Magazine
| The first James Bond 007 Fan Club had its genesis in the summer of 1974, when Richard Schenkman
and Bob Forlini, two students at Roosevelt High School in Yonkers, NY, put together a fan club and
published a mimeographed, stapled-together fanzine called BONDAGE.
From these humble origins, the club grew to a worldwide membership of over 2800, and even received coverage in Playboy magazine. BONDAGE itself enjoyed a circulation of nearly 5,000 at its zenith. Forlini eventually left; and, as president, Schenkman over a seventeen-year period produced a magazine that pleased many an aficionado. While completing his education and embarking on a career of his own in the entertainment industry, he nonetheless somehow managed to compile long-lost London Times articles written by Ian Fleming and fascinating collections of photos and newsbits. He compiled and published a trade paperback-The Illustrated James Bond, 007-which was a collection of newspaper strip cartoon adaptations of Fleming's novels that had run in the London Daily Express in the Fifties. The magazine also often featured artwork by club members, and very insightful articles, written by Richard and other members, on all aspects of Bondiana-including some by Zero Minus Ten author Raymond Benson, who served as vice-president for a time. He was even able to score remarkable interviews with such diverse Bondian personalities as Timothy Dalton, John Glen, Terence Young, Bob Simmons, Kevin McClory, and Cubby Broccoli himself. As his career took off, personal circumstances forced him to reluctantly wind down the Club in 1991. However, he left a legacy to Bond fandom that many of us remember fondly to this day. Richard is now a film director himself, having recently helmed Pompatus Of Love, starring Jon Cryer. Pompatus is now in video stores and is coming to cable in August, and his new film, also with Cryer and currently in post-production, is entitled Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God... Be Back by Five. With all the rumors flying about tension and trouble on the Tomorrow Never Dies set, some fans might wish his next assignment could come from EON Films. There is now, almost literally, a generation of Bond fans who have not seen this excellent work. We at HMSS propose to address this imbalance; so now, with Richard's very kind permission, we are pleased to present the first in what we hope will become a continuing series... |
(If you like this article, you may be interested to know that this and additional back ssues of BONDAGE are still available, as are other memorabilia from the archives of the U.S. James Bond 007 Fan Club! Email BONDAGE@hmss.com for a list of available merchandise.)
The Tom Mankiewicz Interview
by Richard Schenkman
Tom Mankiewicz is doing very well, thank you. He is currently under contract to come up with two
motion picture projects for him to direct,  and write, if he feels like it. He is working with some old friends
as the producer of a weekly TV series, Hart to Hart, because the pilot for the series he directed did so
well. And he is undoubtedly working on some original screenplay which will ultimately find its way to the
screen. Not to mention the success of his Creative Consultant work on the motion picture Superman.
From his office on the 20th Century Fox lot he oversees the scripting and shooting of Hart To Hart
while he manages his other projects. He looks healthy and is certainly in good spirits; he's busy, and
that's key for a creative person. While he is no longer officially involved with Bond, he feels very much a
part of it. His office walls are decorated with theatrical posters from Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let
Die, and The Man With The Golden Gun. And he talks freely and honestly about James Bond and his
involvement with him. |
| B: I want to start at the beginning. How did you become involved in the Bond pictures?
M: I became involved during Diamonds Are Forever. They were looking for someone to rewrite the script and they were looking for someone preferably who was young and could write the British idiom as well as the American idiom. I had just done a musical that failed on Broadway but had gotten good reviews (it was a musical of Georgy Girl). David Picker, who was then the head of UA had seen it, and liked it, and suggested me to Cubby. I went up to his house to meet him, and Guy Hamilton, and one thing led to another; I started writing, and then I just stayed on, and became a member of the club. There have been very few directors who have done all the Bonds, and very few writers, really, although quite a few writers have had drafts rejected; they keep coming back to the same people. It is a little bit like attending a university; there is a camaraderie, whether it was running into Ted Moore on every picture, or Ken Adam, or Maurice Binder you know there's just a certain group that s always been there. B: So once you got in the group, you were in. M: Yes; I guess the initiation process was rewriting the script. We had a lot of difficulties with that one. B: Yes, Diamonds Are Forever is found to be hard to follow by a lot of people, and then there are stories that there was more clarification at the end; Blofeld being definitely killed, and things like that, and that wasn't even done. M: Well, we had a scene originally in which Blofeld was granulated in a salt mine, or something like that. We were going to try and shoot it down in Mexico. He left in that wonderful invention, the Bathosub (I still laugh every time I hear Charlie Grey say "Prepare my Bathosub , because you get whiplash in it!"), and Bond was going to be hanging from a giant weather balloon, which he had tied to the sub. As I recall, the plan then was never to kill Blofeld on-screen, but always leave him in an impossible situation, so you could resurrect him if you had to for future movies. Blofeld is a terrific villain. |
