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| Olivia de Havilland and Errol Lynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). It was one of eight films they made together. |
1938 (May 14) The Adventures of Robin Hood produced by Hal B. Wallis and Henry Blanke, directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, is released by Warner Brothers Pictures. Produced at an estimated cost of $2 million, it was the most expensive film Warner Bros. had ever made up to that time. It was also the studio's first large budget color film utilizing the three-strip Technicolor process. The film was shot on location in various areas of California. Bidwell Park in Chico stood in for Sherwood Forest, although one major scene was filmed at the California locations "Lake Sherwood" and "Sherwood Forest", so named because they were the location sites for the 1922 Douglas Fairbanks production of Robin Hood. Several scenes were shot at the Warner Bros. Burbank Studios and the Warner Ranch in Calabasas. The archery tournament was filmed at Lower Arroyo Park in Pasadena."
1937 Twenty new feature movies are produced in three-strip Technicolor.
1935 Olivia de Haviland makes her screen debut in in Max Reinhardt's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. "De Havilland made her acting debut in amateur theatre in Alice in Wonderland and later appeared in a local production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, which led to her playing Hermia in Max Reinhardt's stage production of the same play and a movie contract with Warner Bros."
1932 Herbert Kalmus convinces Walt Disney to shoot one of his Silly Symphony cartoons Flowers and Trees in Process 4, the new "three-strip" Technicolor process. Seeing the potential in full-color Technicolor, Disney negotiated an exclusive contract for the use of the process that extended to September 1935. Other animation producers, such as the Fleischer Studios and the Ub Iwerks studio, were shut out – they had to settle for either the two-color Technicolor systems or use a competing process such as Cinecolor.
1932 Burton Wescott and Joseph A. Ball of Technicolor complete work on a new three-color movie camera. "Technicolor could now promise studios a full range of colors, as opposed to the limited red-green spectrum of previous films. The new camera simultaneously exposed three strips of black-and-white film, each of which recorded a different color of the spectrum. The new process would last until the last Technicolor feature film was produced in 1955."
1929 Technicolor begins working on three-color process (called Process 4).
1927 (Oct. 1) The Jazz Singer is released by Waner Bros. Pictures. "The first feature-length motion picture with synchronized dialogue sequences, its release heralded the commercial ascendance of the "talkies" and the decline of the silent film era. Darryl F. Zanuck won the Special Academy Award for producing the film, and it was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Engineering Effects."
1923 Where the North Begins, featuring Rin Tin Tin, is released by Warner Bros. Pictures. "a dog brought from France after World War I by an American soldier. The movie was so successful that Jack signed the dog to star in more films for $1,000 per week. Rin Tin Tin became the studio's top star. Jack nicknamed him "The Mortgage Lifter" and the success boosted Darryl F. Zanuck's career.
1923 (Apr. 4) Warner Brothers Pictures incorporated.
1922 (Oct. 18) Robin Hood, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Wallace Beery, premiere is held at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre "The first motion picture ever to have a Hollywood premiere." "one of the most expensive films of the 1920s, with a budget estimated at approximately one million dollars. The film was a smash hit and generally received favorable reviews. A huge castle set and an entire 12th century village of Nottingham were constructed at the Pickford-Fairbanks Studio in Hollywood. Some sets were designed by architect Lloyd Wright. Director Allan Dwan later recalled that Fairbanks was so overwhelmed by the scale of the sets that he considered canceling production at one point."
1919 Olivia de Havilland moves with her family to California.
1919 Warner Brothers land their first big deal, obtaining the rights to Avery Hopwood's 1919 Broadway play, The Gold Diggers, from theatrical impresario David Belasco.
1918 The Warner Brothers open their first movie studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. "Sam and Jack produced the pictures, while Harry and Albert, along with their auditor and now controller Chase, handled finance and distribution in New York City. The company's name originates from the four founding Warner brothers (born Wonskolaser or Wonsal before Anglicization): Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner. They emigrated as small children with their parents to Canada from Krasnosielc which was located in the part of Congress Poland that had been subjugated to the Russian Empire following the eighteenth-century Partitions of Poland near present-day Ostrołęka."
1917 (Feb. 21) Exhibition of Two-color Technicolor to members of the American Institute of Mining Engineers in New York
1917 (Oct. 22) Joan Fontaine, sister of Olivia de Havilland is born.
1916 Invention of Process 1 (Two-Color Technicolor). "Technicolor's advantage over most early natural-color processes was that it was a subtractive synthesis rather than an additive one: unlike the additive Kinemacolor and Chronochrome processes, Technicolor prints did not require any special projection equipment."
1916 (Jul. 1) Olivia de Havilland born to English parents in Tokyo. "Her mother, Lilian Augusta (née Ruse; June 11, 1886 – February 20, 1975),[was educated at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and became a stage actress. Lilian also sang with the Master of the King's Music, Sir Walter Parratt, and toured England with the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams."
1914 Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation was founded in Boston by Herbert Kalmus, Daniel Frost Comstock, and W. Burton Wescott.The "Tech" in the company's name was inspired by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where both Kalmus and Comstock received their undergraduate degree and were later instructors.
1903 Sam and Albert Warner open their first theater, the Cascade, in New Castle, Pennsylvania, having invested $150 to present Life of an American Fireman and The Great Train Robbery.
1820 Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott, first published in three volumes and subtitled A Romance. Ivanhoe, set in 12th century England, has been credited for increasing interest in romance and medievalism; John Henry Newman claimed Scott "had first turned men's minds in the direction of the Middle Ages", while Carlyle and Ruskin made similar assertions of Scott's overwhelming influence over the revival, based primarily on the publication of this novel.
1534 Latest printing date of A Gest of Robyn Hode. "a type of “The Good Outlaw” tale, in which the hero of the story is an outlaw who commits actual crimes, but the outlaw is still supported by the people. The hero in the tale has to challenge a corrupt system, which has committed wrongs against the hero, his family, and his friends....a premier example of romanticizing the outlaw using courtly romance, in order to illustrate the corruption of the law. As John Taylor writes, “The targets of Robin Hood’s criticism are the justices of the forest and the common law, against whom grievances could have been felt by more than one section of the medieval community.”
1450 Approximate date of Robin Hood and the Monk, among the oldest existing ballads of Robin Hood in manuscript. "Robin goes to St. Mary's in Nottingham and prays. A monk who he had robbed sees him and tells the sheriff, who goes with many men and fights with him."
1192 (Dec) Richard is taken prisoner by Leopold V, Duke of Austria while returning from the Holy Land.
1192 (Sept. 2) Richard the Lionheart, King of England, and Saladin finalized a treaty granting Muslim control over Jerusalem but allowing unarmed Christian pilgrims and merchants to visit the city.
1189 The Third Crusade
1187 Saladin captures Jerusalem.
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