Swashbuckling Adventure with a Behind-the-Scenes Secret by Jeff Berkwits

Swashbuckling Adventure with a Behind-theScenes Secret Jeff Berkwits

It's doubtful anyone considers Robin Hood a herald of technological wonder. Yet he

is—over the past 500 years his story has played an important role in the formative stage of just about every new method of mass communication. For example, A Gest of Robyn Hode (the Middle English version of Robin Hood) was one of the first books published after Johannes Gutenberg introduced movable metal type to Europe in the mid-1400s. In 1908, soon after motion pictures became popular, a film adaptation of the fable graced the silver screen. A few years later radio became the dominant means of communication, and audio interpretations of the legend were some of the earliest performances heard on that nascent medium. So it shouldn't be too surprising that, as TV became prevalent in the early 1950s, Robin Hood was among the first tales adapted for broadcast. In 1953, a six-episode adventure was aired on the BBC starring future Dr. Who actor Patrick Troughton. That effort is all but lost, but in 1955 that channel's rival, ITV, debuted The Adventures of Robin Hood, which went on to become one of the most successful syndicated programs of television's golden age. Based on the pedigree of its cast, one might think the production would have played perfectly on Masterpiece Theatre. The handsome star, Richard Greene, was classically trained, and after a successful stint in Hollywood—starting out as a romantic lead and culminating as a swashbuckler in films like Lorna Doone and Captain Scarlett—he returned to England to portray the legendary Robin of Locksley. His costars, including Alan Wheatley (the Sheriff of Nottingham), Bernadette O'Farrell (Maid Marian), and Alexander Gauge (Friar Tuck), had equally notable backgrounds. Still, the series is anything but highfalutin, with all 143 episodes brimming with derring-do, double-crosses, hijinks, and humor. The actors are obviously having fun, delivering their dialogue with relish, and although the sets and props are rudimentary it's a joy to watch the sheriff and his conspirators plotting, scheming, and rushing to and fro while Robin's small but steadfast band of merry men find new ways to outsmart, outmaneuver, and, of course, outshoot their foes. Behind the scenes, a real-life political drama helped add to the show's cachet. In the mid-1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy and his disciples were alleging that countless US citizens were either outright Communists or Marxist sympathizers. Hollywood was roiled by this inquiry, with hundreds of prominent industry professionals publicly accused of ties to the Communist Party. Many had to quit their jobs or leave the country, but others—especially writers—were able work under pseudonyms.

Hannah Weinstein, the executive producer of The Adventures of Robin Hood, made it a point to hire blacklisted screenwriters for the series, including Academy Award-winner Ring Lardner, Jr., future Oscar recipient Waldo Salt, and Howard Koch, who in 1938 had penned the script for Orson Welles' famed radio adaptation of War of the Worlds. Working under pennames, these men, along with over a dozen other exiled authors, crafted plots that were far more engaging, mature, and historically accurate than typically seen in similar TV adventures.

As a result, the program, which aired Monday evenings on CBS, was a huge hit, spawning dozens of spin-off products during its four-year run. Many of these items—comic books, children's shoes, Band-Aid bandages, jigsaw puzzles, trading cards, etc.—continued to be coveted even after The Adventures of Robin Hood went off the air. This was especially true immediately following the show's conclusion, when Greene reprised the character, with an altogether different cast, in the 1960 movie Sword of Sherwood Forest. Even in the 21st Century, the famed archer remains popular (a revamped version of the tale aired on the BBC as recently as 2006–2009, with a Canadian hip-hop series titled Robyn Hood set to debut in 2023) and a harbinger of fresh technology. In fact, a few years ago Mill Creek Entertainment combined the past and future in a single package. They issued the entire run of The Adventures of Robin Hood in an impressive 11-DVD box set, with a special added feature: Each installment is also downloadable in a digital format, proving once again that, whatever the medium, the legend of Robin Hood will resonate for generations to come.

A version of this story originally appeared in the August 2019 issue of SCI FI magazine.