Nothing in the world of spies is ever as it seems and nothing is simple and straightforward. Given that, this entry is going to get a bit complex; but, bear with me, as you need some context for this entry.
In 1958, Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels (which sold well, but were not bestsellers, in the US), and friend Ivar Bryce (they met in childhood, attended Eton together and Bryce worked for Wllliam Stephenson, aka Intrepid, during WW2, while Fleming worked for Adm John Godfrey, head of Naval Intelligence) were talking about a potential Bond movie. Bryce and another friend Ernest Cueno, had invested money in a failed picture, called The Boy and the Bridge, written and directed by Irish screenwriter, Kevin McClory. Bryce introduced Fleming to McClory and they discussed ideas about a plane full of celebrities that disappears and a female lead character, called Fatima Blush. They agreed that McClory would write a film script, based on their conversations and they formed a partnership, Xanadu Productions, to develop the project and sell it to a studio. McClory went off and wrote the script. Originally, the kidnapping was carried out by the Russians, then they changed it to the Mafia, then either McClory or Fleming (accounts differ) suggested an international criminal organization, made up of ex SMERSH agents, Mafia, Union Corse (the Corsican underworld), the Camorra, and other criminal groups). McClory revised the maguffin to be a hijacking of a nuclear weapon, from a military aircraft, which was then used to hold the world to ransom. In 1959, screenwriter Jack Whittingham became involved. In 1960, McClory informed Fleming that he was approaching MCA about the project. Fleming was working on his new Bond novel and sent McClory off with his blessing. Fleming's novel was published, with the name Thunderball, which was the final name of the screenplay, after going through such names as James Bond of the Secret Service and Longitude 78 West. McClory saw that the plot of the screenplay was reproduced, without attribute to his and Whittingham's work. He filed suit against Fleming and his publisher and they eventually settled, with Fleming retaining the literary rights, via Thunderball, and McClory retaining rights to the screenplay and all film rights to the story.
The screenplay introduced the new criminal organization,
SPECTRE, the
SPecial
Executive for
Counter-Intelligence,
Terrorism,
Revenge and
Extortion. It is made up of members drawn from intelligence and criminal organizations throughout Europe, with an executive board and a chairman, like a multinational conglomerate. It is here that the alphabet soup of spy organization acronyms begins, though there is the antecedent of things like the use of initials for government groups, like the Federal Bureau of Investigations and also the military designation for the Allied high command, SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force).
In 1961, producers Albert "Cubby" Broccoli and Harry Saltzman purchased the film rights to Fleming's novels (minus Casino Royale, which had already been optioned and Thunderball, which was being litigated) and formed Eon Productions to turn the books into a film series. They delivered their first film, Dr No, in 1962, directed by Terrence Young and starring relatively unknown actor Sean Connery. The film was a hit and was soon followed, in 1963, by From Russia With Love and, in 1964, with Goldfinger, by which point the series had set off a mania for spy films and properties.
At MGM, producer Norman Felton was working on an idea for a spy organization, for a tv series. He approached Ian Fleming to contribute to his idea, of a United Nations intelligence and law enforcement group, which drew its agents from all over the globe. Fleming contributed two names for potential characters: Napoleon Solo and April Dancer. However, Fleming's other contractual obligations prevented him from further work and Felton turned to noted screenwriter Sam Rolfe, who had written the screenplay for the western Naked Spur and was the creator and chief writer of the successful tv series Have Gun, Will Travel, with Richard Boone. Together, they cam up with the fleshed out concept of a two-man team of agents, dispatched by their chief, to investigate and stop plots by criminal and terrorist organizations, around the globe. The organization was broken into 8 sections:
Section I: Policy and Operations
Section II: Operations and Enforcement
Section III: Enforcement and Intelligence
Section IV: Intelligence and Communications
Section V: Communications and Security
Section VI: Security and Personnel
Section VII: Propaganda and Finance
Section VIII: Camouflage and Deception
No one talks about Section IX: Pencil-Pushing Weasels
A pilot was prepared, to be called Ian Fleming's Solo, then Solo (after Fleming pulled out of development). Then Eon's Section IX contacted MGM's Section IX and threatened lawsuits, as Solo was the name of a character in Goldfinger. The weasels worked it out and the name Napoleon Solo stayed, but the show needed a new title. Enter what Napoleon Solo always called the
UN-
C-
L-
E: The Man From
UNCLE At first, they were going to keep the meaning of the acronym secret, as they did with the villains; but, allude to the fact that the UN mean United Nations. The UN got wind of it and sent a letter of protest, demanding its name not be associated with a fiction group (guess they didn't see Doctor Who and "The Invasion.") So, Rolfe came up with the
United
Network
Command for
Law and
Enforcement. In the pilot, the enemy group was known as WASP; but, that was subsequently changed to THRUSH, for broadcast (as "The Vulcan Affair.")
The pilot featured Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo and David McCallum as a Russian agent, Ilya Kurakin and William Kuluva, as Mr Allison, the head of UNCLE. After a screening, an exec said to get rid of the foreign guy and stumbled for a name and Felton and Rolfe thought they meant Kuluva. His part was recast with Leo G Carroll, aas Alexander Waverly. The exec had actually meant Kuryakin, which would have meant that David McCallum would have been dismissed, which would have greatly affected the show, as he became a bit of a heartthrob because of it. UNCLE battled against the criminal organization THRUSH, whose name is never revealed, in the series and who act as a power unto themselves, recruiting to its ranks intelligence agents, criminals, terrorists, ex-Nazis and other ne'er-do-wells. In the first season, their men are usually seen in dark suits and sunglasses, while a second season episode, "The Ultimate Computer Affair," depicted THRUSH troopers, in green utilities, a black beret and a shoulder patch with a black bird. To further identify them visually, and to illustrate their advanced weaponry and technology, their men carried modified M-1 carbines, with a foregrip and an infra-red sniper scope....
In the pilot, Solo carries a Luger P-08 pistol; but, in the early episodes of the series, he carries a Mauser 1934 7.62 mm pistol.....
The prop weapon proved temperamental, when firing blank rounds, so the prop department fashioned a new UNCLE Special, out of a Walther P-38 and it soon became a star, in its own right....
Here is the introduction to the series, used in early 1st season episodes, to introduce the audience to the heroes and their organization, and the concept of the series.....
The basic structure of the show was that a new threat from THRUSH or some other individual or criminal group would come to UNCLE's attention of Solo & Kuryakin would be dispatched by Mr Waverly, to investigate. This led them to becoming involved with some amateur, either recruited to help (as in the pilot) or an innocent bystander who gets caught up on the mission. This helped lend a bit of comedy to the whole thing and also give the audeince a POV and a reason for Solo and Kuryakin to explain what they are doing and how their organization works. This allowed for a wide array of guest stars (as did villain roles), which included people like Slim Pickins, Ann Francis, June Lockhart, Kurt Russell, and even Boris Karloff (in a Girl From UNCLE episode, as the baddie).
The first season is played straight, with deadly serious spy missions and plenty of gun play and violence, though with lighter moments sprinkled in, especially via Ilya's deadpan sarcasm. Season 2, which brought in color film, also brought a much lighter tone, with satire becoming a bigger element, until Season 3 became almost pure camp and parody. Ratings took a nosedive and the 4th Season tried to pull back into serious territory; but, too much damage had been done and the series was cancelled.
The series became a massive hit, spawning all kinds of imitators (including a certain spy & security agency, at Marvel) and inspiring a plethora of merchandise, from board games to toy versions of the UNCLE Special and the THRUSH rifle. It also spawned a series of novels, by various writers, though David McDaniel was the most prolific and he was also the writer who finally revealed the meaning of the acronym THRUSH: The
Technological
Hierarchy for the
Removal of
Undesirables and the
Subjugation of
Humanity. He also gave them an origin. They evolved out of Professor Moriarty's criminal organization, as presented in "The Final Problem" and "The Empty House," recruited new members from the world of criminals, intelligence and mercenaries, through the decades.
If that wasn't enough, they also got a comic book, from Gold Key...
Th comics were typical of the Gold Key/Western adaptations, with the photo covers, using publicity stills) and new stories inside. Paul S Newman was the writer of the first couple of issues, before Dick Wood took over for the bulk of its 22 issue run (the last two issues were reprints). The art was a bit different as it was begun with Don Heck, who then gave way to George Tuska, then Werner Roth. Then, Mike Sekowsky came on for the bulk of the series, before later replacement with Mike Roy and some possibly unknown artists.
The stories are actually pretty good, especially for Gold Key, as Heck, Tuska and Sekowsky help bring the material to life, with some exciting action and illustration. heck captures Robert Vaughn pretty well, in his issues, though his Kuryakin was pretty generic, suggesting he didn't have a good photo source. Tuska nails both pretty well, as well as Leo G Carroll. Heck also depicts the underground parts of the UNCLE headquarters, as Solo enters it, via a secret boat dock.
Issue # 8 features a typical adventure, though as it comes during the third season of the tv show, it is lighter in tone. Solo and Kuryakin are dispatched to infiltrate a THRUSH base and gain intelligence on other THRUSH facilities, scattered across Europe. They are towed in a glider, which is released and they fly near the facility, then bail out, hoping the radar follows the glider and misses their parachute insertion....
The eliminate some sentries, then shoot out an alarm and climb inside the facility, where they don the uniforms of the guards they gassed. However, an alarm sounds and an officer waves them to follow and they and other troopers are loaded into the tanker trailer of a semi truck. They are issued gas masks and are told to carry out the plan to the letter, as they have been alerted to a British research lab. Solo and Kuryakin are puzzled, as there is no gold or cash, no nuclear weapons, no items of value, but, the guards are gassed and the team hits a lab. We see a scientist floating in the air and the team grabs a meteorite from the room, while the scientist flees. Solo remains hidden among the group, but Ilya follows the scientist and rescues him from a lake, when he comes down. The anti-gravity effect was derived from the meteor, but ti isn't permanent. The scientist aids Ilya, while Napoleon works from within THRUSH.
THRUSH develops their own anti-gravity chemical and then train to operate in an anti-gravity environment, to pull off attacks on armored cars and other facilities, to grab gold, cash and other valuables.
Solo passes on intel, but he isn't party to the whole plan, just a name, Kentwell or Kentwall. Ilya and Mr Waverly struggle to identify the target. The soon figure out it is Kentmall and a bank, where a British Army payroll is being stored, while a damaged rail line is repaired. Solo swiped the anti-gravity paste, in transit and a chase ensues. the paste ends up affecting civilians, who start floating in the air, creating chaos. They are rescued, but Solo and Waverly end up on the run, from a THRUSH squad. They crash and dump the container, but Ilya scoops it up and disappears in a helicopter. THRUSH combs the area and Ilya escapes with the help pf a female motorcyclist, then takes out the THRUSH leader after spilling the paste over a phone booth, levitating it until it crashes on the leader's vehicle and THRUSH is finally rounded up.
A good, exciting tale, worthy of the tv series.
While the TV series was at its height, they did a backdoor pilot ("The Moonglow Affair") for a spinoff series, The Girl From UNCLE, with UNCLE agents April Dancer and Mark Slate, played by Maryann Mobley and Norman Fell (yes, Mr Roper was a spy!)...
i.postimg.cc/1zXkVN09/uncle-3.jpgA series was launched, with Leo G Carroll appearing as Mr Waverly (pre-dating Richard Anderson doing the same, as Oscar Goldman, in both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman), but April Dancer was now played by Stephanie Powers and Mark Slate by Noel Harrison (son of My Fair Lady's Rex Harrison).
Powers added the sex appeal and they seemed to take a cue from Emma Peel, in the Avengers, with her wardrobe....
However, the also seemed to maker her more of a Tara King, in need of rescue....
To be fair, Napoleon and Ilya were forever escaping from bonds and cells; but, Powers seemed to get a lot more of it (and carried that forward into Hart to Hart, making her the arguable Bondage Queen of Hollywood).
The series was never quite as popular as the original and struggled through a single season, before it was axed. There were a couple of crossover episodes, where they swapped partners (Napoleon appeared on Girl and Mark Slate on Man), but never a complete story that united both groups. The main flaw in Girl was that April was less an active character and more of a charming lure to attract the baddies, while Slate handle the physical stuff. By contrast, Honey West, Emma Peel and Modesty Blaise got to kick ass (well Modesty did in the comics, if not the campy movie). Even Tara King, who was forever being rescued by Steed, got to bash baddies (Emma got captured a lot, too, but did a lot more rescuing of herself and saving Steed from ambush).
Like the series, the comic was short lived; just 5 issues.
Paul S Newman handled the writing and the artists were a succession of Al McWilliams, Bill Ligante, Frank Bolle, then Ligante for the last two issue, giving him the majority. Issue 2 features a story where April and Mark run up against a squad of Kid Kommandos!
A pleasure craft is motoring up a river, when a discus lands on its deck. There is a message on it, from a Peter Dobbsin, who says he is being held prisoner at the Open Air Athletic League School. Peter's father is with the communications section of UNCLE and Mr Waverly dispatches April Dancer to check out the school, which is noted for training top athletes, who go on to dominate colelgiate athletics and the Olympics. April goes to the school, undercover as a reporter, doing a story on the school's success rate. She bluffs her way into an interview with young Peter (in the presence of Miss Harshly, the administrator.
April lets Peter know she is aware of the discus, via her questions and Peter, knowing he can't speak openly, says the training is fine; but, he'd just like to go home. Miss Harshly dismisses it as a reacting to their strict discipline and that the approach pays off, over time. She takes April to see the gym, where she had two close calls with "clumsy" student athletes. April's quick reflexes save her from getting hurt. The tour ends and she reports back that she detected fear, but was unable to determine the source of it. Mt Waverly suggests that an upcoming track meet might provide that opportunity. Meanwhile, the students are shown a mockup of a missile silo, its control center, and the security of its base....
At the meet, April tries to continue their chat, but other athletes interfere. Peter is told by Miss Harshly that he has to substitute for another team member, on a trampoline event and he does, but the trampoline has a structural flaw and a support bar breaks, dropping Peter on his neck, killing him. April catches a phot of the accident, on a hidden camera. Later that evening, the team, in black clothes and masks, infiltrates a missile base...
They raise the missile, sabotage the controls and prevent security from reacting quickly. The raised missile leads to a public panic and outcry, leading the local population to protest and demand the base's removal as being unsafe.
April's photo confirms sabotage of the trampoline and Waverly tasks her to continue her investigation. The next meet is at a prison and April is there to cover it. In the night, a student feeds a gas through her air conditioning, knocking her out. Then, the commandos effect a prison break, before disappearing. The alarms wake everyone, but the students are back in their rooms and April can't prove anything. She continues her work, as they team faces collegiate athletes, at a seaside university, where they stay on a yacht. April swims out to check it out and overhears a planned attack on a tanker, but she is caught and ends up tied up to a mast.She is able to get word to Mark Slate, who comes to her rescue and they then go after the athletes. April finally gets to kick a little butt, then gets to maul Miss Harshly....
On the whole, not a bad little tale, though the plot sounds like it was cribbed from The Avengers. The ending is somewhat ruined by April needing rescuing, though that is about all Mark Slate does in the story, as everything else is April. Steed was usually working with Cathy, Emma or Tara (or Purdy & Gambit) in close proximity, throughout the mission. I have not seen the series, so I don't know if it is how the episodes typically went.
After failing to regain their earlier audience in the 4th season, The Man From UNCLE was cancelled. over the years, there were various attempts at a revival. In 1979, writers Danny Biedermann and Robert Short tried to drum up interest for an UNCLE film, and were able to secure agreements from Vaughn and MCCallum to appear, though Leo G Carroll had passed away. Their effort even got a brief piece in Starlog magazine....
...which was my introduction to The Man From UNCLE, until I caught one of the 60s movies, created by editing tv episodes together, on cable, in the late 80s. That attempt went nowhere, though Biederman ammased an impressive collection of spy movie and tv props and costumes, which became part of a touring attraction and a book...
Finally, in 1983, a reunion movie was filmed by Michael Sloan Productions and Viacom, bringing back Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin, in The Return of the Man From UNCLE: The 15 Years Later Affair....
Solo and Kuryakin are retired from UNCLE, performing other jobs. Solo sells computers, while Ilya has made a name as a fashion designer. An old THRUSH nemesis (played by Anthony Zerbe) escapes from prison and heads up a new operation to create a nuclear device to endanger a populated area and hold up the government for a huge ransom (sounds familiar). UNCLE is now headed by Sir John Raliegh, played by The Avengers' Patrick Macnee. Solo is recruited, after helping a woman escape from an abusive Russian lover (with the help of "JB," a man in a tuxedo, driving an Aston Martin DB6,played by George Lazenby). Ilya is reluctant, as he was burned on a his last mission by a turncoat agent, code named Janus. Janus turns out to be working for THRUSH and Ilya signs on. They have to protect the son of a scientist, who developed the nuclear device, who has a photographic memory. He aids Ilya in defusing the weapon, in the climax. THRUSH ends up in a base, near the Hoover Dam, leading to a third act battle between UNCLE agents (led by Solo) and THRUSH troopers. Solo even gets a new UNCLE Special, built from a Heckler & Koch P7....
However, the weapon doesn't reappear, after being shown in a lab, until the third act and is barely seen in Solo's hands. There was the possibility of a revived series, but it didn't happen. had it occured, the weapon was intended to be featured more, as with the original guns.
Efforts continued for the next couple of decades, to do a feature film. At one point, Steven Soderbergh was atatched to direct and was developing a script, to star George Clooney, as Solo. However, a fight with the studio, over budget, led to his leaving the project. Guy Ritchie ended up involved, provided he could show the origin of UNCLE, leading to the 2015 film, starring Henry Caville, as Solo, and Armie Hammer, as Kuryakin, with Hugh Grant as Alexander Waverly....
The film is quite good and features American agent Napoleon Solo (a thief, blackmailed into working for the government, ala Callan and the film Harry Palmer), being forced to team up with KGB agent Ilya Kuryakin, to stop a criminal group from using a nuclear device. Waverly is the man that brings them together. we even get a proto-UNCLE Special, as during a sequence where Special Boat section commandos attack a site, we see Kuryakin carrying a Walther GSP .22 cal target pistol, complete with the obligatory shoulder stock, barrel extension and silencer and telescopic sight (creating the carbine configuration of the weapon)
Sadly, it underperformed; so, it doesn't look like we will get a franchise. Pity, because it was a hell of a lot more fun than the Bond films have been, in decades.
Further UNCLE comics would also appear; but, we will attend to those later.
My last piece of fun is something which appeared as a back-up feature, in the Man From UNCLE Comics, starting with issue 8, then got its own one-shot, from Gold Key: Jet Dream and her Stunt Girl Counter-Spies!
In MFU #8, we are introduced to Jet Dream, freelance counterspy and pilot, who has been hired to locate and rescue captured agent 909...
The man is n't there, but she finds information that says he is being secretly moved upriver in a junk, to Red China. She assembles her team of pilots & counterspies and they head after the boat. They parachute in and thump the baddies and release Agent 909, shoot up the junk, then escape, all in the course of 4 pages!
Issue 9 finds them fighting a robot tiger, in South America (which notes that tigers are not native tot he continent), 10 sees them on a South Pacific island, 11 on a movie set and so on. If you were a fan of the Diana Prince, Wonder Woman issues, you will love these as Mike Sekowsky provides similar dynamic artwork (he was already doing the Man From UNCLE main feature). The feature continues until the end and is the only new material in the final two issues.
Jet Dream got her own full issue story, in a one-shot; but, sadly, it lacked Mike Sekowsky. Instead, Joe Certa provides the less than dynamic art.
The issue finds Jet Dream tasked to protect a South American democratic leader from an assassination attempt, before he can bring a counter-revolution to free his people from a dictatorship.
Generalisimo Romeo Sanchez has been targeted by CIPHER, a dangerous criminal organization. Their job is to get him safely to his country, in three days. The squadron flies off to Miami, to start their mission.
The girls arrive in Miami and bust up an attempt by CIPHER to get to the general, at his beachfront villa. The chop and sock the enemy into the sand. Two CIPHER assassins escape, but the others commit suicide, rather than talk. Th squadron escorts the general's plane to El Paso, where it is attacked by fighter jets, flown by CIPHER men....
Team member Cookie Jarr (um...yeah....) puts her plane in the path of a diving fighter and intercepts the bullets, then hits the silk. The enemy fighter tries to riddle her body with bullets as she descends, but Jet and the others are on the case and save her.
After landing, Jet bumps into Sanchez's aid, Felipe, knocking off his glasses. She picks them up for him and notices something odd about them. The lenses are clear glass, not corrective lenses. She smells a rat. She sends Ting-A-Ling back with pictures of Felipe to their boss, while they continue on to Mexico City, where they stop Cipher from using a crane magnet to drop Sanchez into a car crusher...
They move on to Acapulco, where Felipe makes an attempt on Jet's life and is foiled and forced to spill the beans. They foil CIPHER again, but they employ a ringer. They use a double to appear as Sanchez, to discredit him; but, Jet and the girls get there and whoop ass on him and bring out the real Sanchez.
That would be the sole Jet Dream comic and her last adventure. The basic idea of the group appears to be cobbled together from Pussy Galore and her stunt pilots, in Goldfinger. It's pretty much the same mix of women and leader, minus the lesbian undercurrent (overt in the novel, implied, loosely, in the film). They have a private airfield base, with some heavy duty facilities, but no one seemed to want to try to make a go of the idea. It had more possibilities than the Girl From UNCLE; but, it was probably just as well.
So, that was Gold Key's forays into spydom, apart from comics adapting Secret Squirrel. So, from here we will go over to Western's former partner, Dell, to look at their efforts with a certain Agent 86, of CONTROL and also a bunch of specialists, hand picked for missions that would seem impossible, to an outsider. Get ready to invoke the Cone of Silence, as we look at some more spy comics, before they self-destruct.