''Alligator'' is a parody of

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., a ...

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

novels. It was written by Christopher Cerf and

Michael K. Frith Michael Kingsbury Frith (born 8 July 1941) is a British artist and television producer. He is the former Executive Vice-President and Creative Director of The Jim Henson Company. His contributions to Muppet projects have been extensive and vari ...

. It was published in 1962 by the Harvard Lampoon. Subsequent editions of the book were squashed by Fleming and his estate.

Plot

J*ames B*ond takes on Lacertus Alligator, head of the evil organization TOOTH (The Organization Organized to Hate). Alligator's face is the color purple. His plan for world domination includes the kidnapping the Houses of Parliament. And not just the members of Parliament, but also the buildings. Alligator ends up also kidnapping the Queen as well.

Overview

Apart from Bond's name always appearing in the book as B*ond, other references to recurring characters include Pennyfarthing instead of

Miss Moneypenny Miss Moneypenny, later assigned the first names of Eve or Jane, is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and films. She is secretary to M (James Bond), M, who is Bond's superior officer and head of the British Secret Intelligence Serv ...

. Felix Leiter appears as Felix Ronson and Jamaican fisherman Quarrel is named Squabble. Bond's boss, M, is simply known as *. The book also parodies Bond's ordering of drinks. Instead of the usual 'Shaken, not stirred,' B*ond specifies every single thing he orders to eat. When B*ond faces down Alligator at the card table, they play

Go Fish Go Fish or Fish is a card game usually played by two to five players,
although it can be played wi ...

. The cover of Alligator parodies the Signet Books paperback covers used for the Fleming novels in the 1960s. The back cover of the book lists other fictitious B*ond novels, including ''Lightningrod'', ''Tomorrow We Live'', ''Monsieur Butterfly'' and ''Scuba Do-Or-Die''. The book was published in paperback and was such a success that Bennett Cerf, (Christopher Cerf's father) considered bringing out a hardcover edition from Random House. He wrote Fleming for his blessing and Fleming responded saying how much he hated the book. (Cerf and Frith were reportedly confused, thinking that the Bond books were supposed to be funny.) The initial run was limited to 100,000 copies because Fleming's American publisher found the book too similar to the real Bond books. Bennett Cerf was interested in publishing a hard cover edition of the book, but changed his mind when he saw Fleming's response. (

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

was just about to publish Fleming's children's book Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang.) A copy of the book was found in the paperwork between President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

and Special Assistant to the President

Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Arthur Meier Schlesinger Jr. (; born Arthur Bancroft Schlesinger; October 15, 1917 – February 28, 2007) was an American historian, social critic, and public intellectual. The son of the influential historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. and a spe ...

In attempting to re-print the book, or to develop the story into a different form, Cerf and Frith found that Fleming had in his will specifically prohibited them from doing anything involving Bond. The book has been out-of-print for over 45 years.

References

1962 American novels Parody novels James Bond Collaborative novels The Harvard Lampoon James Bond parodies {{1960s-parody-novel-stub