Remington Steele book

[clervaux]

Last call on the hard bound edition of the new book on Remington Steele by Judith Moose entitled Steele Loved After All These Years. It is being released on October 8th (Stephanie Zimbalist's birthday) and has been prepared with the cooperation of the entire cast and crew. The book will be a loving look back at our favorite show. It will also contain new information about the pilot episode (Tempered Steele) and the premise episode (License To Steele) as well as a look at the Season 5 we would have gotten had NBC not cancelled the show. There are only a few copies of the hardback book still available. The website is www.signingstars.net/steele.htm. Buyers of the hardback version of the book will receive as a thank you gift their choice of a photo from Remington's wall of fame.

[Myrtle Groggins]

Thanks, clervaux. I'd heard about it before but forgot where I heard it.

[judithmoose]

Hello everyone!

In case you haven’t heard about this yet I am sending a little thank you gift with the hard cover editions of the Steele book. It was decided by several fans in a chat forum a few days ago that the gift should be one of the photos from Remington’s “Wall of Fame” or one of the other shots from the series and/or its cast. The photos have been loaded to my company’s website and can viewed by clicking the link below. There’s also going to be one other gift coming with the hard covers as well but it will be a surprise. After all, one does need to have at least a little mystery…

www.jmmediagroup.com/steele.htm

Have a good weekend and I look forward to hearing from you!
Judith Moose

[Ace]

Judith those are marvelous photos; many I've never seen before.

The ones with Stephanie and her father and Laura/Daniel are always so charming. Steele in the ticker tape parade is a great one and his running a marathon is very amusing considering his remark to Laura about wondering why anyone would want to run 26 miles without being chased. Also the sombrero/margarita one is very evocative of early Julian Noble (sans mustache)

[judithmoose]

Thanks Ace! Those are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The remaining shots I won't let out until the book is in print. I thought about putting out a few dozen more but then figured people would have a hard enough time with 60 to choose from.

My personal favorites: the piano (even if he does happen to be smoking in the picture), the group shot with Efrem, Beverly, Pierce and Stephanie (I like to think of it as "Meet The Folks") and the running shot is so ironic not only because of the comment he made about running 26 miles but because the house he's running in front of is on the backlot and was used in Psycho.

[Ace]

The house in Pyscho -- that might explain the running. That's a great piece of trivia and makes the photo even better.

I love the piano one, it's probably my favorite. But it's so large and prominant on the wall in the episodes that unlike many of these others I've seen it before.

Is the one with him and the dog Steele and a dog or Pierce and a dog? It's wonderful.

The publicity photos with Stephanie with shoulder length hair at the bottom (I think #37 or so) what project are they from?

Ace.

[londonstreet]

The one at the piano and that with the dog are my favorite too, in fact I chose them. The one with a dog was in the office wall too (I noticed it in Steele in the Chips) and I think Pierce is wearing the same sweater he wears in Tempered Steele and in that episode he has a white polo too so maybe it was taken during the filming of that episode. But that's what I guess, I'd like to know if it's Pierce or Steele too.

[farouhkina]

Can anybody explain to me what this expression mean: "One flexible flyer coming up". It is from Remington and as I'm spanish I don't get the meaning.
Thanks in advance

[judithmoose]

The "Flexible Flyer" is a sled. Laura was trying to give Remington a little of the love he missed out on as a child. That's the reason for the kiss immediately after her saying it. He got the message.

Also, the shot with the dog is one from the Wall of Fame and was supposed to be Remington with a dog.

The two shots of Stephanie you asked about Ace: the first (on the left) is from a movie she did somewhere in the late 90s early 2000s. The other is a promo shot from a special she hosted for Lifetime Television about three years ago.

[Myrtle Groggins]

So many great photos. No pictures of Murphy, Bernice, or Tony?

Thanks so much, Judith, It's tough to choose a favorite, although I do love that Bonds wedding pic.

The pics with EZ are fabulous. I chose the one with RS and LH and their parents. ;D

Judith, did you ever discuss the making of the book on any message board, Steelewatchers, maybe? Or could you share some insights here? Cut and Paste would be okay. You don't need to repeat anything you've said before. I'm dying to know, though, how you did it.

Here's a link to info about the Flexible Flyer sleds:
www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ahrpa/opa/kids/themes/flexflyr.htm

[judithmoose]

Hi Myrtle,

Actually, I do have a few shots of Murphy, at least three of Tony but no really good ones of Bernice. I figured people would have a rough time with what I gave them so didn't want to overload. Rest assured though, there are several shots in the book.

You'll have to forgive me because I'm sure this question is going to sound incredibly stupid on my part, and that's more than likely because after moving almost 1500 pounds of furniture by myself yesterday and being in so much pain today that I can barely hold a glass of juice, what exactly do you want to know about the "making of the book"? Are you referring to what made me do it or how much work it's taken to get from beginning to end? This is my fourth book being released and I've never really talked about the inner-workings of any of them. Whatever you want to know, just ask and I'll tell you what I can.

[Myrtle Groggins]

Well, Judith, I guess what I want to know is how difficult it was to find all the principles involved in the series and how easy was it to get them to cooperate? How long did it take you to gather up all the information and do you have lots of information that was left out of the book? I guess I'm asking if you collected enough information for more than one book (I'm sure you did).

As a longtime would-be writer I'm always interested in the making of a book. When I receive my copy and I present it to my writers group, I'd like to give them a little information on the effort the author made to get the book published.

I'm assuming you are a fan of the series.

[judithmoose]

Okay, now that my mind is almost back to working order (LOL!) I can answer your questions. Yes I was and still am a fan of the series. That's incredibly important as far as I'm concerned because writing a book on a show you don't care about will show in the final product. Each one of my books has been a labor of love and has an underlying reason behind it. With regard to gathering information, this has been the fastest book I've put together. I have literally had everything imaginable handed to me with nothing more than a phone call or e-mail being sent to the respective party. Beginning to end, this book will have taken less than four months.

For me, finding the principles of any series is relatively simple. I own an Entertainment PR firm that's also the PR firm for the Talent Managers Association. So usually all I have to do is pick up the phone and call their management. In this case I went about it a different way and it had a snowball effect.

When I first posted on the SteeleWatchers forum that I was thinking about doing a book one of the first people to contact me was Corinna Chaney. She is the woman who was in charge of putting together the commentaries for the DVDs. Corinna asked if there was anything she could do so I asked her to forward the book's outline to those she had just finished working with. Two days later she sent me a confirmation list of who it went out to along with all of their contact information for follow-up calls and/or e-mails.

The first person to contact me following that was Susan Baskin. The following day I left a message for Michael Gleason and within a day he too called. Michael is an absolute darling to whom I owe SOOOO much for being so incredibly kind and willing to bend over backwards to give me anything I need. Michael then called Stu Erwin from MTM and had him call me. Stu too has been a dream to work with. Then I had a message regarding Pierce to which I e-mailed a reply containing a list of questions for him to answer. It took less than a week to get the answers to his interview back.

While I was in Los Angeles in July I met with Michael and he asked me who I still needed to hear from. I rattled off a list and mentioned that I had contacted both agent and manager for Stephanie and Doris' son Michael but hadn't heard back from any of them. Michael said he would take care of it. Stephanie was supposed to have joined us for lunch that day but she was at a friend's wedding in the Grand Canyon and couldn't make it. Doris, on the other hand, was in town and it took less than two hours from that lunch to me answering my cell and having her on the other end asking if she could do anything to help. When I got back to Vegas I had messages from Robert Butler, John Sakmar, Kerry Lenhart, Lee Zlotoff, Jeff Melvoin and Gareth Davies. All of them have volunteered material.

So the last person I needed was Stephanie. Having tried both of her representatives and not having any type of response, I did what every other resourceful girl would do: I sent a note to her daddy. Efrem Jr. took less than three days to e-mail me and said he would do anything he could for the book and would also take care of getting Stephanie. So I had Michael and Efrem tag teaming her until the middle of last month.

I had gone back to Los Angeles to have lunch with Michael and Doris and to take one last stab at getting Stephanie before having to think of what else could be done. The day after that lunch meeting she called and left two messages on my cell. I drove back to where I was staying before calling her back. We were on the phone for over an hour just chatting and then she asked if I wanted to have lunch that weekend. When we met for lunch it was like a couple of old friends who hadn't seen each other in years and needed to catch up on life's events. Very little of what we talked about in the over two hour lunch had anything to do with the series. Among other things, we got on the topic of 'Tea At Five' and I updated her on the lack of any promotional material that had gone out about the show or her for that matter and then handed her the press release I had put together for her. She proofed it, made a change or two and gave it back. (It's a terrible thing that (at the moment) that one little release I did is the only promotional item of her doing the show that's been put out since the initial statement announcing the national tour that she's not signed for.) Stephie's absolutely adorable but runs a mile a minute and has so much on her plate that I'm amazed she gets any sleep. Reminds me a bit of myself in that respect...LOL!!!

There is an utter ton of material that will not be included in the book and although there is definitely enough for a second volume, it will never see print. One of the things that I make sure of is that the actor and/or crew member is completely comfortable with me before we even start talking about anything to do with the show. They have confided countless items that they know won't get out because I gave them my word that it wouldn't. That's my "publicist-on-guard" side kicking in. I will protect each one of them and their secrets to the bitter end.

As for the publishing aspect, that too is relatively simple. I own the publishing company that's putting it out. When I wrote my first book I tried the standard approach of finding the publisher, looking for an agent and being told by every last one of them that there's no market for television series related books. Several other people that I had been in contact with who were also doing books on television were being met with the same attitude. Finally having had enough rejection, last October I launched Signing Stars Publishing and geared it to specialize in books relating to the Entertainment Industry (although there are three authors I've signed that aren't in the industry).

So, I guess for now that would be the story behind "Steele Loved". If there's anything else, please let me know and if you find yourself in need of a publisher one of these days, you can always contact me.

Have a wonderful afternoon!

[Myrtle Groggins]

Hey Judith, such a great response. Fabulous. Thanks for taking the time to fill me in.

First, before anything else, I think it's great that you started your own publishing company. I'd love to see it in action. Since you are publishing "Hollywood" related books, but now you have other authors who aren't writing about TV series, what other types of books are they writing? This is fascinating. Being a writer and knowing so many writers, I'm always interested in the publishing angle, too. I'm sure my writer friends will ask me about it.

I know exactly what you mean about Stephanie being on the go and having tons of things on her calendar. The times I've seen her in person, she was always rushing to get to something else and so many people know her and talk to her, I wondered how she ever had time to shower and rest.

Leave it to Daddy to get his daughter to cooperate. I hope you got some great stuff from EZ, too. I've been a fan of his since his 77 Sunset Strip days, before it was in reruns.

So does Stephanie need a publicist? It does seem to me that there is very little publicity for the things she does. That's really too bad. I'm very glad you could help her with a bit of publicity for the play. I'm very sorry she's not planning to do the national tour. I'd love for her to change her mind.

I'm going to print out your adventures in creating the new book and insert it into my copy for future reference.

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions. If I think of anything else, I'll let you know. I'm sure something will pop into my head soon. Thank you very much.

For everyone:

I also found a radio interview with Judith, Michael Gleason and Doris Roberts here:

www.geocities.com/ksav_talk/aug15.mp3

Don't know if it has been posted before, but I just found it. I think the whole file lasts for about an hour and a half. The host is a bit chatty in the beginning, so be patient, you even have to sit through a reading of the "should have been" last episode of Seinfeld (actually better than the one we saw). yakety-yakety-yak Judith and company comes on after the LSMFT commercial, about 31 minutes into the show. Sadly, Judith doesn't get a chance to say much.

The guy swore Laura drove a VW Golf. Thank goodness Judith set him straight.

Just for the record: LSMFT = Lucky Strike means fine tobacco

[Ace]

MG, yes the radio interview was posted before. It's in the RS media section. It's cut though, for those that want to skip the first 1/2 hour and the commercials.

[Ace]

The limited Hardcover edition run has been raised from 100 to 150 copies (after the original 100 sold out). They can be ordered along with soft cover copies at:

www.signingstars.net/steele.htm

[xenos1981]

Judy,

Found your post on how you compiled the info for the book very intriguing and fascinating. Might you post that on IMDb? I think there are a lot of people over there who would want to read about that.

Thanks! (And waiting patiently for my RS Bible!)
Xenos

[sparklingblue]

Xenos, yours is one hell of a signature.

Can't argue with that.

[Myrtle Groggins]

Any idea when these books will be "out"? I didn't see any new release date on the website.

[steeleinc]

Efrem has finished with the final edit and Judith will be going to press soon. Maybe we'll be getting a Steele valentine.

Debra