The Errol Flynn Blog

Dear fellow Flynn fans,

this is a post not completely unrelated to Errol. During a short trip to Stockholm, I had the great pleasure to stay on the former yacht of Barbara Hutton, the millionairess of old Woolworth wealth.

In her biography “Poor little rich girl”, author C. David Heymann describes how she nearly became the wife of Errol`s best buddy Freddie McEvoy. Despite being her constant companion during winter vacations, he passed the Barb, ah buck, when it came to tying the knot. After two marriages with very wealthy women, Suicide Freddie went on to marry a moneyless model. Mrs. Hutton meanwhile took interest in Freddie`s pal, poor prince Igor Nikolaiewitsch Troubetzkoy of Russia. Barbara compensated Freddie with a $ 100.000 check and they remained friends till his untimely death.

When Troubetzkoy finally fell from grace, it was our man Flynn, who sat down with princey and his prefered lawyer Melvin Belli to come up with a lucrative divorce strategy. Mulling over it, they spent endless nights together at a nightclub in Paris. The plot to make I.T. a millionaire though backfired, when he was offered only $ 900.000, falling short of a mill, he then vetoed, so he got nill. In the end he managed to get a monthly pension out of Barbara, when they settled things in private, renouncing the services of Errol`s advocate. Barbara subsequently fell prey to the last playboy, Porfirio Rubirosa, her fifth but not the least husband, whom she divorced after barely more than a month for a cool 3 millions and incentives.

But back to the boat. Originally built for NY magnate Mr. Billings in 1924, the then named “Vanadis” was at the time the largest diesel driven yacht in the world. She was given to Barabara Hutton by her father for her 18th birthdy. She kept her only for a year and sold her for $1 to the English Navy during WWII.

Enjoy,

— shangheinz

Dear fellow Flynn fans,

for those of you who wonder about Hedy Lamarr`s connection to Errol and why she was featured here recently on the blog:

The ashes of Lady Hedy

let me just tell you that our Hollywood hero was very fond of her. In fact he starts out in his biography MWWW paying tribute to her, as if she was some sort of counterpart of his:

“It chances that I think Hedy to be one of the most underestimated actresses, one who has not been lucky enough to get the most desirable roles. I have seen her do a few brilliant things. I always though she had great talent, and as far as classical beauty is concerned, you could not then, nor perhaps even now, find anyone to top Lamarr. Probably one of the most beautiful women of our day. Naturally I wanted to meet her – and subsequently I would want her to play the female lead in my Italian fiasco, “William Tell”.

Errol got introduced to her at a party by his pencil moustached wingman David Niven and instantly got a taste of her temperament. Hefty Hedy was very a sophistcated lady much like his Tiger Lil`prior. Remember she had to escape her husband, a weapons manifacturer and one of the richest men at times of WW II, to come to Hollywood. She left their Viennese Villa with little but all of her jewellery.

“As we waited for Hedy to enter her living room, David kept prodding me to expect by far the most ravishing creature. David whispered as she glided in, “By God, she’s beautiful, even without the jewels.” “Quiet!” He wasn’t quiet. “See if she will tell you what she told me about how she had to save herself in getting out of Austria.”

Now, with Niven prodding me, I didn’t know how to get around her to ask her to tell me about her private life, but it sounded intriguing when David repeated, “See if she will talk about the night she couldn’t stand it any more and made a gateaway.”

Hedy and I talked for a while. I started leading up to it in a diplomatic way and finally got out the words, “Where is Mandel (the husband) now?” At which from this beautiful creature, came the growl, “That sonofabitch!” She spat and walked off.

Errol and Hedy developed a special liking for each other, but opted for palsyship, as Mrs. Lamarr recalled in her autobiography “Ecstasy and me”:

“I told my stand-in Sylvia who went to a crazy Flynn party with me: “Many of the bathrooms have peepholes or ceilings with squares of opaque glass though which you can’t see out but someone can see in. So be careful. Never go to a room Errol sends you to change if there is swimming” 

“One time  Errol, another party guest and me watched a “busty Italian star” changing into her bathing suit and laughed when she sniffed her armpits and tried to hide red clothing marks.”

The most beautiful girl in the whole wide Hollyworld went on to marry two of Errol`s closest friends, “Hollywood hussar” John Loder, to whom he refered from then on as “Mr. Lamarr” and Teddy Stauffer aka “Mr. Acapulco”.

Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler would have made a fine Mrs. William Tell too.

Enjoy,

— shangheinz