Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Avonlea Cookbook by Kevin Sullivan Sullivan Entertainment: Through the Years. Founded in 1979, originally as Sullivan Films Inc, by Kevin Sullivan and , Sullivan Entertainment has been a bastion in family programming. Sullivan’s first dramatic offerings included The Fir Tree, an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fable, and Kreighoff , a docudrama special that profiled the life of the Canadian Artist Cornelius Kreighoff. Both Kevin Sullivan and Trudy Grant did double duty for that film, not only writing, producing, and directing, but also stepping in to play some of the characters! Kreighoff received international acclaim and set a precedent that would follow in all of Sullivan’s productions. In 1980, Kevin Sullivan wrote, produced and directed Megan Carey , a short film about a young Irish immigrant indentured on a farm in 19th century Canada. This was followed two years later by Sullivan Films’ first feature, The Wild Pony . This wonderful film, starring Marilyn Lightstone, who would go on to appear in several Sullivan productions including , has the distinction of being the first feature- length movie to be made exclusively for pay-TV in Canada (videoage, July 1987). The Wild Pony was a critical hit and one of the major contributors to the family-oriented aesthetic that Sullivan Films was starting to build as the backbone of their productions. In 1984, Kevin Sullivan purchased the rights to the Canadian classic , little knowing just what an impact his proposed mini- series would have on viewers. “People were genuinely moved, they were emotionally involved,” said Sullivan in a 1987 interview with Millimeter, “I never guessed this would be the award-winning production it turned into.” Sullivan admits that while he remembered the story from his youth, it was Trudy Grant that pushed for him to make the mini-series. “After my wife had insisted I consider making a film version, I embarked upon reading the novel as an adult…I wanted to approach the task of turning the novel into a screenplay, not as a fan, but as an interpreter,” Sullivan wrote in his book Anne of Green Gables: A Journey . The production itself was backed by Telefilm Canada, CBC, PBS/Wonderworks, West Germany’s ZDF and City TV. The mini-series transformed its leading actors into household names and introduced Anne Shirley to a new generation. It was followed two years later by Anne of Avonlea (at the time called Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel), which according to an interview Trudy Grant gave in 1987 to Playback, Canada at Mipcom, was poised to appear in “every country that has TV sets”. The critical success of the first two Anne of Green Gables mini series, was followed by two more literary adaptions, and Lantern Hill . It was then that Sullivan began to consider the idea of revisiting the world of Avonlea, albeit in a new light. In the book, Anne of Green Gables: A Journey , Kevin Sullivan says that he became interested in creating a dream-world set in Prince Edward Island, that would be an antidote of escapism from the contemporary world. He wanted to produce a series that would appeal to men, women and children of all ages. This formula proved to make for television gold, with the Anne of Green Gables spin off television series, Road to Avonlea running for seven seasons and ending with a heartwarming Christmas film, An Avonlea Christmas . Avonlea introduced many young Canadian actors, including Sarah Polley and Zachary Bennett, to the world and it also assembled a highly talented cast, including the likes of Jacque Boroughs, Cedric Smith, Marilyn Lightstone, and R.H. Thomson. Many of the cast lent their talents to Sullivan’s epic six-hour mini-series, , the story of two children and their heroic adventure across the North American frontier. During the final years of production of Road to Avonlea , Sullivan and Grant turned their minds toward producing another show, different than anything they had done before. Kevin Sullivan looked to the writings of Canadian Author Max Braithwaite for inspiration, and to tales that had been passed down through his own family and began to bring together a story about a Canadian family during the Great Depression. The fruits of these labours, , set a new tone in Sullivan productions and moved audiences away from the pristine idyllic world of Avonlea, PEI and into the starker and more identifiable world of New Bedford, Ontario. Wind at My Back ran for five seasons, chronicling the life of the Bailey-Sutton family and ended in 2001 with the film A Wind at My Back Christmas . During the production of Wind at My Back , Sullivan also produced the last Anne of Green Gables mini series to star Megan Follows, Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story . The follow up film to Road to Avonlea, An Avonlea Christmas , was set against the backdrop of WWI. The decision was made to set Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story , in the same time frame as An Avonlea Christmas , sending Anne and Gilbert off to war torn Europe. After the premier of The Continuing Story and the end of Wind at My Back , the company turned their focus towards creating more inspiring and dramatic fare, including The Piano Man’s Daughter , based off the acclaimed Canadian novel by Timothy Findley, starring Stockard Channing and Wendy Crewson, as well as Mozart’s and Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning . The last film that Sullivan Entertainment released, was the eye-opening documentary Out of the Shadows , which details the ground-breaking scientific techniques used to uncover a hidden Rembrandt painting. Currently, Kevin Sullivan and Trudy Grant have turned the company's focus towards bringing their films to a brand-new digital platform, GazeboTV, allowing access to the full Sullivan library of films, mini series, series, and documentaries worldwide. Over the next year, GazeboTV looks to bring fans the best viewing experience possible for the classic Sullivan programming they have come to know and love. Follow the journey. Avonlea’s enduring quality takes us back to a simpler time, and a place filled with an almost magical realism. The Costumes Avonlea scripts presented enormous challenges; and so did the actors who often had much to say about their character development and how it would best be reflected in what they wore. When the doors to the Avonlea costume department were closed in 1996, the staff at Sullivan Studios took stock of an inventory that had been created by designers Martha Mann , Madeline Stewart and Ruth Secord over seven years of cutting, stitching, fitting and primping. Imagine 7000 pairs of shoes – including period skates, slippers, high-button boots and dance wear; 10,000 costumes – half of which were original designs for all of the lead performers and guest stars; 2000 hats – with enough feathers, frills and furbelows to exhaust a full-time millinery department. Most female performers who had been subjected to seven years of authentic corsets and heavy undergarments had no desire to keep them. Souvenirs were the rare costume jewelry, eye wear, head dresses, wigs and fans that had been procured at great expense and sold at the production’s close to enthusiastic memorabilia hunters. In 2011, Sullivan Entertainment launched an online fashion store and blog – Still the Lovely – where a majority of original and authentic costumes used in the show are now available for sale. Flip Through "The Making of a Series" Set Design It’s enduring quality is in that it takes us back to a simpler time, and a place filled with an almost magical realism. In 1990, after bringing two sumptuously filmed mini-series to the screen, executive producer Kevin Sullivan had just completed writing and directing two other feature film scripts.The mini-series reached staggering success around the world. However,despite this his thoughts were far away from the idyllic, small-town world of Avonlea, for which he had just won an Emmy and a Peabody Award. A good friend challenged him, “No one has ever made a long-running television hit out of a classic novel. Sullivan began to draw together in his mind a parade of characters as well as several of the original cast members to reprise their roles from the Green Gables mini-series. He set the concept for the show in the east coast town where the original had been staged. The official streaming platform for Sullivan Entertainment. Available on the App Store, Google Play Store, Roku and Apple TV. Stream classic shows now for the whole family! ​ L.M. Montgomery and The Books that inspired Road to Avonlea. Both in her lifetime and since, Lucy Maud Montgomery is considered to be the most successful Canadian author of all time. She wrote a total of 21 novels, 530 story collections, 500 poems, and 30 essays. Montgomery grew up in a household on Prince Edward Island that praised poems and oral storytelling, but distrusted reading novels. After completing some English literature courses at Dalhousie University, she began her writing career by publishing essays, short fiction, and poems in North American Periodicals. In 1908 Montgomery published her very first book, Anne of Green Gables , and it was an immediate success. It established her career and she continually wrote the sequels for the rest of her life, including the 8th novel The Blythes are Quoted , which was submitted to the publisher on the day of her death. Shortly after the publication of Anne of Green Gables, Montgomery published a series of books and short stories that were loosely adapted into the Emmy Award Winning TV series Road to Avonlea in 1989 . Montgomery grew up in a Scottish- Canadian family and as a child spent a lot of time listening to her great Aunt Mary Lawson talk about the legends and myths of their home country Scotland. She used these stories in writing the novels The Story Girl (1911) , and the sequel The Golden Road (1913) , as well as drew upon her diaries from her teenage years. The Story Girl narrates a group of young cousins and their friends who live in a rural community of Prince Edward Island. It follows the boy Beverly along with his brother Felix,who come to live with their Aunt Janet and Uncle Alec King while their father travels for business. Beverly and Felix spend much of their leisure time with their cousins Dan, Felicity, Cecily, Peter Craig, Cousin Sara Ray, and another cousin, Sara Stanley (the Story Girl). Sara Stanley often entertains the group with fascinating insights about the various events that took place within the King Family History, and she is of course the lead character in Road to Avonlea . At the time Montgomery was writing The Story Girl from 1909 – 1910, she was engaged to the Presbyterian Minister Ewan Macdonald, whom it is said she did not have much affection for. He did not show particular interest in literature, nor was he excited about going to Scotland for their honeymoon. Montgomery quoted at the time to a reporter while visiting the country, “those women whom God wanted to destroy he would make into the wives of ministers”. Montgomery wrote characters in The Story Girl that gave mock-sermons that ridiculed the speaking styles of Presbyterian Ministers,which can similarly be seen in Road to Avonlea ’s Jasper Dale, Olivia’s husband who has a stuttering problem. Following the success of her books Anne of Green Gables (1908) and Anne of Avonlea (1909) , Montgomery was under a lot of pressure by her publisher to deliver more stories about Anne. While writing The Golden Road , Montgomery had been quoted saying, “I have been too hurried and stinted for time. I have had to write it at high pressure.” She finished the novel on May 21, 1913 and dedicated it to her great Aunt Mary Lawson. In this novel more character development takes place and the reader is able to follow the children growing up. The character Beverly hints that Felicity and Peter will get married, which is similarly seen with Felicity marrying Gus Pike in Road to Avonlea . While these books did take place in Prince Edward Island, they did not take place in the fictional village of ‘Avonlea’. The village of Avonlea was derived from Montgomery’s short story collections, Chronicles of Avonlea (1912) ,and Further Chronicles of Avonlea (1920) , which many of the series’ episodes and situations are based on. Chronicles of Avonlea comprises a total of 12 stories,which is about the residents living in the village of Avonlea . The character Anne Shirley makes a few small appearances, such as in the story The Hurrying of Ludovic and The Courting of Prissy Strong . Other characters from the Anne books including Marilla Cuthbert, Rachel Lynde, and Diana Berry, also make small appearances. The stories from the collection that are featured in episodes of Road to Avonlea are Quarantine at Alexander Abraham’s (8th story and Season 1 Episode 3), Old Lady Lloyd (2nd story and Seasons 1 Episode 4), and Aunt Abigail’s Beau (7th story and Season 1 Episode 7). Further Chronicles of Avonlea is the sequel to Chronicles of Avonlea but wasn’t published until 8 years later . Oddly enough, Further Chronicles of Avonlea is comprised of the 15 stories that Montgomery had originally decided not to publish in the prequel Chronicles of Avonlea . Montgomery reluctantly agreed to the publication at the end of a lawsuit with Publisher L.C. Page and Company regarding the Anne novels, and only agreed under the condition that no mention of Anne Shirley would be in the book, nor any depiction of her on the cover. Montgomery had revised the stories and removed any mentions and descriptions of Anne. However L.C. Page and Co. had announced that they were planning to publish the 1912 versions that they already had in their possession, resulting in violating the agreement. Her legal battle did not settle until 1928, and the book was taken off the market,and republished again in the 1950s. Following the success of the films Anne of Green Gables (1985) and Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel (1987) , a close friend of Producer Kevin Sullivan came to him and asked, “no one has ever made a long-running television hit out of a classic novel. Why not serialize Anne?” At first Sullivan wasn’t interested. He felt there wasn’t enough story material left and was uncertain about developing a long running series based on just one character. However, when actress Collen Dewhurst, who fell in love with playing her role of Marilla Cuthbert, asked Sullivan as well, he began to re-consider. He realized if he were to assemble a marvelous cast with his favorite performers, it could provide him the vehicle for writing numerous material which would sustain a long running television series. Asa result, Sullivan rambled through some of Montgomery’s little-known books and short stories: The Story Girl , The Golden Road , Chronicles of Avonlea , and Further Chronicles of Avonlea . He began to put together a parade of characters that might have inhabited the world that Anne Shirley lived in. He also saw an opportunity to bring back some of the supporting cast from the Anne miniseries such as actors Jackie Burroughs, Mag Ruffman, and Cedric Smith. Sullivan went back and pitched the concept to CBC and Disney, and from there the show was green lit. Sullivan and his team of writers worked diligently to create characters and write narratives that could have easily jumped the pages of Montgomery’s books. While Road to Avonlea was originally a spinoff from Anne of Green Gables , it also became an iconic entity of its own. Road to Avonlea had the highest budget ever for a series in Canada at the time and holds the record for the most watched Canadian television series ever,garnering a total of 2.527 million viewers for its premiere. It was nominated for 16 Emmys, winning 4; including Emmys for guest stars Christopher Lloyd and Dianne Wiest, and for Outstanding Costume design in 1993 and it has aired in over 60 countries. Kevin Sullivan - writer, producer, director. Kevin Sullivan is the President of Sullivan Entertainment Inc. founded in 1979 by him and his partner, Trudy Grant. Internationally recognized as one the leading producers of high quality entertainment and renowned for his directorial ease with children and top performers, Sullivan has achieved numerous accolades and awards over the past two decades. His ability to consistently produce top-notch entertainment as well as to attract big name stars has enhanced the image of Sullivan Entertainment throughout the world. The feature film versions of Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel out-grossed many top American movies over their five-year run in Japanese cinemas. Throughout his more than 20-year career, Kevin has produced over 250 hours of some of the highest-rated programming in Canadian and international television history, including the Emmy Award-winning prime time series Road to Avonlea , starring Amanda Plummer and Megan Follows , Butterbox Babies , and starring Henry Czerny . In addition to being a two-time Emmy Award winner, Kevin has also won three Cable Ace Awards and four Gemini Awards. Interview with Kevin Sullivan (December, 2008) Other notable works. Parts from Paul Turko's interview with Kevin Sullivan (February 16, 1996) A Top-20 program in Canada with a weekly average of nearly 2 million viewers, it's hard to imagine why such a good product as Avonlea would be cancelled. Particularly a product that has garnered three consecutive CableAce awards for best dramatic series, as well as two Emmys and a host of Geminis. But executive producer Kevin Sullivan, who gained international acclaim for his two Anne of Green Gables mini-series in the 1980s, concedes that Avonlea's once-fresh premise had been exhausted. All the writers and myself had felt that everyone had done their best scripts. Many of the actors had turned in really superlative performances. To me, Avonlea was always a Sunday night event and I wanted audiences to remember it fondly rather than see it degenerate into something that was a copy of a copy. So Sullivan shopped for new ideas. Acutely aware of his core audience-women and their families-, Sullivan sought to produce a show that would be markedly different from Avonlea yet maintain its basic philosophy. A literary enthusiast, Sullivan found the perfect material in the writings of Max Braithwaite, whose books Why Shoot the Teacher (1965), Never Sleep Three in a Bed (1969), and The Night We Stole the Mountie's Car (1971) would form a loose framework for Wind at My Back . Based on the author's humourous experiences of 1930s Saskatchewan, the trilogy was exactly what Sullivan had been looking for. It reinforces the sensibility of what Avonlea is all about: community, family, people going through difficult economic times but simply trying to keep spirits up and prevail against all odds. It's a classic world, a throwback to another era that was moralistic, a little black-and- white. . A final question: will the Wind that blew through Durham soar to the prestigious heights of, say, a Green Gables or an Avonlea? Sullivan laughs. I don't know; I'm not the person to ask. One creates television and then one shows it to the masses. We'll just have to see what happens. The History of Anne of Green Gables. Anne of Green Gables is published by Lucy Maud Montgomery! After multiple rejections, Maud finally released the story of Anne into the world, and it was published by Page Company of Boston. It was an immediate success, selling just under 20,000 copies in under half a year! As you may know, many of Maud’s personal attributes were interlaced into Anne of Green Gables. Maud’s father left her as a child and forced her to live with her grandparents in P.E.I.. Creating Anne Shirley may have been a way for her to cope with her loneliness and distant feeling of not belonging. Maud continued to write many other books, continuing the story of Anne of Green Gables, totaling 11 books. Find Further Chronicles of Avonlea, Rilla of Ingleside, Anne’s House of Dreams and more here. In addition to her novels on Anne Shirley, Maud went on to publish a total of 20 novels, 530 short stories, 500 poems and 30 essays. 1919 - Not So Silent Anne. In 1919, Anne of Green Gables was made into a silent film. The film has been lost for many years but Jack and Linda Hutton, who own Bala's Museum with Memories of Lucy Maud Montgomery, have spent more than a decade tracking down old movie stills to create a PowerPoint presentation that brings the old movie back to life. Maud commented on the film saying that Anne "is very dainty, very pretty and utterly unlike my gingerly Anne." 1934 - Success on the Big Screen. One of the first releases of Anne of Green Gables through film occurred in 1934. The film was directed by George Nicholls Jr. and the main character of Anne, Dawn O’Day, loved her character so much that she changed her stage name to Anne Shirley (with an E of course)! Maud also commented on this production saying, “On the whole it is not a bad picture. At least the first two thirds. The last third is a silly sentimental commonplace end tacked on for the sake of rounding it up as a love story.” Anne Shirley played her favourite character again in the 1940s production: Anne of Windy Poplars. Watch a scene from the movie here. 1939 - Japan. Anne of Green Gables becomes extremely popular in Japan after Hanako Muraoka received a copy from a missionary from New Brunswick named Loretta Shaw. Muraoka spent some time during the Second World War to translate the book into Japanese. The translation was eventually published in 1952 called “Akage no An,” meaning “Red-Haired Anne.” 1965 - Musical Anne. Anne of Green Gables: The Musical has been named the longest running musical in the world by Guinness World Records in 2014. The performance is scheduled every year through Charlottetown’s Confederation Centre of the Arts. 1979 - Return of Akage no An. Akage no An, known as, “Red-haired Anne,” is an animated television series, part of Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater. There were 50 episodes produced in total, broadcasting the animated Anne Shirley. The first six episodes were edited together by director Isao Takahata into a 100-minute theatrical movie in 1989. However, the film had not been released until July 17, 2010. 1985 - Kevin Sullivan. One of the most famous adaptations of Anne of Green Gables was directed by Kevin Sullivan in 1985. The mini series starred a very talented cast including Megan Follows and Colleen Dewhurst. The series won 10 Gemini Awards, an Emmy and a Peabody Award among many others. 1987 - Kevin Sullivan Creates a Sequel. Anne of Avonlea (also known as Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel ) is born! The movie follows the second, third and fourth books: Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island and Anne of Windy Poplars. Many of the same characters from the first Sullivan adaptation reprise their roles in this film. 1990 - Road to Avonlea. Road to Avonlea , produced by Kevin Sullivan, was at first loosely adapted from books by L.M. Montgomery: The Story Girl, The Golden Road, Chronicles of Avonlea and Further Chronicles of Avonlea. These books contained the characters of Sara Stanley and Felicity, Felix, and Cecily King. In the United States, the TV show was picked up by The Disney Channel and was named Tales from Avonlea. There were 7 seasons and 91 episodes in total starring Sarah Polley, Jackie Burroughs, Lally Cadeau, Cedric Smith, Gema Zamprogna, Zachary Bennett, Mag Ruffman and more. 1992 - Montgomery Historical Museums. One of the best ways to appreciate the works of L.M. Montgomery is to visit the places she’s been! The Bala Museum officially opened on July 24th, 1992. Bala’s Roselawn Lodge was a two week vacation for L.M. Montgomery in 1922. The building is completely restored to capture the history of the 1920s. Many museums featuring Montgomery’s life began to pop up in Canada; the Bala Museum is only one of the many historical places capturing Montgomery’s life. 1993 - L.M. Montgomery Institute. The L.M. Montgomery Institute is founded and housed in the Robertson Library at the University of Prince Edward Island. The Institute researches the life and achievements of Lucy Maud Montgomery. The LMMI holds conferences, focus groups and more each year. 2000 - Kevin Sullivan pt. 3. The Continuing Story was the third Sullivan installment of Anne of Green Gables, which featured an older Anne and Gilbert trying to survive the hardships of the first World War. This was the last time Megan Follows played the role of Anne Shirley. This movie was an original story that no longer followed the books by L.M. Montgomery, written by Sullivan and Laurie Pearson. 2001 - Introducing Anne to Children. The first episode of Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series premiered in September 2001. Anne’s out of control imagination leads her through a series of adventures, which demonstrate important lessons in loyalty, resolving conflict, problem solving and friendship. There were 26 entertaining and educational episodes in total. 2008 - Sullivan says Goodbye to Green Gables. The last and final chapter of Anne of Green Gables directed by Kevin Sullivan was Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning. This movie was developed for the 100th anniversary of the novels by L.M. Montgomery. It stars Hannah Endicott-Douglas as young Anne Shirley and Barbara Hershey as an older Anne Shirley. The story brings light to the chapter before Anne was accepted by the Cuthberts at Green Gables by using historical context of Montgomery’s past. It was not intended to follow the books. 2016 - Anne and a New Generation. The story of Anne Shirley lives on with a YTV release of L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables starring Ella Ballentine as Anne Shirley. After the release of this film, there was 2 sequels: Anne of Green Gables: The Good Stars, and Anne of Green Gables: Fire & Dew. Both TV movies premiered in 2017. 2017 - Anne with a Dark Past. In 2017, Netflix and CBC created Anne with an E, a darker, contemporary take on Anne Shirley, starring Amybeth McNulty. The series, now almost in its third season, was created by Moira Walley-Beckett. There are a few Avonlea star actors in the new series such as the producer, Miranda de Pencier, formally Josie Pye in Sullivan’s Anne of Green Gables, and R. H. Thomson, who played Jasper Dale in Road to Avonlea, stars as Matthew Cuthbert in this series. Many Anne-fans have criticized this new series do to the newfound story line from the books and the likeliness to the Sullivan mini series. However, other critics enjoy the newly defined Anne, intended for a younger generation with picturesque filming and social issues. The series won five Canadian Screen awards in 2018 and ended in 2019 after 3 seasons. 2018 - Spin-off Stories. There have been many spin off stories since the original book by L.M. Montgomery like Back to Green Gables, Goodnight Anne, Maud and more. However one that really sparked conversation was Sarah McCoy’s Marilla of Green Gables. Based off extensive research, McCoy recreates Marilla’s life before meeting the life-changing Anne Shirley, including her relationship with John Blythe. There are hundreds of adaptations of the Canadian classic Anne of Green Gables. From films, books, performances, museums and TV shows, the Anne Shirley everyone knows and loves will never be forgotten. Could it be because the story brings us back to a simpler, more innocent time? Or because Anne is the female heroine we all need in our lives? Either way, Anne Shirley holds a special place in everyone’s hearts.