CHEW
& COLOUR VIEW "YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE" (Somportex)
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Release
Date |
1967 |
Set Configuration:
26 Base frames
3 Slides per frame
Slide Viewer
Instruction Booklet
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In 1965 and through 1966 Britain was the place to be for the music, with the Beatles being the worlds number one pop group, fashion was riding high with the introduction of the mini skirt and the world was waiting for the return of Sean Connery as secret agent 007 in “You Only Live Twice”, the fifth James Bond movie from EON Productions. Up until now, bubble gum cards were manufactured in black and white with or without text information. As a tie-in with the new James Bond movie, Somportex Ltd, manufactured something new, instead of bubble gum cards they came up with colour film slides. This new collectable was titled “Chew & Colour View James Bond Bubblegum 007 You Only Live Twice”. It was the first time in the UK that James Bond film stills where to be reproduced in full colour. Each pack contained a strip holding three different 35mm. slides and a small piece of dusty chewing gum. The intention was to cut the strip into three different parts and glue them into a card frame for 35mm slides. A complete set was 26 strips each holding three different 35mm slides, for a total of 78 slides. Most of the young school kids followed the guidance of Somportex to cut out the slides and glue them into a slide frame. The combination of this cut and glue is pushing the value sky high and makes it for a collector extremely hard to purchase a complete set of the original three slide strips in mint condition. To view all those wonderful slides, Somportex Ltd. offered the possibility to purchase a mini handheld slide viewer. To order your slide viewer, there was a voucher available as seen here below.
"A voucher to order your slide viewer"
"Slide viewer in a folded and in view position"
(Special thanks to Anthony Southall for the above pictures)
The small viewer wasn't issued with anykind of a 007 logo. The viewers were
small boxes that looked like a TV made from thick plastic,
the screen being a sheet of clear magnifying glass or plastic. The viewer came either in red or in blue accompanied by a small booklet. The booklet measured 3" x 2 1/8 ( 7,62 cm x 5,4 cm) and contained eighteen pages with instructions how to mount the slides into the frames and the movie story. Some more expensive models were battery operated and had there own internal
light, on the whole most had to get there light from outside using
a lamp or the sun. To view the slide you placed it into the back and
looked through the screen at the magnified image. Slide projector
toys had been big sellers in the UK that Christmas with TV shows such
as Dr. Who and Thunderbirds releasing there own slide and view projector
toys, this was bigger than the viewer and could magnify the image
with a lens on to the wall.
"You Only Live Twice Somportex Counter Display Box"
The counter display box was finished with beautiful artwork displaying “Little Nellie”, the miniature gyrocopter used by James Bond for aerial reconnoitre in Japan. A “toy helicopter” according to the words of Tiger Tanaka. The gyrocopter “Little Nellie” was owned, built and flown in the movie by Wing Commander Ken Wallis.
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"Different
'Chew & Colour View' Wrappers" |
The wrapper
design was very simple, the well known split movie title and some artwork
depicting Sean Connery and a helicopter. The wrappers came in different
colours and on the reverse there was a description on how to order
the slide viewer.
In 2024 it came to my attention on Facebook that the slides also were available in the Netherlands, a wrapper with Dutch text and a pricetag is also shown here above.
On the right border of each slide there was a brief description of
the scene. The left side description is for each slide the same, "Sean
Connery as James Bond". Sadly a few mistakes
slipped in during the production of the slides, slide 63 and slide
65 are exactly the same. The right side text on slide 58 displays
"M Briefing Bond"
, this should be "Q Briefing Bond".
The slides ar shown here below. Enjoy!
"Empty frames & frames holding a slide"
"Mini Instruction Booklet"
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Booklet Front |
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Page 1 - 2 |
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Page 3 - 4 |
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Page 5 - 6 |
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Page 7 - 8 |
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Page 9 -10 |
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Page 11 - 12 |
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Page 13 - 14 |
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Page 15 - 16 |
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Page 17 - 18 |
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Booklet Reverse |
(Special thanks to Michael Scharff for providing the above booklet pictures.)
| Check
List: |
| Base
Film Slides |
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[ ] 01 Assembling Little Nellie
[ ] 02 In Action Against SPECTRE
[ ] 03 Ready For Action
[ ] 04 Helga Brandt
[ ] 05 Ninja Armoury In Himeji Castle
[ ] 06 Fighting SPECTRE Thug
[ ] 07 In The Volcano
[ ] 08 Tiger Tanaka With Plans
[ ] 09 Blofeld Grilling Helga & Osato
[ ] 10 Blofeld With Osato
[ ] 11 SPECTRE No.1 Ernst Blofeld
[ ] 12 James Bond In Flight
[ ] 13 Underground Explosion
[ ] 14 007 Helicopter Pilot
[ ] 15 Helga Brandt In Trouble
[ ] 16 Danger Near The Mono Rail
[ ] 17 Is Bond Worried?
[ ] 18 Helga In Control Room
[ ] 19 Ninja Commandos attack
[ ] 20 Spying On Osato
[ ] 21 007 As Japanese Fisherman
[ ] 22 007
[ ] 23 Aki In Toyota
[ ] 24 Jujitsu Training
[ ] 25 007 At Himeji Castle
[ ] 26 Tiger & Aki Awaiting Bond
[ ] 27 Himeji Castle
[ ] 28 Aki At The Wheel
[ ] 29 Determined Mr. Bond
[ ] 30 CMDR. James Bond R.N.
[ ] 31 Aki With Parasol
[ ] 32 007 Watching Ship
[ ] 33 Leaving Osato’s Office
[ ] 34 Volcano Launching Site
[ ] 35 Wedding Guests Tiger & Aki
[ ] 36 Knife Throwing Practice
[ ] 37 Bond’s Wedding Ceremony
[ ] 38 Safe Cracking
[ ] 39 James Bond Relaxes
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[ ] 40 Rocket At The Ready
[ ] 41 Osato’s Office
[ ] 42 Rocket Launching In Volcano
[ ] 43 Dressed For Sea
[ ] 44 Battle Stations
[ ] 45 Bond Watches Procession
[ ] 46 Can You See The Gun?
[ ] 47 SPECTRE Headquarters
[ ] 48 Preparing For Take Off
[ ] 49 Bond, Tiger & Aki
[ ] 50 007 & Aki In Wrestling Hall
[ ] 51 Osato Searches For Bond
[ ] 52 In The Swim
[ ] 53 Flight Of Little Nellie
[ ] 54 Hands Up
[ ] 55 Bond & Tiger Relax
[ ] 56 Karate Training
[ ] 57 At The Wedding
[ ] 58 ‘M’ Briefing Bond
[ ] 59 Sumo Wrestlers
[ ] 60 Jujitsu Demonstration
[ ] 61 Commando Training
[ ] 62 Refuelling
[ ] 63 Climbing Into SPECTRE Rocket
[ ] 64 007 Ready For Space
[ ] 65 Climbing Into SPECTRE Rocket
[ ] 66 Ama Pearl Fishermen
[ ] 67 Who’s Calling?
[ ] 68 Tiger & Kissy At The Ready
[ ] 69 Helga Brandt & 007
[ ] 70 Bond In SPECTRE Space Suit
[ ] 71 At The Wedding – Japanese Style
[ ] 72 Wedding Reception
[ ] 73 Wedding procession
[ ] 74 Bond & Aki in Himeji Castle
[ ] 75 Jujitsu Practice
[ ] 76 Jujitsu At Himeji
[ ] 77 James Bond In wedding Suit
[ ] 78 Himeji Castle Conference
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| Extra's |
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[ ] Viewer
[ ] Instruction booklet
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PageTop
Slides 01-02-03
