Robbie Ross

 Robbie Ross, a character in the film ‘Benediction’, interceded with the military at the height of the First World War, in 1917, and saved Sassoon from the firing squad.  He also, earlier 1895, tried to save Oscar Wilde from a disastrous prison sentence. The fact that the film focuses on David Tennant, Stephen Tennant, Ivor Navarro, and other Bright Young Things and neglects the reserves of heroic functioning in people like Robbie Ross and Glen Willy is my argument against the film. Imagine another film.

Robbie Ross, 1869-1918

He was an open, out, homosexual and endured many painful attacks because of it.  He was bullied at King’s College, Cambridge and when dunked in a fountain developed pneumonia.  He left school but not before fighting for an apology from his fellow students and getting it and seeking the dismissal of Augustus Tilly, head Tutor, who encouraged the students.  Tilley left voluntarily.

It was March 1, 1895 that Oscar Wilde, Lord Alfred Douglas, and Ross visited law offices in order to sue the Marquess of Queensbury for criminal libel.  Wilde lost; spent two years at hard labor and then exiled himself to Paris where he died November 30, 1900.

All of Wilde’s texts were sold when he declared bankruptcy and his name and notoriety were used to sell black market books of erotica.  Ross as Wilde’s literary executor found and purchased the rights to all of Wilde’s works. He published them and gave the rights and income to Vivian Holland and Cyril Holland, Oscar’s sons. All during this time Ross was pursued by the Marquess for his homosexuality.

Ross died suddenly of a heart attack in 1918.  

A clipped outline for a screenplay?

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