CODE NAME CAPRICORN: My name is payne, John Payne

Posted on by The Beard

“MY NAME IS PAYNE, JOHN PAYNE!”

Before there was Sean Connery there was almost John Payne

Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British writer, journalist, and intelligence officer best known for his series of secret agent novels. During the Second World War he served with British Naval Intelligence. His wartime service and later career as a journalist provided much of the background, depth, and details for his best-selling books. 

James Bond is a character created by Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the protagonist of the James Bond series of books, films, comic books, video games, audio books, radio shows, and comic strips. The character is a Secret Service agent with the code number 007 residing in London but operating internationally. Like his fellow countrymen Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan, James Bond is known globally on such a scale that it is possible to stop anyone, anywhere, say his name and that person will have an idea of who you are speaking about. 

MOONRAKER is the third novel about James Bond written by Ian Fleming. It was published in 1955. Film producer Alexander Korda read a proof copy of the second James Bond novel LIVE AND LET DIE (1954). He informed Fleming that he was excited by the book but did not think it made a good basis for a movie. Fleming informed him that his next book was based on an idea for a screenplay. British industrialist Hugo Drax intends to build the Moonraker – a prototype missile supposedly to defend the United Kingdom. Instead Drax is an ex-Nazi working for the Soviets who plans to build the rocket, load it with a nuclear warhead, and fire it at London. The story is set entirely in England, which Fleming believed made it more filmable. 

John Howard Payne was an American film actor mainly remembered for his role in the film MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1947). However, my favorite of his movies is TRIPOLI (1950) where he plays a United States Marine officer given a secret mission in 1805 Libya. In both films his co-star was Maureen O’Hara. 

Bond Historian James David Patrick credits John Payne as the first person in Hollywood to see James Bond as a bankable film property. In 1955, Payne took out an option on Fleming’s novel MOONRAKER. The option had him pay $1,000.00 a month for nine months while he tried to get a studio interested in making a Bond film. However, the actor eventually let the option lapse for two reasons. First, Payne discovered he could not option the rights for the rest of the Bond series. Second, the studios he approached all found the material too “titillating” for movie audiences. 

And so despite his best efforts, John Payne lost his opportunity to become the first cinematic James Bond. Now as you can see, he was certainly handsome and athletic enough to play the superspy. He was also enough of a star to have the drawing power to make the movie a hit. But I have to wonder if being American he had intended to change Bond’s background to make him American. CBS did the same thing for their CLIMAX! anthology series adaptation of CASINO ROYALE (1954). In it, Barry Nelson plays American agent Jimmy Bond while Michael Pate plays British agent Clarence Leiter. That may have been the way Payne intended to go. However, he was operating without a screenplay trying to get studios interested using just the novel. In the book James Bond is British and the novel itself is very British dealing with cheating at cards and a plot to destroy London – all set entirely in England. Not a story you can easily transform into American. Perhaps Payne intended to play Bond as English and was going to supply a suitable accent. Unfortunately, we will never know. Somewhere there may be an alternate universe where John Payne is the first cinematic James Bond, and the movie series began in 1956. 

It’s interesting that the studios of 1955 felt that James Bond was too titillating and/or erotic for movie goers. But then again, the top three moneymakers for 1956 were:

  • THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
  • AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
  • GIANT

Despite GIANT being a big soap opera there was nothing particularly titillating about this bunch so maybe the studios knew what they were talking about. Maybe we needed to wait seven more years before James Bond could appear on the big screen. 

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Published by The Beard

I’m Eliseo Figueroa Jr. and you’re not. I was born in Saint Francis hospital across the street from Saint Mary’s Park in the Bronx. I was born there because that was where my mother was and I wanted to be near her. My parents came from Puerto Rico and moved to New York City when they were kids. My dad spoke fluent English – with an accent – but he’d had a stint in the army and had mastered the language. However, he needed a little work on reading and so everyday on the way to work he would buy a comic book and read it on the subway. In those days they were ten cents, a quick read, you could fold them and put them in your pocket, and when you finished you threw them away. Back home my mom would tell my dad to read me a story to put me to sleep. My dad had no desire whatsoever to read me any of my baby books so he read me one of his comic books instead. While other kids dreamed of Mother Goose, the Old Lady who lived in a shoe, or Little Red Riding Hood, I dreamt of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. And this went on for years. When I got older I asked him to give me the comic books. At that point he stopped throwing them out and I had a comic book collection even though I still didn’t know how to read. During the day I would make my mom read me my comics over and over again. I was dying to learn how to read and had been told that you learn to read in first grade. I remember being so excited the first day of school for the first grade. I couldn’t contain myself. I thought it was like magic – poof! – I was going to come back home and be able to read all of my comics. My mom had to sit me down and explain that it was a process. That over time I would learn how to read and by the time I finished the first grade I would be reading. I must say I was disappointed but more determined than ever to master this thing called reading. Over the years my comic collection grew (my dad had to keep building bigger and better shelves) and so did my interests. I mastered reading and went on to read books. I discovered the library where they actually let you borrow books – what a concept! And my interests in literary science fiction and fantasy expanded to include television and movies. Yes, I was and still am a full-blown geek! By the way, I’m the beard in our little duet. I have a goatee and no moustache. In all that time while growing up my dad never once complained. How could he? This was all his fault and he knew it. One time we were in a store where I was purchasing some comics and it all came to twenty bucks. As my dad was paying the man the owner commented on how much I was spending on comic books. My dad’s reply was, “Well, at least he’s not on drugs!” Science fiction, fantasy, horror, secret agents, giant monsters, and more are my drug of choice. Anyone who has ever sat in a darkened theater and has had their heart start racing in excitement as the music to STAR WARS begins to play knows exactly what I mean.