EXCLUSIVE: Degrassi Street History! (Patreon)

As promised, here's some original pieces of Degrassi's history! 

I was able to obtain most of these from Stacie Mistysyn! Stacie played Lisa Canard in The Kids of Degrassi Street and Caitlin Ryan in Degrassi Junior High through Degrassi: The Next Generation. Stacie and Pat Mastroianni (Joey Jeremiah) held a fundraiser and donated pieces from behind-the-scenes on the show. And now, they're in my collection!

Here's a complete breakdown of each photo if you’re looking for more context:

• Irene Moves In 16mm Reel: An original Kids of Degrassi Street episode with an up close look at the frame-by-frame shots of the opening theme song.
  
• Playing With Time Folder: All the kids that worked with Degrassi's production company, Playing With Time, would receive these folders to hold their updates. They were sending 6-10 year olds home with important pieces of information after all. The photo on the folder is the Playing With Time Office building and you can see "Stacie - Lisa" up in the corner of the folder. Stacie signed this unique piece of history for me!
  
• Family Screening Flyer: These flyers went out to the friends & family of the Kids on Degrassi Street! Everyone from cast to crew would attend these events.
  
• Call Sheet: This is a call sheet! The cast uses these to make sure everyone arrives on time, in the correct location, with all the things they need to bring. With this call sheet, there was also a handwritten note attached which read "Stacie to bring blue bathing suit," along with a lost of other real props/specific clothing items.
  
• Catherine Finds Her Balance: Playing With Time also provided these press releases. These would go out to the media so they could have all the information to write an article. Sometimes, they'd take the copy and simply paste it into a column with a fancy headline. Or they could call the number at the bottom of the press release to get direct quotes and write a story. I specifically included this one because of the credits:

               -  Stacie Misytsyn later plays Caitlin.
              - Sarah Charlesworth later plays Susie.
              - Alannah Myles is THE Alannah Myles who sings Black Velvet.
              - Memorable names like: Linda Schuyler, Kit Hood, Yan Moore,      
                 Lewis Manne, Wendy Watson. By the way, if the name Christopher Ward
                 sounds familiar, you'll read about his close friendship with Stephen
                 Stohn in the book Whatever It Takes.

• Toronto Public Library: A community thank you letter sent out to the public library. I think this is very sweet of them to do.
  
• Degrassi Yearbook: On top of sending these types of releases to the media, they also served well for the friends & family of The Degrassi Kids who wanted to make sure they caught each episode!
  
• Rehearsal Schedule: Before call sheets go out to film an episode, the cast has to practice! I included this one because of all the unique markings on it that are now engraved as a part of history!
  
• News Update: Degrassi’s started to win some awards! These releases went out to both the media & home with the kids! What I love most about this update is the handwritten thank you from Linda Schuyler in the corner!
  
• Winners Again: Griff Makes A Date was one of the most well-awarded episodes from The Kids of Degrassi Street franchise. Stacie's folder was filled with notices about recognitions of this episode! Watching it today would be quite a surprise, especially if you note the language used in this document. But as usual, it was well ahead of the times.. at the time!
  
• Street Kids: Stacie’s collection had over a dozen articles about The Kids of Degrassi Street! Here’s one of the two-page articles about the series!
  
• Kids of Degrassi Street Poster: In each article, this photo is used to promote the series. One of the only promotional photos used outside of still frames from the actual episodes. What’s crazy, is I also won this poster in an auction. Publicist Kathryn Ellis and Head Writer Yan Moore also opened up their collection for a fundraiser and I got this amazing piece of Degrassi history right on my Degrassi room door.
  
• Promotional Post Cards: These were provided by Julia Grant from the episode "What does Degrassi mean to YOU?!” Julia shared how close she was with Lewis Manne and Wendy Watson, the musical composers of the original Degrassi. And she’s the reason we have access to these incredible pieces of history! Julia shared with me that these were given out as post-card sized promotional materials that would be handed out on the street! How crazy is that?!
  
• Kids of Degrassi Street Calendar: Finally, the last photo is a very unique piece of my collection. A Kids of Degrassi Street calendar from the early 80’s. Here we see Stacie Mistysyn and Neil Hope playing Lisa & Griff. Though, we’d remember them more fondly as Caitlin & Wheels, a duo that almost never interacted.
  
  Thanks for supporting the podcast! Let me know what piece stands out to you!