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Loxfinger
Israel Bond may seem like a simple-if-sexy salesman for Mother Margolies' Old World Chicken Soup, but when the Holy Land needs his skills - his quickness with a pun, his second-to-none semitic seduction techniques, and (if absolutely necessary) his abilities at actual espionage - then the man known by the code name Oy-Oy-7 (licensed not only to kill, but to say prayers over the corpse) is there to do what needs be done. In a land surrounded by its enemies, Oy-Oy-7 is called on to guard the nation's great benefactor, the generous but odd Lazarus Loxfinger. Is there more to Loxfinger than meets the eye? Bond aims to find out, even if doing so requires sleeping with dozens of exotic beauties! In the mid-1960s, when Playboy was serializing the adventures of the world's most famous superspy, they interspersed them with the rollicking adventures of Israel's most hilarious weapon, Israel Bond. After the book editions of what the Chicago Tribune called "probably the funniest secret agent parodies ever written" had sold over a million copies, they were allowed to fall out of print. Decades later, all four books in the Israel Bond series are now back in new editions!
116 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
12 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Sol Weinstein
13 booksWeinstein was born and raised in Trenton, N.J. In the 1950s, he wrote for his local newspaper, The Trentonian, before turning his sharp wit to comedy sketches and songs for variety show performers. He married Eleanor Eisner in 1955, and they had two children, David and Judee.
He started writing gags for Joe E. Lewis, Alan King and, years later, for Bob Hope’s and Dean Martin’s shows. His show-biz pals were Sammy Davis Jr., Gene Kelly and Dom DeLuise.
In 1962, Weinstein wrote the ballad “The Curtain Falls” for Bobby Darin’s act, which the singer used as his finale for years. The song was also recorded by Hope, and Steve & Eydie, and was featured in the Darin biopic “Beyond the Sea.”
Weinstein conceived his Israel Bond capers, starting with “Loxfinger,” in 1965. The series of four books — including “Matzohball,” “On the Secret Service of His Majesty, the Queen” and “You Only Live Until You Die” — sold more than 400,000 copies and gained him national exposure.
In the ’70s, Weinstein moved to Los Angeles and wrote for such television shows as “The Love Boat,” “The Jeffersons” and “Three’s Company” with writing partner Howard Albrecht.
Weinstein moved to New Zealand in 2002 to be near his son. He was a real mensch, fun to be with, funny, he loved jazz, loved being Jewish and speaking Yiddish, and he loved life itself.
Of his writing partner, Albrecht said, “Sol was the most interesting, knowledgeable, talented — but, more important, the most gentle — man I have ever known.”
Weinstein, writer, composer, jazz fanatic and sweetheart, died of pancreatic cancer on Nov. 25 in his home in Plimmerton, New Zealand, surrounded by his loving family. He was 84.
Predeceased by wife, Eleanor, Weinstein is survived by his daughter, Judee; son, David; and granddaughter, Eleanor.
Kenny Ellis is cantor of Temple Beth Ami, a Reform synagogue in Santa Clarita.
He started writing gags for Joe E. Lewis, Alan King and, years later, for Bob Hope’s and Dean Martin’s shows. His show-biz pals were Sammy Davis Jr., Gene Kelly and Dom DeLuise.
In 1962, Weinstein wrote the ballad “The Curtain Falls” for Bobby Darin’s act, which the singer used as his finale for years. The song was also recorded by Hope, and Steve & Eydie, and was featured in the Darin biopic “Beyond the Sea.”
Weinstein conceived his Israel Bond capers, starting with “Loxfinger,” in 1965. The series of four books — including “Matzohball,” “On the Secret Service of His Majesty, the Queen” and “You Only Live Until You Die” — sold more than 400,000 copies and gained him national exposure.
In the ’70s, Weinstein moved to Los Angeles and wrote for such television shows as “The Love Boat,” “The Jeffersons” and “Three’s Company” with writing partner Howard Albrecht.
Weinstein moved to New Zealand in 2002 to be near his son. He was a real mensch, fun to be with, funny, he loved jazz, loved being Jewish and speaking Yiddish, and he loved life itself.
Of his writing partner, Albrecht said, “Sol was the most interesting, knowledgeable, talented — but, more important, the most gentle — man I have ever known.”
Weinstein, writer, composer, jazz fanatic and sweetheart, died of pancreatic cancer on Nov. 25 in his home in Plimmerton, New Zealand, surrounded by his loving family. He was 84.
Predeceased by wife, Eleanor, Weinstein is survived by his daughter, Judee; son, David; and granddaughter, Eleanor.
Kenny Ellis is cantor of Temple Beth Ami, a Reform synagogue in Santa Clarita.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 8, 2015
The first adventure of Israeli superspy Israel Bond, agent Oy-Oy-7, licensed to kill...and say prayers over the bodies of the deceased. By this point you might be wondering if this is a parody of a certain familiar spy/assassin, and, well, you'd be right.
Quite successful back when they were published, Weinstein's short novels were far from the Harvard Lampoon approach to parody. While you get over the top shots at Ian Fleming's dedicated product placement and cocktail design (Oy-Oy-7 instructing the making of a chocolate egg cream takes this to the extreme) and some surreal side trips that make me wonder what Weinstein was indulging in at the time, but mixed in with this you also get a lot of Borscht Belt quality humour (including some scenes at a Borscht Belt comedy show) and a fair bit of crude sexist humour that's very much of its time, and somewhat appalling and unfunny these days.
Mind you, the actual plot of the book concludes in a way that would make the producers of Danger 5 stand up and salute.
Final note: I flipped between the audio version and the Kindle book. The audio version is worth a listen, as the narrator turned out to have considerable skill with voices, andbrings something extra to the text.
Quite successful back when they were published, Weinstein's short novels were far from the Harvard Lampoon approach to parody. While you get over the top shots at Ian Fleming's dedicated product placement and cocktail design (Oy-Oy-7 instructing the making of a chocolate egg cream takes this to the extreme) and some surreal side trips that make me wonder what Weinstein was indulging in at the time, but mixed in with this you also get a lot of Borscht Belt quality humour (including some scenes at a Borscht Belt comedy show) and a fair bit of crude sexist humour that's very much of its time, and somewhat appalling and unfunny these days.
Mind you, the actual plot of the book concludes in a way that would make the producers of Danger 5 stand up and salute.
Final note: I flipped between the audio version and the Kindle book. The audio version is worth a listen, as the narrator turned out to have considerable skill with voices, andbrings something extra to the text.
November 27, 2014
I read this book back in the '60's when James Bond was huge and I was a teenager. The books were fun and amusing.
January 29, 2013
Okay, it obviously takes place in another time so there are definitely some scenes where the hero is a product of his times and therefore a tad.... well, I just kinda wanta give him a poch in the punim....
At any rate, it was just super funny and at times kinda weird... would you swim in a pool filled with soup?
I enjoyed this parody quite a bit though.
At any rate, it was just super funny and at times kinda weird... would you swim in a pool filled with soup?
I enjoyed this parody quite a bit though.
July 6, 2009
Great fun, a Jewish James Bond by one of the co-creators of Get Smart. The humor is sharp, but it helps to know something about kosher laws. Take it in doses, though... it's kind of the literary equivalent of The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.
February 25, 2016
An hilarious send up of the James Bond fad.
February 6, 2013
a very funny book. I could not stubbly thing from beginning to end. I read this book in record time.
May 28, 2021
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
February 1, 2016
Weinstein--not his real name the Internet tells me-- isn't Thurber or Buchwald but a lifetime after I read this book, I'm still laughing.
November 24, 2024
The book does not hold up in 2024 sad to say.
July 21, 2013
A real knee-slapper!
April 15, 2017
A Borsht Belt James Bond. Oy-Oy-Seven. There are four books in the series. I am not running to book four. These, so I read, were written first for Playboy and were expanded. This book was funny at times and plodding. Sexist jokes? Got it. Racist jokes? Oh yeah. It's a snap shot of a different era but it just isn't funny enough for my sensibilities to want me to read more. Loxfinger is a pretty funny name though.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews