LONDON.- When the original screenplay writing partnership broke down for Dr No, the first film in the James Bond franchise, thriller writer Berkely Mather (1909-96) was given just two weeks and £1,000 to save the day.

The revelation comes in a contract drawn up between Eon productions and Mather included in Ewbank’s 007 James Bond sale on June 7 with an estimate of £500-800. The sale will also feature Mather’s second draft screenplay typescript for the 1964 film Goldfinger, co-written with original Dr No writer Richard Maibum, which is expected to sell for up to £1,200.

Maibaum and the celebrated playwright Wolf Mankowitz had been producer Cubby Broccoli’s first choice to write the Dr No screenplay, but the relationship soured over their conflicting views of how the character of Dr No should be portrayed.

Mankowitz left the film and eventually had his name removed from the credits, having seen the early rushes, while Maibaum set about a rewrite that was closer to Ian Fleming’s novel.

Once that was complete, Eon brought in Mather, a successful thriller writer, and screenwriter Johanna Harwood, to work on Maibaum’s script and prepare it for production.

The contract on sale here shows just how tight the scheduling was. Dated 28th November 1961 – just ten months before the film’s eventual release – it sets out the terms of engagement, agreeing to pay Mather half of his £1,000 fee on establishing the agreement and the other half on delivery of the screenplay, in which his chief role was to revise the dialogue.

“In addition, he will make as many of the alterations discussed with you at two meetings he has had with the producer and director on November 27th and November 29th as can reasonably be done in the time at his disposal,” the contract reads.

It further stipulates: “It is understood by Berkely Mather that he is to complete the above assignment not later than two weeks from beginning work, which he will do immediately after the second discussion on November 29th.”

Mather, whose real name was John ‘Jasper’ Evan Weston-Davies, clearly completed his task to the satisfaction of the production company and is credited with adding Bond’s signature camp satire to inject humour into the script – a feature later over-egged by other writers. Later retained to work on From Russia With Love (1963) and Goldfinger (1964), his key mistake was to have agreed the flat fee of £1,000 for his work on Dr No instead of a percentage. Its US box office takings were to nudge $60 million.

The second draft screenplay for the Goldfinger includes 136 loose mimeographed typescript pages on loose white sheets presented in a buff coloured card folder, with ownership name ‘Berkely Mather’ in black ink on front cover. It comes with a letter of authenticity from Mather’s son.

The script is significantly different from the version that made the final cut. For example, the opening sequence follows the eventual narrative closely but is not the same. However, key moments and dialogue included here survived, most notably 007’s casual aside after electrocuting his would-be assassin in the bath: “Shocking – positively shocking.”

It was Bond author Ian Fleming who recommended Weston-Davies to producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Zaltzman as the only person gifted enough to complete the screenplay for Dr No.

The man who coined the words: ‘The name’s Bond… James Bond’

Famous one-liners such as [‘My Name is] Bond . . . James Bond’, often attributed to Ian Fleming, were apparently Mather’s inspiration.

He is also credited with accidentally transposing the original vodka martini stirred not shaken (as in the books) to shaken not stirred (Mather himself never drank cocktails, preferring whisky and soda).

A prolific writer for radio, television, and films from his retirement from the army in 1957 until his death in 1996, Mather was also responsible for dressing Steed into a bowler hat and umbrella in The Avengers.

After Dr No Mather worked on dialogue for both From Russia with Love and Goldfinger but turned down any further work on Bond films. He had a very good relationship with Sean Connery who insisted that he was present on the studio floor for the entire shooting of both films. Whenever Connery found a line of dialogue difficult, he would turn to Mather and say, “Jasper, give me a line”, whereupon Mather would ad lib a line that was more to Connery’s liking and the shooting would continue. Mather’s son Wynne was employed by Saltzman as a messenger boy during the shooting of Goldfinger at Pinewood and witnessed these exchanges throughout the making of that film.

It is interesting to note that the title-page credits both Richard Maibaum and Berkely Mather as the authors of the screenplay for Fleming’s Goldfinger, whereas the film’s final credits list Richard Maibaum and Paul Dehn. Mather’s son thinks that his father may have asked for his name to be removed from the film’s credits at his own request, as he was generally averse to having his name on anything for which he was not the original author. His son recalls that his father spent a lot of time on the set of Goldfinger as he frequently accompanied him.

Other documents relating to Mather’s Bond work are also on offer here.

Ewbank’s, who have staged dedicated James Bond auctions for years, recently sold a significant tranche of the collection belonging to arguably the world’s leading 007 fan, Steve Oxenrider. His extensive holdings, gathered together over a period of nearly 60 years, were dispersed in a series of auctions for a major six-figure sum.

“The public have an endless fascination for Bond, and an insatiable appetite for film posters, props, first edition novels and other 007 memorabilia,” said Denise Kelly, Head of Entertainment & Memorabilia at Ewbank’s.

“Berkely Mather’s contract records the moment that the man who rescued the Dr No script, along with Johanna Harwood, first came into the frame, bringing with him the lighter side of Bond, including his quips.

“This auction also has never-before seen location photographs for Goldfinger, and now these rare documents that go back to the earliest days, before filming even began, which show that there was as much drama off screen as on. These items are absolute gold dust for the serious Bond collector.”