Joan Rice in Wonderland

 

Joan Rice at the premiere of Alice in Wonderland in 1951

On the evening of Thursday, July 26th 1951, Joan Rice (1930-1997) attended the premiere of Walt Disney's latest animated masterpiece, Alice in Wonderland at London's Leicester Square Theatre.

Joan was now a Disney princess. Her film career had been sprinkled with pixie dust. Walt had personally picked Joan himself to play the part Maid Marian in his live-action movie The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). Walt Disney had visited the film set at Denham Studios a month earlier and met some of the stars and crew. By now the film 'was in the can'. So Joan's film career was about to take off.

Later, Joan would tell her friends that she was Walt Disney's first Maid Marian.

Michael Medwin and Joan Rice in 'Curtain Up'

In the autumn of 1951, Joan began filming the comedy Curtain Up for an independent production company, Constellation Films. The following year she would fly off to Hollywood and then on to Fiji for the filming of His Majesty O'Keefe alongside Burt Lancaster. But, as we know, Joan's meteoric rise would sadly not last.

This site is dedicated to the memory of Joan Rice, there are now over 100 posts about her life and career. Just click on the label 'Joan Rice.'

Very Rare Robin Hood Promo Cards

 

I am constantly surprised by the various memorabilia that appears from Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood. After 15 years of blogging about this wonderful film, my readers still make me aware of items I have never seen that are up for auction.

John Nelson has sent me images of a series of extremely rare promotional cards.

As we have seen, the Walt Disney organisation backed their films with a huge promotional campaign - and still do.

Do you know which character was illustrated on the missing card, (number 8)? Or if you have seen this set of cards before please let me know.

There are over 81 pages on this blog showing the memorabilia connected to Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood. Just click on the 'Memorabilia' label.

Richard and Joan

This steamy shot is from a Disney film! It shows Richard Todd as Robin Hood and Joan Rice as Maid Marian in Walt Disney’s live action movie ‘The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men released in 1952. A very underrated film.

By this time, Richard Todd (1919-2009) was already a popular actor. He had received an Oscar nomination for his role as 'Lachie' in The Hasty Heart (1949) and recently finished Hitchcock's Stage Fright (1950) and King Vidor's Lightning Strikes Twice (1951).

But for Joan Rice, the former 'Nippy' from a Lyons Tea House, this was her first big break. Joan had spent her childhood in a convent in Nottingham and had often played amongst the oaks of Sherwood Forest...

Just click on the labels to learn more about Joan and Richard.

Catherine Grant-Bogle

Richard Todd and Catherine

Sorry I have not posted for a while. I have been moving house, which has proved very, very stressful! While I have been away, I have noticed several new comments regarding the later life of Catherine Grant-Bogle. So I have combined these with earlier messages.​

Little was known about Catherine's life after she was divorced from movie legend Richard Todd (1919-2009). So I am sure my readers will be very interested in some of the messages:

“I was looking up info on Richard Todd when I saw this article on Catherine Grant-Bogle. She was my landlady in 1970/71 in London, in a flat near the Tate Gallery.​​ I am Canadian and was backpacking through Europe with my girlfriend. She took me, my girlfriend and a girl from Hawaii in for room and board. The rooms were as the children left them and she didn't want us to touch or move anything. She also didn't want us using the kitchen and when she found the three of us making dinner, she was very upset.​​ She was very bitter about the divorce and told us stories. Her son Peter also came by a few times to check on her. I also have a picture of her with her cat in my photo album.​​I went back to London with my first husband in 1978 and went to show him the flat. And there she was walking down the street coming out of the liquor store, looking a little worse for wear.​​I am surprised to see that she lived another 20 years after I last saw her. She didn't look well and the difference in her from 1971 to 1978 was astounding!"​

Pam continued:​​ “She did seem so sad, not only when I was rooming at her flat, but especially when I saw her walking down the street a few years later. She was a sweet lady.​​Anyway, just thought I would share this with you.”​​Catherine was a cousin (first or second) of my paternal grandmother. She returned home to Rothesay in her later years. She lived with or was married to a German chap, and they had a couple of dogs. She did have a drink problem, from what I've heard. He outlived her by a few years. She used to drop into the Copper Kettle café which was run by another family member, my grandmother's niece Muriel."

​

Scott says:

​​​​​​"Hi all, this is fascinating stuff. My sister was married to Peter Todd for many years before he tragically took his own life. It's funny how I've stumbled across this blog as I was searching for Catherine as I'm in the process of selling my artefacts that I have had passed to me, all of which are related to Richard Todd and his film career. I'm sure I can answer many of your questions if you still have any and would be happy to do so. I have a portrait of Cathrine which is part of my collection passed to me by Richard and Peter Todd and she truly was a beautiful lady and from what I understand a fantastic mother. However, the Todds life was incredibly difficult for all involved and I saw personally the very sad end in which it finished. I'm here if you wish to discuss further. 

Best regards."

"Hi!​

Catherine returned to Rothesay, on Bute, in her later years and died there. She used to go to her cousin Muriel’s café, The Copper Kettle. I think that it’s true she had something of an alcohol problem latterly, but she lived with or was married to a German chap, and they had a couple of dogs. He outlived her by a few years. ​She was a first or second cousin of my grandmother, and my aunts were very excited as schoolgirls when she and Richard visited the family when filming Rob Roy in Argyll.​

Best wishes,​

Dr. Marianne M Gilchrist".

​​Many thanks to everyone who kindly contacted me regarding Catherine’s later life.

Red Gill's Tree

Robert's photo from Burnham Beeches

 

Robert has recently sent me this photograph of a pollarded tree in Burnam Beeches and wonders:

Could this be the tree that Red Gill (Archie Duncan) was killed by Robin. It looks low enough. I will have to watch the film?

Burnham Beeches in Buckinghamshire, England, has been used for literally hundreds of movies and TV shows and there is a list of them on this website. It is a truly beautiful place and well-worth a visit.

Back in 2014 I visited and spent the day trying to locate many of the locations used in Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood.

Burnham Beeches was the location chosen by Walt Disney to be his Sherwood Forest, not only because of its close proximity to Denham Studios (12 miles approx.), where two of the huge sound stages were used, but also because of its amazing ancient woodland that was ideal as a backdrop to this classic tale. I have noticed a number of film web sites state that Disney’s live-action movie was the only Robin Hood tale to be filmed in Sherwood Forest. This in incorrect, but shows what a good choice Burnham Beeches was.

Disney's second unit filmed many scenes in an area of Burnham Beeches known as Mendelssohn’s Slope which is filled with ancient pollarded trees. Also at Middle Pond, where Robin (Richard Todd) and Marian (Joan Rice) took their romantic evening stroll, accompanied by Friar Tuck (James Hayter) and Allan a Dale (Elton Hayes) singing ‘Whistle My Love.’

Robin Hood discovers Red Gill's body

I didn't discover the huge pollarded tree that was used for filming, there is so many in the 540 acres! But a close look at some of the stills in Laurence's fantastic picture strip shows that the tree used 70 years ago was much older than Robert's candidate. But many thanks to Robert for sending it in.

Belgian Robin Hood Comic

 

Special thanks to Matt Crandall for sending this cover of a Belgian comic of 1952. It shows a colourised still of Richard Todd as Robin Hood from the live-action movie released this year. The movie was of course Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men.

Many black and white images, used to promote the film at this time, were colourised. By today's standards, they often look extremely gaudy. This was due to the limited printing technology at the time. 

To view this web sites vast collection of promotional material from the movie, just click on the relevant label.

Elton Promotes Robin Hood

 

Neil Vessey has kindly sent in some more images of Elton Hayes (1915-2001) promoting Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood. Regular readers will know that Elton played Allan-a-Dale in the Disney live-action version of the legend. The picture above shows Elton playing songs from the film at Bingley Hall in Birmingham.

The magazine article that Neil has found, appeared in 'To-Days Cinema' on May 1st 1952.

Elton at a tailoring factory in Leeds

The magazine describes Elton's hectic schedule during this period:

Touring key provincial cities making personal appearances at theatres screening Walt Disney's British production in Technicolor, "The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men," Elton Hayes, who plays Allan-a-Dale, the roaming troubadour in the RKO Radio release, earned great added publicity for the film by visiting hospitals, children's homes, dance salons and big local functions. (1). Between times of his appearances at the Plaza, Woodford, Hayes attended the Delphian League match between Woodford Town and Rainham Town, "doing the honours" by kicking off.

Elton 'Kicks off'

His promotional tour continued:

Elton at Cardiff Castle

(2). Hayes relaxes during his strenuous tour by singing to attendants of the Empire, the Cardiff theatre at which he appeared, in the picturesque grounds of the Castle. (3). After appearing at the Gaumont, Liverpool, Hayes is cornered by young autograph hunters. (4). Prior to appearing at the Majestic and Scala theatres in Leeds, Hayes visited the tailoring factory of Price and tried his hand at cutting a suit. He is watched by (second from left) Mr. W. Finan, personnel manager of the firm, and (second from right) Mr. C. Willmott, manager of the Scala. (5). While in Birmingham, where he appeared at the Gaumont, Hayes paid a mid-day visit to the National Trades Fair at Bingley Hall, where he is pictured on the stage with Harry Roy and his band, entertaining a large audience with hit tunes from the Disney adventure.

We now know that after the 'official' premiere of The Story of Robin Hood in London at the Leicester Square Theatre on the 13th March 1952, there were 'provincial' premieres the following month. Elton then sailed off to America on a further promotional tour on May 8th 1952.

Back in 2017, Geoff Waite very kindly shared with us some images from his own private collection of some of these provincial premieres. 

Joan Rice (Maid Marian) and James Hayter (Friar Tuck) visited Portsmouth and Southsea on the 7th of April 1952.  On April 24th Joan also joined Elton Hayes at the Odeon in Manchester. Then Elton  visited the Gaumont Theatre in Liverpool on the 27th. The accompanying film on these occasions were Hammer, The Toff starring John Bentley and Patricia Dainton.  I discovered that the provincial premiere of Robin Hood in Manchester was during the midnight matinee on April 24th 1952 at the Odeon Theatre.  

Elton Hayes and Joan Rice at the Odeon Theatre Manchester 

I would have loved to have been sitting amongst the audience in Bingley Hall listening to Elton playing those tunes from Robin Hood!

Special thanks to Neil and Geoff for providing the information and making us aware of these provincial premieres. 

To read more about Elton Hayes, Joan Rice, the Film Premiere and a whole lot more, just click on the links in the side panel.

Elton Hayes the Minstrel

 

The unidentified article (shown above) reads:

This modern-day minstrel is a transatlantic troubadour, having sought and won the patronage of the B.B.C. Films, recordings for Parlophone and H.M.V. and the Stage.

Elton Hayes compiles his program with great care - 'The trouble is that you may know hundreds of songs, but if they're all the same type only a few may be suitable for a Recital Programme; to overcome that trouble I often have to write my own'.

But in writing them Elton Hayes is doing just as his medieval predecessors did, bring up to date a medieval art, the only difference being, that none of them played to such a vast audience as the modern- day minstrel.

Elton Hayes (1915-2001) was ‘made for the part’ of Alan a Dale the legendary wandering minstrel. He carried the story uniquely from scene to scene, imitating the link the legend has with the balladeers that first spread the legend in medieval England. 

70 years ago, Elton together with a rich array of talented actors and actresses was busy filming the Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men at Denham Studios and Burnam Beeches in Buckinghamshire, England. Although this wonderful version of the legend has held up remarkably well down the decades and many critics rate it highly in the long list of Robin Hood productions, today it is generally forgotten. One of the reasons is probably due to the DVD not being released by Disney in Europe and also their cartoon version of the legend overshadowing the earlier live-action production.

Others in the film's cast were Richard Todd, who played the title role; James Robertson Justice, Little John; Martitia Hunt as Queen Eleanor, and James Hayter as Friar Tuck.

James Hayter as Friar Tuck and Elton Hayes as Alan a Dale

Hayes said Robin Hood was his second association with Walt Disney. He was hired by Disney to prepare original sea chanties for Treasure Island, due to the fact that Hayes collection of old English ballads were unrivalled in all of England.

At the time he was described as Britain's counterpart to America's Burl Ives, ballad and folk singer.

There are a couple of C.D's available of the music of Elton Hayes. But for fans of the Story of Robin Hood, I recommend the remastered compilation by Windyridge (WINDYVAR90), which includes 'Whistle My Love,' and 'Riddle de Diddle De Day.'

Promotional Spanish Magazine Article

A Spanish Magazine article about The Story of Robin Hood

I am sorry my postings have been few and far between. There are a number of reasons - including trying to move house which has been a rollercoaster of experiences! So a big thank you to Matt Crandall for helping me by sending this Spanish magazine article promoting the release of Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men in 1952. 

Joan Rice as Maid Marian

Those of you that have explored the hundreds of pages and images on this blog, will be familiar with the pictures used in that magazine. So I have shared a similar promotional photograph of the lovely Joan Rice above, which I have colourised. 

Richard Todd as Robin Hood

The photograph of Walt Disney with his wife and two daughters in that magazine, is interesting. From the photographs I have seen of him on the set at Denham during the making of The Story of Robin Hood, I am sure he looked older! What do you think?