We Got 'Em All!!

Since we started this project in 2006 there were two things that were conspicuously missing...the first was a decent-quality copy of the original unaired version of the pilot film, and the second was the 26th filmed episode BLACKMAIL. Well, we are now pleased to announce that these are no longer "missing in action" as we have located them and they are now in-hand and being cleaned up and readied to join all of the other episodes in our archive for release later this year on DVD.

Here is an NBC publicity photo from BLACKMAIL (click photos to enlarge):

#9230-57 Tamara Cooper (Narda Onyx) displays her terror over blackmailer to her husband Lt. Cooper (Bill DuFrene), Police Chief Hagedorn (Ted de Corsia) and Lt. Col. Steve Canyon (Dean Fredericks) in the Steve Canyon episode, "BLACKMAIL". (From official NBC press release)

This unaired version of the pilot is the only episode to feature the distinctive logo from the sunday editions of the Steve Canyon newspaper comic strip. (see frame blowup above). This version also features different beginning and end titles and a full 2 minutes of footage never before seen on television!

This NBC publicity photo is from a shot that is only seen in the unaired pilot! Seen below is the official press release that accompanied this photo:



Here's a frame blowup from the same sequence, featuring (from left to right), Lt. Col. Steve Canyon (Dean Fredericks), Capt. "Bullets" McVay (Dan Barton), RAF Maj. Durkel (Paul Frees) and Maj. "Tex" Berry (Morgan Woodward). What makes this sequence interesting is that this wasn't shot on an airfield, but was in fact shot on the rear-projection "Process-Photography" Stage indoors at the Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, California (where the pilot was shot and produced). The actors are standing in front of a translucent screen and the planes and ground-crew are on motion picture film being projected from behind. After the pilot was completed (and the series "sold" to NBC and Chesterfield cigarettes, the sponsor) they moved the production to the more modern Universal International Studios.

The full story of locating the shows and our restoration effort will be told on the full-series STEVE CANYON DVD set coming later this year, so STAY TUNED!

WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Please help Support our Restoration Effort by clicking on the DONATE button below (PayPal account not required)

ANY amount, no matter how small is EXTREMELY HELPFUL and MUCH APPRECIATED and makes a HUGE DIFFERENCE! We thank everyone for all of the kindness and support, and it's true that we couldn't continue this unique project without your wonderful support!

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Steve Canyon On Board

Here's a couple of storyboard illustrations for the beginning and end title sequences for STEVE CANYON:


These were designed by an unknown artist working for the McCann-Erickson Agency in 1958. McCann-Erickson was the advertising agency involved in the show. These sketches were used as a guide by the production and post production crews to create the distinctive identical opening and closing sequences for the Steve Canyon series.


Comparing the second board to the actual shot in the titles...


Well, although they changed the screen direction of Steve's F-102 Delta Dagger from right-to-left in the designs to left-to-right for the entire filmed sequence they still followed the basic overall design closely.

We have more storyboards and a large array of never-before-seen materials from the series that we will be showing from time to time here and on the full-series DVD later this year for your edification...so stay tuned!

Please help Support our Restoration Effort by clicking on the DONATE button below (PayPal account not required)

ANY amount, no matter how small is EXTREMELY HELPFUL and MUCH APPRECIATED and makes a HUGE DIFFERENCE! We thank everyone for all of the kindness and support, and it's true that we couldn't continue this unique project without your wonderful support!

or


BUY The Special Edition DVD!
In stock - ready to ship!

News Of The Canyon

Here are some things you might find of interest:

The current issue of AIR CLASSICS MAGAZINE (Vol.44, No.4 April 2008) not only features Big Steve on the cover but also on a whopping 10 interior pages featuring 22 images (2 in full color) and a lengthy and MOST EXCELLENT article by James H. Farmer, author of AMERICA'S PIONEER ACES (2003), CELLULOID WINGS (1984) and several other GREAT aviation related books. Note that American Movie Classics host Bob Dorian has called Jim "The definitive aviation film historian" and his take on the Steve Canyon TV series is not to be missed. You can find this issue at well-stocked newstands and bookstores such as Barnes & Noble until May 31st, 2008. To subscribe to this fine magazine you can visit Challenge Publications online. Thanks to author James Farmer and Air Classics Editor Michael O'Leary for doing such an amazing job putting this homage to Col. Canyon together!

Dean Fredericks

Dean Fredericks at home practicing his lines with a tape recorder on June 10th 1958. Photo by NBC staff photographer Herb Ball.

On February 19th we finally made contact with Dean Fredericks' family after two years of hopeful concerted effort. They are very excited about our restoration of the Steve Canyon series and are providing photos and other memorabilia for us to utilize as documentary materials for the full-series DVD later this year. Our dream of an in-depth documentary on "mystery man" Dean Fredericks is coming to fruition and he will finally get some of the attention he is due. Stay tuned!

Dean and wife Myda going over lines for STEVE CANYON in their Lancaster California home. Photo by NBC staff photographer Herb Ball.

Were YOU there?

If you were there when Steve Canyon aired originally in 1958/1959 on NBC, or when Steve Canyon Returned on ABC in 1960...AND you have a story to tell, one that YOU think might be of sufficient interest to include on a documentary on our Full-Series DVD later this year, email us at stevecanyon_memories@mac.com and tell us about it. It would help a lot if you have a related picture from either that time or later in life.

We've heard from a number of you that were inspired to become pilots and aerospace engineers and the like, and we want to hear more. We've also heard a few stories about how exciting it was when the shows were on TV, and the helmet and other toys were coming out, and reading the Milton's strips in the papers.

If we use your picture or story or both you will be put on the list to receive a copy of the full box set for free when it is released later this year. If we don't use what you send in we'll still send you something anyway for your trouble...not a DVD box set, but still something swell! We'll contact those whose material we intend to use and send a "release form" to sign and return, allowing us to use it for the DVD. PLEASE NOTE that there will be a provision for those that would like to share their stories yet remain anonymous, and we will guarantee your anonymity (if so desired)...and all entries/communications will be considered private and confidential until YOU give us permission to use it on the DVD.

...and if you are the kid in this photo, we want to hear from you too!

Last Up...

Tomorrow is the big day...March 18 is the release date for the wide retail distribution of the Steve Canyon Special Edition DVD. So those of you who ordered it through Amazon.com, or NetFlix or any number of other outlets, should start seeing them on Tuesday.

We appreciate everyone who has written reviews on Amazon, or just spread the word though their forums, emails and blogs, and we can't thank you enough. I will mention that this DVD is now going into it's second printing (the first being a very limited initial print run) and hopefully they will continue to sell and help fund our efforts.

I want to mention that if you shop on a US Military Base at a PX or BX or other Base Exhange store, you can help us TREMENDOUSLY by letting the store management know about the Steve Canyon Special Edition DVD. Show them your DVD! If enough of you ask for it we might just get them to carry it in ALL of the Base Exchanges and that WOULD BE SOMETHING!!!

I do have a very small number of the color printed Steve Canyon DVD Sell-Sheets that I will gladly mail (one per request until they are gone) if that will help get us on the Base Exchanges. Feel free to print it out yourself if you'd like and show 'em just what they're missing! And be sure to let me know if there's anything else I can do to help you!

Things are definitely heating up, so STAY TUNED 'till our next broadcast!

Steve Canyon Alert!

(click images to enlarge in a new window)Hold on to your ejection seats! Big Thunder Air Force Base is on FULL DVD ALERT!
Here's Milt and Bunny celebrating the wide-retail release of the first authorized Steve Canyon episodes to see the light of day since JFK was in office! Photo taken by Bob Goldwater (NBC) August 11, 1958 in the Caniff home in High Tor New York.
"WOWEE! Look at those DVD's go!" says Lt. Colonel Stevenson Burton Canyon, serial number AO-041044 of the United States Air Force, on assignment for OPERATION ZERO LAUNCH at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Today is the day that our distributor, Tempe Video, officially started taking and filling orders from all of the major retail outlets for our initial STEVE CANYON SPECIAL EDITION DVD! The official "street date" is March 18th, that's the date the retail outlets are allowed to start forking over our DVDs to the paying public.

A few of the places that it will be available for purchase will be MoviesUnlimited.com, Amazon.com, DVDEmpire.com,, DeepDiscount.com, DVDPlanet.com, CCVideo.com, DVDUniverse.com, BestPrices.com, BudPlant.com, Buy.com and for rent on Netflix.com. You can also find it at the Collectible Wizard store on Magnolia in Burbank.

This release will both "test the waters" for the Full DVD Series release (later this year) and also provide MUCH NEEDED FUNDS to help pay for all of the work that is being done to get everything ready.

IF YOU WANT TO HELP it's as simple as writing reviews on either Amazon.com's Steve Canyon DVD listing AND/OR The Internet Movie Database Steve Canyon page to spread the word on JUST HOW COOL it is. You can also request your favorite online or retail outlets to make sure they carry it and are well stocked, "ask for it by name". We appreciate all of the help that has come our way from each and every one of you that have written to us and/or ordered the DVD or cap and we thank you.

Special Edition Wide Retail Release Looms

Click Image for larger view!

It's coming! The March 18th wide release is on the horizon, and J.R.Bookwalter and the fine folks at Tempe Video are doing a terrific job with advance publicity and other preparations, an example is the "Sell-Sheet" full color ad shown above. We are already listed on Amazon.com and elsewhere on the net, and I urge those of you that already have the DVD to go to both Amazon (as well as the IMDB) and post a review. I am getting close (finally) on the massive job of fully updating the IMDB Steve Canyon pages so come on by there and leave a comment or review to show your support.

Work is proceeding apace on restoration and special bonus materials for the full-series DVD set coming later this year. More HOT news, exclusive clips and images coming soon, so stick around for more excitement!

Here's Ingrid Goude (Steve's Secretary "Ingrid") and Steve Canyon (Dean Fredericks) Feb 13th, 1959.

Steve Canyon Christmas Episode

Merry Christmas from The Milton Caniff Estate! Enjoy our gift, this clip from the Steve Canyon Christmas episode that hasn't been seen in the US since 1958!

Celia Lovsky and Lillian Adams

Dean Fredericks gets in the spirit


Click on the image to see the clip (Quicktime Required).


Above, from left, Dean Fredericks and friend (Sean McClory). These images are all frame blowups from this episode.



This clip (which features Dean Fredericks, Celia Lovsky, Sean McClory and Barbara Beaird) is a 6 minute 13 second Quicktime mp4 movie clip from the 16th episode, THE GIFT, written by Ray Bradbury and Sidney Carroll and directed by Don Taylor, which aired originally on Saturday December 20th 1958 at 9pm on NBC. It was never repeated in the United States. When ABC aired summer reruns of Steve Canyon in 1960, for some reason this one (and 13 others) never got shown. What you are about to see is the first time in 48 years that any part of this episode has been seen in the United States. The shows were run in Australia twice in 1959 and 1960, on Armed Forces television overseas in 1963 and 1965, and dubbed in Japanese and broadcast by Nagoya TV in Japan in 1963, and possibly 8 episodes were shown in Germany and latin america circa 1959/1960. If you remember seeing STEVE CANYON broadcast at any other time or place since, we'd love to hear from you.



This episode (and all 34 shows of the series) will be included on the full series dvd coming out from The Milton Caniff Estate in the summer of 2008. Enjoy the holidays!

Please help Support our Restoration Effort

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It's Official! Tempe Video Signed for Wide Steve Canyon DVD Retail Release!!

This is the BIG NEWS that I have been hinting at for a while. Harry and I have signed an exclusive retail distribution agreement with our longtime friend J.R. Bookwalter at Tempe Video. This will put our initial Steve Canyon Special Edition DVD (which has seen limited availability here on our blog) out into wide release on March 18 of 2008. This means it will be available through Amazon.com, DeepDiscount.com, DVDUniverse.com, Buy.com, DVDPlanet.com, DVDEmpire.com and others, as well as being available to rent from Netflix.com.

We are considering this as a market sales test for our full series DVD which we plan to release sometime during the summer of 2008 for the 50th Anniversary of the Steve Canyon TV series. For more info visit Tempe Video, our friends at TV Shows On DVD (who broke the story) and Amazon.com for more info.

Please help Support our Restoration Effort

(any amount, small or big is helpful and appreciated)
or


BUY The Special Edition DVD!
In stock - ready to ship!