Maid Marian and Robin Hood – Page 4

The Adventures of Robin Hood

The Making of a Television Series

Beginnings: The Stage, 21 April 1955

More details about the actors in future posts.

Ralph Smart (pictured) was an influential figure in ITC television, producing, directing and writing a number of television series including The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Adventures of Sir Lancelot, William Tell, The Invisible Man, Danger Man and The Protectors.

In 1954, Ralph joined producer Hannah Weinstein to direct The Adventures of Robin Hood. In February 1959, he told The Stage, “I like having my own way. I longed to be a producer. Then I became one. But I found that frustrating because, as executive producer, Hannah had the last say!”

Ralph retired to Queensland, Australia. He died there on 12 February 2001 aged 92.

August 1955

An insight into the making of The Adventures of Robin Hood

Kinematograph, December 1955

Another insight into the making of The Adventures of Robin Hood, from Sidney Cole, associate producer on the television series.

“The basis of good storytelling is always to present the narrative in the clearest and most direct way.”

The television series The Adventures of Robin Hood was produced by Hannah Weinstein (pictured), an American-British journalist, publicist and political activist. Fleeing political persecution, Hannah left America and settled in Britain. In London, in 1952, she established Sapphire Films. With the support of Lew Grade, Sapphire Films made series for the ITV network, including The Adventures of Robin Hood.

With the McCarthy Witch Hunts in full swing, Hannah Weinstein commissioned Robin Hood scripts from blacklisted America writers. The writers adopted pseudonyms and great care was taken at the time to keep their identities secret. A series about outlaws was effectively written by “outlaws”.

Despite the McCarthyites hating Hannah, Sapphire Films, and everything she stood for, The Adventures of Robin Hood was a great success in America. In the television series, good triumphed over evil, and that was reflected in real life.

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Maid Marian and Robin Hood #1

I’m developing a series about Maid Marian that will, naturally, also feature Robin Hood. My posts here will focus mainly on British productions of the legend, simply because I find them more interesting – I’m not a big fan of “Hollywood does medieval”.

My main focus in these posts will be on the 1955-59 British television series, The Adventures of Robin Hood. However, other productions will also feature.

Over twenty actresses have portrayed Maid Marian in film and on television.

Josée Richard (pictured) played Maid Marian in the 1953 BBC mini-series Robin Hood. She was married to broadcaster Robert Robinson for over fifty years.

Josée Richard, below, pictured in The Sketch in July 1953.

In 1953 Patrick Troughton starred as Robin Hood in a six-episode television series, the first television production of Robin Hood. The thirty minute episodes were transmitted live, and only eight minutes from the second episode, The Abbot of St. Mary’s, survived.

The cast included Josée Richard as Maid Marian, Wensley Pithey as Friar Tuck, Kenneth Mackintosh as Little John and David Kossoff as the Sheriff of Nottingham.

The Episodes:

Gathering the Band (17 March 1953)
The Abbot of St. Mary’s (24 March 1953)
Who Is Robin? (31 March 1953)
The Silver Arrow (7 April 1953)
A King Comes to Greenwood (14 April 1953)
The Secret (21 April 1953)

Richard Greene thought long and hard – for three months – before accepting the part of Robin Hood in the television series The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955-59). An established screen and stage actor, he was aware of the risks of “stepping down” to make a television series. Had the scripts and production values been poor, the decision would have severely damaged his career. However, the scripts and production values were excellent, and Robin Hood became the defining role of his distinguished career.

Anticipated pattern of future blog posts: Marian and Robin – every six days, 1963 newspaper digests – every six days.