Paris Theodore (January 9, 1943 – November 16, 2006) was an American inventor of gun holsters,

firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

s and

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

techniques, which were used by government agencies and police departments in the U.S. and abroad, as well as by the fictional

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 ...

Early years

Theodore was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on January 9, 1943. His father, John, was a sculptor and art professor at The Horace Mann School. His mother, Nenette Charisse, was a renowned ballet instructor and member of a

Vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

dancing company. Charisse's second husband wa
Robert Tucker
a Tony-nominated choreographer, and the couple raised Theodore from early childhood. As a child, Theodore appeared as “Nibs” in the original 1954 Broadway theater production of, and NBC's 1955 and 1956 television broadcasts of, '' Peter Pan'', starring

Mary Martin Mary Virginia Martin (December 1, 1913 – November 3, 1990) was an American actress and singer. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading roles on stage over her career, including Nellie Forbush in '' South Pacific'' (194 ...

. Due to the clandestine nature of his intelligence and firearm-related later work, the $15,000 he earned for his performance was “the last money he ever earned that the

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...

was aware of”.

Intelligence work

Theodore graduated from The Browning School on

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

and continued his childhood work as a painter. According to his own accounts, Theodore supplemented his work as an

abstract painter Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19t ...

by serving as an independent contractor for the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

, having been recruited for such work, after graduation in the early 1960s. For several years, he supposedly performed a number of dangerous covert missions for the CIA. His obituary in ''

The New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New York ...

'' states that “nothing can be verified” about his work, but that stories link him to “violent encounters” in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. “I was working for Uncle Sam as a freedom fighter until Communism imploded on itself,” Theodore said.

Entrepreneurship

Theodore's experience, he said, sparked an interest in creating special holsters for the concealment of weapons. In 1966, at the age of 23, Theodore founded Seventrees Ltd., a company that designed and produced gun holsters for professionals who had the need to conceal weapons, yet access them quickly. Demand among undercover investigators and intelligence agents grew quickly for his innovative designs, and Seventrees was soon awarded several contracts from a variety of U.S. agencies. The growing popularity of the holsters inspired many imitations by other manufacturers: “Even the company's slogan “Unseen in the Best Places” was copied by at least one competitor.” By day, Theodore and his team were manufacturing customized gun holsters, while by night, Seventrees’ West 39th Street offices were transformed into a clandestine weapons manufacturing operation, designing special classified concealment weapons for government agencies through a sister company, Armament Systems Procedures Corporation (ASP).

Invention of the ASP

One of ASP's first products was a Theodore-designed handgun bearing the name of the company. The

ASP Asp may refer to: Places * Asp, part of Densbüren, Aargau, Switzerland * Aspe (''Asp'' in Valencian), Alicante, Spain * Asp Lake, a lake in Minnesota Animals * Asp (fish) * Asp (snake), in antiquity, one of several venomous snakes ** ''Cera ...

, based on the Smith & Wesson Model 39

semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol is a type of repeating single-chamber handgun ( pistol) that automatically cycles its action to insert the subsequent cartridge into the chamber (self-loading), but requires manual actuation of the trigger to actuall ...

, featured many innovations: “clear grips” made of Lexan which enabled the user to see the number of unfired rounds remaining; the “guttersnipe”, a

gun sight A sight is an aiming device used to assist in visually aligning ranged weapons, surveying instruments or optical illumination equipments with the intended target. Sights can be a simple set or system of physical markers that have to be aligne ...

designed for close-range combat; and a “forefinger grip”, today a standard feature on the trigger guard of many modern handguns. Theodore's ASP was the first successful service caliber handgun in pocket pistol size. Its arrival inspired a cottage industry of

gunsmith A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very h ...

s producing unauthorized versions of the weapon, in addition to the authorized factory version from Theodore's ASP Inc. In 1970, the ASP was featured in ''The Handgun'', by Glaswegian gun expert Geoffrey Boothroyd. Boothroyd, the inspiration for “ Q,” the technologically inventive character who outfitted

with his lifesaving gadgets, would, in turn, later inspire

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 ...

’s successor, John Gardner, to replace Bond’s renowned Walther PPK as 007’s weapon of choice. Beginning with 1984’s '' Role of Honor'', the ASP would go on to be featured in 11 James Bond novels. James Bond expert James McMahon would later write: “If Bond were a gun, he'd be the ASP. Dark, deadly, perfectly suited to his mission.”

Invention of the Quell system

In 1980, Theodore formed Techpak, a company created to market a combat handgun shooting technique he had developed called “Quell.” The Quell system included a realistic depiction of close quarter combat, a shooting stance, as well as a target designed to enhance the shooter's understanding of the Quell Zone, the area, that when struck, caused the instant cessation of movement by a hostile opponent. Quell drew upon Theodore's real-life experience in close-quarter combat and the concept of a "Quell stop" became standard training for many police departments and special agencies throughout the world. Through Quell, Theodore sought to educate weapons professionals about the stark reality of close combat with handguns. “From the movies we have learned to expect that when someone is shot in the arm, he reacts immediately by grabbing it with his free hand, wincing, and maybe uttering an ‘Unh!’ When he is shot in the chest, a spot of blood appears and he is thrown backwards, usually with arms flailing, to land motionless and silent.” Theodore wrote in 1985, “The truth is that no bullet from a sidearm, no matter what the caliber, will bowl a man over.” He described this “knock-down power” as “the figment of the collective imagination of Hollywood screenwriters.” He was an advocate of instead aiming at the spine, head and

medulla oblongata The medulla oblongata or simply medulla is a long stem-like structure which makes up the lower part of the brainstem. It is anterior and partially inferior to the cerebellum. It is a cone-shaped neuronal mass responsible for autonomic (involun ...

of opponents to stop them.

Personal life and death

In 1962, Theodore married

Lee Becker Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...

, the Tony-nominated dancer and choreographer and founder of the dance preservation group The American Dance Machine. Lee died in 1987. Theodore lived and raised his family on

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenu ...

. Theodore died on November 16, 2006, at St. Luke's Hospital in

. The cause of death was complications resulting from a longstanding and debilitating bout with

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

. He is survived by his sons, Ali and Said Theodore, an
Paris Kain
Kain, a filmmaker, was producing a documentary based on the life of his father at the time of the latter's death.Miller, Stephen (02 December 2006), obituary: �
Weapons Maker Concocted 007 Touches at Secret Lab
” ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' (Accessed 23 August 2023.)

References

External links

Paris Theodore's obituary in the ''New York Sun''

Patents

* ''Holster'' (Weapon holsters having one-piece construction), filed December 3, 1992, issued October 12, 1993 * ''Holster'' (Weapon holsters having one-piece construction), filed December 3, 1992, issued October 12, 1993 * ''Holster'' (Weapon holsters having one-piece construction), filed February 20, 1992, issued May 11, 1993 * ''Firearm training system'' (A novel firearms target is described which is useful in training police officers and others in the use of small arms.), filed September 26, 1983, issued April 2, 1985 * ''Holster'' (The ornamental design for a holster.), filed August 1, 1980, issued June 1, 1982 * ''Magazine holder'' (A cartridge magazine holder including a magnet to hold a pair of cartridge magazines with large portions of the magazines exposed so that they may be easily grasped and withdrawn by the user.), filed February 1, 1974, issued February 17, 1976 * ''Handcuff case'' (A handcuff case that is worn on the belt and holds the handcuffs with the frame and jaw exposed so that the handcuffs may be immediately grasped and withdrawn for use by the wearer.), filed December 5, 1973, issued March 11, 1975 * ''Cartridge pouch'' (A cartridge pouch made of a single piece of leather and a single snap fastener for holding two groups of about three cartridges each.), filed January 3, 1972, issued December 11, 1973 * ''Secure holster for revolvers'' (A holster to be carried high on the hip and having a trigger guard pocket, a muzzle pocket, and a breakfront flap which cooperate to prevent removal of the revolver from the holster.), filed January 3, 1972, issued December 11, 1973 * ''Gunsight'' (A gunsight including a rear notch and a smaller front notch, preferably in the form of a block of material having an open channel, formed therein and converging from a rear notch to a front notch, the sides of said channel preferably being of a light color such as yellow.), filed December 23, 1971, issued December 11, 1973 * ''Grips for handguns'' (Improved grips for handguns including transparent grip plates to permit viewing of the remaining ammunition in a magazine-fed automatic pistol, a magazine grip extension angled backward from the main grip line and of reduced thickness to provide an efficient grip for the little finger, and a forefinger pocket formed on the front of the trigger guard to provide a secure grip for the forefinger of the free (left) hand thus improving control of recoil when a two-handed hold is used by the shooter for fast firing.), filed December 23, 1971, issued September 18, 1973 * ''Inside the pants holster'' (A holster which is adapted to be worn inside the pants, just behind the hip of the wearer and which has a relatively wide flange extending in the plane of the handgun to be carried and molded to the hip of the wearer to stabilize the holster.), filed January 3, 1969, issued June 8, 1971 * ''Holster'' (An extremely simple but effective holster which is in the form of a strap which wraps over the top of the frame of a handgun or other firearm and is secured through the trigger guard by a releasable fastening device to hold the weapon.), filed November 26, 1968, issued June 8, 1971 {{DEFAULTSORT:Theodore, Paris Firearm designers 1943 births 2006 deaths Handgun holsters Neurological disease deaths in New York (state) Deaths from multiple sclerosis People with multiple sclerosis Gunsmiths 20th-century American inventors Browning School alumni