Claire Tole-Moir
Head of Department
The Jack Whittingham Collection Part II
The following four lots are offered by the daughter of acclaimed British playwright and screenwriter Jack Whittingham. Featuring documents, screenplays and treatments surrounding the production of a proposed first James Bond film. Ian Fleming in collaboration with producer and director Kevin McClory and screenwriter Jack Whittingham intended to produce a new Bond story that they would transfer onto the big screen.
The venture for this original production began in 1958, and predates the first released James Bond film 'Dr. No' by four years. Fleming agreed with McClory that he would compose a new James Bond story, in the form of treatments that Jack Whittingham would work from to transform into a script for film. Whittingham worked very closely with Fleming taking his initial plot outline, which was originally titled 'James Bond and the Secret Service' into a fit for filming story 'Longitude 78 West'. This title was later changed again by Fleming and registered by McClory in 1960 as 'Thunderball'. Whittingham not only reworked and elaborated the plot, he was also instrumental to the characterisation of James Bond, making him a more endearing character for the audience to resonate with.
Due to disagreements between Fleming and McClory this production was later shelved. Nevertheless, in March 1961 Ian Fleming published his eighth James Bond novel 'Thunderball', bearing no credit acknowledgement to Whittingham or McClory in the published Jonathan Cape edition. This created a bitter plagiarism law battle at the High Court. The majority of the documents included in this collection are copy paperwork which was submitted during the court proceedings between Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham and Ian Fleming. The out of court ruling stipulated that future publications of the book must be credited to 'Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham and Ian Fleming' in that order and awarded the film writes for any future production to McClory. When 'Thunderball' was finally made, in 1965, under Executive Producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, Kevin McClory was given the role as the film's Producer.
The following four lots are offered by the daughter of acclaimed British playwright and screenwriter Jack Whittingham. Featuring documents, screenplays and treatments surrounding the production of a proposed first James Bond film. Ian Fleming in collaboration with producer and director Kevin McClory and screenwriter Jack Whittingham intended to produce a new Bond story that they would transfer onto the big screen.
The venture for this original production began in 1958, and predates the first released James Bond film 'Dr. No' by four years. Fleming agreed with McClory that he would compose a new James Bond story, in the form of treatments that Jack Whittingham would work from to transform into a script for film. Whittingham worked very closely with Fleming taking his initial plot outline, which was originally titled 'James Bond and the Secret Service' into a fit for filming story 'Longitude 78 West'. This title was later changed again by Fleming and registered by McClory in 1960 as 'Thunderball'. Whittingham not only reworked and elaborated the plot, he was also instrumental to the characterisation of James Bond, making him a more endearing character for the audience to resonate with.
Due to disagreements between Fleming and McClory this production was later shelved. Nevertheless, in March 1961 Ian Fleming published his eighth James Bond novel 'Thunderball', bearing no credit acknowledgement to Whittingham or McClory in the published Jonathan Cape edition. This created a bitter plagiarism law battle at the High Court. The majority of the documents included in this collection are copy paperwork which was submitted during the court proceedings between Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham and Ian Fleming. The out of court ruling stipulated that future publications of the book must be credited to 'Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham and Ian Fleming' in that order and awarded the film writes for any future production to McClory. When 'Thunderball' was finally made, in 1965, under Executive Producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, Kevin McClory was given the role as the film's Producer.
Lot 25
Jack Whittingham / Thunderball: A first draft continuity treatment by Jack Whittingham for James Bond Of The Secret Service, 1959,
12 June 2019, 13:00 BST
London, Knightsbridge£2,000 - £3,000
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Jack Whittingham / Thunderball: A first draft continuity treatment by Jack Whittingham for James Bond Of The Secret Service,
1959,
a copy of 35 pages of mimeographed typescript, the title page 'James Bond Of The Secret Service', (working title) dated November 10, 1959, some pages showing copy annotations in Jack Whittingham's hand; with court reference folder,
a copy of 35 pages of mimeographed typescript, the title page 'James Bond Of The Secret Service', (working title) dated November 10, 1959, some pages showing copy annotations in Jack Whittingham's hand; with court reference folder,
Footnotes
Jack Whittingham's screenplay adaption from Ian Fleming's second draft treatment for the first James Bond film, resulted in a number of suggested changes to the story and characters to enable it to be a success in a visual format. Sellers elaborates that he ...made suggestions that were to radically alter the story, throwing up some fascinating new characters and plot developments. For example, he altered Domino's character from a straight police investigator to a fiery, sexually aware young woman and later changed her name to Gaby. Whittingham also devised the scene where the bomb is removed from the plane and transported onto Largo's yacht, to be shot underwater.
Literature:
Sellers, Robert, The Battle For Bond, Sheffield, (Tomahawk Press), 2007, pp.41-42 and pp.57-60
