Oh, there’s another birthday today

Happy birthday, Ernst. You don’t look a day over 98.

We almost forgot somebody else celebrating their 109th birthday.

So here he is, at least one version. Happy birthday, Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

Now, some will decry him as a bloodthirsty criminal mastermind. And the likes of No. 11 and No. 9 (if they were around) would take that position.

However, he did create a good many construction jobs in Japan, circa 1965-66. Today, he’d get economic-development tax breaks.

He also created jobs, including the guy who operated the crater door (aka Crater Guy).

And, as reader Gary J. Firuta points out, he’s one criminal mastermind whose precise birth date is known.

“Without whom, etc.”

Ian Fleming, drawn by Mort Drucker, from the collection of the late John Griswold.

It was 109 years ago today that Ian Fleming was born.

Without him, James Bond novels wouldn’t have come to be. That would have freed up a slot for President John F. Kennedy’s list of his top 10 favorite books. Who knows what book would have benefited from being on that early 1960s list?

Also, James Bond movies wouldn’t have come to be. That’s 24 movies in the official series (and counting) plus two others.

Neither would have The Man From U.N.C.L.E., which originated when producer Norman Felton was approached about whether he’d like to a series based on Fleming’s Thrilling Cities book.

The author’s involvement (from October 1962 to June 1963) with U.N.C.L.E. spurred NBC to put the show in development. By the time Fleming exited (under pressure from Bond producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman), enough work had occurred for NBC to keep developing the series. One of Fleming’s ideas (that Napoleon Solo liked cooking) ended up in the 2015 movie version of the show.

For that matter, pretty much the entire 1960s spy mania (Matt Helm movies, Flint movies, I Spy, The Wild Wild Wild West, Mission: Impossible) probably doesn’t happen because Bond generated a market for such entertainment.

Happy birthday, Ian Fleming.