More the Merrier
Some critics of Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood were surprised by the casting of Richard Todd as the outlaw. They said it flaunted a Hollywood tradition by making Robin Hood a sturdy medium-sized man. In place they said, of the long-legged athlete, head and shoulders above all his rivals mentally and physically.
It had been the legendry cartoon producer himself, who had decided on the Dublin born actor. Todd was invited to Burbank in November 1950 and was given a personal tour by Walt Disney of the acres of sound stages and rows of drawing offices, where the animators were busy sketching.
He seemed to know every single one of the workforce, Todd remembers, every where he went he was greeted with ‘Hi Walt’, and he replied, ‘Hi! Jack-or Fred-or Art-or Lou!’
Eventually, Richard Todd continued in his autobiography 'Caught In The Act', we arrived in his office, a large panelled comfy room with a bar at one end. Before we settled down to talk, Walt proudly showed me how, at the touch of a button, the bar became a soda-fountain for youngsters. He adored children, and delighted in surprising them.
Walt Disney introduced his senior live-action producer, Perce Pearce to Richard Todd and outlined his ideas for the planned film. But Todd was doubtful:
With images of Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn in my mind, I simply could not see it as a vehicle for me. I was not physically built to play a larger-than-life swashbuckler, and I could not see myself swinging from the same Sherwood family tree as the mighty Flynn.
Above all, I considered myself an ‘actor’; not for me the Lincoln Green equivalent of Tarzan.
But Walt Disney was very persuasive and explained that his Robin would be as a quick-thinking welter-weight, not a ponderous heavyweight. But Todd remained unsure.
There was a series of ‘agonised phone calls’ from Todd’s agent in California, Milton Pickman. He told the British actor that it would firstly, be a big international movie and secondly that it would pull in a huge world-wide audience of youngsters, probably seeing their first screen programme, to whom Robin Hood would be a hero for ever. Richard Todd remained unsure and to give himself time he promised to read the new script as soon as it was ready.
After Christmas 1950, Todd had read the latest version of the Robin Hood script and liked it. I was beginning to enjoy the thought of larking about in the forest with a band of merrie outlaws-subject to one proviso: that I should not be doubled by a stunt-man in any of the action scenes. I felt that if I could do the stunts myself, however clumsily, then they would be much more believable. Besides, although perhaps not a very practical attitude for a professional actor, it was a small matter of pride-what would my ex-Airborne friends think if they knew that I had been standing around watching somebody else do the dirty work!
In mid January 1951 Walt Disney’s producer, Perce Pearce arrived back in London. Now that I had finally made up my mind, Todd said, I was thrilled at the prospect of working for the great Disney organisation.
A meeting was arranged at his suite at the Dorchester Hotel with Richard Todd and Maud Spector, the leading British Independent casting director. In the afternoon Todd agreed to play Robin Hood and they spent a couple of hours going through lists of candidates for parts in the film. My only contribution, Todd says, was to suggest James Robertson Justice as Little John and this turned out to be a good idea.
Filming was due to start on 30th April 1951. A gymnasium was set up at Pinewood Studios and under the tutelage of top British stunt man, Paddy Ryan, Todd worked out almost every day:
I practised back flips and tumbles that I hadn’t tried since my early army days. Rupert Evans, a former Champion at Arms of the British Army, coached me in sword-play and he and Paddy worked with me throughout the picture. In addition, I had hours of tuition in archery and practice on horseback, with and without bows and arrows. I may not have been the greatest celluloid Robin Hood, but I was certainly going to be the fittest!
Ken Annakin, Disney’s director on ‘Robin Hood,’ described Richard Todd as a .......popular British stage actor, who was no acrobatic movie idol like Errol Flynn or John Barrymore. He was, in fact short like Alan Ladd, and often had to be stood on an apple box, or walk on a plank beside Maid Marion, so that one didn’t notice the discrepancy in height. But Richard was a good trouper.
Nearly sixty years later, we seem to have come full circle! The BBC’s new television series of Robin Hood has had similar mutterings from critics about the hero being a bit on the puny side! One newspaper reporter wrote that the actor playing the outlaw needs to get down the gym and eat some pies!
These harsh words must have affected Jonas Armstrong who plays the leader of the merry men. He admits that when he saw a picture of himself during the launch of the first series, “I looked a bit thin. So I got a personal trainer and I’ve put on a stone and a half in muscle. I now train four times a week and I feel a lot fitter. The stunt guys have been telling me: ‘You look much more confident in your body!’”
Working for Walt Disney
When asked recently how often Walt Disney visited the 'Robin Hood' set at Denham Studios, Ken Annakin replied that the great man didn’t stay very long. It was no more than half a dozen times, sometimes in fact, less than two or three hours, while they were shooting a scene.
It was Perce Pearce, Walt Disney’s chosen producer, who interviewed Ken Annakin at Denham, for the job of director, on the movie. Annakin finally met Disney when shooting had begun. He had already, according to Annakin, set the overall key of what he wanted. Disney was never looking over his shoulder, but the whole movie was sketched out by artists, the way he wanted, and approved by him. Something Ken Annakin had never experienced before.
Disney trusted Perce Pearce as the producer, Annakin said, he came to trust me as the director. He had a great, great trust in Carmen Dillon, Annakin continued, Disney was, dead right in choosing her, his reliance was one hundred percent.
Carmen Dillon was given the responsibility of designing and checking the historical accuracy of everything from props and costumes to the huge historical sets. She would stand quietly and have her say, only, if a prop was used wrongly. I had the final say as director, Annakin said, but one couldn’t have done it without her. Carmen Dillon went on to work for Disney and Annakin a year later, on ‘Sword and the Rose’.
Annakin was also asked if he was concerned about previous films about Robin Hood. We didn’t have Errol Flynn he replied, but no, he wasn’t. All the things we had in the picture were very British and very true. They went up to Sherwood Forest and Nottingham, he said and the script was written, as accurately as possible from all the records. After all, Annakin continued, Walt was making his picture, his version. I think we came up, with Walt’s insistence on truth and realism, probably as near (to the real story) as makes any matter.
At the end of shooting the film was taken back to America, where the whole of the post sync work and post production work was done. As director, Annakin said, he was not called in to help with that. It wasn’t in fact, until he made his fourth picture for Walt Disney, ‘Swiss Family Robinson’ that he was allowed to do anything with the editing or say anything about the music, or anything! Once you had shot it, that was your job as director!
It was Perce Pearce, Walt Disney’s chosen producer, who interviewed Ken Annakin at Denham, for the job of director, on the movie. Annakin finally met Disney when shooting had begun. He had already, according to Annakin, set the overall key of what he wanted. Disney was never looking over his shoulder, but the whole movie was sketched out by artists, the way he wanted, and approved by him. Something Ken Annakin had never experienced before.
Disney trusted Perce Pearce as the producer, Annakin said, he came to trust me as the director. He had a great, great trust in Carmen Dillon, Annakin continued, Disney was, dead right in choosing her, his reliance was one hundred percent.
Carmen Dillon was given the responsibility of designing and checking the historical accuracy of everything from props and costumes to the huge historical sets. She would stand quietly and have her say, only, if a prop was used wrongly. I had the final say as director, Annakin said, but one couldn’t have done it without her. Carmen Dillon went on to work for Disney and Annakin a year later, on ‘Sword and the Rose’.
Annakin was also asked if he was concerned about previous films about Robin Hood. We didn’t have Errol Flynn he replied, but no, he wasn’t. All the things we had in the picture were very British and very true. They went up to Sherwood Forest and Nottingham, he said and the script was written, as accurately as possible from all the records. After all, Annakin continued, Walt was making his picture, his version. I think we came up, with Walt’s insistence on truth and realism, probably as near (to the real story) as makes any matter.
At the end of shooting the film was taken back to America, where the whole of the post sync work and post production work was done. As director, Annakin said, he was not called in to help with that. It wasn’t in fact, until he made his fourth picture for Walt Disney, ‘Swiss Family Robinson’ that he was allowed to do anything with the editing or say anything about the music, or anything! Once you had shot it, that was your job as director!
Holiday Postcard
I could not resist showing this traditional British holiday postcard after returning to the shores of England after a weeks vacation.
One Year of the Story
This is the tale of Robin Hood
And of his merry men........
And with Alan a Dale’s opening song from Walt Disney’s ‘Story of Robin Hood’ I began my first posting a year ago. I would like to thank all those that have left their kind words of encouragement in my message book or on the site over this period. There are two people in particular who have added links to this site from their web pages who I would like to thank. Anna Fraser on the ‘Robin Hood Appreciation Society’ site and ‘Robin Hood’ on his ‘Robin Hood 2007.’ Both of these sites are incredibly informative and well worth regular visits (links to their sites can be found in the right-hand column).
During the past 123 postings we have had a look at Denham Studios, some of the lives of the stars of the movie, including James Robertson Justice, Bill Owen, Joan Rice, Peter Finch and others. Also featured was the genius behind the movie, Walt Disney, and the amazing talents of Carmen Dillon, Ken Annakin and Peter Ellenshaw.
Other topics in the years postings, have included the release of the Story of Robin Hood on 8mm Disney Home Movies and the film’s showing on the luxurious cruise ship Caronia.
But this blog is also about the fascinating legend of Robin Hood. So we have examined a couple of the early ballads about the outlaw, the original size of Sherwood Forest, the ruthless rules of medieval forest law and its penalties, Friar Tuck, archery, the quarter-staff and the mystery surrounding the legends of Will Scarlet’s and Little John’s graves. All these posts are labelled in the right hand column where they can be easily accessed.
I am taking a short break, but will be back soon. In the meantime it would be great to hear from some of you. Your comments are always very welcome and encouraging, so please, if you are a first time visitor, or one of my regulars, please drop a line! When did you first hear the story of Robin Hood? Why do you think an English medieval outlaw with a wooden bow and arrow is still popular all over the world in the twenty-first century? Have you seen the new BBC series of Robin Hood and how does it compare to past productions?
See you in about a week!
A Gest of Robyn Hode
Above is one of the earliest images of Robin Hood. It comes from the first page of the Gest of Robyn Hode (c.1508) by Scotland’s pioneer printers Walter Chepman and Androw Myller. This Chepman & Myllar print of the Gest is in the National Library, Edinburgh. But this woodcut image of Robin Hood had also been used before, by one of the first printers of English books, Richard Pynson (1448-1529) as an illustration of the knight’s yeoman, in his edition of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (1491) shown below.
Robin Hood and the Monk
We have recently looked at the extremely complex Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode which was appearing in print by about 1510. But the earliest surviving Robin Hood ballad is the ‘talking of the munke and Robyn Hode’, or as it is more commonly known, Robin Hood and the Monk, which is dated at some time after 1450.
Dobson and Taylor in their ‘Rymes of Robyn Hood’ (1989) describe Robin Hood and the Monk as the 'supreme example in medieval English literature of the genre of yeoman minstrelsy.' And the great American collector of ballads, Professor Francis James Child (1825-1896) said, ‘too much could not be said in praise of this ballad, but nothing need be said.’
‘Robin Hood and the Monk’ can be found in a Cambridge University manuscript Ff.5.48. together with The Turnament of Tottenham, The Clerk and the Nightingale and various devotional pieces. The section containing the ballad of Robin Hood has been damaged by damp, but the main problem according to Dobson and Taylor, is the carelessness of the scribe when copying the text into the manuscript, leaving a quite lengthy passage missing, between stanzas 30-31. Although the late fifteenth century handwriting of the anonymous scribe, is described as ‘very clear’ and ‘cursive’ .
There are two important points to note. This tale would have actually been heard by audiences of the late fifteenth century before the ballads were transferred to print. Also, Robin Hood and the Monk is the only surviving early ballad that has no reference to the outlaw's Yorkshire haunts. It is set in mery Scherwode, where Little John knows every path.
The ballad begins:
In somer, when the shawes be sheyne,
And leves be large and long,
Hit is full mery in feyre foreste
To here the foulys song.
To se the dere draw to the dale,
And leve the hills hee,
And shadow hem in the leves grene,
Under the grene wode tre.
Hit befell on Whitsontide,
Erly in a May mornyng,
The sun up feyre can shyne,
And the briddis mery can syng.
It has been a fortnight since Robin has heard Mass, so he decides to make amends and take Little John with him to Nottingham.
Than spake Moche, the mylner sun,
Ever more wel hym betyde!
‘Take twelve of thi wyght yemen,
Well weppynd, be this side.
Such on wolde thi selfe slon,
That twelve dar not abyde.’
But Robin will take none but Little John to ‘beyre my bow’. On the way they quarrel over a game of ‘shooting a penny.’ Robin strikes Little John with his hand and his loyal companion draws his sword.
‘Were thou not my maister,’ seid Litull John,
‘Thou shuldis by hit ful sore;
Get the a man wher thou wilt,
For thou getis me no more.’
They both go off in a temper.
While Robin is praying in the church of St. Mary’s in Nottingham, he is recognised by a ‘gret-hedid munke’ who runs off to inform the sheriff. On the way the monk orders all the town gates to be closed.
‘Rise up,’ he seid, ‘thou prowde schereff,
Buske the and make the bowne;
I have spyed the kynggis felon,
Ffor soothe he is in this town.’
The monk continues:
‘This traytur name is Robyn Hode,
Under the grene wode lynde;
He robbyt me onys of a hundred pound,
Hit shalle never out of my mynde.’
When the sheriff and his men arrive at St. Mary’s Church, Robin begins to wish he had not quarrelled with Little John. He manages to kill twelve with his two-handed sword, but becomes over powered when his sword breaks on the sheriff’s head.
Due to damage and a section missing from the manuscript we are suddenly in Sherwood Forest, where the outlaws fall swooning at the news of their leaders capture. But Little John tells them to pluck up their hearts :
‘He has servyd Oure Lady many a day,
And yet wil, securly;
Therfor I trust in Hir specialy;
No wyckud deth shal he dye.’
The monk and his page are then told to travel with a letter telling the news of the capture of Robin Hood to the king. But they eventually meet up with Little John and Much, who have spent the night at the house of Much's uncle. 'The hye way was full nere.'
John asks the monk of news about a ‘false outlaw’ who robbed Much and himself of 20 marks. The monk replies that Robin Hood once stole one hundred pounds from him and they may thank him for laying hands on the outlaw first.
The two yeoman then suggest that they should accompany the monk, as many outlaws are lurking about. So Little John leads the monk’s horse, whilst Much leads that of the page.
Suddenly Little John pulled the monk off his horse by the hood and let him fall to the ground.
‘He was my maister,’ seid Litull John,
‘That thou hase browght in bale;
Shalle you never cum at our kyng,
Ffor to telle hym tale.’
John smote of the munkis hed,
No longer wolde he dwell;
So did Moch the litull page,
Ffor ferd lest he wold tell.
John and Much then bury the monk and his page and set off with the letters to the king.
‘God yow save, my lege king!’
To speke John was full bolde;
He gaf hym the letters in his hond,
The kyng did hit unfold.
The kyng red the letters anon,
And seid, ‘So mot I the,
Ther was never yoman in mery Ingland
I longut so sore to se.’
They explain to the king that the monk had died on his way to London, so the monarch gives John and Much £20 and makes them yeoman of the Crown. The king then gave Little John a seal with instructions to the sheriff to let Little John and Much escort Robin Hood to London.
Little John and Much return to Nottingham, but find all the town gates locked. When Little John asks the porter why, he replies that it is through fear that Robin will be rescued by his men.
Litull John spyrred after the schereff,
And sone he hym fonde;
He oppyned the kingus prive seell,
And gaf hym in his honde.
The sheriff asks what has happened to the monk, Little John replies that the king has made him abbot of Westminster ‘a lorde of that abbay’.
The scheref made John gode chere,
And gaf hym wyne of the best;
At nyght thei went to her bedde,
And every man to his rest.
When the scheref was on slepe,
Dronken of wyne and ale,
Litul John and Moch for soothe
Toke the way unto the jale.
Little John calls the gaoler and tells him that ‘Robyn Hode had brokyn prison’.
The porter rose anon sertan,
As sone as he herd John calle;
Litul John was redy with a swerd,
And bare hym to the walle.
Robin is unbound and given a sword. Once outside the outlaws then make for the lowest point of the wall and jump to freedom.
Be that the cok began to crow,
The day began to spryng;
The scheref fond the jaylier ded,
The comyn bell made he ryng.
The sheriff causes the town (comyn) bell to be rung and makes it known that whoever can bring Robin Hood to him, ‘wheder he be yoman or knave’, shall have his reward.
The scheref made to seke Notyngham,
Both be street and stye,
And Robyn was in mery Scherwode,
As light as lef on lynde.
Once in the forest Little John explains that he has done his master a good turn for an evil one and it is time for him to leave. But Robin will not let him go and offers him leadership of the outlaw band. Little John declines, but says, ‘lat me be a fellow.’ Robin’s men then celebrate their leaders safe return.
They filled in wyne and made hem glad,
Under the levys smale,
And yete pastes of venison,
That gode was with ale.
Meanwhile the king hears how Robin Hood had escaped and the sheriff dared not come to see him.
Then bespake oure cumly kyng,
In an angur hye:
‘Little John hase begyled the schereff,
In faith so hase he me.’
The king explains that the sheriff might have died for his negligence had he not been tricked as well.
I made hem yemen of the crowne,
And gaf hem fee with my hond;
I gaf hem grith, seid oure kyng
Thorowout all mery Inglond.
Such yeoman as these, the king says, ‘in all Inglond ar not thre.’
‘He is trew to his maister,’ seid our kyng,
‘I sey, be swete Seynt John,
He lovys better Robyn Hode
Then he dose us ychon.
‘Robyn Hode is ever bond to hym,
Bothe in street and stalle;
Speke no more of this matter,’ seid oure kyng,
‘But John has begyled us alle.’
Thus endys the talking of the munke
And Robyn Hode I wysse;
God, that is ever a crowned kyng,
Bryng us all to his blisse!
Amen.
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