there was a rethinking among fans as to how and where OHMSS fit into the entire Bond film canon and OHMSS was rediscovered. Part of this may be due to the fact that the original novel was and continues to be a high point of the original literary series and the film itself stuck very close to the source material. Regardless, opinions started to change and merchandise related to the film began to surface again.

The movie itself could now be bought on VHS tape in several incarnations, including stereo. In the U.K., a special boxed set of the film was released on VHS tape, which included a miniaturized version of the 007 fanzines’ special OHMSS tribute issue and a glossy photo of Lazenby complete with facsimile autograph. Then the film was released on Laser Disc, and finally on DVD in the Special Edition version as well as the two disc Ultimate Edition. For many a younger Bond fan, it was now possible to actually view the movie that up until that point, they were only able to read or hear about! What a concept for a kid growing up in the sixties…

The location for a large part of the film's production, Piz Gloria, also jumped into the fray. To date they have released some rare and much sought after collectibles, such as a 007 porcelain plate, a pewter ashtray complete with Blofeld’s coat of arms, a special bottle of wine, a coffee mug and a wrist watch. A visit to the restaurant will also get you a post card in a special paper bag, a brochure, a paper placemat complete with a printed menu and a paper napkin.

Sideshow collectibles released two superb Bond/Lazenby dolls as well as a Blofeld/Savalas doll. In the 1990s, Exclusive Toy Products released a Tracy Di Vincenzo doll as part of their "James Bond Girls" line. Swatch has produced two OHMSS watches. The first, in 2002, was from "The James Bond Collection" and had a gun barrel motif for the watch face. The second was from 2008's "The Villain Collection" and depicted the S.P.E.C.T.R.E. logo. Artist Jeff Marshall designed three wonderful limited edition OHMSS art prints that are available through our friends at SpyGuise. The "Jonny Lightning" line released a scale model of Tracy’s Mercury Cougar. Mr. Graham Rye (of 007 magazine fame), marketed an OHMSS James Bond coat of arms plaque and organized an OHMSS-themed Christmas fan club luncheon at Pinewood Studios, which had a special ticket and program as part of the package. The Reception Music Co. produced a 500-piece limited special-edition CD, entitled Merry Christmas 007, that has a few samples of music and dialogue from the film.

In the area of print, The James Bond Files magazines were released and consisted of one magazine for each of the first seven Bond films, including OHMSS. I was never so disappointed in a publication in my life. Basically they consist of what looks like Photostat copies of miscellaneous cut-out articles and ads from TV Guide! In the early 90’s a comic book series came out named Secret Agents, which was basically a biography of each of the actors that had played Bond in the past, including Lazenby. Fanzines such as Collecting 007, Bondage, Yesterday and 007 magazine have also had a few OHMSS cover stories over the years.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service may or may not be one of your favorite James Bond films. However, in the long run, it represents some of the most difficult, yet intriguing and gratifying Bond memorabilia to track down. This is far from a complete list of what is ultimately available from this film, but hopefully it’s inspired you to double check what you may have hidden in your drawers or closet.

This never happened to the other …collectibles!