The first James Bond movie screened in Columbia, shown at the Fox Theatre, was about a fictional character. Now a very real James Bond has bonded with the Columbia Film Society's (CFS) project as it moves forward to restore the long-vacant Main Street building as the new home of the Nickelodeon Theatre.

Larry Hembree, executive director of CFS, said the recent Orphan Film Symposium at the University of South Carolina brought to town an internationally respected projection specialist.

"His name happens to be James Bond. We invited him over for a look at the theatre property, and he just flipped out when he saw what we have here. He was running all over the projection room, picking up reels, telling us about the various equipment here. He knew what it was, how it was used."

Bond, who recently consulted on an Oprah Winfrey residential screening room larger than the Fox Theatre, generously shared his knowledge and wisdom with CFS staff and board officers.

"He recommended strongly that we use what is here, and that we fill in with equipment that would have been used when the theatre first opened," Hembree said. "He knows what we need to replace and where we can get it. He was very encouraging about what we will need to optimize the building's potential."

Hembree, drafting on Bond's exuberance at "the rare treasure we have here," said he, too, hopes the projection room can ultimately serve also as a film museum.