Sears Roebuck’s Christmas Catalog

I had just turned nine years old when the first James Bond movie (Dr. No) came out.

I was still too young to catch on to the sexuality and innuendos that peppered the film.  I just liked the action.

Things changed when the next Bond film premiered (From Russia With Love).  I had suddenly noticed that girls were no longer pesky, high-voiced creatures that would give you cooties.

There was something attractive about them.  They made me feel--funny.

In 1964 my superspy addiction grew as The Man From U.N.C.L.E. TV show premiered on NBC in 1964.  By then I was 11 years old and enjoyed watching the beautiful woman as much as I did the action.

As a kid and pre-teen both the James Bond movies and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. TV show sparked my imagination and provided male roll models.

As ridiculous as it may sound today, since I had no father I struggled with my own male identity and James Bond, Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuyakin made great video substitutes for my much-needed father.

Years ago, long before the mega-stores such as Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Target were around Sears Roebuck, J.C. Penney and similar stores held sway.

Although not as large as the current mega-stores each had a catalog department where you could order from a selection of thousands of products and have them delivered for pickup at a local store.

The Internet did not exist so no online shopping.  Home delivery usually meant waiting for the Post Office to get merchandise to you-something that might take weeks.

UPS and Fed-Ex were in their infancy and were restricted to certain areas of the U.S.

During the early to mid-1960s James Bond and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. fans, such as myself, anxiously awaited the holiday catalogs of Sears, Penney’s and the like.

Often the ‘big’ stores back then had special licenses to distribute exclusive toys and figures-kind of like today’s Target and Wal-Mart specials.

I remember looking thought Sears' and Penney’s Christmas Toy Catalogs during that period and marveling at all the goodies I could purchase (if only I had the money).

If I was lucky I could accompany my mom to either store and wander around the toy departments concentrating most of my looking at the spy toys.

Such toys are highly collectible today and demand huge prices.

I was fortunate in that I received a The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Napoleon Solo Gun for Christmas.  I also had Napoleon Solo and a Illya Kuyakin Aurora models kits as well as a James Bond model kit.

If memory serves I also had a Aston Martin DB5 Corgi car, a couple of U.N.C.L.E. action figures, a few diecast James Bond figures with gadgets and a small attache case with a miniature spy gun and accessories (which I still have).

The James Bond craze dominated toys for a season and various companies such as Ideal, produced their own non-licensed secret agent toys-some of which were pretty impressive such as Johnny Seven and Zero M.

The early to mid-1960s was a great time to by a secret agent toy fan and perhaps, one-day, I’ll find some of my childhood treasures.