John Ellis sitting in front of Apollo capsule last September 25 in Chino at the Planes Of Fame Air Museum. Photo by Jan Paulshus. Click HERE for Jan's snazzy anaglyphic 3D version of this pic! (make sure red lense is on left eye and blue lense is on right eye to view properly).
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In spite of the long overdue delay in posts here, THE COMPLETE STEVE CANYON ON TV Volume 3 is ALIVE AND WELL and still on low horizon approach. There have been problems, mostly annoying, some possibly avoidable, some not...and NONE fatal. As a friend said recently, "slow...but slow PROGRESS". So Volume 3 IS COMING but is regrettably still a few months away. Announcement of the release date is forthcoming.
I recognize that some of you have been waiting a LONG time since you pre-ordered, and that it may seem ludicrous BUT this is an unusual project, totally underfunded...and I want to remind everyone once again that this is not a throw-away product to us, not only is it a labor of love, but also a one-man operation...it just takes time and lots of it.
It's not "paint-by-number" either, every day and every decision is an adventure that effects everything else, and it's very hard to predict a schedule. I absolutely love what I'm doing and I thank each and every one of you that have written with encouraging letters and messages of support, they really perk my days! This is important to me to get it right...not perfect, just...accurate. It means a lot to me to honor Dean Fredericks and all the associated cast, crew and material to the best of my ability and I promise to have it in your hands not a minute later than is possible.
Think about this: Your pre-orders are what are making this possible! I consider that we are all in this together, shipmates on a journey...with the final destination just ahead!
You've Probably Noticed...
We haven't posted for a while due to a few technical glitches here on our website (involving images and media files) which are now gladly a thing of the past. I'm not a complainer and would rather talk about what's going RIGHT with the wrapping up of Steve Canyon Volume 3.
Pending Interviews
We are rescheduling several critical interviews with celebrities and Dean Frederick's family members that we had to postpone recently (due to circumstances REALLY beyond our control, such as extreme weather, distance and health issues): we heard from "The Virginian" James Drury (another Steve Canyon regular cast member) who called to let me know he is recovering from surgery and is looking forward to wrapping up his interview with us soon. We wish him well and look forward to sitting down in person and talking with him about his days on Steve Canyon!
Clowning around on location at Van Nuys Airport during the filming of OPERATION NOSEWHEEL.
James Drury as Lt. Richard Muller (flanked by Frank Maxwell as Major Barr on left and Dean Fredericks as Col. Steve Canyon on right) checking something sinister in the front wheel-well of an F-100 Super Sabre at oh-dark-hundred in the final filmed episode of Steve Canyon, "SABOTAGE" (directed by Walter Grauman).
More info on wrapping up other pending interviews is coming in the next few posts...so stay tuned!
MORE VOLUME 3 NEWS
We recently uncovered a treasure trove of information about the filming of the series through the kindness of director Walter Grauman, Chris Soldo and USC's Ned Comstock. Mr. Grauman had donated his directing notes and papers to USC and Mr. Soldo put me in touch with Mr. Comstock at USC (as he was aware of some Steve Canyon materials that were included in Walter's donation). Ned went on a hunt within USC's archive that was both above and beyond the call of duty, and which netted us not only Walter's extensive notes for the seven episodes he directed (and dozens of heretofore unseen newspaper clippings related to the show) but also the "daily production reports" for nearly every episode in the series!
This amazing find is extremely significant due to the fact that most of the details of each day of shooting were written down by the assistant director. So many questions that I have had have been answered in these papers and much of this material is going into the "making of" documentary in Volume 3. In fact it's caused me to revamp significant portions of the documentary and I am now finishing with renewed confidence. Our thanks go out to Ned, Chris and Walter for this amazing gift from which we will all benefit.
From left, Dean Fredericks, Col. Frank Ball, Abel Fernandez, and Jerry Paris. (also directed by Walter Grauman).
Photographed Wednesday December 3rd, 1958
More news on the horizon (and in separate posts)...I am going to try to post once a week from here on out until Volume 3 is released, so stick around...it's about to get very interesting!
And be sure to check out this related blog post by our pal Dean Mullaney concerning Steve Canyon and IDW Publishing's big CANIFF art book that's coming out this summer!
Again, Volume 3 is coming soon...we're on track and moving forward every day... andI thank everyone for their interest and patience...your support is appreciated!
More next week...roger that!
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