Hi:I hope you’ll enjoy watching the ALMANZO WILDER: Life Before Laura trailer.Dean 

This afternoon I posted our trailer on YouTube.  It’s called ALMANZO WILDER: Life Before Laura.  The YouTube search criteria tags include “Little House, Dean Butler, Almanzo Wilder, DVD, Trailer, and DeanBLegacy”.  I’d like to know what you all think.Dean   

I’m considering a new project and I’d really like your involvment.  If you are so inclined take a few moments and tell me how old you were and what was happening in your lives when you discovered Little House on the Prairie and what was it about your life experiences and aspirations that bonded you to our program.  From what I’ve experienced over nearly thirty years it seems to me that the connection to our show profoundly of the heart and spirit…I’d like to know, from your perspectives, if that’s really true.I look forward to hearing from you.Dean 

Just wanted everyone to know that we are hard at work on the video trailer announcing our ALMANZO WILDER: LIFE BEFORE LAURA documentary.  Its going to be fun.  Dean 

Hi All…For those who asked for on-line autographs…you may not receive them prior to Thanksgiving as promised.  Thanks for your understanding.Happy Holidays… Dean 

Last Friday and again yesterday morning I was on the telephone doing an interview with Sandra Hume, the writer who writes the Homesteader.  Sandra got in touch with me when I was visiting in Malone, NY and we arranged the interview.  Sandra’s motivation is a passionate interest in the Little House sites and her desire to see them continue to grow and flourish in the future.  Sandra and I are on the same page.   In my opinion the Little House legacy is a three legged stool composed of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, the Little House television series, and the very special LIW sites located in Pepin Wisconsin, Independence Kansas, Walnut Grove Minnesota, De Smet South Dakota, Spring Valley Minnesota, Burr Oak Iowa,  Mansfield Missouri, and Malone New York. I’ve either visited or created digital content for all the sites and I value the association I have with the special people who keep them alive.  Sandra and I sent a considerable amount of time talking about their importance to Laura’s legacy.  She and I both believe that the sites are essential because they add physical reality to Laura’s great craft as a storyteller.  When you’ve read Farmer Boy and then visit Burke NY the book comes alive and the magic of Laura’s prose becomes real life and that realization in the hearts and minds of visitors makes Farmer Boy and the Wilder Homestead even better. When you’ve read On The Banks of Plum Creek and then go to Walnut Grove and wade in Plum Creek you have a connection to Laura’s life experience and her family that is timeless.  Sandra Hume understands this essential connection and is doing her part to keep the connection alive and well in people’s minds.Our show, while not shot at any of Laura’s home sites, has created more awareness of those sites than the books ever could on their own and led people to buy Laura’s books because the show, I believe, successfully captured the essential tonal quality of what Laura wrote, while going far beyond her stories in order to extend the series to its decade long run on NBC.  Because of its longevity the series became a shared experience for millions of people and led viewers and readers to go deeper into Laura’s life in order to learn about the reality of the places she lived and about which she wrote.  It speaks to the enormous power of television that the series could fuel such interest in the the Little House books and sites while not being locked to the content of the books from which it drew inspiration. Through the years I’ve heard lots of complaints from avid readers and viewers about the fact that our show deviated significantly from the Laura’s books.  While its true that the majority of scripts where created out of our writer’s imaginations its also true that the essential plot points of Laura’s stories were successfully brought to the screen.  I’m very grateful to have been at the center of one of the most essential book to screen plot turns.  Laura purists may have had disagreements with specific choices I can only hope that they are happy with the overall direction  Michael chose for the show.  I’m delighted to have shared my thoughts and experiences with Sandra Hume and I look forward to reading her article in Homesteader. Dean 

I was always amazed by how well the production machine of the Little House series worked…week after week, year after year.  The people involved in coordinating the details of production were experts at their jobs.  While Michael Landon, our Executive Producer, Supervising Producer, Star, and Director was the most visible of those, Kent McCray - the show’s Associate Producer and later Producer, was one of the most important logistical masterminds who coordinated a great team and made it all work for over 200 episodes.

Kent McCray began his television career at NBC nearly half a century ago, back in the days when the Peacock network had production studios for its live shows in Hollywood…now they’re in beautiful downtown Burbank…in a few years they’ll move to the NBC Universal studios in North Hollywood, CA.  But I digress. 

Kent came into television at a time before color…before video-tape…at a time when the production mechanics of the medium were just being standardized.  So Kent was in a position to see it all happen during a time when people in the industry were just figuring it out. 

Some of his many credits include Associate Producer of Alias Jesse James in 1959 and  Philip Marlowe, Private Eye in 1960.  He was a production manager on Bonanza and the High Chaparral. He was the Associate Producer of the Little House on Prairie pilot in 1974 and moved up to become the Producer and Production Manager through more than half of the show’s 10-year run.

I met Kent when I came on at the start of season 6. From my first exposure to Kent through the next five years there was always the sense that he absolutely loved what he was doing and that he always understood exactly what was going to happen.  Even on those days when schedules changed or the weather didn’t cooperate or someone got sick Kent always made the day work out.  Kent and Michael were a tremendous team.  Both men knew their jobs backwards and forwards and each knew how to make the other a success. They were amazing and the show we all loved was the proof of their skills and their trust and faith in each other.

So much has been written about Michael over the years…the star, writer, director, and producer. Kent was Michael’s most capable right hand man…who worked in the background with a confidence building spirit and “can do” attitude.  In the always fluid world of production the ability to roll with the punches and still keep moving forward towards a successful completion of the work is vital.  Kent had this in spades.

Some of my favorite memories of Kent on the job include his wonderful sense of humor, and his infectious laugh.  Kent had great empathy for the people he worked with…he could be a sensitive voice of support and guidance and he could put the hammer down when circumstances called for decisive action.  I’m sure Kent had more than a few sleep deprived nights figuring out big problems, but in front of the cast and crew he was always the picture of calm and clarity.

One of the stories Kent told me while interviewing him for Little House bonus contenwas about the first day of shooting on the pilot and typifies the spirit of invention which defined the entire Little House experience.  Those who know the show can never forget that opening sequence in the pilot when the Ingalls family is leaving the Big Woods.  You’ll all recall that the scene is beautifully set in the snow.  But that’s not the way it was planned or originally written.  It was certainly going to be a winter day, but the snow was an uninvited yet welcome addition to the scene. As Kent told it the snow started falling on Sunday morning and continued all day, all night, and into the next morning.  As the associate producer Kent worked with the producer, with Michael and all the department heads and adapted everything for the snow and shot the next morning without a hitch. 

From the beginning of the show until the end…in the production offices, on the stage, on location, in the editing room, the scoring stage or the dubbing stage — plans were executed, challenges were overcome and the show was made to a very high creative standard – on time and frequently under budget. 

It was a treat to be there with Kent and Michael, who together harnessed the skills of hundreds of talented people and made a show that’s been magical for audiences around the world for more than three decades.

Thanks,

Dean

We’re currently working on a History Channel promo for a show entitled LEAVE NO MAN BEHIND…all about a team of men and women named Moore’s Marauders who travel the world in search of America’s MIAs from WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. It seems that there are over 78,000 American MIAs from WWII alone. There are lots a amazing stories to tell.

To make this promo we are using footage that we shot last May during a Marauder expedition to the Northern Marianas Islands as well as footage created by a company called DIGITAL RANCH from their DOGFIGHTS series. DOGFIGHTS, for those who don’t know, is a History Channel series which uses motion animation to enhance visual understanding of great air battles, or Dogfights, from America’s recent wars. If you have interest in aviation this is a really fun hour.

For LEAVE NO MAN BEHIND we will use motion animation in order to recreate the final moments of America’s MIAs in order to aid in telling their heroic stories. Motion animation will replace archival movie footage and allow the producers to offer cinematic representations of specific events in ways that will not only increase understanding but also thrill the viewer. One could argue that turning historic events into pure entertainment is diminishing them, but if recreating events gives us a window of understanding into the moments that changed men’s lives forever then its a good thing.

History on TV is evolving into a viewing experience that’s much more fun to watch.