Sixes and 007s: Patrick McGoohan and The (De)Construction of Spy-Fi’s Golden Age – Part 1.
PART ONE: THE PROTOTYPE.
“They’ve given you a number and taken away your name.”
The above quote is part of the chorus from Johnny Rivers’ hit Secret Agent Man. A song that peaked at the number 3 position on US Billboard Charts in 1966. It was an easy hit – the guitar riff was unforgettable and the lyrical content glamourized a subject that was very en vogue at the time – espionage. Super spies with their cool cars, gadgets and adventures in exotic locals with equally exotic women. Considering the cultural behemoth that it was, it’s reasonable even among the glut of imitators to attribute the song and source of the most prevalent tropes in Spy-Fi Television and Cinema to James Bond. It’s a fair assumption, but it’s not an entirely accurate one. In the case of Secret Agent Man, it’s downright incorrect.
It is true that James Bond creator Ian Fleming struggled to make his character a proper film sensation in the 1950s, barely culminating in a 1954 CBS television production of Casino Royale with Barry Nelson as “Jimmy” Bond. Fleming collaborated with Kevin McClory and Jack Wittingham on a screenplay called James Bond, Secret Agent in 1958. The results of that collaboration are well known and have plenty of commentary. Thankfully due to Fleming’s persistence and input, by 1960, television finally had a proper super spy to call its own.
That secret agent was not James Bond.