007 Trivia at 7:00

If Casino Royale was Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel, why did it take so long for it to be made into a movie?

On this date in 1953, Ian Fleming's first 007 novel, Casino Royale, was published by Jonathan Cape. Within a year, Fleming had received three offers for the film rights. Producer/director Gregory Ratoff bought the rights and brought the book to CBS-TV, who produced it as a one-hour episode of Climax, starring Barry Nelson as agent Jimmy Bond. It took another 40 years for EON Productions — the producers of the rest of the Bond films — to acquire ownership of Casino Royale and make the film starring Daniel Craig. In the book, James Bond does, in fact, introduce himself as "Bond — James Bond." But the car was a Bentley, not an Aston Martin or a BMW. The drink was not a martini, shaken OR stirred; it was three measures of Gordon's Gin, one of vodka and half a measure of Kina Lillet (an apéritif wine). His game was baccarat. There were no clever gadgets, no Q and very little humor or witty banter.

From Answers.com