Tag: Films

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Maid Marian and Robin Hood

Maid Marian and Robin Hood #5

The Adventures of Robin Hood

Episode 3: Dead or Alive

Introductory minstrel song: “Freedom is calling to Little John, the giant; Robin helps him understand, a serf can be defiant!”

Regular Cast

Sir Robin of Locksley – Richard Greene

Maid Marian – Bernadette O’Farrell

The Sheriff of Nottingham – Alan Wheatley

Little John – Archie Duncan

Original air date: 9 October 1955

Screenplay: Eric Heath (a pseudonym for Ring Lardner Jr.)

Director: Dan Birt

Plot: Little John escapes from his feudal lord – after lifting him off his feet and placing him on a window ledge. He’s then enticed by the Sheriff’s men to capture Robin Hood in exchange for his freedom.

The Bayeux Tapestry again features, this time in a lord’s hall.

Agnes Bernelle guests as a Countess from an unnamed European country. In equal measure, she is impressed with Little John’s strength and appalled by the cold British weather.

More regulars are introduced to the cast: Simone Lovell as Joan, a servant at the Blue Bull Inn, and Bernadette O’Farrell as Maid Marian in a brief scene with the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Marian’s scene is brief because this story serves as Little John’s introduction. Archie Duncan was well-cast in the role. He had the physical build for Little John and mannerisms that suggested, intellectually, he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the forest.

Simone Lovell was a regular in historical television series – The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1956), The Count of Monte Cristo (1956), Ivanhoe (1958), and The Adventures of William Tell (1959). She also appeared in Emergency Ward 10 (1961), Z-Cars (1965) and Public Eye (1968).

🏹 🏹 🏹

Archie Duncan appeared in over fifty television series and films including The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), Saint Joan (1957) and Lancelot and Guinevere (1963).  He also appeared as Inspector Lestrade in the 1954 series Sherlock Holmes.

Archie’s association with Robin Hood was twofold: as well as his best remembered career role as Little John, he also played Red Gill in the 1952 film The Story of Robin Hood.

📷 Archie Duncan as Little John

Standout scene: an evergreen – the quarterstaff fight between Robin Hood and Little John as they try to cross a river.

Sword fights – 1. Bow fights/bow skills – 0.

Running total: Sword fights – 2. Bow fights/bow skills – 3.

🏹 🏹 🏹

Book One in my Maid Marian and Robin Hood series will be The Tourney. The Sheriff of Nottingham organises a May festival (1215) and the various characters arrive to display their skills. Chapter One opens with Marian practicing her archery skills. However, because she’s a woman, the sheriff will not allow her to participate in the tourney. 

Marian has other matters to concern her – Sir Piers Longespèe arrives with a claim on Marian’s hall, Huntington Hall. Her problems are compounded when the deeds proving her ownership of the hall are stolen. Into this milieu strides Robert of Locksley, with an interest in all the above.

🖼️ Women Defending a Castle with Bows and Crossbows – Walter de Milemere, c1326, Christ Church, Oxford.

Medieval tournaments developed as a training ground for warfare. As time moved on, the tournaments became entertainments with music, dancing, various sporting events, betting and stalls. 

In 1348, a shocked monastic chronicler recorded that forty “wonton” women dressed as men in multi-coloured garments and paraded through the lists on chargers and palfreys. They “forgot” their marriage vows and indulged in “lewd behaviour”.

🖼️ Artist unknown

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Movies ‘48

Movies ‘48 #3

Movie News – January 15, 1948

MGM suspended Lana Turner when she refused to play Lady de Winter in The Three Musketeers. The suspension was later lifted when she agreed to feature in the movie.

Movie News – January 16, 1948

Ann Sheridan plays “a fine dramatic role” in The Unfaithful, a movie about infidelity centred on a wife who cheats on her husband when he’s away in the services. While criticising the wife, the movie concludes that there should be more “give and take in such cases”.

Movie News – January 17, 1948

Film-star portraits, only 7d each, post free.

Movie News – January 18, 1948

Cinemas are to charge threepence extra a seat. The price rise will raise £300,000 a week, and no part will be sent back to Hollywood to add to the “dollar drain”.

The remarkable statistic in this report was that 25 million Britons visited the cinema each week, compared to 2.25 million now.

Movie News – January 19, 1948

As 500 cinema goers watched Murder is My Business at the Tottenham Court Road cinema last night, a man went up to the box office, smashed the thick glass with the butt-end of a revolver and told the two female cashiers to hand over the takings. However, the cashiers had other ideas. Mrs Harris screamed and pressed the alarm while Mrs Wilson shouted, “Don’t you dare!”

Three men rushed to the scene and, after a scuffle, overpowered the gunman, who was later detained at Tottenham Court Road police station.

Movie News – January 20, 1948

“Family Man” from Manchester was one of many outraged at the showing of “The Birth of a Baby”. It was beyond his comprehension that the authorities allowed this film to be viewed by “Tom, Dick and Harry”. Tom and Harry were not available for comment. Meanwhile, Dick said it had nothing to do with him…

Movie News – January 21, 1948

The Sketch featured Britain’s #1 money-making movie star, Anna Neagle.

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

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Dear Reader

Dear Reader #217

Dear Reader,

Coming soon, the audiobook version of Tula, book one in my Golden Age of Hollywood series, featuring a wonderful narration by Amelia Mendez.

Clara Bow’s fifty-seventh and final movie was Hoopla, produced between September 2 and November 9, 1933, and released on November 30, 1933. Clara played Lou, an amoral cooch dancer.

Clara hated her role, but appeared in the movie to fulfil her contract. She was unhappy about the whole production. However, the critics loved her performance and the film.

Variety: “A more mature performance, which shows an improved actress. She looks and photographs extremely well. Bow seems ripe to comeback strongly and this performance will help plenty.”

Sadly, Clara disagreed. “I’ve had enough. I don’t wanna be remembered as someone who couldn’t do nothin’ but take her clothes off. I want somethin’ real now.” Clara found that reality as a housewife and mother. She quit the yellow brick road for life on a ranch.

Clara was still in her twenties and had plenty to offer as an actress. She still had “it”. As she developed as a person, her performances would have become even more mature, stronger. If offered the right parts, she could have made classic movies and be remembered for the great talent she was.

To appreciate Clara’s talent, I would recommend her second film, “Down to the Sea in Ships”. In that film, Clara’s youthful ability is on display, and you can see why the producers developed her role and added more scenes for her to appear in.

I would also recommend her penultimate film, “Call Her Savage”. This film is over-plotted – it’s half-a-dozen films in one, but with so much going on at least the movie offered Clara an opportunity to display her wide range of acting talents.

I’m doing some in-depth research on the movie Sunset Boulevard. Here’s my second note.

Sunset Boulevard: Notes on a Classic

“A great big white elephant of a place. The kind crazy movie people built in the crazy twenties.” – Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard.

📸 The William O. Jenkins House, also known as the “Phantom House”, built for businessman William O. Jenkins in 1922 and 1923, Norma Desmond’s house in Sunset Boulevard.

An Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A, Norma Desmond’s car in Sunset Boulevard.

Norma Desmond: “We have a car. Not one of those cheap things made of chromium and spit but Isotta Fraschini. Have you ever heard of Isotta Fraschini? All hand-made. It cost me twenty eight thousand dollars.” That’s around $500,000 in today’s money.

Columbo – Season One, Episode Six: “Lady in Waiting”.

Susan Clark played the murderer in this episode, psychologically one of the best of the first series. Leslie Nielsen played her fiancé. Leslie Nielsen (pictured: Wikipedia) was so good in The Naked Gun series that I struggle to take his straight roles seriously. That said, he’s very good in Columbo and his scenes with Peter Falk are a highlight.

A Hollywood Murder

The professional hitman hired by drug runners theory is one of the weakest in the Taylor case. I include it here because it features in newspaper reports, occasionally.

I’ve searched a newspaper database containing 883,643,177 articles using the keywords “William Desmond Taylor” and “drugs”, covering the period 1900 – 1949. My search returned 14 items. Most of those items were false leads with the word “drug” on the same page as “Taylor”. Some of the articles suggested that Taylor was a drug pusher. Two suggested that he was murdered by a drug pusher. None of the articles suggested that Taylor was an anti-drug campaigner. If he was campaigning against drugs in Hollywood, his campaign did not capture the media’s attention.

Some reports suggest that Mabel Normand was a drug addict. To date, I have not read anything to confirm that. If Mabel was an addict, as a friend it would be understandable if Taylor tried to help her. In trying to help her, he might have talked with studio bosses, who also had good reason to banish drugs from their sets.

The newspapers made no mention of drugs in association with William Desmond Taylor before his murder. The drug angle only featured in some newspapers after his death. Before his death, there was no indication in the media that Taylor was leading an anti-drug campaign.

Some moviemakers were vociferous in their stance and making anti-drug movies in the early 1920s. Director Graham Cutts made Cocaine. He was not murdered. Director Irving Cummings made The Drug Traffic. He was not murdered. Director Norton S Parker made The Pace That Kills. He was not murdered. Numerous people in Hollywood were spreading the anti-drug message in the 1920s and 1930s. Gangsters did not murder them.

As I stated earlier, if Mabel Normand was a drug addict, it would be understandable if William Desmond Taylor tried to help her. Maybe she informed him of her drug suppler and he informed the studio bosses, who in turn informed the police. Corruption was rife. Many officials in the police were on the take. They already knew who was supplying the Hollywood community with drugs, and were prepared to turn a blind eye.

The problem remains: Mabel, or another actor, is still an addict. Even if movie executives banned drug pushers from the studio lot, the addict will get his drugs from elsewhere. And the regular round of parties so beloved of Old Hollywood would offer the drug pushers an opportunity to create new addicts; they would not need access to the studio lot.

With the police in his pocket, effectively waving the drugs through, only an idiot would murder a high profile person, stir up a hornets’ nest, and attract unwanted attention.

If the Eight O’Clock Man murdered William Desmond Taylor, I don’t think he was a professional hitman hired by gangsters, so I’m inclined to place him low on my list of suspects. I would place a second-rate hitman hired by gangsters slightly higher, but still low down on my list.

As Kevin Brownlow and John Kobal wrote in their book, Hollywood: The Pioneers – “A theory was put forward that Taylor had been taking on the drug racket single-handed, in the hope of curing his friend, comedienne Mabel Normand, of addiction, but this proved to be desperate publicity in the face of unpalatable evidence.”

I’m starting a new feature on my website and social media looking at 20th century movies and music through the life of Nancy Olson. Nancy came to prominence in 1950 through her Oscar nominated performance in Sunset Boulevard. She married twice, to lyricist Alan Jay Lerner, and to Capitol Records executive Alan W. Livingston. Nancy is 95 and I think her life story is fascinating. I hope you will enjoy the items I intend to share.

American television, February 2, 1960. Do you remember any of these films and programmes?

Social media https://toot.wales/@HannahHowe

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

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Dear Reader

Dear Reader #208

Dear Reader,

The cover for Dana, book three in my Golden Age of Hollywood series, scheduled for 2024. This noirish 1920s story is about a young woman employed by a Hollywood studio who becomes embroiled in a murder mystery.

My latest translation, the Italian version of Love and Bullets, Sam Smith Mystery Series book two.

*****

Clara Bow’s forty-seventh movie was The Wild Party, produced between 2 – 29 January, 1929, and released on April 26, 1929. Clara played Stella Ames an extrovert student.

The Wild Party was a landmark movie – the first Clara Bow talkie. Also, it was directed by Dorothy Arzner, at that time the only female director working in Hollywood.

Unlike Greta Garbo, for example, Clara was given no time to prepare for the transition from silent movies to talkies. She was thrown in at the deep end, and she struggled. 

Clara was nervous about her Brooklyn accent. She had no reason to be – her accent was natural and wide in range. She could deliver everything from high-pitched giggles to low, somber tones in the sad scenes. 

Clara was also nervous about the sound system. This was understandable because she relied upon spontaneity and the freedom to move around the set. Now, she was pinned to a mark, under a microphone. Dorothy Arzner tried to assist by devising the first fishpole microphone. This microphone offered flexibility and allowed Clara freedom of movement and expression.

In January 1929, Clara received 45,000 fan letters, more than twice as many as any other actor in movie history. Theatre owners voted Clara the top female box-office draw of the year. She received 2,700 votes, twice as many as anyone else.

With careful management and encouragement, Clara could have made the transition to talkies. At the dawn of this revolution in the movies, Clara was still box-office gold. But she was becoming disenchanted.

Fredric March and Clara Bow in The Wild Party

Favourite Movie Quote of the 20th Century, First Round

Result: 31% v 69%

Result: 5% v 95%

Second Round

Result: 69% v 31%

Result: 25% v 75%

Result: 42% v 58%

Result: 27% v 73%

Result: 67% v 33%

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As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

For Authors

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Dear Reader

Dear Reader #187

Dear Reader,

Filmed during the summer of 1925 and released on December 15, 1925, Clara Bow’s twenty-sixth movie was The Plastic Age, a breakthrough movie professionally and personally. Clara played Cynthia Day in a tale of “flaming youth in rebellion”. 

With a bigger budget and a decent director, Wesley Ruggles, Clara was offered a chance to shine. And she did to the extent that through this movie she became a major star.

When the film company travelled to Pomona College in Claremont for location shooting, male extras, including Clark Gable, greeted Clara’s appearance each morning with wolf whistles. She captivated everyone on the set, and movie audiences when The Plastic Age went on general release.

In addition, Clara also enjoyed her “first really big love experience” with her co-star, Luis Antonio Damaso de Alonso who was billed in this, and future movies, as Gilbert Roland. 

The Plastic Age revealed Clara’s potential. She was on the road to stardom, with all that that entailed.

Clara Bow Quotes: “I’ve been back in Hollywood a dozen times since the first baby was born, but with no thought of going back into the studio again. For some time to come, I want to concentrate on being a mother.”

In 1637, aged 14, my 10 x great grandfather Thomas Papillon was apprenticed to Thomas Chambrelan, a London merchant. A year later, Thomas was admitted to the Worshipful Mercers’ Company. In 1646, he became a Freeman of the City, but remained with Chambrelan until 1650. 

For political reasons, Thomas was committed to Newgate prison, being released only after a character reference supplied by Thomas Chambrelan, and a large bond provided by his uncle, Pompeo Calandrini.

🖼 Thomas Papillon as a young man, portrait attributed to Robert Walker.

My 10 x great grandparents Thomas Papillon MP and Jane Brodnax married, in Canterbury Cathedral, on 30 October 1651. Together they had 8 children.

David (Died young)
Thomas (Died young)
Jane (Died young)
Anne (Died young)
Elizabeth (Married Edward Ward)
Philip (Married Anne Jolliffe)
Sarah (Married Samuel Rawstorn)
Anne-Marie (Married William Turner) – my 9 x great grandparents.

It’s a curious fact that many of my ancestors were the last born in their family.

My 10 x great grandfather Thomas Papillon enjoyed an illustrious career as a businessman and MP. From 1653, he worked on various customs and excise cases such as the import of lead and the duties payable on brandy. He became a keen investor in the East India Company. Also, he was made master of the Mercers’ Company on no fewer than four occasions. 

In 1667, Thomas travelled to Breda in Holland as a representative of the East India Company to observe progress in the Treaty of Peace between England and Holland. By 1669 he was an active member of the council of trade, advising the government on mercantile affairs. 

Politically, Thomas was a Whig. He was elected MP for Dover 1674-81 and for London 1695-1700. He was known as an effective speaker, and sat on 68 committees. 

In 1689, William III made Thomas a commissioner for the relief of French refugees. Descended from refugees, this office meant a lot to him.

🖼 Westminster, c1700.

In his will, my 10 x great grandfather Thomas Papillon left legacies to his children. He also left significant sums to: Christ’s Hospital, the Mercers’ Company, the apprentices of Dover, the poor of his parish of St. Katherine Coleman, London, the poor of the French Church in London, and his servants.

Throughout his life, Thomas appropriated one tenth of all his income to the poor.

Mastodon Movie Poll, Round Two latest results

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 59% v 41% Frankenstein

Vertigo 76% v 24% It Happened One Night

The Best Years of Our Lives 34% v 66% Spartacus

The Wizard of Oz 59% v 41% All About Eve

The Bridge on the River Kwai 78% v 22% Rebel Without a Cause

City Lights 42% v 58% Duck Soup

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 62% v 38% An American in Paris

Her greatest role was as the Blind Flower Girl in Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights, but who was Virginia Cherrill? Through her genealogy, movie career, and public records I intend to find out and shed some light on the person who, in the opinion of film critic James Agee, delivered with Chaplin, “The greatest single piece of acting ever committed to celluloid.”

Virginia Cherrill was born on 12 April 1908 in Illinois to James Edward Cherrill, a dealer in livestock, and Blanche Wilcox. The couple married because Blanche was pregnant. She gave birth to a daughter, Sydney Rose, who sadly died in 1908, a month before Virginia was born. James was a womaniser and, in due course, Blanche obtained a divorce.

During her childhood, Virginia was known as Dolly. She lived with her mother, and with uncles and grandparents. At school, she befriended Evelyn Lederer, who changed her name to Sue Carol when she became an actress. Later, Sue became an agent and married Alan Ladd.

More next week.

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

For Authors

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