Merrie Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

 

I have now reached 660 posts on this blog! Very special thanks go out to my regular contributors, Neil, Mike, Geoff, Laurence, Christian and  all those who continue to uncover various topics of interest connected to our favourite movie and have helped make this blog a huge success.

 

As many of you are aware, this has not been a particularly good year for me. But in the new year I begin a new chapter in my life and I am determined to resume posting on this site with added vigour.

 

A Merrie Christmas to all my readers and a very Happy New Year !

 

 



Robin Hood by Alexandre Dumas

 

 

 

It is always nice to hear from visitors to this blog and receive their comments and input. So I am extremely grateful to Christian Roy - one of our regular readers - for sending me this image and email.

 

"Dear Clement,

It might be of interest to you to know that a French pocketbook intended for young people (from 14 on), called Marabout Junior, was available in the 50s.

The 2nd issue (of many to follow) was devoted to the novel called Robin des Bois, le Proscrit, which was written by Alexandre Dumas of Three Muskeeters fame. It may be doubtful though it was written by him.

 

Anyway, the cover of the Marabout book is interesting in that it acknowledges the source, that is to say the 1952 Disney RKO Picture.

In its own right, it is also a beautiful colourful depiction of my favourite film of all times!

 

Hope it is a worthy addition to your collection, also to share with fans."
(Christian Roy)

 

Many thanks Christian. The image on the book cover has been taken from the poster that originally advertised the film. We have seen various examples of this happening since this blog started and although this particular book cover had permission by Disney, many products did not. This forced the Disney organisation to later enforce strict copyright laws on all their products.

Le Prince des Voleurs (The Prince of Thieves) was written by Alexandre Dumas and published in 1872 (after his death in 1870) in an edition of his complete works (published and edited by Michel Levy, 1862-89).

 

 

 

Richard Todd in Fans' Star Library

Geoff Waite has recently sent me a very interesting little booklet from 1958. It is Fan's' Star Library No.8 and features Richard Todd. Priced at 10d the articles on Todd, cover his life story and film career up until the making of the movie Intent to Kill. It is packed with some fascinating pictures of his homelife with his wife Catherine Grant Bogle , their children and his farm.

There is some interesting detail on his second live-action film for Walt Disney, Rob Roy. But I was eager to see if there were any snippets of information on his making of Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). This is what I found:

"As soon as Flesh and Blood was completed, Walt Disney wanted Richard for the name role in his new picture Robin Hood. It is said that Disney chose Todd for the part after one of his own daughters returned from a cinema a confirmed Richard Todd fan-she had just seen The Hasty Heart, and she kept telling her father that this young British star had everything!

An outdoor man himself, the idea of playin the great adventurer appealed to Richard, but he didn't want to be forced to portray the outlaw as a costumed twelfth century Tarzan. He wanted to play Robin Hood as 'he' saw the great outlaw. Fortunately, Walt Disney had enough confidence in Richard to allow him his own portrayal and as we all know the picture was a tremendous success.

Robin Hood, starring our own Richard Todd, had its premiere at the Leicester Square Theatre on March 13th, 1952. It was a glittering oppening and raised a large sum of money for a worthey cause. This film has become a Classic, and will doubtless be shown for years and years.

Within four days of finishing Robin Hood, Richard flew to the South of France, to play the parrt of the incurable young gambler in Twenty Four Hours of a Woman's Life."

To read more about Richard Todd, the making of Robin Hood and the film premiere, please click on the labels.

Joan Rice

Mike has recently sent in one of my favourite pictures of Joan Rice (1930-1997) as Maid Marian. This blog is dedicated to Joan's memory. Her portrayal as the girlfriend of the outlaw in Walt Disney's Robin Hood (1952) was a fundamental one and in this - her first major motion picture - she was a huge success. In a recent poll on this site she was voted the best Maid Marian of all time! To read more about the life of Joan Rice please click here.

This still from the movie has been posted before, but I am sure regular readers of this blog will be pleased to see this picture of Joan Rice as Marian again.

Robin Hood in Mickey Mouse Weekly

Part of my collection of memorabilia from Walt Disney's movie the Story of Robin Hood are two copies of Mickey Mouse Weekly. This was a weekly tabloid comic that ran from the late 1930s and was first published by Willbank Publications and later Odhams Press in London. It was the first British comic to use the expensive colour photogravure process.

The two copies that I own date from the time of the release of the live-action movie in 1952.  But sadly I am not sure who the artist was that illustrated the strip (it could have been Jessie Marsh). So perhaps my readers might be able to help?

The colourful strip featured below appeared on the back page of Mickey Mouse Weekly weekending July 12th 1952. 

There is a lot more information on the various comic strip versions of Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood here.

Louise Hampton

This is another of Laurence's fabulous autograph collection featuring stars of Walt Disney's live-action movie the Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men. The one above is the elegant autograph of Louise Hampton who played the character Tyb, Maid Marian's nurse.

To read more about the career of Louise Hampton, please click here.

Disney's Robin Hood Jigsaw Puzzle.

There has been a great deal of interest in these beautifully illustrated jigsaw puzzles, taken from Walt Disney's live-action movie the Story of Robin Hood (1952). Mike contacted me last week, with information that the puzzle above has recently sold for £32 on ebay!

To see more images of these jigsaws from the 1950's and other memorabilia from the movie please click here.

Archie Duncan

A few weeks ago Laurence sent in a picture of his display of autographs and images of the stars of Disney's Story of Robin Hood. To see the whole collection click here.

Many readers  were so impressed, they requested a closer look at his wonderful collection. So he has kindly emailed me individual pictures of each film star. Above is Archie Duncan (1914-1979) in his role as Red Gill. To read more about the colourful life of Archie please click here.

The Archbishop's Blessing

This rare still from Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood was kindly sent in by Mike. It shows the Archbishop of Canterbury played by Anthony Eustrel leading prayers for King Richard (Patrick Barr) and his Crusaders as they leave for the Holy Land.

On the steps of Nottingham Castle can be seen Prince John   (Hubert Gregg) and Queen Eleanor played by Martitia Hunt.

Do you think the young choir boy (front/left of the picture) looks remarkably like the Page (Cavan Malone) who appears later in the movie?

To read more about the stars of this wonderful movie please click on their names on this site.