tm
Intellectual Properties of John Steinbeck are owned solely by the
Estate of Elaine A. Steinbeck.
ON
CANNERY ROW
BOOKS & MOVIES
click photos to enlarge
 Of Mice and Men1938 movie poster |  East of Eden1955 movie poster |  Of Mice and MenPlaybill 2015 |
|---|---|---|
 Of Mice and Menmovie poster 1992 |  The Grapes of Wrath1940 movie poster |  In Dubious Battle2017 movie poster |
 Viva Zapata! |  The Red Pony1949 movie poster |  Lifeboat Poster |
 Of Mice and Men playbill 1940s |  Musical1955-PipeDream-OriginalPoster |  To a God Unknown cover |
 2012-06-14 15.56.09 |  200px-JohnSteinbeck_TheGrapesOfWrath |  Cannery RowInside |
 200px-SweetThursday |  travelswithcharley_cover |  To A God Unkown cover |
 Tortilla Flat1942 book cover |  Their Blood is Strong cover |  The Winter of our Discontent cover |
 The Red Pony cover 1945 |  The Pearl cover |  The Long Valley cover |
 The Hero with a Thousand Faces cover |  Once there was a War cover |  Bombs Away cover |
 Cup of Gold cover |  East of Eden 1st edition |  Sweet ThursdayBy John Steinbeck |
 Tortilla Flat cover |  To A God Unkown cover |  To a God Unknown cover |
 The Power of Myth |  Sea of CortezBy John Steinbeck and Edward F. Ricketts |  Between Pacific TidesBy Edward F. Ricketts |
 In Dubious BattleBy John Steinbeck |  The Moon is DownBy John Stienbeck |  Of Mice and Menby John Steinbeck |
 Cannery Rowby John Steinbeck |  Pacific Biological Catalogue |
by Steinbeck, Ricketts and Campbell
click photos to enlarge
 Pacific waves |  Vancouver Island |  Lands End, Sea of Cortez |
|---|---|---|
 Monterey Peninsula |  Golden Gate being built |  Eds Lab |
 Inside Ed's Lab |  Cannery Row |  EXT. Ed's lab |
 Big Sure, CA |  Pacific Redwood Grove |  Pacific wave crash |
 sea-otter-great-tide-pool |  Northern California Coast |  John Steinbeck in ItalyWWII |
 Pacific Grove during a rain storm |  Sea of Cortez. Mexico |  Steinbeck in Italy WWII |
 Queen Charlotte Islands |  NYC 1940s |  Oregon coast |
 Puget Sound |  Kremlin, Moscow |  Mexico City |
 Light House at Pacifc Grove |  Lower Hudson 1941 |  Kremlin |
 Cape Flattery Bay Washington |  Big Sur California |  Asilomar Tide Pools |
sea-otter-great-tide-pool |  Sitka, Alaska |  Sitka, Alaska |
 Bixby Bridge, Big Sur |  Carmel sunset |  Wing Chong Market on Cannery Row |
 Cannery Row |  Cannery Row Street Sign |  Monterey Bay |
 Monterey Bay |  Carmel Tide Pool |  Monterey Bay sunrise |
LOCATIONS
HISTORICAL REFERENCE
click photos to enlarge
 Cannery Row1940s | Golden Gate being built1930's |  Old RowFrom "Street of the Sardine" by Eva Lothar |
|---|---|---|
 Cannery Row 1940s |  Cannery Row 1940s |  Monterey Canning Co |
 Cannery Row fish truck Photo by Fred Harbick |  Sardine catch Albert Campbell circa 1940 |  California Packing Company plant 101 Monterey George Robinson |
 Pacific Biological logo |  Ed's Lab 1928 |  Pacific Biological burns down Nove 25th 1936 |
 Ed's lab 1946 |  ed ricketts with bg |  INT Eds living room at the lab 1947 photo by Ed Jr |
 INT Ed's bedroom at the Lab 1947 photo by Ed Jr |  Ed's workng lab in basement. Photo by Fred Strong |  Alice at Lab 1940s |
 Lab group 1940s |  Ed working in Lab |  Ed working in his Lab |
 Ed with Ritchie at the Lab |  Ed with Squid |  Sasha Calvin art studio 1930s Tom and Margie Morjig photo |
 Gabe and the boys 1935 |  EXT. Wing Chong Market Photo by George Robinson |  Wing Chong Market 1930s |
 Abalone shell mound in Monterey Lewis Josselyn |  Western Flyer 1940sPhoto credit: National Steinbeck Center Donor G Perlman |  Ed, John and Carol on the Baby Flyer1939 |
 Carol Steinbeck1930's |  Ed Ricketts with Tal Lovejoy1940s | John Steinbeck in Italy1940s |
John Steinbeck in WWIIItaly 1940s |  John Steinbeck1930s |  Ed Ricketts |
 Jospeh Campbell1930s |  Xenia Kasheveroffphoto by Edward Weston |  Flora Woods |
 Harold Otis "Gabe" Bicknell |  Ed Ricketts collecting1940s |  Ed Ricketts1940s |
 Charlie Chaplin |  Salvador Dali |  Carol and John and their pet duck1930s |
 Ed Ricketts1940s |  Ed Ricketts at lab1930s |  Henry Fondas Tom Joad in "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940) |
 Carol and John Steinbeck1930s |  Xenia Kasheveroff1930's Photo by Edward Weston |  BurgessMeredithFeb1938 |
 John Steinbeck1930a |  Ricketts family1930s |
Favorites of STEINECK & ricketts & hits of the era
Back On Cannery Row | reference music
'Tain't No Sin (To Dance Around in Your Bones)
Ruth Etting - Shine on Harvest Moon (1931)
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Motets for 5 voices
Moonlight Serenade_Glenn Miller Orchestra_Lyrics 1930's
MUSIC & RECORDINGS
MANKIND: A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER
 EXT. OKLAHOMA (1933)Car flees an oncoming Dust Storm historic reference photo |  EXT. SEA OF CORTEZ (1941)reference photo |  EXT. TEXAS (1930)historic reference photo |
|---|---|---|
 EXT. PACIFICreference photo |  EXT. TEXAS (1930s)historic reference photo |  EXT. TIDE POOLSPolluted tide pools (reference photo) |
 EXT. PACIFICreference photo |  EXT. CANNERYreference photo |  EXT. SEA OF CORTEZ (1948)reference photo |
 EXT. MIDWEST (1930s)historic reference photo |  EXT. PACIFICreference photo |  EXT. PACIFICreference photo |
 EXT. MIDWEST (1930s)historic reference photo |  EXT. PACIFICreference photo |  EXT. PACIFICreference photo |
 EXT. MIDWEST (1930s)historic reference photo |  EXT. SEA OF CORTEZSea turtle killed by boat propeller reference photo |  EXT. TEXAS (1930s)reference photo |
 EXT. ALAKSAreference photo Pink Salmon haul |  EXT. PACIFICreference photo |  EXT. MIDWEST (1930s)historic reference photo |
 EXT. MIDWEST (1930s)historic reference photo |  EXT. MIDWEST (1930s)historic reference photo |  EXT. PACIFICDamage eelgrass bed reference photo |
 EXT. MIDWEST (1930s)historic reference photo |  EXT. PACIFIChealthy tide pool reference photo |  EXT. PACIFICoil slick in tide pools reference photo |
 EXT. MIDWEST (1930s)historic reference photo |  EXT. CALIFORNIA (1930s)Migrant Mother with family in "Hooverville" camp - Dorothea Lane reference photo |  EXT. MIDWEST (1930s)Dying cattle in Dust Bowl historic reference photo |
 INT. SOUP KITCHEN (1930s)historic reference photo |  EXT. MIDWEST (1930s)historic reference photo |  EXT. PACIFICreference photo |
 EXT. OKLAHOMA (1930s)historic reference photo |  EXT. PACIFICreference photo |  EXT. MIDWEST (1930s)Women wear masks in Dust Bowl historic reference photo |
 EXT. PACIFICreference photo |  INT. CANNERY (1930s)historic reference photo |
John Steinbeck is famous for his ability to connect human stories to nature in his works - shining examples of environmental themes in Steinbeck's books include THE GRAPES OF WRATH, CANNERY ROW and SEA OF CORTEZ - all three of these books are the source materials for this series.
Ed Ricketts has become known in the marine-science community as the "Godfather of Marine Ecology". His field collecting of the entire Pacific intertidal of North America, and his research of the decline of the sardine in the Pacific were unprecedented.
Through the episodes of BACK ON CANNERY ROW, a story arc is unfolding alongside the main plot lines - an arc that reveals to the audience the very clear and present impact of human activity on the environment.
Being set between 1930 and 1950, the series characters are living between the Industrial Age and the Information Age - through their stories, we explore the world with them, as they come to understand how profoundly and quickly the activity of mankind is changing life on Earth. These are the roots of the Environmentalism of the 1970's, and the scientific consensus of mankind's role in the warming of the planet.
Cannery Row in Monterey is an industrial area of a community that lives on the bounty of the sea. Ed's lab, sandwiched between large canneries, has an unobstructed view into the workings of the seafood industry as it builds up rapidly around him and then finds itself falling apart when the populations of sardine crash due to overfishing.
Meanwhile, John is writing the true plights of Okies who have been forced from their once-fertile farms to migrate West to California - as the Dust Bowl decimates the entire Midwest in the largest man-made ecological disaster ever experienced.
This story of mankind's role in overfishing the oceans and decimating the land is told throughout the series. It is a touchstone as our characters come to dire realizations about the environment through first hand experiences across all the episodes.
ECOLOGY & ENVIRONMENT
A VISIUAL STORY OF OUR IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT
The BACK ON CANNERY ROW title sequence is imagined here as a visual metaphor for "All Is One" - from the most distant star-filled galaxy to the smallest plankton in the sea; everything is connected - a story told through mankind's impact on the environment.
In the sequence, we experience life in the Pacific from the point of view of the sea creatures... we swim with a massive school of sardine that is lifted into nets above the surface onto a commercial fishing boat before we break free. We then push through a kelp forest as an otter or sea-lion and finally tumble into a lively and colorful tidepool to look back up at the star filled sky as a hermit crab or starfish.
Each episode's title sequence follows the same order of events, but is slightly different... gradually, episode by episode, the school of sardine becomes thinner, the fishing boat's catch smaller, the kelp forest less dense, the tide pool less colorful and alive. By the later episodes there are no sardine to lift into the boat. The kelp forest is an underwater desert and the tide pool is barren and polluted.
The title sequence is showing a powerfully visceral story of man's deep and negative impact on the environment.
Below is a title sequence for the first episode - with mood-boards as reference - followed by what a later episode's title sequence may look like in contrast. (Differences between the two sequences in BOLD)
TITLE SEQUENCE: EPISODE 1
EXT. DEEP SPACE - TIMELESS
Brilliant, frothy swirls of STARS and bright PLANETS.
Surreal. Silent. Still. The core of existence.
Then, each star begins to FLOAT loosely -- like particles --
REVEAL: We are actually under --
-- THE PACIFIC OCEAN
PHOSPHORESCENT PLANKTON and GLOWING JELLYFISH ride currents up towards the surface.
Distant WHALES CALL.
Clouds of silvery SARDINE swarm toward the faint, solitary LIGHT of a SARDINE BOAT - a tiny sun against the blue-black sea that seems as boundless as the universe.
-- NETTING
lifts us with thousands of sardine towards:
-- THE LIGHTED BOAT.
We break the surface - sound rushes in: MEN yell, WINCHES howl.
We slip the netting and fall back to:
-- THE PACIFIC
where a LIGHTHOUSE BEAM cuts through a WAVE that buries us into:
-- A KELP FOREST
that is teeming with life. POUNDING SURF SPRAYS as we tumble over rocks and into:
-- A BUBBLING TIDE POOL
where we are surrounded by bright SEA ANEMONES and colorful SEASTARS, scuttling CRABS and sleek EELS all alive and dead and reproducing and killing in
this tiny world.
-- ANGLE - UP FROM TIDEPOOL:
The STAR-FILLED SKY is eclipsed by a MAN'S SILHOUETTE.
-- MACRO CLOSE ON:
The MAN'S HAND thrusts into the water - tiny air-pockets stay attached to his fingers that quickly gather up a SEA HARE - clouds of MAGENTA INK fill the frame.
TITLE SEQUENCE
Below is a title sequence a later episode's title sequence may look like - after the progression of the seasons worth of title sequences:
TITLE SEQUENCE: EPISODE 12
EXT. DEEP SPACE - TIMELESS
Brilliant, frothy swirls of STARS and bright PLANETS. Surreal. Silent. Still. The core of existence.
Then, each star begins to dim into: darkness.
REVEAL: We are actually under --
-- THE PACIFIC OCEAN
A lone SEA LION searches the deep for food - a tiny creature against the blue-black sea that seems as boundless as the universe.
Silence.
Clouds of EMPTY NETTING are dragged toward the faint, solitary LIGHT of a SARDINE BOAT.
We break the surface to the rhythmic hum of the empty boat's engine comes into focus.
We slip the netting and fall back to:
-- THE PACIFIC
where a LIGHTHOUSE BEAM cuts through a WAVE that buries us into:
-- A KELP FOREST
that has died off.
POUNDING SURF SPRAYS as we tumble with DEBRIS over rocks and into:
-- A SILENT TIDE POOL
where we are surrounded by bright PLASTIC and colorful SWIRLS OF OIL, shells of CRABS and a few remaining discolored SEA STARS are
all dying off.
-- ANGLE - UP FROM TIDEPOOL:
The STAR-FILLED SKY is eclipsed by a FLOATING TRASH, DEAD FISH and a SHEEN OF OIL.
-- MACRO CLOSE ON:
The MAN'S GLOVED HAND thrusts into the water - tiny swirls of oil stay attached to his fingers that quickly gather up a SEA HARE lying dead on the rocks.
RESEARCH
SOURCE MATERIALS
-
"About Ed Ricketts" by John Steinbeck (1951) addendum to "The Log from the Sea of Cortez".
-
"Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck (1945)
-
"Sea of Cortez" by John Steinbeck and Edward F. Ricketts (1941)
RESEARCH | LINKS
World Events
Ecology & Science
Locations
RESEARCH | BOOKS
-
"Carol and John Steinbeck: Portrait of a Marriage" by Susan Shillinglaw (2013)
-
"Breaking Through: Essays, Journals & Travelogues of Ed Ricketts" editor Katharine A. Rodger (2006)
-
"Between Pacific Tides" by Edward F. Ricketts and Jack Calvin (1939)
-
"John Steinbeck and Edward F. Ricketts: the Shaping of a Novelist" by Richard Astro (1973)
-
"Renaissance Man of Cannery Row: by Katharine A. Rodger (2003)
-
"Steinbeck: The Man and His Work: by Richard Astro and Tetsumaro Hayashi (1971)
-
"Outer Shores" by Joel W. Hedgpeth (1978)
-
"Outer Shores 2: Breaking Through" by Joel W. Hedgpeth (1979)
-
"Leopold's Shack and Ricketts's Lab: The Emergence of Environmentalism" by Michael J. Lannoo" (2014)
-
"John Steinbeck, Writer" by Jackson J. Benson (1980)
-
"Sweet Thursday" by John Steinbeck (1954)
-
"Tortilla Flat" by John Steinbeck (1935)
-
"The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck (1939)
-
"Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck (1937)
-
"Harvest Gypsies" by John Steinbeck (1936)
-
"A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living" edited by Diane K. Osbon (1995)
-
"A Hero With A Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell (1949)
-
"The World of Sex" by Henry Miller (1940)
-
"Tropic of Cancer" by Henry Miller (1934)
-
"John Steinbeck: A Good Companion" by Carlton Sheffield (2002)
-
"Beyond Boundaries" edited by Susan Shillinglaw, Kevin Hearle (2002)
-
"Parallel Expeditions: Charles Darwin and the Art of John Steinbeck" by Brian E Railsback (1995)
-
"Conversations with John Steinbeck" edited by Thomas Fensch (1988)
-
"Obscene in the Extreme" by Rick Wartzman (2008)
-
"With Steinbeck in the Sea of Cortez" by Sparky Enea (1991)
-
"Of Men and their Making" edited by Susan Shillinglaw, Jackson J. Benson (2003)
-
"The History of John Steinbeck's Old Ocean View Avenue" by Michael Hemp (2009)
-
"A History of Steinbeck's Cannery Row" by Tom Mangelsdorf (1986)
-
"Steinbeck Remembered: Interviews with friends of John Steinbeck" by Audry Lynch (2000)
-
"John Steinbeck, The California Years" by Brian St. Pierre (1983)
-
"John Steinbeck" by Jay Parini (1995)
-
"A John Steinbeck Encyclopedia" by Brian Railsback and Michael J. Meyer (2006)
-
"Where the Heart Beats: John Cage and the Inner Life of Artists" by Kay Larson (2012)
-
"The Long Valley" by John Steinbeck (1938)
-
"A Fire in the Mind" by Stephen Larsen (1991)
-
"Steinbeck: A Life in Letters" edited by Elaine Steinbeck, Robert Wallsten (1989)
-
"Working Days: The Journals of the Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck (1939)