The Virginian on DVD

According to reports from James Drury himself The Virginian will be released on DVD by Timeless Media. Timeless DVDs can be costly. The color season of Wagon Train is currently selling for $119.98 on their site. Therefore eight seasons of The Virginian plus the ninth season –The Men From Shiloh might end up costing you approx. $1,080. If you break it down it costs approx. $3.75 per 75 minute episode. But the DVD set will also include new filmed intros by James Drury. Pricing hasn’t been set so this is conjecture based on the pricing of the Wagon Train 75 minute season which also includes cast interviews and a 16 episode b/w DVD.

Value for money will ultimately depend on the quality of the print. But it should be better quality than the bootleg copies recorded from TV broadcasts currently for sale on the internet.

If you can’t afford the DVD set then you can always watch The Virginian on Encore Westerns next year for $12.99 a month. Whatever your choice always remember your most important purchase to accompany your viewing pleasure and fill you in on the production background to various episodes – my book. 🙂

Doug McClure : Laguna Beach 1989

Diane Rambow Stevens meeting Doug McClure August, 1989 – Laguna Beach CA. 

“I’d done some other promotions for other artists during the art festival they had each year, but Doug wanted a 3-day ‘exclusive’ showing set up after the festival had pretty much congested the town with cars and people; he didn’t want that much ‘traffic’, and said he wanted to be able to meet each and every potential buyer.”

Many thanks to Diane for the photograph.

Doug McClure & Diana Blair

Diana Blair kindly included a photo of herself and Doug McClure from the mid-1980s when I received her calendar a few years ago. The color has faded a little over the years but as you can see Doug looked fit and healthy.

Diana was a singer-songwriter friend who published his “art sketches”  in calendar form.

Doug McClure Painting

Diane Rambow Stevens has kindly sent me this scan of one of Doug McClure’s paintings from her personal collection.

Diane says. “The colors he chose were in the blues and golds / yellows / tans / brown.  While his line-drawings are detailed and ‘busy’, his paintings seemed to always be somewhat muted – not bold and splashy by any means.”

Trampas v The Virginian

When I was a kid watching The Virginian every Friday evening on BBC 1 I have to admit was always a little disappointed when Trampas wasn’t featured in an episode. The Virginian character became more of an authority figure as the seasons progressed while Trampas retained humor. At times the humor became too broad and slapstick when he teamed up with David Hartman but the character was always appealing to me – until The Men From Shiloh all but destroyed his integrity.

So on a personal level Trampas alias Doug McClure was always my favorite character and actor on The Virginian.

Doug McClure Art Calendar 1986

In 1985 Diana Blair published a collection of Doug’s line illustrations for a calendar titled “The Singing Cowboys of the Silver Screen.”  The calendar features 12 illustrations by Doug accompanied by photographs of screen cowboys, singers and musicians.

Doug’s line art is illustrated in a sketchy line which adds to a dynamic, kinetic effect in the best examples of his work.