AMENDED DESCRIPTION: James Bond Doctor No (1962). Original Letter of Contract between Berkely Mather and Eon Productions Ltd., for the Script Services of Berkely Mather, 1961 Typescript Letter Signed on behalf of Eon Productions Ltd., by Harry Saltzman, 50-lines, on single sides of two pages, sent to Eon Productions, Audley Square, London, from Mathers agent, Curtis Brown Ltd., with their printed Covent Garden, London, address to top of the first page, dated 28th November 1961, 20.5 x 25.5cm . . . Dear Sirs, Doctor No by Ian Fleming Script services by Berkely Mather, This letter will confirm our telephone deal, the terms of which are as follows:- . . .. Berkely Mather was to receive £1,000, payable half on signing the agreement and half on delivery of the authors completed work, and undertook to revise the dialogue in a screenplay based on Ian Flemings novel. Clause 3) stipulates that Mather shall receive no screen credit for the work done under this agreement, and Clause 7) states that it is understood between the parties that if Eon Productions or their assignees should wish to re-engage Berkely Mather for further work on the script after delivery of his completed revised script, a further deal shall be made at terms to be arranged at the time and subject to his availability at the time, Page-two of the contract has notes in Mathers hand, written in pen on reverse referring to characters in the film including Puss Feller. According to Mathers son, these are contemporaneous notes made by his father whilst working on the Dr No script; together with an LOA from Berkely Mathers son. (2) PLEASE ALSO SEE LOT 8015A.Provenance: The Estate of the late John Evan Weston-Davies, Berkely Mather.This is believed to be the first contact that Mather ever had with Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli and, until then, he had never heard of or read a James Bond book although he knew Ian Fleming in his capacity as Book Critic for the Sunday Times in which he had given favourable reviews to Mathers first two novels: The Achilles Affair and The Pass Beyond Kashmir.Berkely Mather. John Evan Weston-Davies (1909-1996) was a British writer, known to his family and friends as Jasper, who published under the nom de plume Berkely Mather. He was also a prolific writer for radio, television, and films from his retirement from the army in 1957 until his death in 1996. Amongst other achievements he was responsible for putting Steed into a bowler hat and umbrella (The Avengers, Series 15, Episode 1: The Frighteners.)In 1961 Ian Fleming recommended Mather to Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli, the producers of Dr No, to revise the dialogue of the Maibaum/Harwood script which he considered to be too American. They first met at the offices of Curtis Brown, Mathers agents, on 28th November 1961 when Mather accepted £1,000 to revise the entire dialogue within a 2 week period. Subsequently Mather carried out several re-writes of the script but declined a screen credit. He is credited with many of the famous one-liners including The names Bond, James Bond and with accidentally transposing the original vodka martini stirred not shaken (as in the books) to shaken not stirred (Mather himself never drank cocktails, preferring whisky and soda).In this script two lines which are undoubtedly Mathers according to his son are: Shocking, positively shocking after the electrocution of the villain in his bathtub and the final line in the film when Bond introduces the heroine to Felix Leiter as Pussy Galore, to which Leiter replies, Are you telling me. (Mather worked with Honor Blackman on both The Avengers and Goldfinger and remained friendly with the actress for many years afterwards.After Dr No Mather worked on the dialogue of both From Russia with Love and Goldfinger but subsequently turned down any further work on Bond films. He had a very good relationship with Sean Connery who insisted that he was present on the studio floor for the entire shooting of both films. He was present in Istanbul and Belgrade for the location shooting of From Russia with Love (SEE LOT 8015A). Whenever Connery found a line of dialogue difficult he would turn to Mather and say, Jasper give me a line whereupon Mather would ad lib a line that was more to Connerys liking and the shooting would continue. Mathers son Wynne was employed by Saltzman as a messenger boy during the shooting of Goldfinger at Pinewood and witnessed this procedure taking place throughout the making of that film.Condition Report: light marks and light foxing to contract and some rust staining to top left corners of front and rear pages from paper clip, otherwise coverall good condition.
