Remastered Bundle

I have been putting off buying the remastered versions of Sullivan's Anne of Green Gables films and Road to Avonlea in hopes that a Blu-ray release was coming.  This weekend, Sullivan Entertainment  had a great special on a bundle of the remastered Anne films and the complete series of Road to Avonlea and I couldn't help myself!

The bundle came with some great extras, including: Kevin Sullivan's novelization of A New Beginning, the Anne of Green Gables Story Book, some Road to Avonlea photos, an autographed photo of Hannah Endicott-Douglas as Anne, a soundtrack CD and some assorted chocolates and candies.

I can't wait to start watching! I'm planning to do some posts in which I compare the remastered and standard versions.

RIP Jonathan Crombie

Yesterday, we heard that sad news that Jonathan Crombie, best known for playing Gilbert in the Sullivan Anne of Green Gables films and Road to Avonlea, had passed away at the age of 48 from a brain hemorrhage on April 15th.

In addition to his many television roles, Crombie was well-known to the theatre world as an actor at Stratford and on Broadway.

His sister Carrie said, "I think he was really proud of being Gilbert Blythe and was happy to answer any questions ... he really enjoyed that series and was happy, very proud of it — we all were."

Producer Kevin Sullivan said, "I think there will be hundreds of people who will be floored that this has happened. It's such a devastating tragedy. In reality, Jonathan was as generous, as kind, as sensitive and as ambitious, in some ways, as the character he came to be identified with."

Jonathan Crombie's performances have touched thousands of people around the world and it is indeed a tragedy that he has passed on at so young an age.  His fans will always remember him through the work he has left us.

Fictional Residents

Horrible New Anne Cover

A company called CreateSpace has published a new edition of Anne of Green Gables with a horrible cover!  They seem to have replaced our favourite 19th century orphan with Daisy Duke!?

The 1908 novel is in the public domain so pretty much anyone can publish it.  I really hope no one will buy this one!  What are your thoughts?

L.M. Montgomery's Birthplace

L.M. Montgomery was born November 30, 1874 in a small white and green house overlooking New London Harbour on PEI.

The house is very well-maintained.  The interior is decorated with period Victorian furnishings.  There is a small bedroom decorated as it may have been when Montgomery was born there.

On display in the house is Montgomery's wedding dress.  It has been perfectly preserved and it's amazing to see how tiny it is!  Humans really have evolved to become larger and taller in a very short time.

MacNeil Homestead

"Behind them in the garden the little stone house brooded among the shadows. It was lonely but not forsaken. It had not yet done with dreams and laughter and the joy of life; there were to be future summers for the little stone house; meanwhile, it could wait. And over the river in purple durance the echoes bided their time."

-Anne of Avonlea

I don't believe the above quotation was written while thinking about the MacNeil homestead but somehow the idea of it being "lonely but not forsaken" seemed appropriate to me.  It is no longer lived in but visited frequently.

This was Montgomery's home from 1876 to 1911.  She was taken here to live with her maternal grandparents after her mother died of tuberculosis.

What first struck me about this foundation was the small size.  Sometimes we take for granted our massive homes today but the amount of physical labour it would have taken to create even this small house 150 years ago would have been enormous.

This area is preserved with well-tended walking paths along which are plaques with quotations by Montgomery and short descriptions of the area.

Anne of Green Gables Museum

"It's good to be here again... There's something about Park Corner that isn't in other places..."

-L.M. Montgomery

The Anne of Green Gables Museum is located at Park Corner.  It's in the Campbell home that was built by Montgomery's aunt and uncle in 1872.  The house still belongs to the Campbell family some 230 years later.  This is the house that Montgomery called Silver Bush and it provides the inspiration for her descriptions of the house in her novel Pat of Silver Bush.

The museum houses many antique pieces that were in the house at the time Montgomery would have visited it.  There is also a great collection of some of Montgomery's belongings, some original family photos and also first editions of Montgomery's books.

The rooms are small but very well laid out and the house is more spacious than it might appear from the outside.

Three years after Anne of Green Gables was published Montgomery married Ewan Macdonald in the parlour of this house.  Tourists still come from all over the world to be married in that room or on the grounds near the Lake of Shining Waters.  Montgomery's wedding dress is housed at her birthplace.

I found the museum to be a wonderful tribute to Montgomery's life and work.  The grounds are beautiful and it's well worth visiting if you're on PEI.