Posted: April 5, 2013
Featured Exhibit Items
A very talented skiing Aston Martin Volante from The Living Daylights will be on display in the Museum.
On loan from the Ian Fleming Foundation.
A pair of tennis shoes worn by Sean Connery will be in the Never Say Never Again section of the exhibit.
On loan from Michael VanBlaricum.
This tank top made a short, but memorable appearance in Never Say Never Again.
On loan from Michael VanBlaricum.
Ian Fleming was a journalist, a soldier, a spy, a playboy, an adventurer, and the son of a Member of Parliament. He collected, edited, and published books…and created one of the world’s most recognizable popular culture icons, James Bond. Beginning in mid-April, the Museum will be involved in a University of Illinois collaboration celebrating the author and his favorite character through The Birth of Bond: Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale at 60.
This collaboration brings together the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, the Spurlock Museum, and the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music in conjunction with Illinois alumnus and Ian Fleming Foundation founder Michael L. VanBlaricum (BSEE ’72, MSEE ’74, PhD ’76). Through the gathering of exciting pieces from VanBlaricum’s personal collections, connections, and resources, the University is able to display objects rarely available to the public at the same time. Some of the objects that will be on display in the Museum are shown here.
Related Exhibits
Each collaborator will focus on a distinct aspect of the Bond phenomenon through its own exhibit:List of Related Exhibits
Casino Royale and Beyond: 60 Years of Ian Fleming’s Literary Bond
April 12—July 12, 2013 (Rare Book & Manuscript Library)Unconventional Bond: The Strange Life of Casino Royale on Film
April 16—June 16, 2013 (Spurlock Museum) (View in Event Calendar)The James Bond Theme: Music to Live, Die, and Love Another Day
April 12, 2013—March 14, 2014 (Sousa Archives and Center for American Music)
Events Lineup
Each collaborator will also host a special event:
List of upcoming events:
- Gala Exhibition Opening Presentation
April 12, 2013 • 3:00 PM • Talk by Michael L. VanBlaricum
(Rare Book & Manuscript Library) - University of Illinois Jazz Band Concert
Featuring the Music of the James Bond Films
April 13, 2013 • 7:00 PM (Sponsored by the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music. Held at the Spurlock Museum.) - James Bond Film Festival
April 26—28, 2013 (Spurlock Museum) (Calendar of events)
Noted Bond film historian John Cork will discuss and introduce all three film versions of Casino Royale (1954, 1967, 2006), as well as Thunderball (1965) and its remake, Never Say Never Again (1983).
Admission to all of the events and exhibits is free. Bring family and friends and join the Celebration!
Special Thanks to:
List of Contributors:
- Ian Fleming Publications Ltd
- EON Producations
- Ian Fleming Estate
- Thomas and Mercer
- The Ian Fleming Foundation
- Amazon Publishing (External Link)
- The International Spy Museum
- Lilly Library, Indiana University
- Michael and Pam VanBlaricum
- Mr. Richard Altman
- Allan and Marlene Campbell
- Robin and Robert Fossum
- Richard and Gayl Pyatt