Picture Strip 9 : Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood

Part 9 of Laurence's fabulous picture strip of Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). To see previous pages, please click on the label below.

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.

Joan Rice at the Premier

Joan Rice at the premier of Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men at the Leicester Square Theatre on Thursday 13th March 1952.

Thank You!

It’s time for a break. But before I go I would just like to say a big thank you to all of my regular readers and contributors. This blog has progressed beyond my wildest expectations and it is down to your regular input and encouragement that this has been achieved. Knowing you wonderful people are out there is a continual source of inspiration.

I will leave you all with one of my prize possessions and look forward to being back with you very soon.

Albie's Videos of Sherwood Forest, Wellow May Day and Haughton Chapel.

Above is a picture I took of an ancient tree in Sherwood Forest a few weeks back. I can see the face and horns of Herne the Hunter amongst its gnarled bark and his arms seemed to be streched right out, almost protecting the woodland behind him!

If you would like to see more of Sherwood Forest, Wellow May Day and the old ruins of Haughton Chapel in Nottinghamshire, Albie has very kindly sent in a link to his video chanel on YouTube.

It can be found at:http://www.youtube.com/user/Albieinthewoods

Picture Strip 8 : Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood

Part 8 of Laurence's fabulous picture strip of Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). To see previous pages, please click on the label below.

Ivan Craig, Ewen Solon and Geoffrey Lumsden

Back in May of this year I posted a still from Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood, with an appeal for the names of the actors in the picture who played the outlaws. Thanks to Neil and Laurence I can now reveal three of the names, Ivan Craig, Ewen Solon and Geoffrey Lumsden.

Laurence informed me that Ivan Craig (1912-1944), during his career, had appeared in TV’s Claude Duval, (The Gay Cavalier) (1957) as Major Mould and also as Lord Blackheath alongside Roger Moore in Ivanhoe (1958-1959).

Geoffrey Lumsden (1914-1984) seems to have begun his lengthy profession as one of Robin’s men but, went on to appear in many classic TV series including Upstairs Downstairs, Harriet’s Back in Town, Bergerac, Special Branch, Edward and Mrs Simpson and the hilarious Dad’s Army as Captain Square. Lumsden also appeared in the Hammer movie The Horror of Frankenstein (1970) alongside former colleagues from Disney’s Story of Robin Hood, Joan Rice and James Hayter.

Geoffrey Lumsden

During my research I was amazed to find an official, fact filled web site, dedicated to Ewen Solon. It’s at http://www.ewensolon.com/ and is well worth a visit.

Ewen Solon

Wellow May Day

Robin Hood is inextricably linked with the May and Summer Games performed throughout England and Scotland during the 16th century. The surviving church wardens accounts reveal that Robin along with the ‘Maid’ Marian often took on the role of ‘King and Queen’ of the revels accompanied by Friar Tuck and the rest of the gang of merry men.

Sadly these traditional celebrations have been on the decline for many years, so I was thrilled to receive these pictures from Albie of the ‘May Day’ festival in his village of Wellow in Nottinghamshire. I feel it is very important that these ancient traditions survive.

Albie said:

“Basically, today was the 60th anniversary of the dancing returning after WW2. The old May queens were from 1950 through to last year’s representing each decade. The youngsters are all from the village I believe.

This tradition of the May Queen and dancing would have been well known to Robin Hood. There was a similar scene from the Robin of Sherwood TV series I believe. It is a tradition we must keep. So much has been lost, this cannot be left to fade into history, although I live 3 miles from Wellow this is the first time I have been to May Day since 1978 (I think). There were a massive number of people there today, more than is normal/ don’t know whether this is due to the Crowe film but good to see so many there.”

I travelled through Wellow quite recently, but alas didn’t have time to look around. The name Wellow is derived from the Anglo-Saxon ‘Wehag’ which means ‘enclosure by a well or spring’ and this idyllic village has many connections with Robin Hood.
 

According to the book 'Robin Hood and the Lords of Wellow'  by Tony Molyneux-Smith, its unusually shaped village green holds more secrets than would appear at first glance. Although the green has changed over the centuries, as houses were built and the road to Eakring constructed, his book says that it is still possible to see that its original shape would have formed a perfect triangle - the shape of an arrow head - which points directly at the castle of the Sheriff of Nottingham!

Wellow was given permission to hold a market in 1268 and has one of only three permanent maypoles in England. Surviving records show that a maypole stood on the green in 1856 but the village tradition goes back much earlier and the local 12th century church celebrated this fact, when it recently commissioned a beautiful stained glass window of the Wellow maypole.

Herne the Hunter

The Whistling Arrows are certainly a multi-talented group! Particularly Mike. Many of us on Face Book (come and join us!) are now familiar with Mike’s beautiful paintings and Avalon has recently featured his work on her blog. But it is always a thrill to see another example of his art work, particularly when it is connected to our favourite outlaw and one of the most popular recent adaptions of the legend, Robin of Sherwood.

Above is Mike’s interpretation of Herne the Hunter, one of the central figures in Richard Carpenter’s scripts for the hugely successful and influential TV series of the 1980’s.

The series Robin of Sherwood started in 1984 and was made by Goldcrest for HTV. It first featured Michael Praed as Robin, the son of a peasant family murdered by the Normans. After being mistreated in early childhood, he makes common cause with a group of other young outcasts. But not before he is chosen for his role to lead resistance as ‘The Hooded Man’ by Herne the Hunter, a pagan shaman wearing stag’s antlers and living in a grove on an island in a lake.

When, in 1597, William Shakespeare set pen to parchment and wrote The Merry Wives of Windsor he had Mistress Page utter the lines below:

There is an old tale goes,
That Herne the hunter,
Sometime a keeper here in Windsor Forest,
Doth all the winter-time, at still midnight,
Walk round about an oak, with great ragg'd horns;
And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle,
And makes milch-kine yield blood, and shakes a chain
In a most hideous and dreadful manner.
You have heard of such a spirit, and well you know
The superstitious idle-headed eld
Receiv'd, and did deliver to our age,
This tale of Herne the Hunter for a truth.

Despite this being the earliest written reference we have to the legend of Herne the Hunter, it is probable that Shakespeare was drawing on a much older local tradition, the origins of which lay with the Norse god, Odin (a leader of the wild hunt) and of the horned Celtic deity, Cernunnos. We know Shakespeare’s knowledge of folklore was considerable and that he seldom invents when he can refer to a genuine story. This was one of many innovations by Carpenter who inserted medieval magical realism along with Robin’s traditional battles with the Sheriff of Nottingham.

But the legend of Herne originally had no connection with Robin Hood or Sherwood Forest. In fact the various legends place him during the reign of Richard II (1377-1399) as a keeper of Windsor Forest in Berkshire. It was there that Herne was known for his great hunting and woodcraft skills. He was favoured after saving King Richard from being gored by a cornered white hart, but very badly injured himself. Later a mysterious dark figure, known as Philip Urswick appeared and promised the king that for a reward he will insure Herne recovered.

The king agreed and announced that if Herne lived, he would promote him to chief-keeper of Windsor Forest. So Urswick took him to his hut at Bagshot Heath and bound the antlers and skull of a stag to the dying Herne, prescribing plenty of rest. But the other game-keepers were jealous of Herne and made it known to Urswick that they wished that he had died of his injuries. So Urswick did a deal with the other keepers.

Herne recovered, (although the antlers remained permanent) returned to court and was promoted to chief game-keeper; Urswick meanwhile was rewarded by King Richard with gold and silver. But gradually Herne began to lose his hunting skills, much to the annoyance of the king who revoked the promotion. So bitterly ashamed Herne hung himself from a giant oak tree in Windsor Forest and his body mysteriously vanished during a thunderstorm.

Urswick never revealed the charm he put on Herne to the king and as each new chief-keeper was installed, they too lost their skills. Realising they would never get promotion, the game-keepers then begged Urswick to dispel the charm, which he agreed to on condition that they met him at the giant oak tree at midnight. When the keepers arrived at the oak tree Herne’s ghost appeared before them complete with his stag’s antlers. He ordered them to return the following night prepared for a hunt, which they did and when he reappeared he raced off, forcing them to chase him on horseback with their hounds, on and on through Windsor Forest.

But the game-keepers suddenly came to a halt when Urswick miraculously appeared before them. He demanded payment for stripping Herne of his game-keeping abilities. The payment would be that they had to join in Herne’s wild hunt forever.

So every night the hunt met at Herne’s Oak, riding forth with the horned ghost and raiding the forest taking deer until very few were left. King Richard was furious when he heard of their pursuits and decided to make a visit to the oak tree. Herne appeared to the king and learned of his anger at the state of his forest, but explained that he rode the hunt for vengeance. The king agreed to hang the game-keepers from that very oak tree on condition that Herne would haunt no more during his reign. The group of game-keepers were hung the next day.

Tradition says that Herne was not seen until after Richard II’s abdication in 1399 when once again he rode with the wild huntsman through the forest of Windsor collecting the souls of the dead. To this day the hunt is seen or heard in Windsor Forest and as far away as Cookham Moor and Huntercombe Manor which gets its name from the hunter.

One version of the legend warns:


Fly then, quickly make no stay,
For Herne the Hunter rides this way.

When Michael Praed grew tired of appearing in the series ‘Robin of Sherwood’, he was killed off and after memorial fire-arrows, it was left to the mystical Herne the Hunter to chose another face to fill the hood. But this time he was not a local from the destroyed village of Locksley but the upper-class Earl of Huntingdon, played by Jason Connery (son of Sean).