Bruce Townley (btownley@sirius.com)
Fri, 26 Nov 1999 07:35:19 -0800 (PST)
On Thu, 25 Nov 1999 at 07:43 Martha Pennigar sent: The size
of his toys
>According to some article I read sometime somewhere,
the reason for all
>the loving details of Bond's wardrobe, cuisine, car,
and so forth, is
>that England was still on strict post-WWII rationing
when Fleming began
>writing the books. He deliberately embellished those
details, providing
>vicarious gustatory and sartorial thrills for readers
whose lives were
>pretty dreary.
Watched the film, DR. NO (the first of the Connery Bonds, I
believe), the other night. Bond's aggressive pursuit of the
Good Life is, of course, carried over into the movies. Seems
like there's no end to little set-piece scenes like the one
where the room-service guy delivers his drink to his Jamacian
hotel room and recites in a near-sing-song the now
cliched
"shaken, not stirred" instruction for JB's vodka martinis.
There's also a moment where the spheres of high-tension
espionage and PLABOY Magazine consumerism seem to intersect.
Bond almost unbends while praising the stopping power of his
beloved Baretta, when confronted with a management-urged
switch to the Walther PPK. His lines could almost have been
directly lifted from one of Hugh Hefner & Co.'s hosannas
sung to the latest swinging bachelor hi-fi system. Guess the
PLAYBOY ethos also sprung from post-war conditions though,
admittedly, across the pond.
Bruce T. = btownley@sirius.com
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
"Sure I live bad. But at least I don't have to work at
it."
-SLACKER
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