Disney's Story of Robin Hood Introduction - Part 1 and 2

Below are two YouTube clips of Walt Disney introducing The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). They are sadly incomplete, but give us a rare glimpse of the great man describing his classic live-action feature. Both excerpts have been taken from the anthology series first aired 11/2/55 on ABC Television.

Merrie Christmas and Happy New Year!

I would like to wish you all a very Merrie Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A lot of the blog's success over the last twelve months has been due to the input of many of my readers. Highlights have included John Nelson's letter from Richard Todd and Julia Wright's experience of being on stage with Joan Rice. We also saw the results of the blog poll for your favourite Friar Tuck, Laurence's Mag-O-Flex and Matt Crandall's copies of the colourful Robin Hood comic strip from the 1950's.

Laurence's montage of Disney's Story of Robin Hood

Also during this year, Geoff Waite shared with us his research into the Provincial Premieres of Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood in Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. Meanwhile Chrissy Noel, on our Facebook page, investigated and managed to find Richard Todd's Champion Archer of England.

We also discovered King John's bones, the bird that awoke Robin Hood and went onto Twitter.


I find it hard to believe that next year this blog will be ten years old! 

Walt Disney

Robin Hood lives on and Hollywood is busy planning more movie versions of the legend. I will follow the reports with interest. But one thing is certain, Walt Disney's original masterpiece, The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men will never be forgotten!

Thank you for your continued support. I wish you and your families peace and happiness in the coming year.

Robin Hood's Two Chairs!

Robin of Sherwood (1984-1986)

The film prop we know as 'Robin Hood's Chair' has been mentioned many times on this blog and the input from my readers has helped chronicle its use for sixty four years. This I believe is unique in the tv and movie world. 

I originally called it Robin Hood's Chair because of its continual appearance in productions about the outlaw. But what must be made clear is that there were originally two chairs designed by Carmen Dillon and her art department for Walt Disney's live-action film 'The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men' in 1951. 

The two chairs in Disney's Story of Robin Hood (1952)

This pair of ornate chairs only appear together for a few moments in a scene with Joan Rice as Maid Marian, Hubert Gregg as Prince John, Martitia Hunt as Queen Eleanor and Anthony Eustrel as the Archbishop of Canterbury (above). But the distinct style of these two chairs made them popular with set designers. They appeared two years later in Men of Sherwood (1954) along with other furniture props from the Disney movie.

Men of Sherwood (1954)

We now have a full list of movies and tv shows that the Robin Hood Chair or Chairs have appeared in here.

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955-58)

Allen Wright, the owner of the fantastic Bold Outlaw site, has been in touch with an excellent example of those 'Robin Hood chairs' being used in the television series The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955-58). If you have any information of props from Disney's Robin Hood being used, or know where they are stored, please get in touch.

On Stage with Joan Rice

Above is a theatre programme of Arthur Miller’s ‘A View From The Bridge,’ which was kindly sent in by Neil, showing Joan in her favourite play as Catherine, at the Savoy Theatre in Kettering in September 1959.

We now know that Joan Rice (1930-1997) was appearing in various theatrical productions from 1955 onwards and continued performing on the stage as her film career sadly faded. Back in October I received this interesting email from Julia Wright:

Fresh out of drama school in 1963 or 4, I was her understudy in a touring production of a play name of which I have totally forgotten. I believe it was with Carl Clopet Productions, not in the first rank of theatrical companies but kept many of us employed. I think it was a new play and it was hoped it would make it into the West End but there were problems - not Joan's fault. The leading man was sacked just before the tour started because he couldn't remember lines and it was a lousy play. We toured exotic spots like Cardiff and the closest we got to the West End was Streatham. At least she made it to Hollywood and had her moment in the sun and I'm glad she didn't spend her life pining for what had and might have been in show business that killed off so many but made a life for herself.

Many thanks to Julia for sharing this information.

Above is a another theatre programme, this time showing Joan performing in John Mortimer’s ‘A Voyage Round My Father’ at the Wimbledon Theatre from May 1973.

Joan Rice in 1978 (Image © Maria Steyn)

I hope these postings have helped counter the statements by Richard Todd and film director Ken Annakin that Joan was never an actress. 

Joan Rice actually attended ‘The Company of Youth,’ often known as the ‘Rank Charm School,’ J. Arthur Rank's training institution for young film actors. It was established adjacent to Rank's experimental Highbury studio in a disused church hall, under the auspices of Olive Dodds, the Organisation's Director of Artistes. The school trained its pupils in everything from voice production to fencing and launched the careers of stars like, Christopher Lee, Dirk Bogarde, Patrick McGoohan, Donald Sinden, Honor Blackman, Michael Craig, Kay Kendal, Shirley Eaton, David McCallum, Joan Collins and Diana Dors.

It is interesting to see Gay Hamilton also listed in the programme above. Gay had played the part of Maid Marian in the Hammer production ‘A Challenge for Robin Hood,’ in 1967; Joan of course played the same part beautifully for Walt Disney in 1952. Both actresses appeared alongside James Hayter as Friar Tuck.

Joan Rice as Maid Marian

This site is dedicated to the memory of Joan Rice. If you have any information about her life and career or ever met her, I would love to hear from you. Please get in touch at disneysrobin@googlemail.com.

To read more about Walt Disney’s first Maid Marian please click here:- Joan Rice. There is now over 78 pages on this site about her life and career.

Provincial Premieres of Disney's Robin Hood

Geoff Waite has very kindly contacted me regarding the film that accompanied Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men during its provincial premieres in 1952. 

Wynne Jones and Elton Hayes at the Gaumont Theatre, Liverpool

Geoff says:

"I seem to remember you were interested in discovering what the second feature was when Disney’s ‘Robin Hood’ was first released, but I don’t recall if you were ever able to discover the name of the film.

I am attaching a photo of Elton Hayes attending the opening of The Story of Robin Hood on 27 April 1952 at the Gaumont Theatre, Liverpool. This was four days after the Manchester provincial premiere. On the back of the photo it says ‘Mr. Elton Hayes and Mr. Wynne Jones’ (Liverpool Evening Express).

As you will see from the photo, on the poster displayed between Elton and Mr Jones the second feature is shown as being Hammer the Toff starring John Bentley and Patricia Dainton. The film, released in 1952, also starred Valentine Dyall and was based on a book by John Creasey."

A huge thank you to Geoff for sending in his picture and helping to answer a question that has been bothering me for many years. 

The Capitol Theatre in Salem, Oregon  in 1952

The New York Times review of June 27th 1952 describes the two accompanying films to Disney's Robin Hood in America as Water Birds (a true-life adventure) and a cartoon short called The Little House. 

On line sources show that Hammer The Toff was first released to British cinemas in March 1952. The world premiere of Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men was at the Leicester Square Theatre in London on the 13th March of that year. As we now know from Geoff's previous research  there was a Provincial Premiere in Manchester on the 23rd April and at the Gaumont Theatre in Liverpool on the 27th April. So was Hammer The Toff  the second feature during the 'general' release of Robin Hood around the country in 1952? If you can confirm this please get in touch.

Elton Hayes and Joan Rice at the Provincial Premiere in Manchester

There is now a great deal of reports about the star studded premiere of Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood on this blog. Please click here to read more. And with the help of Geoff Waite we have also accumulated a vast amount of information on the life and work of Elton Hayes here.

All the pictures taken at the provincial premieres and used on this site are the property of Geoff Waite.

Disney's Robin Hood Comic Strip. 10

Thanks to Matt Crandall I can now upload two of the latest instalments of the Robin Hood strips from the Belgian 'Mickey' magazine from 1953.

Matt runs the excellent Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland blog, which contains many rare items and collectables from the classic animated film. He has also been very kindly sending me the comic strips that were drawn by Jessie Marsh and based on the Disney live-action film The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men which was released in 1952.

To catch-up with previous pages from the magazine please click here. 

And don't forget you can view the whole of the movie with Laurence's fantastic picture strip here.

Laurence's picture strip.

Robin Hood Airport

Sean Bean and Brian Blessed

As regular readers of this blog will know, Robin Hood not only has links with Nottinghamshire but also Yorkshire - both counties continuing to claim him as their own.

In April 2005, when the Peel Group opened their £80 million airport on the former site of RAF Finningley in the borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, they provocatively re-named it 'Robin Hood Airport.'

This former long range nuclear bomber base is situated less than 18 miles from the legendary haunts described in one of the oldest tales about the outlaw, A Gest of Robyn Hode printed between 1492-1534.

   Robyn stode in Bernesdale,
  And lenyd hym to a tre;
  And bi hym stode Litell Johnn,
  A gode yeman was he.

The 'Barnsdale' referred to in the early ballad - the base for the outlaw's activities - is often identified with a relatively small area in South Yorkshire near The Great North Road, just north of Doncaster. Wentbridge and Saylis also appear in the stories of Robin Hood and the Potter and the Gest respectively. Legend states that his remains are buried at Kirklees Priory near Brighouse, West Yorkshire.

So two years after the airport's official opening a10-foot bronze statue of Robin Hood, sculpted by Neale Andrew was unveiled by actors Sean Bean and Brian Blessed on the first floor of the airport. Both actors are Yorkshire born and bred and proud of their roots.

During a press interview after the ceremony Sean Bean confessed that he would, "love to play Robin Hood on the big screen," he said. "It's 16 years [2007] since Kevin Costner did it - now it's my turn." 

Sean Bean with the statue of Robin Hood

Sean Bean continued:

"And we all know Robin Hood was definitely a Yorkshireman who was chased into Nottingham. They say he could be from Loxley in Sheffield - thats near where I come from. In fact Robin Hood is possibly my great, great, great, great, great, grandfather." 

Brian Blessed, who played Robin Hood's father in the Costner movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, joked that the reason they were both invited was because, " Sean is very talented, but I have the sex appeal."

Sean Bean and Brian Blessed

Blessed said:

"I was born just eight miles away in Mexborough and I lived in Goldthorpe, my dad died about a year ago - he was the oldest surviving coal miner, he was 99 - and he was thrilled to bits with this airport. It's marvellous the way it's revitalised the area. I'm very proud to be part of this."

After the airport was re-named in 2005, Nottingham  council accused Doncaster of 'jumping on the band-wagon'!

To read about Robin Hood's death at Kirklees please click here. Information about the medieval ballads Robin Hood and the Potter and the Gest of Robyn Hode can be seen here and there are many more links and in the sidebars.

Geoffrey Rodway (1911-1999)

Geoffrey Godway (1911-1999) with Joan Rice in the make-up department

This is an up-date to a post from three years ago. It was in November of that year I posted a picture of Joan Rice (1930-1997) in the make-up department for her role as Maid Marian during the filming of Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men.

At the time, I was not sure who the gentleman was applying the make-up. I went through the names, including Geoffrey Rodway the Make-Up Supervisor on the movie, Trevor Crole-Rees, Stuart Freeborn, Eddie Knight, A. L Lawrence, Robert Alexander and Wally Schneiderman. They are all listed in various articles as uncredited make-up artists on Disney’s live-action movie. At the time I guessed in might have been Geoffrey Rodway.

Well, I was thrilled to receive a message from Alex Rodway:

“Yes that is Geoffrey Rodway, my grandfather.”

Neil, our regular contributor, also informed us that South African born Geoffrey Rodway (1911-1999) was employed in various make-up departments from the early forties right through to the seventies. Including working on the much-loved Carry-On films.

Rodway was part of the team that worked for Walt Disney on Treasure Island and Sword and the Rose.  He was also Joan Rice's make-up artist not just on Robin Hood, but also Curtain Up, A Day To Remember and One Good Turn. 

In March of this year Mick got in touch and asked if the family had lived in Iver in Buckinghamshire? I am pleased to say that yesterday Tim Walker contacted me with this answer:

"Hi all - I'm another of Geoff's grandsons - cousin of Alex who wrote in previously. Geoff did a large number of films at Pinewood Studios, which are of course situated in Iver. So yes Geoff and his wife Nora (who was also his assistant) did live in the area - I think in Denham and Iver at some stage. This was up until Geoff retired and they moved to the South coast during the seventies. I hope this is of interest. Regards, Tim Walker. 

Many thanks to all those who very kindly contacted this web site regarding Geoffrey Rodway, especially members of his family. If you have any information regarding the production crew or actors and actresses that made Disney's Story of Robin Hood please get in-touch. I will be pleased to hear from you.

Archie Duncan, Villain and Hero

Archie Duncan (1914-1979) has the unique distinction of playing a villain and a hero in the world of Robin Hood. He played Red Gill, the murderer of Robin’s father in The Story of Robin Hood (1952) and Little John in 105 episodes of TV’s The Adventures of Robin Hood between 1955-1959. 

Archie Duncan is proving to be a popular choice for your favourite Little John of 'all-time' in our current poll (see the right-hand panel on this blog).

Archie Duncan

Archibald Duncan was born in Glasgow on 26th May 1914 and was educated at Govern High School. His father was a regimental sergeant major and his mother a postmistress. The Scottish actor Russell Hunter remembers ‘big Archie’ at a Communist Party Rally in support of the Soviet Union and the opening of a second front in 1941. Duncan was then working as a welder at John Brown’s Shipyard.

“I was looking for acting work,” Russell Hunter said. “Duncan came up to me and asked if I he had a big voice? I replied yes! So he invited me through to a back room, where I was asked to read the part of the fascist in the Saturday night production at the Partick Borough Halls. As the original actor had been called up.”

Archie Duncan later introduced Russell Hunter to the Glasgow Unity.

It was at the Citizens Theatre Company that Duncan joined the training ground of many Scottish actors including, Molly Urquart, Duncan Macrae, Gordon Jackson and Eileen Herlie. He then made his Scottish acting debut in Juno and the Paycock, playing all three gunmen, at Glasgow's Alhambra in May 1944.

Duncan's London debut came at the Phoenix Theatre in 1947 when he appeared with Alistair Sim and George Cole as Inspector Mc Iver in Dr Angelus.

Film roles started to follow with: Operation Bullshine (1948) Counter Blast (1948), The Bad Lord Byron (1949), Floodtide (1949), The Gorballs Story (1950), The Elusive Pimpernel (1950), Green Grow the Rushes (1951), Flesh and Flood (1951), Circle of Danger (1951) Henry V (1951), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) You're Only Young Twice (1952), Hot Ice (1952), Home At Seven (1952) and Walt Disney's The Story Of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men as 'Red Gill' (1952).

Archie Duncan as Red Gill 

Two years later Duncan teamed up with Richard Todd and James Robertson Justice again in Disney’s Rob Roy the Highland Rogue as Dugal Mac Gregor.

Archie Duncan as Red Gill with Richard Todd as Robin Hood

In-between these various film roles, came the first of his long running TV appearances in the early U.S. series Sherlock Holmes as Inspector Lestrade. But just as he was finishing the final recording of Sherlock Holmes in 1955, he was preparing for a role that he will always be fondly remembered.

Richard Greene as Robin Hood and Archie Duncan as Little John

6ft. 2inch Archie was to play the part of Little John for Sapphire Films in The Adventures of Robin Hood with Richard Greene, at Nettlefold Studios, the first production of the newly formed ITP company (later ITC). It was commissioned by Lew Grade and was shown in the first weekend of Independent television in 1955 and became a massive success, running to 143 episodes. 

Duncan's portrayal of Little John would be fondly remembered decades later for his combination of strength, skill and  humour.  It was during the filming this unforgettable series that this Scottish gentle giant proved to be a true hero and managed to prevent a runaway horse from hurtling towards a group of spectators, consisting of mainly children, watching close by. For this brave feat, he was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery and £1,360 in damages. But it also resulted in him missing the recording of eleven episodes of Robin Hood. So between times, a replacement was found in fellow Scotsman, Rufus Cruickshank.

After TV’s The Adventures of Robin Hood, Duncan’s most notable film roles were in Saint Joan (1957) and Ring of Bright Water (1969). 

Matt Robertson sent me this message:

"I think I remember "meeting" Archie Duncan when I was a child visiting grandparents at Linthouse, Govan. As I recall, Archie Duncan was occasionally in the small Post Office at Linthouse, his mother or sister was the postmistress there. I would have gone into the Post Office, along with other kids at the time, to shout out, "Who killed the otter?" He had been our hero as Little John on TV but whacked Mij in Ring of Bright Water."

Archie Ducan's career in television production carried on with parts in programmes like Z Cars, Hereward the Wake, Orlando, Black Beauty and Bootsie and Snudge. 

But in 1978 he suffered a massive stroke which caused paralysis down his right side. Sadly he passed away at Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone, London aged 65 on 24th July 1979. 

Don't forget to get involved and vote for your all-time favourite Little John in our poll in the right-hand task bar.