It’s strange how some long forgotten memory can pop into your head by the simplest prompts. One such event happened to myself last week when visiting Glasgow to meet up with a few old pals for our 6 weekly guys night out. As is my normal practice I arrived a couple of hours before we were due to meet so that I could have a look around the shops. On this day as I entered the city streets from the rail station I was greeted by a large window display advertising the new James Bond film “ No Time to Die” then as I turned the corner I saw the sad vision of the now closed Glasgow Debenhams store. In the blink of an eye those 2 associated events transported me back to around April 1966 when my mum and dad took me to Glasgow to visits the large Lewis’s department store (pictured below from around 1970) which stood on the location of the now closed Debenhams store, so that I could choose my birthday present. Like many of the other Lewis’s stores throughout the UK it was a stunning looking store that sold everything from delicatessen food to records to the latest London fashions and of course it had a massive floor dedicated to children’s toys. My main memory of that day was the fact that I had so much money (I think it was about £10) to spend and with having so much I asked my parents if I could purchase the above James Bond 007 attaché case, a major purchase for a 6 year old kid at that time.
Released in 1965 by MPC and based on the attaché case seen in the 1963 Bond file “From Russia With Love” the toy case included a Luger pistol, complete with a shoulder stock, viewing scope and silencer which converted it into a rifle, a ’Code-o-Matic’ code machine, code book and pencil, wallet with paper money, James Bond 007 business cards, a passport, and twelve red plastic bullets. The case itself also had a few tricks such as a hidden black plastic dagger concealed in the side, a mechanism which would fire one of the plastic bullets from the case itself, and a lock which could be set to “explode” (by firing a cap) if the case is opened incorrectly. From memory I also spent some of my birthday money on a couple of Timpo Knights.
My interest in James Bond at this time was ignited by seeing “Thunderball “ at the movies with my parents and brother so I’m not sure if the attaché case was my first Bond related toy as like many other kids of my age I had the iconic Corgi Aston-Martin DB5 which was released in October 1965. As my version was the gold coloured car (as opposed to the silver one seen on screen in the previous year’s Goldfinger) this may well have been my first Bond purchase.
Despite being fortunate enough to have had the above 2 iconic Bond toys, my favourite from the franchise was the Thuderball scuba diver set that I bought in Woolworths around 1967. Although my interest in James Bond is only in the films (usually bought on DVD) it’s good to see that Bond, unlike Lewis’s and Debenhams, has remained a constant beacon of familiarity in an ever changing world.
I was probably about seven years old when I walked into my local newsagents in Cambuslang (near Glasgow) with my pocket money firmly he...
Following on from my last post featuring some of my favourite Marvel comic book covers from 1973, I thought I would show some of DC's ...
Nearly a half-century on I still consider 1973 to be the year that cemented my destiny in becoming a lifetime comic book fan. It was a yea...
Ah, Lewis's - now THERE was a store! I had The Man From U.N.C.L.E. attache case, the cheaper version with the case being made of cardboard. That doesn't look like a Walther PPK, McS, more reminiscent of a luger. If you jump over to my blog and type 707 into its search box, you can see the attache case I have now.
ReplyDeleteAhhh I think your right Kid it is a luger, I'll change that later, thank you. I miss Lewis's it was an amazing store wasn't it I still remember the lovely lifts (elevators) with the black gates and the wee old man in his outfit that operates the lifts. And f course the visit to Santa's grotto at Christmas. It looks like it will be turned into luxury flats and not a new store.
ReplyDeleteI still have things I bought in Lewis's, as well as replacements for things I bought there, and whenever I look at them I'm transported back there in memory. Sad to think that such a magnificent, magical place is gone from our lives. I remember walking in to the store from the opposite end in your photograph, and walking down a few thin 'marble'-type steps to the sweet department. Happy days.
DeleteMeant to say, McS, that despite what you may've read elsewhere, the Corgi D.B.5 wasn't released 'til October 1965, not '64. You can take my (and The Great Book Of Corgi's) word for it.
DeleteChanged now Kid thanks I took the 1964 date from a 007 website I knew it was around that time but I don't have the knowledge to know the correct dates of these things.
DeleteMcScotty, I guess if you are old enough you experience the loss of some instutions which meant a lot to us. In my case, growing up near Chicago, it was the Marshall Fields and Company department store on State Street (that Great Street, lol).
ReplyDeleteBut it had everything, elegantly presented too.
And maybe 15 years ago I took my children to Marshall Fields at Xmas time hoping to see the huge toys department all laid out for Christmas like something out of "Elf." It was gone... replaced by Toys R Us which focused on toys. And now Toys R Us is gone, repalced by Walmart and the internet.
Ahh well...
Hi CH, I had a look online at the Marshall Field’s store in Chicago and it looks stunning what a shame such a beautiful store had to close. At least that lovely clock is still visible on the building.
ReplyDeleteThe worrying thing is that stores like these are closing down worldwide, no doubt partly due to the way most folk now shop online but I also think that some of these stores took their eyes off the ball (Debenhams certainly did in the UK) and like Marshall Field’s got concession stall in like Toys R Us (happens here as well) which were to me always separate to the main store. Others stores of course were run into the ground by uncaring owners which happened here with the British Home Stores chain and others, or were sold to make a quick buck ignoring the community that they served and which made them their money . It’s really sad as kids in particular, wont be able to experience that special Christmas time visit to the big stores to see Santa, the decorations and experiences the Christmas music (we still play Slades “Merry Christmas everybody” in the UK at this time every year) with their families. I don’t think logging online to see a webpage or visiting a store in Chicago that looks the same as the one in New York or even Glasgow, can beat those memories.
McS - yes the experience was something else! The train ride into Chicago from Gary, Indiana... seeing the skyline of Chicago as you approached... walking through the crowds... the bright lights and the big city! So exciting when one is a child!
DeleteActually in Marshall Fields case, State Street was home to other big stores like Carson, Pairie, Scott and Company with gorgeous window displays for the holiday themes. It was the place to go and was mentioned in "Chicago that toddlin town" by Sinatra. It's all a bit of a hash now... The big retailers having moved a mile north to Michigan Avenue having left State Street for the "poorer" folks.
Blimey, McScotty - that attache case is a gift-and-a-half! I think a gift of that scale that would have been beyond my wildest dreams. Like those huge Major Matt Mason toys advertised on the back of DC comics (Space station, etc) which never seemed to make their way to the UK.
DeleteWe've discussed on your blog in the past how buying a certain comic becomes an abiding memory ; I'd add to that that the reminiscence of pressing your nose against a glass window or display case to see some captivating toy is equally memorable. I can remember looking at the Corgi Batboat in the glass display cabinet of Handley's in Southsea (later to become Debenhams) in the run-up to Christmas 1967, or seeing the huge trainsets in Gamages and Hamley's on a pre-Christmas trip to London with my Mum and Dad. Like Glasgow, I see that both Debenhams and John Lewis have disappeared from Southsea on a trip back home.
I was interested in Charley Horse 47's recollections of the trip to Marshall Fields in State St. When I first came to Chicago over twenty years ago, the store still had magnificent window displays, now long gone.
I see that eBay have a good selection of train and toy catalogs from the 1960s....perhaps the only way now to relive the experience is to pore over a few of those as I did in the weeks before Christmas years ago.
What year did Handley's become Debenhams, B? Do you recall? I still have books and records I bought in Southsea's Debenhams in 1981. I liked Landports in Portsmouth's town centre, which became Allders in 1982. (Landports, not the town centre.)
DeleteI'd have to do a bit of research with the Portsmouth phone directories to land on the exact date that Handley's became Debenham's Kid, but I believe it was in the 1973-75 timeframe. The bus stop outside was alway's known as Handley's Corner. Landport's was previously known as the Landport Drapery Bazaar (the "LDB"), shortened to Landport's. All too much, info, I know. Handley's, Landport's and Knight & Lee (John Lewis) were all destroyed by German incendiaries in WWII, and rebuilt in the 1950s.
DeleteIf you want a trip down memory lane from your time in Pompey, take a look at this Southsea Drive Through video from 1983 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gcb12XVzJZg . (Apologies to McScotty for hijacking his blog comments).
I always wanted that Major Matt Mason toy baggsey, the adverts always looked amazing. Great mental picture that of pressing your nose against toy shop windows. John Lewis is still in Glasgow, this Lewis,s was a different company. We only got a Handleys in Glasgow about ten years ago but had other toy stores. No need to apologise as I'll be checking that video out later, love these things.
DeleteYou're thinking of Hamley's, are you not, McS, not Handley's?
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ReplyDeleteStill showing as '64, McS.
ReplyDeleteMy goodness your quick at checking KID lol - I hadn't hit publish at that time (I replied first then edited it) .
ReplyDeleteFaster than a fart from The Flash, as I always say.
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