Piz Gloria Website Launched Five Years Ago Today

It's party time here in Oz as PizGloria.com was launched five years ago today.  During that time there have been over 15,800 visitors which is really pleasing.  The number of visitors in 2016 (3,380) is slightly less than 2015 (3,995) however I made several significant changes to the site in 2015 and the film "SPECTRE" was also released in cinemas, two reasons I attribute to the slightly lower patronage in 2016 but still great numbers nonetheless.

As usual here is a brief analysis of the stats below:
- The average number of pages viewed per visit has remained almost the same with 6.84 in 2016 compared to 7.06 in 2015
- The overall number of page views for 2016 was almost 40,000 which is less than 2015 when there were over 46,000
- The average time spent on the site during a visit in 2016 was 3:00 minutes which is half a minute less than 2015.  In 2012 the average was 4:40 minutes per visit/session

Year 1 - Jan 24, 2012 to Jan 23, 2013

Year 2 - Jan 24, 2013 to Jan 23, 2014

Year 3 - Jan 24, 2014 to Jan 23, 2015

Year 4 - Jan 24, 2015 to Jan 23, 2016

Year 5 - Jan 24, 2016 to Jan 23, 2017

So in summary I'd once again like to thank everyone who has taken time to visit both the Collecting Piz Gloria blog and the PizGloria.com website. Your continued support is greatly appreciated.

Terence Mountain Responds

Recently I sent a couple of questions to the actor Terence Mountain and was stoked when I received a response.  Terence, or Terry as he prefers, has appeared in many films and TV shows including "The Avengers", "The Saint", "Where Eagles Dare", "Lassiter" and "Biggles", as well as two consecutive James Bond films; "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and "Diamonds Are Forever" (if only he'd given Mr Lazenby the same advice !).  Here's a photo of him in action during the pre-credit sequence of "OHMSS" with George Lazenby:

 

Baz - "Hi Terence, I was just curious how you're feeling about all this renewed interest in OHMSS almost 50 years after it premiered ?"

Terry - "Hi mate, thanks for your views. O.H.M.S.S. 1969 - (I feel) so lucky to have played in this film."

Baz - "And back in the 70's and 80's did you ever think that one day in the future this film would get the credit it deserved as one of the best films in the Bond series?"

Terry - "oo7 George Lazenby was great to work with.  Great experience.  Great fun.  And to think I still get invites to events. So lucky."

Baz - "Thanks heaps.  Much appreciated."

Terry - "Ok mate, my pleasure.  Thank you again for your message.   Regards and best wishes for Xmas, Terry Mountain"

And finally, here's some photos of Terry at the official opening of the 007 Walk Of Fame on July 31, 2015 at Piz Gloria, Schilthorn in Switzerland.

Attack on Piz Gloria - Part 2 !!!

Terry with Sylvana Henriques who played a Bond Girl in "OHMSS"

George Lazenby with his 007 Walk Of Fame photo

 

Terry with his 007 Walk Of Fame photo

European Tour - Lucerne / Zurich (Switzerland)

After leaving Piz Gloria and Murren we then travelled, using the highly efficient Swiss train system, to Lucerne...

... followed by Zurich.

As far as I'm aware there are no "OHMSS" film locations in either of these cities and my hunt for further James Bond books to add to my collection proved fruitless.

 

However I was fortunate as our hotel in Zurich was just a stone's throw from the brilliant MovieArt shop.

After only a few seconds of entering the store, the owner Marcel greeted us.  I explained I collected Bond memorabilia and in particular "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". I asked him what Bond movie memorabilia he had and he began to lead me around his store showing me original film posters, repro posters, press release items and framed signed photographs covering the entire Bond series.  

He then sifted through a box near the front entrance before pulling out these two original Swiss lobby cards of "OHMSS" from 1969.  I was stoked and immediately grabbed them.  I couldn't believe my luck, especially as he had mentioned before-hand he couldn't remember if they'd already been sold.

Myself, my wife and Mona departed the store after about half an hour, but I quickly returned.   During our earlier conversation Marcel had mentioned he may have some items from the newspaper.  Curious, on my return I asked him about these and he swiftly produced a large thick folder from which I also purchased these two great items; one in French and the other in German.  He had me hook, line and sinker !

Below are photos of the the newspaper items.  Both are really nice pieces and as you can see the first ad has space in the top right hand corner where the names of the Swiss cinemas screening the film could be inserted.

And when I finally left the store there were still several other designs available for this film in his  thick folder so if you're interested I'd definitely get in contact with the MovieArt store.  Again here's a link to the website. (And no I'm not receiving any commission for this blatant promotion, just helping out other fellow Bond collectors !).

Since my return to Australia I have done some investigation on the web and surprisingly it appears these are the only two lobby cards released for the film in Switzerland (but please let me know if I'm wrong).

After purchasing these two items, and an unrelated press ad for "Never Say Never Again" I left the store again.  I was rapt with my purchases.

On a strange note, since leaving Murren (and Schilthorn) it started to feel like I was seeing Piz Gloria everywhere.  Here's a photo of a smoke detector in our hotel in Lucerne, and the mountain logo on the Toblerone chocolate boxes that were everywhere suddenly started to look very familiar.

After leaving beautiful Switzerland we spent two nights in Singapore before returning home to Oz.  I found no Bond novels there though, but I've since learnt I should have visited "Kinokuniya Bookstore". O'h well... there's always next time !

European Tour - Piz Gloria (Switzerland) - Part 2

After walking around the Piz Gloria surrounds (see Part 1) we next ventured back inside to "The Bond Shop" and what an exciting place it was.  Last time I saw this much Bond merchandise was in the gift shop at the conclusion of the "Designing 007 - 50 Years Of Bond Style" Exhibition in Melbourne 2013.  And Mr Lazenby was everywhere.

Many of the shop walls featured painted portraits inspired by the film.

I purchased a scarf, a magnet and a poster of "Bond World" similar to the plastic bag shown below.  I could have easily bought half the merchandise on sale.

After happily parting with my money at the shop we three then made our way to "Bond World 007" just around the corner.

"Bond World 007" opened in 2013 to celebrate Schilthorn and Piz Gloria being used as locations for the film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".

The exhibition started with a corridor covered in Bond posters...

which led to a curtain with the gun barrel sequence being projected onto it on loop, accompanied by the Bond theme music.

We brushed through the curtain to discover a surprisingly large exhibition room.  It featured a theatrette, visual displays, wall displays, film props, a helicopter simulator and a bobsleigh photo booth (for the want of a better term).  Here's some snaps I took while in there.

There was even a kilt which when investigated from underneath hid a television screen showing an interview with Mr Lazenby about his recollections on making the film.

On one wall was the coat of arms belonging to the character Ernst Stavro Blofeld, and as a laugh I added a spare business card for my PizGloria.com website.  I'd like to think it still sits there unnoticed but the cleaners probably removed it that same night !

I also photographed another card on the hat stand from Miss Moneypenny's office.

All up I thought "Bond World 007" was great and well worth the visit.  Admittance is free as part of the cable car ride to Piz Gloria.  Both my wife and Mona enjoyed it too.

Here's a photo of the entire Piz Gloria building layout.

I also happened to snap this door with what looked like an old logo used at Piz Gloria.

And finally the cable car that took us back to Murren.