Hannah Weinstein

Who was Hannah Weinstein?

Hannah Weinstein was an American journalist, publicist and left-wing political activist who moved to Britain and became a television producer. She is best known for having produced The Adventures of Robin Hood television series in the 1950s. She had three daughters, film producers Paula Weinstein, Lisa Weinstein and the eldest, Dina Wienstein.

Hannah Weinstein worked for the New York Herald Tribune from 1927. In 1937, she joined Fiorello H. La Guardia's New York mayoral campaign. She was also involved in the presidential campaigns of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Henry Wallace.

In 1952, she moved to London to avoid the anti-Communist persecution and McCarthyism affecting the US at the time. There she established her own television production company, Sapphire Films, which made series for the British commercial ITV network. Weinstein created and executive produced The Adventures of Robin Hood, starring Richard Greene. The series was sold to both British and American television through ITC Entertainment.

Weinstein hired American writers who had been blacklisted by the House UnAmerican Activities Committee hearings, using pseudonyms, and instituted elaborate security measures to ensure that the writers' true identities remained secret. The success of Robin Hood led Weinstein to create a further four television series, The Buccaneers, The Adventures of Sir Lancelot, Sword of Freedom and The Four Just Men. Weinstein returned to America in 1962, and resumed her involvement in politics.