Sherwood Forester

Issue 16

Summer 2008

In this Issue

Welcome to our latest edition of the Sherwood Forester.

Continuing our series in which Lucy and Anna look at the story behind the series.  Lucy takes time out to look at Richard Lees, whilst Anna takes a brief look at Maurice Rapf.

This article is reproduced from Film Review Annual of 1960-61.  Our thanks to Will and Jane Bonney for supplying the copies.

Our "The Ladies of Sherwood" take an in-depth look the episode titled "Checkmate".

Introducing the Writers

Continuing our series in which Lucy and Anna look at the story behind the series.  This time we are looking at Robert Lees and Maurice Rapf.

Robert Lees

Robert Lees was born on July 10, 1912 in San Francisco, California, the youngest child of Edward and Beatrice Lees. He moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of California, but the Depression ended his college career before he could complete his freshman year.

Lees’ career in show business began in the 1930s when he landed stints as an extra and a dancer in several 1930s films, appearing alongside stars such as Greta Garbo and Buster Keaton.  In 1932 he was given a screen test, for which he wrote his own material.  MGM was more impressed with his writing than his acting, and he was asked to join the new Junior Writers Department.  The screen test launched his prolific writing career at MGM, where he penned some 50 short films.  He worked in MGM’s fabled Short Subjects Department collaborating on many comedies, two of which earned Academy Awards.  Lees became one of the founders of the Screenwriters Guild of America.

Also in the writing unit was a young New Yorker named Fred Rinaldo; he and Lees soon began collaborating.  When the department was disbanded, Rinaldo and Lees joined MGM’s Short Subjects Department, where they wrote for the Crime Does Not Pay series.  In 1935 they won an Academy Award for Best Short Subject Film, How to Sleep.  Their first screenplay was for a 1936 short film, The Perfect Set-Up. In 1939, Lees and Rinaldo were nominated for an Academy Award for the 1939 biographical short film, Prophet Without Honor.  They moved on to feature length films in 1940; Street of Memories was filmed by 20th Century Fox. In 1941 they were signed by Universal Pictures, and worked on five films that year, the most successful of which was Abbott and Costello’s first starring film, Buck Private.  They wrote seven more films for the team.

In 1939 Lees married Jean Abel, that same year he joined the communist party.  Lees and his wife had a son Peter and a daughter Kathy. 

During World War II, Lees contributed several scripts for a series of government-commissioned War Bonds short films.  Pledged to aid the U.S. effort overseas, he worked on several wartime technical films, including I Am the Flag and Substitution and Conversion, which were not only screened in theaters, but in shops and U.S. war plants.  For his WWII efforts, Lees received a commendation by the War Department and War Activities Committee.

On April 10, 1951 the actor Sterling Hayden named Robert Lees to the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC).  Lees pleaded the 5th Amendment while testifying at the HUAC; he refused to cooperate with the Committee to “name names” and was blacklisted as a result.  Frederic Rinaldo was his writing partner for 18 years until both were blacklisted.  Lees’ film career was virtually destroyed when he was put on the Hollywood blacklist. 

Lees sold his house and moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he became the maitre d’ at a hotel restaurant.  In 1952 Paramount Pictures discovered a 10-year old Rinaldo/Lees comedy script about paratroopers, and decided it was ideal for a new comedy team, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.  As Rinaldo too was blacklisted, the studio removed both the writers’ names from the credits of Jumping Jacks (1952), but was forced to restore them by the Screenwriters Guild.  All Paramount could do was take out a big ad in the trade papers, explaining that it was totally against their wishes, they were forced to allow Lees’ and Rinaldo’s names to remain on the screenplay.  Lees later told the authors of the book Tender Comrades: “While I was playing maitre d’ in the dining room of the Hotel Westerner, Jumping Jacks was playing in the theater up the street, and so was an old Abbot and Costello film, both of them with our names in plain view.  I think the situation was a lot funnier than the pictures”.

He returned to Los Angeles where, under the pseudonym “J.E. Selby”, he and associates submitted manuscripts.  During this period Lees, wrote pseudonymously for The Adventures of Robin Hood.  He also wrote for other television shows, such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Gunsmoke, Daktari, Flipper, Land of the Giants,  Lassie, Rawhide, Gilligan’s Island, Death Valley Days, and The Adventures of Sir Lancelot.

In 1982 his wife Jean died.  In later years, Lees wrote a number of novels, plays, and essays on a wide range of subjects.  He was an active member of several organizations, including the Writers Guild of America, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, ACLU, American Humanists Association, Plato Society (adjunct to UCLA).  He also kept active in the industry by serving as a judge of student films, passing on to the younger generation as much of the tradition and craft of writing as possible. 

Lees never forgot the blacklist, and in 1999, when HUAC informer Elia Kazan was awarded an honorary Oscar, Lees joined the protestors, carrying a placard.

Robert Lees’ long life ended horrifically on June 13, 2004.  A homeless person broke into his home and murdered him.  Lees’ longtime girlfriend, Helen Colton discovered his mutilated body when she arrived to pick him up for an event.  He is survived by his son Peter Lees, daughter Kathy Lees Holzer, and grandsons Peter and Steven Holzer, as well as his companion of 22 years Helen Colton.

In answer to the HUAC, and in justifying what he saw as the special relationship between the writer and his readers, Lees stated: “I believe no man who has made writing his profession can completely disassociate himself from people.  He writes about them – he writes for them.  They are both his inspiration and his audience.”  (L. C.)

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Maurice Rapf

Maurice Harry Rapf was born on 19 May 1914 in New York.  His father, Harry Rapf, was a prominent Hollywood film producer, one of the founders of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Maurice Rapf grew up in Los Angeles, and had a brief career as a child actor.  He studied English at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, and visited Russia and Germany as a student, in 1934.  

Rapf worked as a scriptwriter for Warner Brothers, Paramount, and 20th Century-Fox.  He co-wrote We Went to College (1936), They Gave Him a Gun (1937), The Bad Man of Brimstone (1937), and Winter Carnival (1939), where he replaced F. Scott Fitzgerald who had originally been assigned to the project.  Rapf’s writing partner (and close friend) was the scriptwriter Budd Schulberg.  They were founder members of  the Screen Writers Guild.

Rapf later worked at Disney, on animated films - Song of the South, So Dear to My Heart  and Cinderella. He was named as a communist before the HUAC, but did not testify because he was ill with the mumps.

In 1947, after he was blacklisted, Rapf left Hollywood and settled in Norwich, Vermont.  He later worked in New York as a writer, director and producer of commercial and industrial films, and as a film reviewer for Life and Family Circle magazines.

In 1966 Maurice Rapf became professor of film studies at Dartmouth College. He published two books: an autobiography, Back Lot: Growing Up with the Movies (1999) and All About the Movies: A Textbook for the Movie-Loving Layman (2000).

He never changed his political views, and described himself in an interview as an unrepentant communist.

Maurice Rapf died on 15 April 2003 in Hanover, New Hampshire.  He had been married to a former actress Louise Seidel from 1939 until her death in 1995.  They had a son William and two daughters, Geraldine and Joanna who is a Professor of English and Film and Video Studies at the University of Oklahoma. (A. F.)

Archie Duncan's Get-well Card

You may recall that we reproduced Archie Duncan's get-well card in Issue 12.  Alison Pritchard (Archie's great-niece) has managed to decipher most of the text.

The  ..........  ...........  films of series one Are now, except for retakes, almost done, The shooting schedules battles lost and won, Forlorn and lofty stand the empty stages, Cluttered with arches of the Middle Ages No more the daily flick [?] of my script pages No cries of QUIET, or even quiet please, No cheerful trolley rattle with the teas And, worst of all there's Duncan's outlaws knees ........  ........  .........  ............ Hospitalised to save the second unit The producer tore his hair and cried "That’s done it... There's little we can shoot less Little John Get the Insurance and crowd ............. on the phone" In the uproar Archie's left on’s own But now peace reigns and now that we are free The undersigned do undertake to see That Archie vanquishes adversity Grapes, gossip and good ............... we'll bring And tales of what's been done on a shoestring But just for now we all combine to sing GOOD LUCK AND HEALTH TO ARCHIE

Our thanks to Will and Jane Bonney who supplied the following article originally published in the Film Review Annual of 1960-61

Alan Wheatley Competition

The following competition is reproduced from the Picture Show & Film Pictorial of the 18th May.  Our thanks to Will and Jane Bonney for supplying the copy.

Will Bonney writes, "tantalisingly the run of magazines that I bought did not include the issue that would have announced the winner of this competition.  So no chance, as yet, of tracing someone now aged about 100 who may still be in possession of Alan Wheatley's gift to the readers!"

CHECKMATE

Marian: As you probably have already observed, I would not exactly call this “family entertainment”.  By that I mean suitable entertainment for children.  I think the writers were at work to keep the adult audience entertained.  There are scenes of Robin dueling, all the action and adventure that appeal to children, but the theme of Checkmate is definitely aimed at adults.

I liked the episode very much, despite the dark side of the story.  The lecherous Count de Waldern represents all that is evil in a person of supposedly “high stature”.  His outward appearance is that of a gentleman, trying to impress Marian, but actually he’s trying to entice her.

Marian appeared very vulnerable to me in this episode – her love of her Nanny and her concern for Nanny’s grandson Henry, who was being held captive by Count de Waldern as part of his evil plans.  Marian looked very adept at handling a sword when practicing, but looked very much the victim when in the clutches of the Count.

As self reliant and capable as Marian may appear, you could see how frightened she was when she realized that the Count had her locked in the room.  Despite knowing that Robin would rescue her, you were caught up in fear for her safety.

Great episode, I enjoyed the ‘chess game” Marian was playing.  When the Count told her that “her men go first”, and she, all the while smiling agreed, “Yes, my men go first”.  You just knew that Robin, who had asked Marian to distract the Count, in order that he and his men could free the prisoners, would never let any harm come to his love.

Suzette: The atmosphere is unpleasant in Checkmate, and the Count is a nasty character.  My favourite scene is in the dungeon, with those poor wretches sitting on the floor, and Robin the rescuer;  “We’re friends, come to set you free”.  He’s perfect in scenes like that, a true action hero.  He gets it just right – dramatic, but not over the top.

And I like the Nanny’s comment on a soldier’s life – “A devil’s life, that’s what it is, two sons I’ve lost at the crusade”.  I think in the early episodes we are always conscious that the war is still going on – “the shadow of the crusade” is there all the time.  It’s quite likely that the writers had WW2 in mind.  Metaphorically, it’s both the crusade, and WW2, and I think we can “read it” either way.

Who said The Adventures was an uncomplicated story?

Lady of Locksley: Count de Waldern was a cad!  He had obviously trapped women before as he only needed to make a few signals to his servants and they knew what to do.  Marian appeared to be playing a game with him at first, knowing she was good at chess and could delay his advances, but then she looked quite frightened when it was obvious the Count was getting far too close, far too often.  To think he had the nerve to tell his servant that she was a lady of good family and made him move the chairs further apart.  Not far enough, I fear!

Marian was quite a good swordswoman, wasn’t she?

Marian:  Another great episode, a lot to speak of and think about – for me, a lot of thought provoking scenes.  The writers invented great scenes and dialogue, but no one other than Richard Greene could bring their words to life the way he did.  It must have been such great satisfaction for the writers to see his wonderful performances, had to be pure inspiration!

Memories

Continuing an occasional theme on "our" memories, this time from Sandy Vine.

My parents bought me all things girlie in the 50s... beautiful dolls, a very flash Silver Cross dolls pram, and cute party dresses, all of which were of no interest to me at all. The dolls were neglected, the dresses never worn and the dolls pram was filled with Robin Hood comics.  I saved up my pocket money and decided to run away.  My brother found me at the local bus stop with half a crown and some jam sandwiches – yes, I was running away to join Robin Hood.

When at last Robin Hood ceased to be transmitted I adopted the cross bow and Conrad Philips as William Tell. Growing up at school I only came alive during history lessons with the medieval period being my best, resulting in an A level in History and Art. Years later, now a married and divorced mother of two boys, I took up ballroom dancing and became really good, taking up competitions around and about.  It was at one of these competition venues that fate took a rather odd turn when the dancing instructor fell ill and we were left to our own devices for the weekend.  The hotel had by chance an activity weekend on and I chanced upon archery. I took up the recurve that day (metal bow) and obtained the highest points.  The head of the group told me to get over to my local club and join as I was a natural. It was easy to join and I tried out all of the bows... the compound with all its weights and bits to aid balance, and the recurve - lightweight and metal. I only felt at home and in my comfort zone when I bought my longbow made of hickory and lemonwood. I was the only woman in the club and the only woman in the line-up shooting arrows from ye old bow. I was becoming something of a celebrity, a woman that could shoot from any bow with no arm brace. One day a member brought in a crossbow and I shot with that, too.  To cock a crossbow is actually hard because upper body strength is needed, but it becomes easier if you use breath control at the same time.

Archery has taught me a lot about myself and my ability to tap into the past for teachings on focus without distraction, working as one with a natural weapon, confidence and control. By the way, two-finger v-sign comes from medieval archers in battle: "With these fingers you will meet your death."

Sandy Vine

If you have any questions about archery, Sandy will be happy to answer them – just send them to the usual address: trhas@hotmail.com.

Anecdote from Patricia Driscoll

It's always nice to hear from the stars of the shows recalling those times on set.  At the same time a recent programme on BBC4 included Patricia, the image that follows was captured from that programme. 

"It is difficult to remember incidents from the Robin Hood series as it was such a long time ago and I have worked in so many other productions since, but there is one event which occurred towards the end of the series which sticks in my mind.

As the series was coming to a close, we were always pressed on time and ‘takes’ became longer and longer.  In one episode we had the usual forest meal – chicken legs prepared and cooked in the studio restaurant.  The scene began with animated chat about the day’s adventures.  Typically Friar Tuck took the first bite of chicken, but instead of his usual satisfied smile when eating food he made a face, and took a deep breath, but somehow managed to keep on talking.  One by one we all bit into our chicken – it was so hot it made you gasp.  Someone had soaked it in chilli!  We never did discover if it was an accident or someone’s joke but needless to say it was the end of that ‘take’, much to the disgust of the director."

Patricia Driscoll

Memorabilia

As always, we continue to be on the look-out for various collectibles.  Here's our latest batch, which seems to have developed a monetary link!

Anybody for a new purse?

Or how about keeping your money in a box!

From an eBay item. The following is extracted from the sellers sales pitch.  Needless to say he/she received 0 bids!

"A vintage and rare Marx Richard Greene Robin Hood playset box, c. 1950s. The box has some issues and is need of some TLC. It measures about 26 inches long, 9 inches wide, and 4 1/2 inches tall. Part of the grip area (center front panel) is gone there are tears in this area. There are several punctures in the lid, the two front corners are split with remnants of tape; there are 2 puncture at rear right corner where oddly some string was looped to reinforce corner (although corner is not split), plus there is general handling wear throughout. Perhaps some reconditioning  and improve it. It is a rare box in any case. Will combine shipping on multiple purchases. Buyer pays for Priority shipping. Insurance, if desired, is additional. Good luck!"

If like me you keep all your coppers (sorry, old term for coins) in your trouser pockets then you may need this patch to fix any holes that will have developed.

But then what good is money, unless you spend it.  As a child I would make sure I always had a packet of sweetie cigarettes .....

Another eBay item, the following detail from the seller. 

"Robin Hood Sweet Cigarettes – made by Barratt & Co Ltd, 1950s empty box / packet.

This is a decent example of a Robin Hood Sweet Cigarettes Box that was made by Barratt & Co Ltd. It originally held ten candy sticks / sweet cigarettes and a Robin Hood Cigarette Card. The contents are of course long-gone but someone decided to save the box. It is not quite perfect as a) a couple of words have been written on the end-panel of the inner card tray, and b) annoyingly, there is a small X drawn in red pen near the top left corner. Even so, the box is still in good clean condition and will go well in a collection until a perfect example turns up. The back has details of an offer to send in to Barratt for an album to keep the cards in for just 9d. There is no copyright date but the box must date from around the mid-1950s when the Robin Hood TV show (starring Richard Greene, who is mentioned on the front of the box) was popular."

I personally recall these and the cards with them and believed that they where more 1960's.  Bit of detective work and a visit to the The London Cigarette Card Co. Ltd. website finds that they would appear to be from 1961.  The set of cards (30) being listed at £75.  Must get into the attic and find my set.  sadly long gone.  Mike.