“Sean Flynn’s Leica M2, with a Steel Rim Leica 35mm Summilux
and a strap that was hand fashioned from a parachute cord and a hand grenade pin.”
— Tim
Archive for January, 2018
The Amazing Story of Sean’s Leica M2
31
Jan
Mail Bag! Errol Flynn: It’s in the Bag?
28
Jan
Tis a bit of a puzzle, as always, with dear ol’ Errol! Shari Lee and her husband Rob write to us:
Hello,
While researching Mr. Flynn I ran across your email address. I’m hoping you can provide some guidance. My husband has what we are sure is a piece of Mr. Flynn’s luggage. We are trying to find someone who can authenticate this for us. We do have pictures. Please let me know if you can help!
This piece of luggage has been to many places, it looks like it has been to japan, hawaii. Scandinavia, egypt, switzerland, france, austria, GB, pennsylvania, Ohio, Yellowstone, Argentina, Columbia, Barbados for sure. The franks and stamps are mostly in foreign language and we can’t interpret. The Japanese stamps are cuneiform. The airline stickers are Matson, Western, NPA, and a Scandinavian line that depicts an early seaplane. The luggage piece checks out as period correct. It appears to be colored hide over wood construction with gun metal brass hardware. It has very nice age patina with scuffs and handling wear and is quite nice looking. The amulet inside is fairly large and we believe is solid copper. If any more photos or info is needed let us know.
All I have is my camera on this phone. My husband researched all of the stickers and he is pretty certain they are authentic to the period. Not re-pop’s. It was acquired from an older person who had it in storage for several decades. Prior to that it was used as a stage prop in a folk group.
Here is what we see:
A label that says 1939 National Air Races, Cleveland, OH September 2,3,4
A destination label that says French Line, S.S. Champlain sailed 23 July 1939 destination Hotel – Ritz.
A destination label that says Cunard Line RMS Queen Mary First Class, deck and room A 23 sailing 6-8-1938, New York to South Hampton c/o Lady Julian (?) Windham, London England.
One with his name is Cooks Nile Service, S.S. Delta, along with another one that says Hastings Barbados Marine Hotel Ste. 22 , with a stamp that says Coral Bay-Marine. He stayed at Eastern Exchange Hotel Port Said Egypt per one label.
There are about 26 stickers and 2 postage stamps affixed to the exterior and numerous franks and custom stamps. The travel stickers are both air and sea. This is a carry-on size piece of luggage.
Thanks, Shari
Thank you, Shari & Ron!
Now, can any of you Flynn Detectives match Errol’s travels to this beautiful vintage travel bag?
— David DeWitt
Taylor vs. Flynn
25
Jan
PULLING NO PUNCHES: All Time Awesome Aussies
Extracts from: “DVD REVIEW: ACTOR ROD TAYLOR, FORMER BOXER AND LIFESAVER, PULLS NO PUNCHES”
By Simon Caterson January 25, 2018
As an all-purpose Australian leading man of the 1950s through to the ’70s in Hollywood, Rod Taylor was the natural screen successor to Errol Flynn. Flynn has maintained legendary status despite or because of his scandalous private life as well as his sparkling performances on screen, inspiring many biographies and biopics. Meanwhile, the impressive acting career of Taylor, who died in 2015 at the age of 84 after appearing in more than 50 feature films has been neglected.
The DVD/VOD release of Rod Taylor – Pulling No Punches is a welcome corrective as well as being a thoroughly entertaining documentary.
Flynn and Taylor belonged to different generations, though they played a range of not dissimilar big screen roles, from romantic comedy through to Westerns and war films, from pirate epics to contemporary thrillers. Taylor arguably played a wider variety of characters than Flynn, who died at 50.
Flynn’s career was constrained by working within the studio system at Warner Brothers and limited for the most part to working with certain directors and co-stars. By contrast, Taylor’s career, which commenced a few years after Flynn’s death, saw him work with a range of directors including Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford and, in his final performance he played Winston Churchill in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds.
In his prime, Flynn was almost impossibly handsome, while Rod Taylor came across as more of a regular guy. Bright-eyed and with a wide smile held in place by a strong jaw, there is an open faced, slightly rough-hewn look about Taylor – a certain down to earth, can-do quality that he seemed to project. He was a good-looking bloke, on whom, it seems there were no flies.
There are actors who may not win awards or garner critical accolades but they do win the hearts of cinemagoers who just want to enjoy seeing them on the screen. That easy-going, exportable charisma was there in Paul Hogan in his heyday and you can see it in the screen presence of an actor like Hugh Jackman or the Hemsworth brothers, a combination of mildness and athleticism with an apparent absence of pretension, angst or vanity.
In Pulling No Punches, Bryan Brown equates the international acting career of Rod Taylor with a big adventure for an Australian of that era in particular. Like many of the more authentic movie stars, Taylor was not the product of a posh drama school but had done a few different different things and seen a bit of life. So too had Errol Flynn, though Taylor seems to have been more level-headed in handling the pressures of fame.
— Tim
Jamaica’s Jolly Boys
22
Jan
Named and Catapulted to Fame by Flynn
Sherwood had its Merry Men, Jamaica has its Jolly Boys
Jamaica Music Museum pays tribute to the Jolly Boys
“The Jolly Boys are a mento group originally from Port Antonio, formed in 1945. First starting as part of a group that played at Errol Flynn’s parties, the band established itself as one of Jamaica’s enduring mento bands. Over seven decades they have won mento band competitions, toured across the island and around the world, and released ten albums. They also appeared in the 1989 film The Mighty Quinn, which featured Denzel Washington. With their 2010 cover of Amy Winehouse’s Rehab, the group facilitated a mento revival that has attracted music scholars and enthusiasts from around the world.”
“… Errol Flynn named this group “The Jolly Boys” after the vibe he caught from their playing. With Flynn’s imprimatur, the Jolly Boys music quickly defined mento and calypso entertainment in Port Antonio and set a high musical standard.”
” … Errol Flynn used to dock his yacht, Zaca, [at Port Antonio] back when the buccaneering Hollywood star was known as “Jamaica’s greatest tourist”. “Mr Errol Flynn, man. Yeah, baby!” twinkles [one of the Jolly Boys]. “He loved the local bars. He’d hang here and buy a bottle of white rum for the people.”
— Tim
Charity-Shop Shopping with Ms. Moss
21
Jan
“I used to walk around a lot when I was younger, get the tube, and every time I passed a charity shop I’d go in. I can sense if somewhere has a good one. I bought a dress that belonged to Errol Flynn’s wife. It was in Key West and the shop had a picture of her wearing it, tulle with white pearl and glass beads hanging off it.”
— Tim
“Swashbuckling Splendor”
20
Jan
“THE GREATEST SEA ADVENTURE OF ALL TIME GETS UNDERWAY!” (IN COLORADO)
“Off the Hook Arts celebrates film and music of the 1930’s and 40’s in their Fourth Annual WinterFest week! We’re featuring two great composers that fled Europe, settled in Hollywood and helped bring film to where it is today through their additions to film scores. Join us for the full Hollywood classic movie, The Sea Hawk, featuring Errol Flynn in his swashbuckling splendor and film score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. But first, get a brief introduction about the significance of this film and composer from our host, modern day Hollywood film score composer and Assistant Professor of Digital Media Composition and Music Theory at UNC Ludek Drizhal.”
— Tim
Ann and Errol
13
Jan
THE MERMAID AND MISTER CHRISTIAN
A counter-clockwise adaptation of twinarcher’s recent north-of-the-equator post, “Errol and Ann”
www.canberratimes.com…
Physicality and courage on screen were two notable attributes of Kellermann that would continue among a number of other Australian actors, including Errol Flynn, whose screen debut in Australia as Fletcher Christian in 1933’s In the Wake of the Bounty soon led to a major Hollywood career.
Plus, check out this fabulous Annie Kellerman- related, history and gallery of early bathing suits and beauties!
The Original Mermaid (G, 2003), a documentary on Kellermann, will be on January 17 at 3pm at 4pm at the National Film and Sound Archive ($10/$8).
The Evolution of the Australian Actor talk will be at the archive on January 18 at 3pm (free, bookings essential) followed at 4pm by Captain Blood (1935, G, tickets $10, $8).
The Rise of the Australian Actor in Hollywood talk will be on at the National Portrait Gallery on January 20 at 2pm (free, portrait.gov….au).
For bookings and more information visit nfa.gov….au.
— Tim
