May I introduce to you Maria del Carmen Vivo Belando,
which gives me a great
pleasure and I
hope you will appreciate it as much
as I do for this wonderful post she brings
to us!
A
while back Maria del Carmen Vivo Belando contacted me via Facebook due to my
EF site.
Maria is living in Spain
and her family affectionately calls her Mamen,
combining Maria and Carmen into
Marmen. Marmen is a friend of Ventura
Sala who we know
lives in Mallorca and with whom we
are very well acquainted on our blog.
We
corresponded and we acquainted ourselves for which I am extremely happy and
grateful
as it started a wonderful friendship. In our conversations about Errol
she offered to translate
the Spanish video we have on our blog from Ventura posted by David
which you find on the
blog – titled “From Ventura Sala, a wonderful Flynn
docu!”
Click the red link: “Ventura Sala Docu” which is the Spanish video and follow the translation.
I am told that some people could not find the video I am placing the URL here to:
www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/television/baleares-viaje-tiempo—errol-frynn-glamour-50/624731/…
Needless
to say Mamen went through enormous work to translate the important parts of
the
video concerning Errol which is the greater part of the video.
Mamen
doesn’t speak English and used an Internet translator to send me the
information.
Her translations arrived in
segments and I corrected certain grammar problems which are
common in these
translations without changing the meaning.
I
urged Mamen to make the post to our blog herself, but I was unable to convince
her, I am
therefore posting it on her behalf.
The
following words are Mamen’s correspondence with me and I thought that they are
a
wonderful introduction to the translation of the video and in particular
express her sentiment.
Mamen
writes:
When
I first saw the video tears came to my eyes. Errol Flynn was different, he was
special!
Some
people tell me that they do not understand why I admire him because he drank a
lot, was
a womanizer, … But these people do not know how he really was, I
admired him as an actor and
wanted to know what kind of person he was. Now, that
I found out I admire him more!
I found pages of a newspaper in Mallorca where they talked about Errol in Palma and spoke of
the
family named Sala. Ventura spoke in interviews
and his mother too as Edward, Ventura’s
father, had died. So I thought it would
be wonderful to meet Ventura
and talk with him.
One day by chance in an Internet forum, which talked about
Errol Flynn, I saw that one comment
was from Ventura Sala on the forum and his
email appeared. I was nervous and excited at the
opportunity to write and speak
with him, so I did not think and I sent an e-mail. We had contact
by e-mail. We
conversed and he was very nice and charming. One day my boyfriend had to go
to Palma and took me with him, so I contacted Ventura and said it would be my first visit to
Palma.
Although
I did not expect anything, Ventura asked me to
meet him and to see Palma,
where Errol
was teaching him swimming and told me all about it. We met at the Yacht Club, he did not have
much time, he was waiting his family so we were all at the club, he showed me
where the Zaca
was docked, and told me stories of Errol, he showed me a photo
album and original documents.
The photos displayed on the video are all from Ventura. He gave me a
book about Errol in Palma,
and a cartoon whose
protagonist is Errol in Palma.
For me it was wonderful to meet him, he was
very kind for giving his time.
Ventura loves
to talk about Errol and collects a lot of things about him.
When Ventura
was a boy he was playing on the boat with Arnella. Errol taught Ventura how
to swim by
tying a rope around his waist and he threw him overboard into the sea.
Rory
Flynn is a friend on facebook with him and he talks to people from other
countries.
I have to use the translator
because I do not speak English.
I
want to tell you a very nice story Ventura
told me. Once on the boat deck was Edward Sala
his father, and he saw that
Errol was going to the street with a hole in the pants on his behind.
Eduardo
said Errol your pants are ripped. Errol then went back to the boat and put tape
to
cover the hole. Errol went on deck and asked gracefully Eduardo: “Eduardo, can
you see
my ass”? Eduardo said no. And he
was well into the street when he laughed out loud – hahaha!
He did not mind walking the streets of Palma
with a pair of trousers with a plaster on his ass.
That's what I like about
Errol, who was a simple person, a person close to the people, accessible.
He was not your typical Hollywood
actor who lives in his mansion and does not allow anyone
near him. As Toni
Riera said who was a sailor on his yacht, he was a true sailor, he was a
friend,
he was one of us!
I would really like blogging on your blog, but I have to see how it works, I
cannot wait to have
time to enter your blog and participate in it. Ventura certainly also will be
pleased. It is very nice.
Mamen
Errol
Flynn and the glamor of the 1950’!
The Sailing Club “Real Club Nautico de Palma” in the 1950's where Errol docked his boat!
This link brings you to the club of today: www.realclubnauticopalma.com…
The
first part of the video tells of how many celebrities were seeking anonymity
and try to take
a rest in Palma de Mallorca, like Charles Chaplin with his
wife. But among all the famous actors
who visited the island, none installed such depth with the Mallorcans as did
Errol Flynn.
In December 1950, in Monte Carlo, he married
the young actress Patricia Wymore.
During their honeymoon trip aboard his yacht
Zaca, being surprised by a storm on their way
to Gibraltar they took refuge in
a port in northern Mallorca. During his stay he casually toured the north
coast of the island and he finally reached the pier in Palma where they landed.
JOSEP
PLANAS says: “I had a good relationship with the yacht club director Dr.
Porcel.
I
said to him, tonight we are here with Errol Flynn. There was a dance group
performing and
I made pictures of Errol Flynn in the yacht club. It was a very spectacular event.”
“The island was unknown to him and he was very pleased that had been received
so well.
The people liked him right from the beginning and he promised to
return, perhaps to even
shoot a movie”.
In May 1955, as promised, Errol returned to Mallorca,
accompanied by his wife Patricia and
his daughter Arnella.
For
twenty years, that privileged adventurer had been one of the most famous
leading men
and had represented some of the most fascinating and heroic roles
in film history. But at
the time, Errol
Flynn was ruined due to a failed movie production. The producers had
canceled their contracts
and he had been abandoned by everyone.
He decided to leave
America
with his family and live on the Zaca.
Where he recalled his youthful adventures,
when he went to look for gold
in New Guinea. Lost at sea and in command of his crew, Errol
Flynn could play the part of his life and could go on believing it that he was
a Hollywood
star while he discovered that the great Errol Flynn no longer
existed.
PERE
SERRA says: “He did not fall into decay at all with his image, he was
considered a
great film star and this is logical because the news at that
time did not come as rapidly as
now. On the other hand, in Palma films of Errol
Flynn had only been very recently released,
do not forget that in the Spanish
Civil War in Spain we did not see American films until after
1941 because there
was no money to pay for American films, so I have seen just lately the
movies
of Errol Flynn and so the Mallorcans when he was on the cusp of his fame.”
The Zaca docked at the yacht club. Errol
Flynn initially settled in the Hotel Maricel and
then stayed at the Hotel
Bonsol, where he organized meetings with their friends.
MARTÍ XAMENA (owner of the Hotel Bonsol) says: “He stayed in the hotel. My
parents
attended to him very personally and they became good friends.”
ROGER TORO says: “Someone had recommended the Hotel Bonsol and he chose it
because
he was told it was a quiet hotel, where it would go unnoticed without
being disturbed. He
himself initially
came up with this idea of a quiet place, being in a place where no phone calls
could reach him, but it seems that he found himself with his wish so well
fulfilled that it was
him who wanted to call a reporter.”
Finally Errol Flynn rented a house called Es Moli in one of the new tourist
areas near
Palma,
Illetas. Errol Flynn from childhood
loved of the sea and he was as happy as if he were
sailing the seven seas.
Errol Flynn said: “On board the Zaca Pat cooked and comforted me, I
played with my
daughter Arnella. From
time to time my friends came on board to eat and have a drink or to
set sail on
a cruise. I read, I dreamed, trying to
find out who I was, worry that I do not drop
or as badly, or as low as people
thought.”
To hell with Hollywood
and the producers Errol Flynn thought!
Away from the cinema and the company, they have a life of their own and seem to
live outside
history. In Mallorca you could
enjoy the sea and live!
VENTURA SALA says: “My father started working on the yacht in 1956, he was
the helmsman.
Errol at the time had a
crew of Jamaicans, but when they were here for a couple of months,
they wanted
to return to Jamaica and he
took on a crew of Mallorca, of which one was
my
father.
On
Christmas, he gave gifts to the crew and their families and I gave a kiss to
his daughter
Arnella. I took a photo and Errol approached me and said: Ah!
Small bandito!”
TONI
RIERA “EL INDIO” says: “I made friends with one of the crew of
the Zaca and asked
him for work. He then
asked Errol if we needed a sailor and Errol said: Bring the mate!”
(Toni died several years ago and Ventura
told me that he probably never saw this
documentary on television).
In Palma Errol could pursue his great passions, like all those who admired his
manliness
and heroism, he was fascinated by the spectacle of bullfighting. Accompanied by his friends
celebrated the
cape while drinking cognac.
The bullring
was a meeting of familiar faces and confirmed the attraction that it was for
the island.
The
spell of the island attracted other major stars of film, some of who would be invited
by
Errol Flynn himself as Ava Gardner and Rita Hayworth.
VENTURA SALA says: “Rita Hayworth came to Mallorca
and went to the Hotel Maricel,
and asked at the reception to place a call to
Errol Flynn. They called his room and he was
told that Rita Hayworth has
arrived and wanted to talk to him. Errol
replied: I said I'm not
seeing anyone! And that day he did not.”
The islanders live on a basis “Live and let live”, we did not ask questions,
but the presence
of a star charisma of Errol Flynn aroused the curiosity of all
people, like when he went to eat a
t the restaurant Sellé Catalá.
MIQUEL
MOYÁ said: “Once I had so much trouble that I closed the restaurant and
hid behind
the bar not to be disturbed, but I always did it with love, because
sometimes he drew his head
and say, hey what’s up?”
At night, in the Plaza Gomila, after dinner at the El Patio restaurant, we all
went to the Bar Llous.
PEP
DE LOS RIOS says: “We drank the frozen Daiquiri drinks, with crushed ice,
we had a
shaker with crushed ice for the champagne but we drank the Daiquiris
without sugar, which is
something undrinkable.”
Errol Flynn was captivated by the seascapes, views of the forest of masts
swaying in the
nautical club. The
biggest joy was lost at sea and sailors remember the songs their grandmothers
sang during their childhood. He
sometimes came to a cove paradise in Ibiza.
RIERA
TONI says: “We went there with Bonet, a famous diver, to find amphoras,
but could not
find anything because Bonet was a good friend of mine and instead
of looking amphoras, were
going to catch fish and then sell them in
hotels.”
The
world of Errol Flynn had nothing to do with the customs of the island. Although
he was
struck by these people that cling to old traditions and carry the burden
of dogma.
PERE SERRA says: “I think he was looking for peace, to live in peace and
escape his fame,
however, I think that really Errol Flynn was never the least
integrated with the life of Palma.
ERROL Flynn said in his memoirs: “I walk into a whorehouse with the same
interest as he
entered the British Museum or the Metropolitan in New York. What drives me is the same
spirit
of curiosity, there are the works of man, there is the art of man, there is the
eternal
pursuit of gold and pleasure.”
Errol
Flynn was distinguished by his simple and friendly nature. For him, life was a
fun game,
without prejudice.
TONI
RIERA says: “American gentlemen came to sign a contract, and when I told
him I said
there are some men who want to see you. And Errol said: Tell them
I'm talking to another man.
And he was talking to the dump.”
MIQUEL MOYA says: “In my restaurant there were two women at a table, and
Errol was sitting at
another table. Errol listened to what the women were saying, that he
was the most handsome man
in the movies. Errol did not like this review and
rose from the table, approached the women and said, ugly! ”
ROGER
TORO says: “People said he drank too much, and it was true, but he knew
drinking
because he was a gentleman, before and after several toasts.”
JOSEP
PLANAS says: “At a dinner to which he invited his friends over at three in
the
morning with everyone in the water. The only thing that escaped into the
water was me, and
for very little.”
ERROL Flynn says in his memoirs: “I did follow depression, drank, sailed,
I plunged into the sea.
When the Zaca
was docked in Mallorca, I bet with my friend
Manuel Cervantes to throw me
from the crosshairs of my ship. It was the kind of
bet that was done if he had not drunk a drop
of alcohol, but he did and since
the Zaca mast was over a hundred feet high, just devastating.”
MARTI XAMENA says: “He played with us like a kid, because he knew
fencing. He was a
lovely person I can
not believe he spent so much time to play with some of the children.”
There were famous parties on the Zaca, which ended with the housing of the
yacht being
filled with bottles and sometimes a fight starring Errol Flynn
himself.
VENTURA
SALA says: “It was a powerful experience for me, because I saw the movie
Robin
Hood, the Charge of the Light Brigade, and then saw that person on his
boat. I was going on
board during the
summer, it was a sailors tasks and I had no school so I spent much time on
the
boat and lived the experience as a child who was on a pirate ship, as in his
films.
As young and not so young dreamed of emulating his feats with their audacity
even film after
film, reality showed a man in decline. His severe drinking problem accumulated and
showed
unfortunate consequences.
Since
then, the relationship of Errol Flynn and Patricia was very poor. Rumors of
infidelity that
raised suspicions aroused the demon of jealousy, caused the
estrangement.”
DE
LOS RIOS PEP says, “Errol Flynn I never saw him fall, he staggered a bit,
but I never saw
him ever to fall.”
Errol
says in his memoirs: “My biggest addiction is not the drink or drugs, or
sex, is curiosity,
is what has gotten me into all my problems, successes and
failures, I feel drawn towards the
light, toward the darkness, to the
brilliance, stupidity, the monstrosity,…”
RIERA TONI says: “He was not jealous, how could he be jealous if he always
had women.
The woman was jealous of him. “
Errol continued to decline and Patricia was consolidated as a singer, and even
made some
performances in the main theater of Palma.
Errol says: “If I had a Spanish ink pen I feel ready to
write my memoirs, but an
interruption, mental and moral block in my marriage to
Pat probably castrates anything of value.
The record of any marriage with few
exceptions, could only lead to recriminations tedious and
full of resentment.
“
It
is said that an alleged romance between Patricia and a famous Spanish dancer,
caused the
final break..
After his return
to America, he took refuge
in his house in Jamaica and
did not return to Mallorca.
ROGER TORO says: “He also said, and this … is it? Where am I going with this?
And I said,
because of it, you are well known, you are admired, you are wanted.
Errol said: Yes, I am wanted because I'm
famous because I had success. But I do
not
want to know the people I know who have been high and when they have given
you
the downturn, no one remembers you.”
Errol Flynn says: “I felt like a guy who had passed into
history and has
professionally reached the end. The gloom came over me.”
In
October 1959, he negotiated to sell the Zaca, he suffered a heart attack and he
was brought to
a hospital in Vancouver.
He died on October 14 in Vancouver.
VENTURA SALA says, “He represented another era, at a time when even living
things in
Mallorca were at a slower base but
more intense.”
RIERA TONI says: “He was a sea of good; anyone would have been delighted
to be with him.
XAMENA MARTI says: “It was the most humble man that a person can
imagine.”
MIQUEL Moya said: “A very human and very correct.”
JOSEP PLANAS says: “I hurt my shoulder because every time I looked at him and
said
“Friend”, he hit me on the shoulder.”
ROGER TORO says: “He was a great conqueror and he was a heavy drinker, but
he was a
great man, he was a gentleman in all respects.”
Errol
Flynn says in his memoirs: “If I have something of genius, is genius to see
life.”
Today, little remains of the presence of Errol Flynn on the island. The Hotel
Bonsol, survives
among a vast web of concrete. The Patio Restaurant remains
with the doors closed, waiting
for that someday return the old days of glamour.
Llous bar was once and today not even the
name exists. And the Plaza Gomila, ceased to be one of the
busiest places on this side of the
Mediterranean. The Yacht Club, is awaiting the arrival of sailboats of legendary and intrepid
travelers.
Last, only a detail of the Villa Es Moli exists, a gargoyle that evokes the
figurehead of a pirate
ship and a hidden plate commemorating the passing of
Errol Flynn on the island.
No one fulfilled his wish that his ashes be thrown into the sea, they buried him
in Hollywood.
At
the funeral, a friend recited a poem of her beloved Robert Louis Stevenson:
Under
the wide and starry sky
Dig
the grave and let me lie:
Glad
did I live and gladly die,
And
I laid me down with a will.
This
be the verse you 'grave for me:
Here he lies where he long'd to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.
But if I fall so Errol said, I want to make a request, that you put this verse
on my tombstone:
“Here he lies where he long’d to be, returned has the sailor
from the sea, back from the hill
is the hunter.”
— Tina
