Showing posts with label Maid Marian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maid Marian. Show all posts

Joan Rice as Marian

Joan Rice as Maid Marian

 

This beautiful movie still of Joan Rice as Maid Marian has recently appeared on an auction site. I have never seen this before. Regular contributor John Nelson has also made me aware of this.

Joan appeared as Maid Marian in Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952).

Doesn't she look so beautiful and happy?

Recently I featured the design by Michael Whitaker for Joan's costume, which has also been up for auction. 

John has now purchased Whitaker's original drawing and displays it in a quality frame under fade-resistant glass. 


Michael Whitaker's design




Joan Rice as Maid Marian



I recently posted about Elton Hayes as the best Alan a Dale in films and television. Here is the beautiful Joan Rice (1930-1997) as Maid Marian on a cinema lobby card for Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). She in my opinion was the best Maid Marian of all-time. 

There are now 97 pages on this blog covering every aspect of Joan's life and career. During the process of publishing those various articles, I have learnt so much about this now almost forgotten actress. How as a child she played amongst the glades of Sherwood Forest and later was personally chosen by Walt Disney to appear as Maid Marian in his live-action movie. She was always proud to say that she was Disney’s first Marian.

Alas, her film career was short but her memory is kept alive on this site.

The Tomb of Maid Marian

Matilda Fitzwalter's tomb c.1782


Occasionally I like to delve into various subjects linked to the Robin Hood legend and recently I decided to look at one particular place associated with Robin’s girlfriend - Little Dunmow, near Colchester in Essex. I was glad I did and unearthed far more than I expected!

Today all that survives of the Augustinian priory of St Mary the Virgin, (founded in Dunmow in 1106) is the present church in St. Mary’s Place, which was the Lady Chapel. It is here that local tradition states, is the tomb of Maid Marian.

Little Dunmow church

Dunmow formed the caput of a feudal barony along with Baynard’s Castle in south-west London, which was granted to Robert Fitzwalter of Woodham (c.1198- 1235) on the death of his father in 1198. Robert was the baronial leader, styled ‘Master of the Army of God and the Holy Church’ who later went on to oppose King John and lead the revolt that culminated in the Magna Carta in 1215. Today he has become romanticized and styled the champion of English liberty, but history reveals that he was far from the saintly character created by modern myth.

King John had refused to allow the pope any right to appoint an archbishop of Canterbury without royal assent. He banished from England five monks from Canterbury and seized all the English offices held by Italian bishops. He then went on to refuse to allow any papal legates to enter the country. By the spring of 1208 the Pope had placed the country under an Interdict forbidding any church services to be held.

In 1212, Robert Fitzwalter had been heavily implicated in an assassination plot against King John during his expedition against the Welsh. The king was to be killed, or to be abandoned to the Welsh while a new king was chosen. But John had received intelligence of the scheme and Fitzwalter was outlawed and fled to the court of King Philip of France. John seized Fitzwalter’s lands and destroyed both Baynard and Benington castles. But in the ‘Historire des ducs de Normandie (p.118)’, compiled between 1215-16, it states that when Robert Fitzwalter fled to France, he told King Philip that his break with John was caused by the latter’s attempt to rape his daughter Matilda. How this allegation arose is unclear and not taken seriously by modern scholars. Some historians suggest that Fitzwalter may have left his wife Gunnor de Valognes and the children, at Arras in Northern France while he had gone to repeat his tale to Philip Augustus!

Seal Dye of Robert Fitzwalter

Meanwhile another enemy of John, Eustace de Vesci, had also been allegedly enraged by what he described as the king’s attempt to seduce his wife Margaret, the daughter of King William of Scotland. Later a chronicler wrote of these allegations, at the Cistercian Abbey of Waverly, accusing King John of violating the wives and daughters of many of his barons. These attempted rapes were also confirmed by Matthew Paris; who although not a contemporary of John continued to re-write and add to the work of Roger of Wendover, with extreme hostility, describing the monarch as irreligious, lazy and wishing to convert the country to Islam.

This is perhaps unsurprising when you consider that King John had been excommunicated by the Pope and this severely biased all views of him emanating from monastic sources -‘veiled behind fable, invention and hostile criticism.’ So true or not, as hostile propaganda, these allegations helped to establish the image of an immoral and untrustworthy king that has lasted to the present day. 

The story of the seduction of Robert Fitzwalter’s daughter by King John first appeared in the manuscript chronicle of Dunmow (Ms.Cotton, Cleop, C, 3. f29). Sadly only one copy survives from the 16th Century, but it was probably begun by Nicholas de Brumfield a canon of Dunmow in the latter part of the 13th Century.

In 1597 appeared Michael Drayton’s (1563-1631) England's Heroical Epistles, a series of poetical accounts, in imitation of those of Ovid. In this we first get our first glimpse of Dunmow’s heavily romanticized myth:

“King John enamour’d, by all means assay’d,
To win chaste Matilda, a chaste noble maid,
The Lord Fitzwater’s daughter; and to gain her,
When by his courtship he could not obtain her,
Nor by his gifts, strives (to far being in)
To get by force, what fear means could not win.
And banisheth the nearest of her blood,
Which he could think had his desires withstood:
When she to Dunmow to a nun’ry flies,
Whither be writeth, and whence she replies.”

It is interesting to note that between 1597 and 1602 Michael Drayton had strong connections in London with the theatrical syndicate of Philip Henslowe, and collaborated with many of the playwrights of that time. Drayton’s influence possibly inspired two Elizabethan dramas that left a lasting legacy on the legend of Robin Hood.

Henslowe’s famous theatrical diary states that the prolific Anthony Munday (1563-1633) registered two plays on the 1st December 1600:

1. “The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington, afterwards called Robin Hood of Merrie Sherwood; with the lamentable tragedy of chaste Matilda, the Lord Fitzwater’s daughter afterwards his faire maid Marian.”

2. The Death of Robert Earl of Huntington, otherwise called Robin Hood of merrie Sherwood; with the lamentable tragedy of chaste Matilda, his faire maid Marian, poysoned at Dunmowe by King John. (On this second play, Munday was helped by another playwright, Henry Chettle).

In Munday’s fist play we see Matilda being persecuted by Prince John and following her lover to Sherwood where she assumes the name Maid Marian. In the ‘Downfall’ Maid Marian is once again pursued by the lecherous John (who has now become king) to Dunmowe Abbey, where he eventually poisons her.

During the ‘Downfall’ play, Matilda confusingly changes back to Marian then Matilda again, which possibly indicates how Munday was struggling to combine the two separate traditions. But both plays became hugely popular at the time and the ‘Downfall’ was later selected for performance at Court.

This popularity led to another play, ‘King John and Matilda,’ written about 1628 by Richard Davenport.  But critics tend to describe this historical tragedy as lacking originality and bearing a strong resemblance to Munday’s second Robin Hood production.

In 1631 John Weever published his ‘Ancient Funeral Monuments of Great Britain’ and under Little Dunmow writes:

“The church of this monastery is yet standing, in the choir whereof, between two pillars, lieth the body of Matilda the fair entombed, who was the daughter of Robert Fitz-Water, the most valiant knight of England. About the year 1213 saith the book of Dunmow, there arose a great discord betwixt  K. John and  his barons, because of Matilda surnamed the faire, daughter of Robert Fitz-Water, whom the king unlawfully loved, but could not obtain her, nor her father’s consent thereunto. Whereupon, and for other like causes, ensued war through the whole realm. The king banished the said Fitz-Water among others, and caused his castle, called Baynard, and other his houses to be spoiled. Which being done, he sent a messenger unto Matilda the fair, about his old suit in love, et quia noluit consentire toxicavit eam. And because she would not agree to his wicked motion, the messenger poisoned a boiled, or potched egg, against she was hungry, and gave it unto her, whereof she died in the year 1213.” 

The story was repeated, with more substance in William Dugdale’s (1605-1686) Monasticon Anglicanum (1693):

“...in the year 1216 Robert Fitz Walter refusing to consent to King John’s unlawful love to his daughter Matilda the Fair, that king seized upon his Estate and Barony , and his castle of Baynard at London; and Matilda, who was then there at Dunmow not admitting the King’s Suit, was poisoned in a mess of broth. These things occasioned the Barons Wars, which after a while were again composed, and Robert Fitz Walter restored to his Barony and the King’s favour as formerly.”

'Matilda's' tomb at Dunmow

So the legend was taken into the nineteenth century, but Geoffery Fitzpeter in his ‘Historical Essay on Magna Carta’ was more critical:

‘... between two pillars, on the north side of the choir, is the tomb of the fair Matilda, daughter of the second Walter Fitz-Walter, who, according to the monkish story, unsupported by history, is pretended to have been poisoned by the contrivance of King John, for refusing to gratify his illicit passion. Her figure is in alabaster, and by no means a despicable piece of workmanship. Her fingers are stained with a red colour, which according to the Ciceroni of the place, was done to represent the effect of the poison; but in all likelihood is the remains of a former painting.”

This for me has been a very interesting journey. On the way we have seen how the seeds were sown to portray King John as the bad king of popular literature and film and also witnessed the gentrification of Maid Marian, the village May Queen into Matilda Fitzwalter daughter of Lord Robert Fitzwalter.

After the death of his wife Gunnora de Valognes, Robert Fitzwalter married Rohese Bayard who survived him. He is recorded in most sources as having four children, Robert (pre-deceased him), Walter his heir from his second marriage (d.1258), and Christina who married William de Mandeville.

But did Robert Fitzwalter have a daughter called Matilda? I have searched for historical evidence, but frustratingly, apart from a mention in Sidney Painter’s ‘King John’ (1966), that ‘Matilda did die about that time [1212] but it is unlikely John poisoned her,’ there is no reference.

The tomb of King John


In W.L.Warren’s excellent book on the life of King John, he writes:

 “[Robert Fitzwalter and Eustace de Vesci] put out stories of John’s lecherous designs upon their woman folk - an easy enough charge to make, but the stories they told were so confused and unsubstantiated as to be beyond unravelling, let alone belief. They seem indeed to be unintelligent fabrications to cover lack of rational excuse; and it is hard to believe that Fitzwalter and Vesci were anything more than baronial roughnecks. They had been out simply for John’s blood in the conspiracy of 1212...”

Warren goes on: “Fitzwalter was altogether disreputable and mischievous, rescued from ignominy only by his great fiefs, and owing his leadership largely to his dominating aggressiveness. He was quick to take offence and draw his sword.”

Maurice Ashley writes, “The story that John importuned and molested the wives and daughters of his barons, including specifically the wives of Eustace de Vesci and Robert fitz Walter, sounds improbable and was no doubt cooked up by the monks.”

The damaged face on the alabaster tomb

The figure, said to be of Matilda, the daughter of Robert Fitzwalter, on the tomb in Priory Church Little Dunmow, is made of alabaster and dated from the early fifteenth century. It is likely to belong to a later member of the Fitzwalter family, but this endearing legend will of course live on.

Lucy Griffiths as Marian Fitzwalter in Robin Hood (1992)
  

1215 The Year of Magna Carta by Danny Danziger and John Gillingham
The Reign of King John by Sidney Painter
King John by Maurice Ashley
King John by W.L.Warren
Magna Carta by Geoffrey Hindley






Your Favourite Maid Marian : Joan Rice


Joan Rice



I am pleased to announce that the winner of our poll for your Favourite Maid Marian of all time is Joan Rice! She gained 53 votes. Close behind came Judi Trott from TV's excellent Robin of Sherwood (1984-86) with 51.


Judi Trott


Olivia de Havilland


Joint third is the lovely Olivia de Havilland from the classic Hollywood movie The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) with Lucy Griffiths from the recent BBC series (2006-7).



Bernadette O'Farrell

Next came Richard Green's love interest, Lady Marian Fitzwalter in the iconic TV series of the 1950's played by Bernadette O'Farrell with 13 votes. And right up to date comes Hollywood's modern interpretation played by Cate Blanchett with 12.

Patricia Driscoll received 9 votes. She had  continued the roll of Lady Marian in series 3 and 4 of  TV's Adventures of Robin Hood (1955-59) after the departure of Bernadette O'Farrell.

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio gained 7 votes as Maid Marian in Robin Hood:Prince of Thieves (1991) alongside Kevin Costner. She was later nominated for two awards as Best Supporting Actress and Best Female Performance.

Legendary Audrey Hepburn returned to the screen after an eight year absence to appear in Richard Lester's Robin and Marian (1976) alongside Sean Connery.But she collected only 3 votes.


Uma Thurman

Both surprisingly on 2 votes are Uma Thurman from the gritty and very underrated Robin Hood (1991) and Sarah Branch from Hammer's Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960) which also starred Richard Greene as the outlaw hero.


Gay Hamilton

Gay Hamilton played Lady Marian Fitzwarren in Hammer Film's third version of the Robin Hood legend in 1967, but she only got 1 vote along with Anna Galvin from The New Adventures of Robin Hood (1997).

Sadly the other maidens were not voted for. 

Thank you to all the readers who voted. We have now chosen Michael Praed as the all-time Favourite Robin Hood and we can place Joan Rice alongside him as Maid Marian. Who shall we pick as Friar Tuck?  Look out for the poll starting soon!




Waiting for Robin


I just had to share this masterpiece with you all. Mike never ceases to amaze me with his wonderful talent as an artist, and his painting entitled ‘Waiting for Robin,’ in my opinion is one of his best!
You can see more of his work here: Mike's Paintings

Judi Trott as Marion


One of the most influential versions of the Robin Hood legend in recent times was the hugely successful TV series Robin of Sherwood (1984-1986). This wonderfully mystical production was created by Richard ‘Kip’ Carpenter for Harlech Television and had Michael Praed as Robin of Loxley, Clive Mantle as Little John, Ray Winstone as Will Scarlet and Judi Trott (pictured above) as Marion of Leaford. Today it still has a huge following with an international fan base and an excellent website at http://www.robinofsherwood.org/

This stunning picture of Judi Trott as Marion, was sent in by Mike, who like me is a huge fan of the series. Judi was born in Plymouth, England in 1962 and trained as a ballet dancer before attending the London Studio Centre where she qualified as an actress. After appearing in several TV movies, including ‘Charles & Diana: A Royal Love Story’ in 1982 she eventually beat Jenny Seagrove to the role of Marion of Leaford. This according to some sources was because the producers were impressed with her, ‘pre-Raphaelite beauty and her mane of red hair’!

Judi was very familiar with the Robin Hood legend and loved the film ‘Robin and Marian’ (1976) with Audrey Hepburn and Sean Connery (she later worked alongside Sean’s son Jason in the third series). But she confesses that she was never very good when it came to sword play and the production crew had to use clever angles to make it look good. She did enjoy the archery and impressed her instructor with her natural posture, which was partly due to her ballet training. But sometimes things did go wrong!

"They used to put plastic around the cameras so nobody would get hurt”, Judi said “although many of the arrows had rubber tips. But, they used to barricade themselves in when they knew I was going to be firing and arrow! Once, I went over the barrier. It was a beautiful shot - went miles! Some spark [electrician] was sitting in his generator some 200 yards away and suddenly felt a thud!. My arrow had gone straight through the bushes and hit the van! Fortunately, he was inside the van at the time."

Joan Rice's Obituary


This was Joan’s obituary in The Daily Telegraph, which was very kindly sent to me by her nephew, Richard Keeble:

“Joan Rice who has died aged 66 [1997], was a Rank starlet of the 1950’s; her best remembered role was Maid Marian in Disney’s Robin Hood (1952) opposite Richard Todd.

Hers was a Cinderella story without the glass slipper. She was discovered as a waitress at the former Lyons Corner House in Piccadilly and signed to a film contract after winning the Lyons ‘Miss Nippy’ contest of 1949.

With no formal acting training, she was sent to the Rank charm school and rushed into a stream of mostly minor roles in British films of the day. One ‘His Majesty O’Keefe,’ (1953) was a Hollywood production set in the South Seas, with Burt Lancaster, but it made little impact at the box office.

Joan Rice never found the big role that might have established her on the international scene. She dropped out of the cinema in the 1960’s to build a less glamorous life in provincial repertory.

She claimed never to miss her movie career, and later in life, at the instigation of her father-in-law, she took up live acting to repair the omissions of youth. She toured in ‘Rebecca’ and ‘A View from the Bridge,’ her favourite play. She never attracted bad notices, but none of these productions reached the West End and she became a forgotten figure to many of the cinemagoers of the 1950’s who fondly recalled her English rose complexion and shapely contours.

After seven years she abandoned acting completely because she disliked being away from home for such long periods. She was tempted into television only once – as a contributor to a ‘This Is Your Life’ show for Richard Todd, but dried up before the cameras and had to be steered through the programme by Michael Aspel.

Joan Rice was born in Derby on February 3rd 1930, one of four sisters from a broken home. Her father was imprisoned for child abuse and she was brought up for eight years in a convent orphanage in Nottingham. After early experience as a lady’s maid and a housemaid, she left for London with half a crown in her purse and took a job as a waitress with Lyons at £3 a week.

Balancing tea trays and negotiating obstacles gave a natural poise that stood her in good stead in the company’s in-house beauty contest. The prize was a week’s promotional tour in Torquay ( a town to which she returned 20 years later in a revival of ‘The Reluctant Debutante’ at the Princess Theatre).

As winner of the ‘Miss Nippy’ contest, she was introduced to the theatrical agent Joan Reese, who went to work on her behalf and secured a screen test and a two-line bit part in the comedy, ‘One Wild Oat.’ Her first substantial role, however, was in ‘Blackmailed’ (1950), a hospital melodrama, starring Mai Zetterling and Dirk Bogarde, in which Joan Rice played a good time girl.

It caught the eye of Disney and led to the role of Maid Marian, in which she was hailed as the “new Jean Simmons.” Rank however, seemed unable to capitalise on this. In the 11 years that she was active in British films, Rank offered her only supporting roles in films dependant on a large cast of character actors.

‘Curtain Up’ (1952), for example was about a seaside repertory company, ‘A Day to Remember’ (1953), about a darts team on a one day excursion to France, ‘The Crowded Day,’ (1954) about the staff of a department store coping with the Christmas rush and ‘Women without Men,’ (1956) about a breakout from a women’s prison.

Only ‘Gift Horse’ (1952), a traditional wartime naval picture, had quality, yet her role as a Wren was subsidiary to Trevor Howard, Richard Attenborough and Sonny Tufts. In ‘One Good Turn’ (1954), she was wasted as a stooge to Norman Wisdom. After ‘Payroll’ in 1961, she effectively called it quits, returning for only one last picture, ‘The Horror of Frankenstein’ in 1970.

After leaving show business, she lived quietly with her beloved Labradors, Jessie and Sheba, took work as an insurance clerk and later set up an estate agent, letting accommodation in Maidenhead through the Joan Rice Bureau, though she had only one member of staff.

She smoked heavily and suffered from asthma and emphysema, which kept her largely housebound for the last six years.

She married first, in 1953 (dissolved in 1964), David Green, son of the American comedian, Harry Green; they had one son. She married secondly, in 1984, the former Daily Sketch journalist Ken McKenzie, who survives her [1997].”

This blog is dedicated to the memory of Joan Rice, so if you met her, or have any information about her you would like to share,
please get in touch at disneysrobin@gmail.com.

Patricia Driscoll at Nettlefold Studios

Geoff Waite has very kindle sent me this article on Patricia Driscoll from the 1958 Annual ‘Girl Film & Television’, which is copied below. Pat took over from Bernadette O’Farrell as Maid Marian in the third and fourth series of The Adventures of Robin Hood which aired on ITV in Britain from 1955 till 1960. The series eventually ran to 143 half-hour black and white episodes and is still very fondly remembered.



Pat Driscoll-A Girl Who Adds Glamour to the Robin Hood Show.

"An unexpected telephone call from the Nettlefold Studios, at Walton-on-Thames, to the London mews flat of Pat Driscoll hoisted her to fame in the role of Maid Marian in TV’s Robin Hood.’

When the phone rang, Pat was doing a spot of gardening-if ‘gardening’ is the right word to use about tending window boxes outside a town flat!

The odd thing was that she seldom saw TV. There was no room in her small home for a set, and she didn’t like badgering neighbours to look in at theirs.

Like her predecessor in the part, Bernadette O’Farrell, Pat was born in Cork. When her mind was made up that acting was the life for her, her parents sent her to RADA. After that, she worked her way around the country with various repertory companies.

While with the Manchester Rep she met and married a dark Scot, Duncan Lamont. Duncan has also appeared in ‘Robin Hood’ from time to time. Their first home was in a London mews flat, where hammers, tacks, paint rollers and wallpapers made many demands on leisure time.

Pat's first TV success came in 1953, in a show called ‘Whirligig.’ She also appeared in the film Charley Moon with Max Bygraves. Until the Maid Marian part came along, she was working in both ‘Listen With Mother’ and ‘Looking With Mother.’

Pat has been used to handling horses all her life, and had her own pony as a child and did a lot of show-jumping, in the modern manner. In fact, she was once a leading pony rider at the Olympia Horse Show. When she was eleven year old, Pat won a jumping competition at the Arundel Gymkhana.

This helped a great deal when she took on the role of Maid Marian-though she found she had to learn to ride side-saddle to conform to medieval custom. She took lessons from an expert to steer an elephant in the right direction in Charley Moon. ‘After that, riding side-saddle on a horse was child’s play,’ she’ll tell you.

Pat’s favourite hobby, when she has time for it, is salmon fishing. When she is filming, an alarm clock shatters her sleep at six-thirty in the morning. After this early start she is ‘on set,’ ready with her make-up completed, at the Nettlefold Studios by eight thirty.

She likes to tell about her own shame when she first began working there.‘Puzzled, I was, by the plaque over the entrance HEPWIX 1898, until someone told me it was a memorial to Cecil Hepworth (part of his own name coupled with that of a fiend). He was one of the pioneers of film making, who built the place in the back garden of his house by the Thames.’

The hooks on which Hepworth slung his film negative to dry are still there, an interesting link with the television films of today."

Many thanks to Geoff for sending this article.

Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn


A hundred years after the birth of Errol Flynn, one of the most talked about romances from Hollywood’s Golden Age has provoked decades of speculation. What exactly did happen between matinee idols Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland when the camera’s stopped rolling?

In a rare interview with the ‘Royal Society of Chemistry’ (apparently investigating on-screen chemistry!) and to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of Gone With the Wind screen legend Miss de Havilland has been looking back and putting the record straight.

Olivia de Havilland starred with Flynn in his break through film Captain Blood in 1935. As screen newcomers, they came of age together in a series of eight films for Warner Brothers including The Charge of the Light Brigade in 1936 and the all-time classic Adventures of Robin Hood in 1938.

Miss De Havilland has repeatedly denied film historian Rudy Behlmer's claims that she became romantically involved with Flynn while making Robin Hood. But despite these denials, many suspected Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn did have an affair, not least because he was a notorious womaniser. Australian-born Flynn’s good looks and magnetic charm ensured his success with legions of women.

In his autobiography, My Wicked, Wicked Ways written just before his death in 1959 Flynn described his undying love for her and now she has admitted:

“We were very attracted to each other and yes we did fall in love. I believe that this is evident in the screen chemistry between us. But his circumstances at the time prevented the relationship going further. I have not talked about it a great deal, but the relationship was not consummated. Chemistry was there though. It was there.”

But:

"So much nonsense has been written. I am always being misquoted.... We were lovers together so often on the screen (eight times) that people could not accept that nothing had happened between us.”

She continues:

“I didn't reject him. You know, I was also very attracted to him. But I said that nothing could happen while he was still with Lili. (Flynn was married to Lili Damita an actress five years his senior when he first met Miss de Havilland). She was away at the time and he said that there was no longer anything much between them. I said that he had to resolve things with Lili first. But, you know, he never did. I think he was in deep thrall to her in some way. He did not leave her then and he never approached me in that way again. So nothing did ever happen between us."

Also onscreen, she was romanced by the likes of James Cagney, Leslie Howard, Charles Boyer, Henry Fonda, Montgomery Clift, Richard Burton and Robert Mitchum. In life, she was perhaps the great love in the turbulent career of John Huston. She was responsible for the decisive legal action that freed contract players from their seven-year sentences (with time added on for defiant behaviour).

Olivia de Havilland went on to win an Academy Award for Best Actress in To Each His Own in 1946 and The Heiress in 1949. She married novelist Marcus Goodrich in 1946 and had a son. She divorced Goodrich in 1953 and married Paris Match editor Piere Galante. Shortly after the birth of their daughter in 1979 they divorced.

The 93 year old actress, who has now lived in a four-storey house near the Bois de Boulogne in Paris for 56 years, has looked back on a career that began incredibly in 1935. She says, “I feel not happy, not contented-but something else. Just grateful for having lived and having done so many things that I wanted to do that have also had so much meaning for other people.”

After Errol Flynn’s overnight success in Captain Blood and Robin Hood he quickly became stereotyped in swashbuckling roles such as The Sea Hawk (1940) and The Adventures of Don Juan (1948). But by the 1950’s he had become a spent force due to heavy alcohol and drug abuse. He died of a heart attack in Vancouver on 14th October 1959.

“What I felt for Errol Flynn” Miss de Havilland says,” was not a trivial matter at all. I felt terribly attracted to him. And do you know, I still feel it. I still feel very close to him to this day."

What a truly remarkable lady.

Robin & Marian found in a Broom Cupboard!

Yet another Robin Hood discovery has recently been reported in the local papers. This time it is an extremely valuable Victorian painting depicting Robin and Maid Marian which was found by a cleaner in the broom cupboard of a Sussex workings men’s club.

The oil-on-canvas painting was discovered during a spring-clean of the 'unnamed' Sussex club and has been estimated by Bonhams auction house to be worth between £5,000 -£7,000. It measures 114.5 x 86.5cm (45 1/16 x 34 1/16in).

In the right hand corner of the painting is the monograph of Thomas Heaphy and the date 1866. Thomas Frank Heaphy was born on 2nd April 1813, son of the first president of the Society of British Artists, also called Thomas (1775-1835). Thomas visited Italy with his father in 1831 and developed an interest in Italian religious paintings and portraiture. He also published eight articles in the ‘Art Journal’ on the ‘origin of the likeness of Christ.’ Between the years 1859-1862 he exhibited a series of portraits of peasant women at the Royal Academy. He died in London on the 7th of August 1873.

This is one of the best 'Robin Hood' paintings I have ever seen. The more you look at it-the more you see. Notice the May blossom, Marian's bare feet and rosy cheeks, Robin's 'cross-bow', the attentive hound, Marian's set of keys and the opened chest filled with treasure. Wonderful!

Olivia de Havilland

Above is a copy of free Olivia de Havilland 'wallpaper,' taken from Meredy's Olivia de Havilland Trivia Mania site. Also on that site is a link to Meredy's excellent full biography of the star. Both sites can be found at http://www.meredy.com/oliviatriv.htm

For the role of Maid Marian, the production team of The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) selected Olivia de Havilland, who had been paired so successfully with Errol Flynn in Captain Blood and The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936). But Jack Warner opted for contract player Anita Louise, who was confirmed by producer Hal B. Wallis during the early stages of planning. But later Wallis announced that Olivia de Havilland had been given the part and the rest is classic cinematic history!

Evelyn Millard as Lady Marian








The postcards above are of the English stage actress Evelyn Millard. She, according to A.E Wilson in his book ‘Edwardian Theatre,’ consumed plays with her grace and decorative beauty.’

We can see Evelyn as Lady Marian in a production with Lewis Waller of ‘Robin Hood’ that was later performed in front of King Edward VII at Windsor Castle in 1906. Below is the excellent full biography of this legendary stage star, reproduced in full and unaltered, courtesy of Don Gillan (Copyright),
www.stagebeauty.net.

"Evelyn Millard was born in Kensington, London on 18th September 1869. She was the daughter of John Millard, a teacher of elocution at the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music. She was educated in London, and studied at the Female School of Art, 43 Queen Square, Bloomsbury. However it would be acting, not art that she would make her eventual vocation.

She made her stage debut at the Haymarket Theatre on 25th January, 1891, in a walk-on role in the third act of Henry Jones play "The Dancing Girl". She then moved on to the Theatre Royal, Margate where she came under the tutelage of Sarah Thorne. She appeared on stage there in a number of roles, including most notably 'Julia' in "The Hunchback", 'Hero' in "Much Ado About Nothing", and 'Juliet' in "Romeo and Juliet", later going on tour with Thomas Thorne.

She returned to London in December that year when she was taken on by the Gattis at the Adelphi. Leading man there at the time was William Terris, the father of Ellaline Terris, who would be sensationally murdered by a madman outside the theatre some years later. Her first role at the Adelphi was as 'Constance Cuthbertson' in the drama "The Trumpet Call". She remained at the Adelphi for almost two years appearing in numerous roles and perfecting her acting talents under the Adelphi's leading lady, Mrs Patrick Campbell.

In 1894, her reputation growing rapidly, Evelyn went on tour with George Alexander - appearing as 'Rosamund' in "Sowing the Wind", 'Dulcie' in "The Masqueraders" and 'Paula' in "The Second Mrs Tanqueray". Returning to London she continued in the latter role at the St James's theatre, and stayed on at that theatre in a succession of other roles - including creating the role of 'Cecily Cardew' in the first ever performance of Oscar Wilde's wonderfully witty comedy "The Importance of Being Earnest" which premiered on February 14th, 1895. In September that year she appeared before Queen Victoria playing the role of 'Blanche Ferriby' in a command performance of "Liberty Hall" at Balmoral, after which she continued in this role opening at the St James's.

From January 1896, she made a great success as 'The Princess Flavia' in the premiere production of "The Prisoner of Zenda", and thereby firmly established herself, if she was not already, as a recognised box-office star. In 1897 she left the St James's to join Beerbohm Tree's company, playing at Her Majesty's Theatre and on tour in several roles. Her greatest success in Tree's company being as 'Portia' in a revival of "Julius Caesar" opening in January 1898.

She had by now come to the attention of Charles Frohman, the great American theatrical manager, who then secured her services as leading lady at the Duke of York's Theatre where he had just taken over the lease. For the next three years she would be his main attraction. Among the roles she played there were 'Lady Ursula Barrington' in the comedy "The Adventure of Lady Ursula", and the title role in Jerome K. Jerome's "Miss Hobbs", both of which ran for over 200 performances, and 'Cho-Cho-San' in the British premiere of the original David Belasco "Madame Butterfly". The latter production was seen by Giacomo Puccini, who used the play as the basis for his famous opera of the same name.

In 1900 she was married to Robert Porter Coulter, and shortly thereafter took a little over a years absence from the stage during which time she gave birth to a daughter. Ursula, who would herself become an actress, was born on 20th September, 1901. Evelyn returned to the stage and the St James's in March 1902 to play 'Francesca' in the tragedy "Paolo and Francesca", and over the next few years was rarely absent from the West End stage as her career continued to blossom. She played opposite many of the best male actors of that era, particularly Lewis Waller with whom she gave many of her best performances, and appeared in many of the best classical and modern parts. There were also further command performances in November 1904, and November 1906, both times at Windsor Castle before King Edward. On the first occasion she appeared as 'Lady Mary Carlyle' in "Monsieur Beaucaire" opposite Lewis Waller, and on the second 'Lady Marian' in "Robin Hood".

In 1908 she created her own highly successful company playing at various London venues as well as on tour. Her repertory in this period included the title role in "The Adventure of Lady Ursula" in which she had made an early success, Ophelia in "Hamlet", "Madame Butterfly", 'Edith Dombey' in "Dombey and Son", 'Olivia' in "Twelfth Night", 'Queen Elizabeth' in "Drake", 'Agnes' in "David Copperfield", and others.

Then, like so many other stars of her era, her career was effectively ended by the outbreak of the Great War. Her last major role was as 'Agnes Wickfield' in "David Copperfield" at His Majesty's Theatre in December 1914, although she did make a breif reappearance to play 'Calpurnia' in the Sheakespearean Tercentenary performance of "Julius Caesar" in May 1916.

In a professional career lasting some twenty-three years she was constantly in work, only rarely appearing outside of London and unlike most other top performers never undertaking a foreign tour. A woman of great beauty and considerable acting talent she was much loved by the theatre going public and always a sure box-office attraction. Following her retirement she continued to live in London at Abingdon Court. She passed away on 9th March, 1941, aged 70.”
Don Gillan

Don Gillan’s web site is well worth a visit and can be found at
http://www.stagebeauty.net/

Lucy Griffiths

The recent BBC series Robin Hood has come in for a great deal of criticism. None more so, than when in the final part of the second series, the writers had one of the strongest characters in the show, Marian, played by Brighton born Lucy Griffiths, apparently killed-off by the evil Guy of Gisborne. This led to the Robin Hood 2007 Blog, a companion of this site (see My Blog List) being inundated with 136 comments and over a thousand hits straight after the program! Later in his online poll, 69% of his readers wanted Lucy Griffiths to return for a third series.

Twenty year old Lucy had followed Joan Rice’s earlier pioneering steps in the Story of Robin Hood (1952) and moved away from the traditional ornamental ‘Maid,’ into becoming a distinctly bright, independent 'Marian' with her own agendas. These included becoming a crime fighter in her own right as the leather clad, Kung-Fu kicking Nightwatchman. But with this sassy Marian came the modern ‘Top Shop’ style clothes that didn’t go down too well with traditionalists, including myself.

But one tradition that the writers of the BBC series did stick to, was the love triangle with Guy of Gisborne played by Richard Armitage as Robin Hood's (Jonas Armstrong) violent rival for Marian. This plot can be traced right back to Reginald De Koven’s successful Victorian play of 1890 called Robin Hood (produced in London as Maid Marian). This popular formula was also used in the 1938 classic swashbuckling film The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone and Olivia de Havilland.

Joan Rice as Maid Marian



This is an excerpt from ‘And The “Reel” Maid Marian’, a paper by Sherron Lux on the character and role of the various Maid Marion’s on the silver screen over the years. Sherron reaches the conclusion, of course, that Joan Rice’s portrayal of Maid Marian, is one of the best of all time.............

"......Joan Rice’s Marian is vital to Ken Annakin’s 1952 film for Walt Disney, misleadingly called ‘The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men’; it is Marian’s story, as well, because without her, only about half the story would be left. Joan Rice gives us a bright, spunky young Lady Marian, faithful daughter of the Earl of Huntingdon, and loyal friend to her childhood companion Robin Fitzooth (Richard Todd); though he is the son of her fathers head forester, she eventually falls in love with him despite the social barriers. However, Rice’s Marian has a distinctly independent turn of mind. She defies the Queen Mother’s orders and slips out of the castle disguised in a page-boy’s livery, seeking out her friend Robin, who has become an outlaw in Sherwood Forest. Her actions ultimately help prove that Robin and his outlaws are King Richard’s real friends and that Prince John is a traitor. This independent turn of mind in Joan Rice’s Marian stands in sharp contrast to her later and better-known Disney counterpart, the vixen in the popular 1973 animated feature 'Robin Hood' directed by Wolfgang Reitherman. Although beautiful and charming, the vixen Marian is actually a rather passive little lady (again, King Richard’s ward); almost obsessed with marriage and children, she never makes a decision on her own, and the story would work just as well without her. Unlike Rice’s Marian, then, the vixen Marian never claims agency for herself. Perhaps this second Disney Marian is a subtle slap in the face of the women’s movement, which was gaining momentum in the early 1970’s, while Joan Rice’s 1952 Britain-filmed Marian could be depicted as somewhat independent.
.......................................................................................................................
Recently, Disney released the 1952 live-action film in its limited-edition, budget-priced classics series of videotapes, so perhaps more people will get to know Joan Rice’s lively, independent-minded Lady Marian; or perhaps not, as Disney does not spend major advertising dollars on budget-priced limited edition releases."

Sherron Lux


(To see all posts about Joan Rice please click on the label marked 'Joan Rice' in the right-hand panel or below).

Gay Hamilton as Marian Fitzwarren


The Scottish actress Gay Hamilton as Lady Marian Fitzwarren, in a publicity shot for the Hammer Studios 1967 film A Challenge for Robin Hood.

Robin et Marion


The association between Robin Hood and Maid Marian, is believed by most scholars, to have arisen through the many rustic spring and summer festivals. One remarkably early link between these two names is in the French pastourelle play, Le Jeu de Robin et Marion, created at the Court of Naples for Charles of Anjou about 1283 by Adam de la Halle (1235?-1288?) one of the last French trouveres.

The trouveres were troubadours from northern France, between the 11th to the 14th century, whose beautiful poetry and songs celebrating love or ‘fine amour’ were composed in the northern dialects of France. The first trouveres appeared in the court of Marie de Champagne, sister of Richard the Lionheart, in about 1170. Some 2130 poems and songs have survived by these entertainers, including work by King Richard’s faithful legendry trouvere, Blondel de Nesle (c.1155-1202).

De la Halle, Adam of the Market, Adam the Uneven One, or Hunchback of Arras as he was also known, was a trouvere poet and musician from Arras, in the centre of the Artois region of France. He is credited with over sixty musical combinations and is often described as the innovator of the earliest French secular theatre. His combination of music and drama led to the beginning of Opera Comique.

The exact date of his birth is not known but it is considered to have been sometime between 1235-1240. Adam is believed to have been the son of a ‘Master Henry the Uneven One who is employed in Arras’. He studied grammar, theology and music at the Cistercian Abbey of Vaucelles near Cambric and went on to the Notre Dame School in Paris. He later married Marie who is often the subject of many of his chansons.

As a member of the Brotherhood of Jugglers and the Middle Class men of Arras, Adam de la Halle moved in courtly circles, and in 1271 he became one of the train of Robert II Count of Artois (1250-1302). His use of the name Robin, may be a droll reference to his patron.

The date of de la Halle’s death is controversial, but it is generally agreed to have been in Naples, about 1288.

Robin et Marion survives in various manuscript sources and is probably the first play with music, on a secular subject by a single composer. The play, based on a popular widespread refrain, Robins m’aime, Robins m’a: Robins m’a demandee : si m’ara , became popular all over Europe. A performance was recorded in a letter of remission for the first time at Angers in the Loire Valley in 1392:

Jehan le Begue and five or six other students, his companions, went round the town of Angers, masked, to perform a play called ‘Of Robin and Marion’ as in customarily done each year during the Whitsuntide fair by local people, whether students, burghers’ sons or other groups.

It must be stressed that Robin, the country boy- the lover of Marian the shepherdess- is not an outlaw. But this theatrical adaption of the pastourrelle, the story of Marion’s near seduction by a knight had a very large influence on the English May Games. The English poet, John Gower (c.1330– 1408) in his Speculum Mediantis (Mirroir de l’Omme), a work of 30,000 lines written between 1376-78 describes Robin and Marion’s role in the village festivals and goes on to condemn monks that revel and follow the rule of Robin, rather than Saint Augustine.

De la Halle’s play was originally accompanied by lively dancing, singing and folk music, including instruments such as cornets, bagpipes and a drum. His compositions can still be seen today.

Below are translated excerpts from the first scene of his play :

Marion:
Robin loves me, Robin is mine,
Robin wants me, he shall have me.
Robin has bought for me a fine scarlet dress, a petticoat and belt,
A leur i va !
Robin loves me, Robin is mine,
Robin wants me, he shall have me.

Knight:
I am returning from tournament
And I find Marion alone
The girl with the gorgeous body.

Marion:
Oh! Robin, if you love me,
Save me, for love’s sake!

Knight:
God give you good day,
Shepherdess !

Marion:
God keep you, sir!
————————————————————————————
Marion:
Robin’s not like his sort,
He’s much more merry:
He stirs up our whole town
When he plays his bagpipes.

Knight:
Now tell me, sweet shepherdess,
Could you love a nobleman ?


Marion:
Back off, fine sir.
I don't know any nobleman;
Of all the men in the world,
I only love Robin.
It’s his custom to seek me out here
Every day, evening and morning;
To bring me some of his cheese.
(I’ve got some of it left in my bodice
As well as a big hunk of bread)
Which he brought me at dinner time.

Knight:
Well now, tell me pretty shepherdess,
How would you like to come with me
On this lovely palfrey
And play games
Down by that thicket
In the valley ?

Marion:
Oh dear! Sir, back off your horse
It nearly kicked me,
Robin’s horse doesn’t lash out
When I walk behind the plough.

Knight:
Shepherdess, be my love
Please grant my request.

Marion:
Sir, keep away from me:
It’s not seemly for you to be here.
I was very nearly kicked by your horse
What is your name?

Knight:
Aubert.


Marion:
You are wasting your time, Sir
Aubert,
I shall never love anyone except Robin.



© Clement of the Glen 2006-2007