Robin Hood's Promotion

Neil continues to unearth fascinating information about Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). His research has helped me continue to post information about all aspects of the making of our favourite movie and made this blog possible. Below is his latest input:

“I am very excited to have found this selection of photographs from ‘Today’s Cinema’ dated 27 March 1952.

One shows the amount of promotional material which was around then and typified Walt Disney's publicity campaign which was vast for this film and that is one thing that singles it out for me - even at a very young age.

Also the other shows the queues waiting to see the film in the West End - you will read the caption that sums it up better than I can.

The crowds impressed me as did the large poster outside the cinema - one we know well. This was the second week for the film but still the crowds were as shown.

One interesting note - the film Quo Vadis had been released some time earlier than this and seemed to do record business all over the UK wherever it went. Peter Ellenshaw worked on that one I think.

But these were very good, beautifully made films in glorious Technicolor and on a scale that was not often seen at that time. Another that springs to mind a little earlier was King Solomon’s Mines with Stewart Granger and that brought the crowds out. These have one thing in common though - they were all very good films and still are if viewed now.”

Many thank’s Neil!

The caption reads: ‘Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men, the RKO release in Technicolor starring Richard Todd with Joan Rice, is keeping up its second week pressure, as evidenced by these photographs taken outside the Leicester Square Theatre, where it has been attracting spectacular business since its World Premiere on March 13. Part of the second week-end queues to one side of the house, with a defile waiting patiently across the other side of the street, facing that along the theatre itself.’

The second caption reads:‘Many of London’s biggest stores are collaborating with RKO Radio’s Exploitation department in window display tie-ins for Walt Disney’s British production in Technicolor, The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men, the RKO release with Richard Todd and Joan Rice, which is currently scoring a hit on its World Premiere run at the Leicester Square Theatre.

1.     The ‘Robin Hood’ display put on by the Houndstitch Warehouse Company in their women’s outdoor wear window.

2.     The elaborate sports window tie-in at Selfridge’s Oxford Street.

3.     Vatric, Regent Street, purveyors of vacuum cleaners, use this modernistic ‘Robin Hood’ motif.

4.     Famed toy store, Hamley’s, of Regent Street, brighten their windows ‘Robin Hood’ cut-outs, bows and arrows.

5.     Cramer’s music store, of Kensington High Street, favours the eye-catching ‘Robin Hood’ music display.

6.     This ingenious ‘Robin Hood tie-in’ is on show at Anglo-French Shoes, of Victoria Street.'

We have often discussed on this site how much advertising and promotional material Disney used before the release of Robin Hood. But this evidence suggests the memorabilia was greater than expected. I wonder how much of these ‘Robin Hood tie-ins’ survive? We have had a few items in the memorabilia section, but if anybody out there knows of more, please get in touch.

As we can see in the pictures of the huge queue outside the Leicester Square Theatre, Disney’s live-action movie Robin Hood was a big success. But what eludes us is the amount this Technicolor masterpiece made at the box-office. Does someone know where we could find this information? If so, please get in touch.

Robin Hood Flour: The Miller's Ransom

Robin Hood Flour was founded in 1900 by Donald Mclean in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, in western Canada. In 1909 the mill was taken over by Francis Atherton Bean of Minneapolis and within two years it was producing over 1,600 barrels of flour a day. Using the green and red ‘archer’ emblem as a sign of good value and respectability, Robin Hood Flour and its recipes have remained popular for over a century.

A while ago I posted about Robin Hood Flour and their promotion of the live action Disney film The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). Below are the first five pages of the very rare Robin Hood Flour Comic that was produced as part of the campaign. These pages were very kindly sent in by Laurence.

Laurence commented on how the artist has remained quite faithful to the costumes in the film and I was also impressed by the quality of the artwork.

There are more pages to come!

Picture Show & Film Pictorial April 12th 1952

Geoff Waite has recently been in touch and very kindly sent in information from the magazine Picture Show & Film Pictorial dated April 12^th 1952. This article shows fascinating details of the promotion of Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood and how it was received by critics after its release.

He says:

“I recently acquired a copy of the weekly magazine Picture Show & Film Pictorial for April 12 1952 which included a review of the new Disney Robin Hood film and featured Richard Todd and Joan Rice on the front cover.”

“The new releases were allocated three stars for Excellent, two for Very Good and one for Good. You will see that Robin Hood received two stars i.e. Very Good along with the James Stewart release Where the River Bends and that no three stars were awarded that week. Even Doris Day and Gordon MacRae in Starlift only succeeded in gaining one star.”

Geoff continues:

“The film is described as ‘delightful entertainment’ and that ‘Richard Todd is a lively, youthful Robin, and newcomer Joan Rice is a pretty, tomboyish Maid Marian’.

One of the advertisements featured in that particular issue of Picture Show was obviously influenced somewhat by the publicity surrounding the new Disney film although there is no mention of either Disney or Robin Hood.”

I expect some of you have recognised a very young Roger Moore in the advert that Geoff mentiones above. He of course went on to play Ivanhoe, The Saint and James Bond in his long career.  So a very big thank you to Geoff for sending me this wonderful information and giving us all an insight into how the movie was received at the time.

To read many other reviews of Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men please click here.

Disney Robin Hood Hat 1951

There are many promotional items that can be seen on this blog produced during the release of Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). But the hat above is a bit of a mystery to me and I would appreciate any feed-back. It is a magazine/newspaper advertisement for what is described as a ‘Disney Hat-Robin Hood’ from 1951 which was the year the film was actually in production at Denham Studios. So was the hat made by Walt Disney Productions to advertise the forthcoming film? Any information would be much appreciated.



Robin Hood Flour Promotion

This beautifully illustrated poster was yet another of the many promotions for Walt Disney’s live-action movie the ‘Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men’ (1952).

Included in the promotion of the film were three (?) giveaway small comic books, 7.25 inches tall x 5 inches wide and printed by Western Publishing. The first free comic was ‘The Miller’s Ransom,’ followed by the ‘Ghosts of Waylea Castle', the third is sadly unknown. The comics were written by Don Christensen and illustrated by Tony Sgroi and Russ Manning.

‘Robin Hood Flour' was founded in 1900 by Donald Mclean in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, in western Canada. In 1909 the mill was taken over by Francis Atherton Bean of Minneapolis and within two years it was producing over 1,600 barrels of flour a day.

Using the green and red ‘archer’ emblem as a sign of good value and respectability, Robin Hood Flour and its recipes have remained popular for over a century. In the late 50’s and early 1960’s the company even used a jingle made from the theme tune of the classic TV series ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood.’

Souvenir Programme

This is a very special Christmas treat for all my blogger buddies via Laurence. This is the original British souvenir programme from Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood (1952). Enjoy!

I would like to say a very big thank you to Laurence for sending in yet another gem, for us all to appreciate.

Arnold Beauvais

A very big thank you to Laurence, who recently informed me that he had discovered that the illustrator behind some of the film memorabilia of Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood, including the beautiful jigsaw puzzles, that we have been admiring and books, (including his line drawings for the 1952 hardback edition of Collins’ 'Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men’) was Arnold Beauvais.

Neil said a while ago that, “It would be good to find some kind of biography of the man whose life spanned from Victorian times into the modern era”. Well thanks to Laurence, I managed to find some fascinating information......

Arnold Victor Beauvais was born in Catford on the 13th April 1886. He was the third child of the French artist Charles Henri Beauvais. His father, born in Marseille in 1864, was also a talented painter, who after training in Paris came to England in 1882 where he met and married an English girl, Anne Corfield. This happy union produced four sons and two daughters.

Arnold Beauvais commenced his art training in 1900. He worked in his father’s commercial studio, on lithographic and poster design, during the day and studied art in the evenings at the Bolt Court Art School in Fleet Street.

In 1903 Charles Beauvais left England and returned to his native France and opened a commercial studio in Marseille. Arnold Beauvais took this opportunity to further his art studies and spent sixteen months in Paris. He then rejoined his family in Marseille and started to work once again with his father.
 
Charles Beauvais died in 1911 and Arnold Beauvais took over the management of the studio for the next two years. In 1913 he returned to London, rented a Studio in Chancery Lane and produced Artwork for a wide range of clients – J. Lyons, R.K.O., Radio Pictures, Black & White Whisky, Warner Bros., Walt Disney Co., Younger’s Scotch Ales and many more- which meant drawing everything from Film Posters and Magazine illustrations to Press Adverts, Cartoons and Jigsaw puzzles.

The work for the film distributors included posters and general publicity for such famous films as, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Swiss Family Robinson, Up In Arms and all the subsequent Danny Kaye films, Snow White, Bambi, Treasure Island, Robin Hood, Alice in Wonderland, Hans Anderson, Peter Pan and a host of Walt Disney nature films. The success of this work inevitably led to the illustrations in the associated ‘book of the films’ produced by Collins of Glasgow.

His involvement with the film world commenced in the mid-thirties and lasted for two decades. During this period a highly successful series of caricatures were produced for the magazine – Film Weekly. These caricatures of film stars were produced by the then relatively untried ‘air brush’ technique. He also originated one of the most successful advertising campaigns produced before the Second World War. His series of ‘Where’s George?’ advertisements for Lyons created a tremendous interest at the time and are still remembered by people almost forty years later.

But Arnold Beauvais’s talents ranged far beyond the realms of art. His career as a free-lance commercial artist enabled him not only to paint for pleasure but also to devote time to his other main love – music. In fact his success as an n opera singer during the 1920’s eventually forced him to make a choice between a full- time career as an artist or a singer when he combined commitments became excessive.

As a singer he made his debut at the Old Vic playing the part of Fernando in Il Trovatore. The quality and range of his bass voice together with his acting ability led him to play the leading roles in many of the classic operatic standards such as: - The Magic Flute, Don Giovann, Rigoletto, Aida, Lohengrin, Faust, Carmen, and about a dozen other operas.

It was during this time with the Old Vic opera company that he designed the famous poster for the appeal fund to raise £30,000 to renovate the fabric of the building. During the 1930’s he taught at the Bolt Court Art School where he himself had studied, more than thirty years earlier.

In 1956 Arnold Beauvais reduced his commercial art commitments in order to devote more time to his oil paintings. He was made a Member of the London Sketch Club in 1929 and elected President in 1936 later he became Life President.


Arnold died in 1982.

Robin Hood Jig Saw Puzzle No.1

Back in March, Neil discovered three jigsaw puzzles from Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood. At the time we discussed the beautiful artwork and wondered who the artist was who painted these exquisite pictures. Well, I am pleased to say that Laurence has recently sent me yet another example of these 58 year old puzzles and an answer to our question!



Laurence said:

“I was just having a quick peep at your site and saw the images of three of the puzzles that were issued as a tie-in with the film. I thought you might like an image of the No. 1 in the series, Also, for your information, the artist for the artwork on the boxes and the puzzles themselves was Arnold Beauvais (1886-1982) who also illustrated the film tie-in book, which I am sure you are familiar with.

He also illustrated the film books for Disney's Treasure Island and Rob Roy, The Highland Rogue.”

Laurence has also very kindly sent me some information on the life of Arnold Beauvais, which I will post at a later date.

To see more memorabilia from Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men, please click on the Label Memorabilia below.

Copyright?

With uncertainty about my job and quite a lot of holiday left, I took advantage of a quiet weekend at work and spent two days in Edwinstowe in Nottinghamshire. I stayed at the lovely Forest Lodge and visited Mansfield and of course, my favourite place........ Sherwood Forest! I have plenty of pictures and information that I will share with you all, but firstly I want to show you an alarming discovery I made while in the gift shop.

On my first day in the forest it was quite cloudy, so I took the opportunity to have some dinner in the Forest Table. This is a lovely little restaurant with its walls decorated with a copy of nearly every ‘Robin Hood’ film poster you can think of. So I tucked into my baguette alongside, (yes you guessed it!) a full size copy of Putzu’s poster for the 1972 release of Disney’s Story of Robin Hood. Not a bad start!

It was starting to brighten up by now,  so I thought I would take a walk to the exhibition and have a look in the shop. There were a couple of books I eagerly bought, but not a lot else, just the usual toys and sweets. But just as I turned around to come out, something caught my eye. It was a clock decorated with characters from Disney’s Story of Robin Hood! I couldn’t believe it! Below were cups, plates and jugs with the same illustrations used in the book of the film, from 1952. But after closer inspection I noticed something very concerning-they did not carry any Disney copyright logo. In fact there is no indication that the images belong to a Disney motion picture. Now as you all know I care very deeply about this particular movie and its lasting legacy, so rather stunned, I hurriedly took note of the company that make these particular items and left the shop.

The Story of Robin Hood (the items actually just say Robin Hood) clocks, jugs, cups etc were also for sale in a gift shop in Edwinstowe, which is where I was able to take these pictures. Now I’m no expert on these matters, but IS this is an infringement of copyright as they are actually using illustrations from a book or am I over reacting-what do you all think?

Story of Robin Hood Letter Headings

Back in November last year I posted pictures of both of these ‘Story of Robin Hood’ letter headings and asked my readers if they thought they were both genuine. The coloured letter heading did look very fresh and new. But Bill Cotter, an expert on all things ‘Disney’ and author of ‘The Wonderful World of Disney Television,’ very kindly contacted this site and said:

“Yes, the colored letterhead is legitimate. The B&W version would have been used to send out "Robin Hood" specific updates during filming. The studio used the colored type for general correspondence, changing it out throughout a year as different films went into the release cycle.”

So thanks Bill for sorting that one out for me!


Bill’s websites can be reached at: http://www.billcotter.com/index.htm

Souvenir Programme from the Premier of Disney's Robin Hood

One of the most rewarding things about running this blog is hearing from my new readers and fellow enthusiasts of Disney’s Story of Robin Hood. So it was great to hear from Laurence last week, when he contacted me with this original copy of the lavish souvenir programme from the premiere of the film.

Laurence says:

“It has always been my favourite childhood film. I have collected film memorabilia for many years and do have a few pieces connected with the movie. (I have an original programme from the premiere, cover of which is attached.) I also used to draw quite a bit and send portraits off to get them signed and managed to get one or two actors from the Story of Robin Hood, when they were still with us. I also got to meet Richard Todd on one occasion in the early eighties.”

I will be posting some more fascinating items that Laurence has sent in, so stay tuned. If you have an interest in Disney’s Robin Hood or the legend that inspired it, please get in touch, I will be pleased to hear from you. Just email me at disneysrobin@gmail

In the meantime a special thanks to Laurence for sharing this very rare item with us.

Three Robin Hood Jigsaw Puzzles

It really is great to have a number of regular blog readers (our merry band of Whistling Arrows) who not only are fans of Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood (1952), but also collect memorabilia from the film. So when Neil had a tidy-up recently, he re-discovered and sent me images of three 58 year old jigsaw puzzles depicting scenes from our favourite film, that will certainly make us all go Lincoln green with envy!

A year ago I posted a picture of one of these exquisitely painted puzzles showing Richard Todd as Robin Hood firing his bow. I thought at the time that the style of the artist is very similar to the artwork on the original film poster of 1952. Perhaps we will never know for sure, but in the meantime we can just admire these three excellent examples of Disneyana, courtesy of Neil.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see the original artwork!

To see more memorabilia from Walt Disney's 'Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men,' please click on the Label 'Memorabilia' below.

Robin Hood Badge

This was another of those unusual finds. Initially I thought it was just an ordinary badge from the 1950’s until I looked a little bit closer at the images in the background. The white horse and the colour of the ‘sheriff’s’ costume certainly seem to be an interpretation of a scene from Disney’s Story of Robin Hood (1952) with an illustrated image of Richard Todd as the outlaw.

So the badge is probably another example of very rare Disneyanna from our film-and yes, I did let it go!

Robin Hood Film Strip Viewer

It never ceases to amaze me how much promotional material was manufactured during the release of the various Disney movies. In particular of course for Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood (1952). One of my favourites was the beautifully illustrated jig-saw puzzle of Robin and his father at the archery contest, which would have looked stunning when it was first produced. The jig-saw can be seen by clicking on the Memorabilia label.

But above is an item that I would once again appreciate some information on. It is a rather primitive looking ‘cine viewer’ that I presume was made during the early 1950’s in conjunction with the release of the Disney live-action movie.

Robin Hood Capitol (78) DBX 313B

This is a continuation of a post on the start of a disc promotion for Walt Disney’s live action movie The Story of Robin Hood (1952). We looked at an article in The Billboard April 19th 1952 and below is a follow-up on the release of Capitol’s Robin Hood with its 20 page booklet and colourful illustrations from The Billboard August 16th 1952:

Robin Hood (2-10”)

Capitol (78) DBX 313B

"This is certain to be treasured by the many youngsters who will be lucky recipients of the album. What is etched on the two discs is just part of attraction. Bound into the album is a superbly illustrated 20 page book telling the Robin Hood story as it is given on the records. It is an excellent adaption of the Walt Disney pic by Capitol exec Alan Livingston. Nester Paiva is the narrator and songs are contributed by Eddie Pola, George Wyle, Elton Hayes and Lawrence E. Watkins with Billy May conducting the work. All do fine jobs. Dealers who tie in with the runs of the movie should move plenty of copies; also the set is capable of doing well enough on its own.

Based on reports received for August 6, 7 and 8 [1952] the records listed were those records selling best in the nations retail record stores (dealers) according to The Billboard’s weekly dealer survey".

The Billboard - April 19th 1952

The following text is taken from The Billboard on April 19th 1952 at the start of Walt Disney's promotion of his second live-action movie which was released as The Story of Robin Hood (RKO RadioPictures) in New York on 26th June 1952 (although the article puts in in July of that year). I hope you will find it interesting:

The Billboard

New York, April 12th 1952

"Capital Records have obtained the album rights involving the original cast of the forthcoming Walt Disney flick Robin Hood. Capital has become increasingly active in all phases of the album market. The company recently secured the rights to original cast recordings of the musical, Three Wishes for Jamie and Of Thee I Sing and is now riding high with the Jane Froman set, With a Song in My Heart.

Capitol intends to go all out promotion-wise with the Robin Hood album. It will be a two set record set, with an illustrated story included. In addition to the usual window displays and streamers to hype sales, the company is mulling the idea of Robin Hood archery contests, with archery sets as prizes for kids. For radio publicity, Capitol intends to make disc jockey interview records with the star of the flick, Elton Hayes, and will arrange personal appearances of the actor. A large newspaper and magazine advertising campaign is also skedded.

Simon and Schuster has latched on to the rights to release 25-cent discs of the Disney Robin Hood flick, for Little Golden Records, as well as the right to release one 10 inch platter for the Big Golden Records line.

The movie is set to open in theatres in July. Both Capitol and Simon and Schuster expect to have their waxings ready for release in July."

Two Mystery Books

These two books habe both appeared on Ebay during the last year, but I must confess I know very little about them, so I would appreciate any information.

This first one has for its front cover a nice coloured still from Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood (1952). It shows Will Scarlet (Anthony Forwood) ‘Christening’ Little John (James Robertson Justice) shortly after the quarter-staff fight, but the story inside is Howard Pyle’s classic novel Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire! I can only presume it was published during the release of the Walt Disney live-action movie and I would be very interested to know if the book contained more stills from the film or, some of Pyle’s wonderful illustrations.

The second is even more of a mystery. It is the Adventuras Walt Disney, a comic book from Chile but printed in Spanish. It clearly has a very violent looking illustration of Robin Hood, which might just be meant to represent Richard Todd! So if you have one or even both of these books in your collection, I would be interested to know a little bit more about them.

Disney's 'Story of Robin Hood' Letter Heading

I was interested to see this letter heading (above) on Ebay a while ago. I am not sure if it is authentic-I did feature last year, what was described as ‘News Flash Lettering’ (below) for Disney’s Story of Robin Hood which certainly looked more genuine.

Is the coloured one original? What do you think?

Richard Todd and Joan Rice Postcard

I thought I would share with you this postcard from my very own collection. This was the first piece of memorabilia I ever bought.