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Robert Vaughn’s Napoloen Solo and Man From U.N.C.L.E Pen Communicator
Many of us may have collected souvenir tie-ins from our favourite TV shows, films and comics, but Danny Biederman has taken it to another level. Having started as a teenager he has amassed over 4000 items from TV shows and films from spy genre favourites including The Man for U.N.C.L.E., Get Smart and Mission Impossible - which he exhibited recently in London. So extensive is his knowledge of the genre that he was called on by the studios as an expert witness for the famous James Bond legal case involving Kevin McClory. And even the CIA itself asked Danny to mount a private exhibition for their staff.
We got the chance to chat to Danny in his California home about all of this and more.
Bond Gadget Book prototype
Going right back to the start, you were originally a keen collector of Superman items. What got you into spy TV series and films?
What got me into spy shows was the discovery of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. when I was a kid, and I credit my mother. She was somebody who loved detective shows, mystery shows and in 1964, in the Fall, this new show The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was premièring. Unbeknown to me, she happened to watch the first episode and came racing to me after she saw it and just said, “You have to see this show. It’s so fantastic. I want you to watch it with me next week when it’s on!” I said, “Sure.” and when I watched it I had the same reaction as she did. I was a kid and I don’t think I’d ever heard of spies, secret agents or anything like that, and it was a whole new world that opened up to me. So my parents, seeing my enthusiasm, told me I needed to see a James Bond movie. I don’t think I’d ever heard of James Bond. There’d only been two movies out by that year; Goldfinger was about to come out and I went to see it and it had the same effect on me as The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
I understand many of the props go to auction. So what was the first one you went to?