Time Bandits

Above is a still from the movie Time Bandits (1981) showing John Cleese as Robin Hood.

On the back of the success of Life of Brian producer Terry Gilliam was joined once again, by his former Monty Python colleagues John Cleese (above) and Michael Palin. This production, sponsored again by Handmade Films, is a dazzling fantasy ride through selected historical periods in European history. Which included an array of international stars, including Sir Ralph Richardson, Sean Connery and Ian Holm.

In a brief scene set in 13th century Sherwood Forest, we see John Cleese as an eccentric upper-class Robin Hood, known to his outlaw band as 'the boss.' He runs his outlaw camp like a twisted Victorian charity organisation, where individuals are given handouts but simultaneously abused by his men. John Cleese recalled:

"I was sent the script, pointed at Robin Hood, and read the stage directions-to be played like the Duke of Kent-and I thought it was very funny, and said I would love to do it. I enjoyed doing Time Bandits enormously, despite the fact that Terry made me shave my beard off. I did it in the morning of the shooting, seven a.m. in the forest."

Elton Hayes and The Beatles

Elton Hayes played the part of the minstrel Allan-a-Dale in Walt Disney’s live action movie the Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). Hayes was very well-known to radio and television audiences of the 1950’s as ‘the man with the small guitar.’ After making his radio debut on Children’s Hour, Hayes occupied the guest star slot on every major radio variety show including In Town Tonight, Workers Playtime, Variety Bandbox, Terry Thomas’s To Town With Terry, Eric Barker’s Just Fancy and occasionally Housewives Choice.

But it was for singing Edward Lear’s nonsense rhymes on Children’s Favorites that he first became famous. Hayes’s version of The Owl and the Pussycat and many others were later recorded on the Parlophone record label. Elton Hayes published three 78-rpm records with Edward Lear songs, the first one in October 1950 (Parlophone R 3329) and containing The Table and the Chair and The Jumblies .

This was followed by Parlophone R 3602 (December 1952), containing The Broom, the Shovel, The Poker and the Tongs and The Quangle Wangle’s Hat, and Parlophone R 3692 (June 1953), with The Duck and the Kangaroo and The Owl and the Pussy-cat.
All six recordings were finally collected in the EP For The Children, Parlophone (GEP 8551) in 1955.

Another recording artist who started his recording career on the Parlophone label was Paul McCarntney. In the book Many Years From Now (1997) (Barry Miles’s biography of Paul McCartney) Paul claims that the melody behind the line "I'm so sad and lonely" from the Beatles song Little Child, was inspired by Elton Hayes’s Whistle My Love, from Disney's live-action 1952 film The Story Of Robin Hood And His Merrie Men.

Little Child later appeared on side 1, track 5 of the Beatles 1963 album With The Beatles.

Robin Hoode his Death

I have posted this for Adele Treskillard who has a strong interest in the Robin Hood legend and the site of his grave. The link to her excellent web site can be found amongst my favourite blog links.

In the eighteenth century, Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, rescued a manuscript from a Shropshire house, which contained two of the most intriguing Robin Hood ballads, ‘Robin Hoode his Death’ and ‘Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne.’ These are chance survivals. ‘Robin Hoode his Death’ appears to have been known to the compiler of the ‘Geste’ and ‘Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne’ is connected with the dramatic fragment of the late fifteenth century.

This mid-seventeenth century copy of ‘Robin Hoode his Death’ is in a mutilated state with sections of the ballad badly torn away in three places.

The ballad begins:
‘I will never eate nor drinke,’ Robin Hood said,
‘Nor meate will doo me noe good,
Till I have beene att merry Church Lees,
My vaines for to let blood.’

‘That I reade [advise] not,’ said Will Scarllett,
‘Master, by the assente of me,
Without halfe a hundred of your best bowman
You take to goe with yee.

Robin will only take Little John to carry his bow. But John insists that Robin should carry his own bow and shoot for pennies, which they eventually do all day long.

They two bolde children shotten together
All day theire selfe in ranke,
Untill they came to blacke water,
And over it laid a planke.

Upon it there kneeled an old woman,
Was banning Robin Hoode;
‘Why dost thou bann Robin Hoode?’ said Robin

(Half a page missing)

…………………………………………………….

‘To give to Robin Hoode;
Wee weepen for his deare body,
That this day must be let bloode.’

‘The dame prior is my aunts daughter,
And nie unto my kinne;
I know shee wold me noe harme this day,
For all the world to winne.’

Upon reaching Church Lees, Robin gives the Prioress twenty pounds in gold and promises her more if she needs it.

And downe then came dame prioresse,
Downe she came in that ilke,
With a pair off blood irons [lancing knives] in her hands
Were wrapped all in silke.

‘Sett a chaffing-dish to the fyer,’ said dame prioresse,
‘And strpp thou up thy sleeve:’
I hold him but an unwise man
That wil noe warning leeve [believe].’

Shee laid the blood irons to Robin Hoods vaine,
Alacke, the more pitye!
And pearct the vaine, and let out the bloode,
That full red was to see.

And first it bled, the thicke, thicke bloode,
And afterwards the thinne,
And well then wist good Robin Hoode
Treason there was within

‘What cheere my master?’ said Litle John;
‘In faith, John, little goode;’

(Half a page is missing)
.........................................................

Nine stanzas are now missing from the manuscript; next Robin appears to be talking to ‘Red Roger.’

‘I have upon a gowne of greene,
Is cut short by my knee,
And in my hand a bright browne brand
That will well bite of thee.’

As Robin tries to escape through a shot window, Red Roger thrusts him through the side with a sword. But Robin in return, strikes him ‘betwixt his head and his shoulders.’

Says, ‘Ly there, ly there Red Roger,
The dogs they must thee eate:
‘For I may have my houzle[ housel; receive the last sacraments], he said,
‘For I may both goe and speake.’

Little John asks Robin to give him leave to burn Church Lees to the ground.

‘That I reade not,’ said Robin Hoode then,
‘Litle John, for it may not be;
If I shold doe any widow hurt, at my latter end,
God,’ he said, ‘wold blame me;

‘But take me upon thy backe, Litle John,
And beare me to yonder streete,
And there make me a full fayre grave,
Of gravell and of greete [grit].

‘And sett my bright sword at my head,
Mine arrows at my feete,
And lay my vew-bow [yew-bow] by my side,
My met-yard [measuring rod] wi ………………………
(Half a page is missing)

Lyceum Theatre, September 1918

In this week of Remembrance for all our brave service men and women, I thought it would be appropriate to show this particular program from the Lyceum Theatre dated September 8th 1918. It reads:

LYCEUM THEATRE
HOME OF THE LYCEUM PLAYERS
FOR THE ALLIED BLIND SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
ROBIN HOOD IS PRESENTED IN THIS THEATRE

FOR THEIR PERMANENT BENEFIT
Thanks to All For Their Support and Patronage
NEW LYCEUM PLAYERS ALL STAR STOCK CAST OPENS SEPT. 8, 1918

FOR THE UNFORTUNATE BLIND OF THE GREAT WAR.
"ROBIN HOOD" IS PRESENTED BY THIS CAST AS A METHOD WHEREBY THOSE SAME BLIND MAY KNOW THAT THEIR SACRIFICE IS NOT FORGOTTEN.

An Interview with Ken Annakin

"I was interviewed by Perce Pearce, who was the producer and we got on very well. I hadn’t met Walt till he came over and visited the set while we were shooting.

In the planning of our picture, they were very determined that ours should be very, very true. We went up to Sherwood Forest, to Nottingham and the script was written as actually as it could be from the records. I thought we were probably making a truer picture than had been made before.

Now we didn’t have Errol Flynn, but all the things we had in the picture, were very British and very true. I mean, he [Walt] was making his picture, his version and I think we came up –with Walt’s help and insistence on truth and realism-as near as makes any matter.

He [Walt] didn’t stay very long on Robin Hood. He had a great trust in Carmen Dillon, who was responsible for the historical correctness. Everything, from costumes to sets to props and he- I’m not so sure why he was so certain- but he was dead right at having chosen her. And she did that picture and Sword and The Rose too. And his reliance was 100%. A director can’t go into every historical detail and so I would check with her also, pretty well on most things. And she would quietly be on the set and if we used a prop wrongly, she would have her say. Mine was the final say, as director, but one couldn’t have done without her.

Now Walt really-I remember him on that picture- having set the overall key of what he wanted- and seeing it was going the way he wanted- he trusted Perce Pearce as the producer, he came to trust me as the director. And I must say, I have never had Walt looking over my shoulder at anything.

I had never experienced the sketch artists and sketching a whole picture out. Now, that picture was sketched out by and approved by him. My memories of Robin Hood are basically that he visited the sets, maybe half a dozen times. He stayed probably 2 or 3 hours, maybe, while we were shooting. Not often 2 or 3 hours (laughs). And I remember that he used to go off to a place very near Denham where we were shooting. He used to go off to Beaconsfield and spend hours with the guy that had the best model railway, I think, in the world. And this was the beginning of his thoughts on Disneyland. Beaconsfield was just a place where, this guy had built up his model railway. Beaconsfield also has a studio, but the studio hasn’t any connection with that.

Then the film went back to here [America] and the whole of the post-sync work and the post production work was done. And the director was never called in to have anything you do with that. It wasn’t until I had made my fourth picture with Walt, which was Swiss Family that I was ever really allowed to do anything with the editing (laughs) or to say about the music or anything. But once you had, shot it, that was your job as the director."

Son of Friar Tuck

I recently found this post on the excellent Robin Hood 2007 blog and obtained permission from its owner Robin Hood, to show it on here. I am sure you will enjoy it:

"Hello! A little trivia for you. My father James Hayter who played Friar Tuck in the 1952 Disney version had (eventually) 8 children.

When this film was made his youngest son was my brother Tim who aged 5 as a special treat was one day taken to watch location filming.

There is a scene in the film just after Robin and the Friar carry each other over the stream then begin to fight in earnest and are unaware that they are being surrounded by the Sheriff of Nottingham’s men.

During the ensuing battle where they fight back to back against the soldiers a man on horseback inflicts a mighty whack on Friar Tucks head with the flat of his sword. At this point a small but piercing shout rang out across the set, "don’t hurt my daddy"!

Although this raise a smile amongst the cast and crew it caused the entire scene to be reshot with perhaps 20 horsemen having to gallop into the shot and do it all again. Perhaps this is why I don’t recall being invited onto any sets when my turn came!!”

British Poster

I'm back again, refreshed and with a new template. I thought I would start my third year with a British poster I recently discovered from what could be the late 50's or early 1960's. Perhaps someone could date this more accurately for me.

Two Years Old

This BLOG is now two years old. How time flies when you’re having fun! And fun it certainly has been. I had never attempted producing a blog or website before, so this whole thing has been a completely new experience for me. And what an experience!

There have been many highlights. Without doubt the most exciting for me, was Neil’s amazing discovery of The Riddle of Robin Hood, the promotional film that showed the research and production of Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood (1952). Something I had been looking for, over the last few years. It is not only an important piece of Disney history, but a fascinating insight into British Post War movie production. Neil very kindly sent me a DVD copy, which I treasure. I will continue to post excerpts from The Riddle of Robin Hood in the future.

Neil’s comments, contributions and obvious enthusiasm for Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood have made producing this web site so worthwhile. The still he sent me of Richard Todd being filmed for Robin Hood on the riverbank and the magazine article of Joan Rice’s screen test as Maid Marian at Denham Studios are priceless! I am trying to talk him into contributing more articles!

I would like to think that this blog has gone someway into discovering more about Joan Rice and giving her the recognition she deserves. Before, all that could be found out about her was the vague description in a few movie books, that she was a ‘pert English actress of the 1950’s’. After the initial help from Maria Steyn, Joan’s niece, some friends and neighbors we have gradually pieced together a little more about the life of our beautiful Maid Marian. Recently I have had some more feed-back which I will post soon.

Another highlight for me was to find, at long last, some rare information on Walt Disney’s legendary producer Perce Pearce. This had taken months to obtain, after many visits to libraries and long nights trawling the internet. But eventually some people answered my pleas for help and a couple of readers of the Disney History site came up with some newspaper clips and details of his life.

But this blog is not just about Walt Disney’s wonderful Robin Hood movie and its actors and actresses, but a legend that has lasted for nearly eight hundred years. We have already had a look at the earliest ballads and the first printed versions of his adventures. These have been popular with visitors to my site and my poll showed that 28% of my readers enjoyed discovering more about the medieval Robin Hood. I will continue the historical search for the elusive outlaw, his many images and the places associated with his legend.

Visitors to my blog have steadily increased over the past couple of years, to nearly two thousand a month. But most of you tend to call-by without saying hello. Please don’t be shy. There are a number of places where you can leave a message, please do, even if it is just to say hello!

I am taking a short break, but I will be back soon, hopefully thoroughly refreshed, when we will continue our journey with Allan-A-Dale through the leafy glades of Sherwood Forest. Thank you once again for all your support and enthusiasm. It makes it all worthwhile.

Richard Todd, Walt Disney and Joan Rice