John T. Ryan ALYTHOUGH OUR LATER viewing would establish Errol Flynn as the one, true Robin Hood in our mind, it was Richard Greene who held that title for so many years in the mid to late 1950's. This is probably true in the case of most of us Post War (WWII) Baby Boomer generational members.THERE SHOULD BE small wonder about the whys of this statement; as it was quite familiar on this "side of the pond." As we recall, it was a staple on the weekly lineup of the Columbia Broadcasting System's television network. For short, "the Tiffany Network" was simply called CBS. And they did 144 episodes of the show, and the Ryans on Damen Avenue in Chicago tried their damnedest to make sure we never missed a one.AS WE RECALL, the series opened with Robin (Mr. Greene) perched up in a huge switch (branch) in one of the biggest trees in Sherwood and firing an arrow taken swiftly from his quiver set against a swiftly rendered seven bars of the series theme.* This was followed with a repeat of the same, only with the show's Yank sponsor. (We think it was either Vitalis or Brylcream-both hair tonic/creams and relics from the era of "that greasy kid's stuff." BEING THAST THIS was a series, there was very little continuity from one weekly episode to the next. Each story was basically independent and complete within itself; with the characters of Robin, Marian (hot!), Friar Tuck, the Sheriff of Nottingham, Prince John and Little John providing the connection to both the previous and subsequent installments.WHAT WE THINK as being a neat, little touch (and even thought then as a 9 year old) was the manner in which the ;production team used music. It was accomplished with the character of minstrel, Will Scarlet's giving a little preview of what was to come, always using the same, original, authentic medieval, monotonous madrigal. (or whatever you call it!) IT WAS THIS same period that a great deal of half hour series based on the Middle Ages and heir legendary heroes. In addition to THE ADVENTIRES OF ROBIN HOOD, we had SIR LANCELOT, IVNHOE. WILLIOAM TELL and THE BUCANEERS (with Robert Shaw as Dan Tempest).NOTE: * These 7 bars of music are about as well know as the opening of DRAGNET (by Walter Schumann) and that of THE UNTOUCHABLES (by Nelson Riddle). The ADVENTIRES OF ROBIN HOOD opening bars were reprised to comic effect in the Peter Sellers' satirical & comic romp, THE MOUSE THAT ROARED.

oscar-35 *Spoiler/plot- The Adventures of Robin Hood, 1955. During the English Middle ages, a tyrant king and his Norman barons abuse their serfs. A knight, freshly back from the Holy Crusades, the knight fights the abuse only to become an outlaw to the crown. He hides among his friends in the local forest to correct the abuse of the common man.*Special Stars- Richard Greene, Archie Duncan, Alexander Gauge, Alan Wheatley, Paul Eddington.*Theme- Honor and what's right wins in the end.*Trivia/location/goofs- British, TV show, B & W.*Emotion- An enjoyable and memorable TV series to many people that grew up during the 50's. Televised in the USA by a popular hair oil treatment. With it catchy theme song and heroic characters in episodes that have a story moral, this show was fun and enforced good citizenship of the younger generation. Good 50's TV to be seen and enjoyed.*Based On- English Robin Hood legends.

screenman All together with that fanfare, now: Da-daa-da-da-da-da-da-d'daa, da-da-da-daa! Twang, swoosh, thud! Yes it's time to don the tights and Lincoln Greene. 'The adventures of Robin Hood' was a must-see from the late 1950's onwards on British independent television.Every week hunky handsome and thoroughly middle-class Richard Greene would lead his band on an adventure against the wicked Sheriff of Nottingham. Shot mostly in studio, where the tracks in the forest had a distinctly floorboard-like resonance when trampled on, there were at least a few location takes, probably in the nearby public parks.It was a program for kids, screened around the tea-time hour (anyone remember that?) but it was entertaining enough for imaginative adults too. Most kids who had ITV at the time (we didn't) made a point of watching it.Greene was a serious actor who seemed to do very little else considering his evident good looks and charisma. He reminded me very much of equally under-utilised George Gregson. Apart from his lead as John Ridd in a B-movie feature film of Lorna Doone, hardly anything else comes to mind.It would be fun to see a few re-runs, though I suspect they would be buttock-clenchingly out-dated. Still; look at the dross kids get to watch nowadays.How does that fanfare go again...?

imxo The first episodes of the Robin Hood series are now 50 years old, and they hold up fantastically well. And to see the list of actors who were in the series is something to behold: Donald Pleasance, Nigel Davenport, Edward Mulhare, Paul Eddington, et al.I suppose I was not the only young boy to be madly in love with Maid Marian, and even though it's going on 50 years now, I still remember being disappointed when Bernadette O' Farrell was replaced by Patricia Driscoll. In fact, I think it may have broken my heart. Now, however, I find that it's really Patricia Farrell that I prefer! Anyway, just yesterday I happened to see a DVD containing 3 of the Robin Hood episodes on the shelves of the "world's largest retailer" for the non-Prince Johnly sum of one dollar. I've just watched them all, and they are wonderful. Spoiler: Good triumphs over evil.