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Archive for June, 2018

Sealed With(Out) a Kiss

29 Jun

Seal of the Archdiocese of Burgos, Spain

Archbishop of Burgos, Manuel de Castro Alonso

Generallisimo Francisco Franco

Forty Years of Censorship

elpais-com.cdn.ampproject.org…

A new book recounts the alterations made to movies and their posters by censors during the Franco regime.

The censors’ scissors were never idle during the Franco dictatorship. The movie industry, with all its provocative and insinuating images, was a great source of headaches for the watchdogs of public morality – especially since going to the movies was the main form of entertainment for society in the wake of the Spanish Civil War.

And so censors were very careful to ensure that any film that was screened in Spain contained no negative influences on issues such as religion, politics, the army, prostitution, divorce or adultery.

Sex became a real obsession for the regime, and it was persecuted with all the weapons at the censors’ reach. Poster draftsmen and movie theater impresarios had to really stretch their imaginations to make their billboards reflect the American, English or French realities. This was not always achieved.

A new book, La Censura Franquista en el Cartel de Cine (“Franco’s censorship in movie posters”), by Bienvenido Llopis, analyzes 40 years’ worth of censorship in Spain through films. The conclusion is that cleavages were reduced, legs were covered up, and scenes with beds in them were avoided altogether.

Movies were banned and stills were cut out,” Llopis notes. “But it was just as important to control movie advertising. Major Hollywood stars who embraced the Republican cause – James Cagney, Joan Crawford or Robert Montgomery – had their names pulled from Spanish movie posters, while titles that might suggest a double meaning were changed.”

The idea for the book came to Llopis one Sunday morning at the Madrid flea market, the Rastro. There he was, sitting at his stand, selling movie memorabilia, when a man showed up saying he had a program for the movie Camino de Santa Fe, which had obtained the censors’ approval everywhere in Spain save for the city of Burgos. The archbishop there insisted that Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland’s kiss be hidden with a seal.

The man turned out to be the owner of a movie theater in Burgos, and he promised to return with the movie program. “I waited for him for many Sundays, until one day he showed up again, and when I saw [the program], I thought I have to make a book out of this.”

— Tim

 

Gallup In Like Flynn

28 Jun

Get your kicks on Route 66 … at El Rancho’s 49er Lounge

“The 49er Lounge holds the unique claim of serving both Errol Flynn and his horse, as the two rode right into the establishment one summer afternoon.”

El Rancho was built by “Griff” Griffith, D. W. Griffith’s brother. D.W. helped his brother promote this as a premier place to go for filmmakers of Hollywood westerns.

“Like Errol Flynn who rode his horse into the bar when he wanted a drink, friendly service in a truly Western location is what the 49er Lounge serves up.”

Here’s a video of El Rancho, with a Flynn account of its bar, and a look at his photo upstairs. There’s an Errol Flynn Room, too, though not shown in this video.

route66hotels.org…

— Tim

 

Lookin’ Like Flynn?

27 Jun

Speaking of Football … Some believe this fellow below looks a lot like Flynn. What do you think?

P.S. Note the Flynn-like logo on his blue French Football Federation uniform.

— Tim

 

More Swagger Than Flynn?

24 Jun

Being that it’s World Cup time, here’s the story of Kevin Keegan and his Newcastle United Football Club – the team that said to have “more swagger than Errol Flynn”.

“King Kev” Keegan and Newcastle.United

“Kevin Keegan and Newcastle United football club were a marriage made in heaven in the mid-1990s. Magpies fans and the club generally craved attacking football and in Keegan they had a man to give it to them. Indeed, Keegan’s Newcastle had more swagger than Errol Flynn crashing through a window on a rope, sliding down a banister and sword-fencing his way past half-a-dozen armed guards to rescue a damsel in distress.”

More on King Kevin Keegan:

Doin’ It in Deutchland:

Playin’ In the ‘Pool:

— Tim

 

OMG

22 Jun

A QUIZ

What does this image above have to do with Errol?

Clues to use:

1) He started it, in more ways than one.

2) It involved Warners Bros.

3) It almost involved Olivia.

4) OMG was involved first.

5) It’s still happening.

——-

This photo added on Wednesday, June 27 (2018), after Karl’s correct answer to the quiz:

— Tim

 

Hollywood Hero in La Heroica

21 Jun

“ERROL FLYNN EN CARTEGENA”

Errol Flynn en Cartagena

What would you do if the most popular actor in the world arrives at the door of your house at that time, greets you with your name and asks for permission to enter?

The first thing would be to be amazed and that is what happened to Don Antonio Fuentes, founder of the first record company in Colombia, the one with the yellow seal, the one with the Clock Tower of Cartagena.

Don Toño, as he was familiarly called by his employees and neighbors in La Heroica, was born in Cartagena on May 18, 1907, had toured several countries and even fell in love with the Hawaiian guitar. Upon returning to [Columbia] he set up the Emisora ​​Fuentes and determined to rescue the autochthonous rhythms of the Caribbean. In 1934 he made the first productions of figures such as Guillermo Buitrago, Esther Forero, Los Trovadores de Barú, Lucho Bermúdez, Los Corraleros de Majagual, Pedro Laza, Rodolfo Aicardi, Los Hispanos, Gustavo Quintero and dozens of other groups.

La Heroica, Cartagena:

I always asked the artists if they had “some verses” out there and with that, I was able to do a whole song and a success. Sometimes the musicians would tune or give one more note and Don Toño would simply say, “leave that so that’s what you’re going to like”, as indeed it happened.

Thanks to the contacts of Don Toño Fuentes, the recordings were reproduced in countries such as Mexico, Cuba, Argentina, Venezuela and the United States. He had a recognition in many countries and was the great ambassador of Colombian music.

For his part, Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn, known as Errol Flynn, was the most popular actor in the decades of the 30s, 40s and 50s and was born in Hobart, Australia on June 20, 1909. He was nationalized as an American and became a star for his characters of heroes, where he combined great kisses with his adventurous movements.

One of those roles was the first version of Robin Hood, where despite appearing in green tights, a hat with feather and leather gloves, conquered the hearts of thousands of young people who melted to see the way they twisted the lips of the protagonists of the stories.

He is remembered for his roles in films such as “The Light Brigade’s Charge”, “Robin of the Woods”, “The Private Life of Elizabeth and Essex”, “Camino de Santa Fe”, “They Died with Their Boots on”, “The Island of the Corsairs”, “Swords Crossed”, of a roll of more than 50 films.

As a fan of yachting he sailed to Cartagena, according to Don Gabriel Pulido, promoter of Discos Fuentes in Bogotá. When he arrived at the walled city, he did not have a hard time finding the house of Don Toño Fuentes, where he was well received, tasted good rums, ate up the head of a cat, dined on the beaches and danced the best of coastal music.

It was an unforgettable visit [after which] he continued with films, romance, and adventure.

On October 9, 1959 he traveled to Canada in order to sell his yacht and when he was going to ride the plane back he felt bad, a doctor gave him a few days off and on October 15 he died a heart attack. The idol of the cinema left, after scarcely 50 years, [but not until after] enjoying the rum and rumba of Cartagena.

____________

Here’s a Sound on Sound account of Don Tono and Disco Fuentes:

www-soundonsound-com.cdn.ampproject.org…

— Tim

 

Happy Birthday Flynn!

20 Jun

— Tim

 

Lock, stock & Errol tows in 200

19 Jun

Dear fellow Flynn fans,

I had the great pleasure of welcoming the 200th Flynnthusiast on my FB homagepage LOCK, STOCK & ERROL this week.

As promised here`s a rarity to celebrate that Errol Flynn will always be in and never out of time.

Witness the perennial Robin Hood high on horse and accompanied by his German shepard dog Coldnose in Courmayeur, Italy of 1953 scouting locations for his missing master shot movie about William Tell:

Enjoy!

— shangheinz

 

Tina’s Love of a Father

17 Jun

Beautiful, Tina. Thank You and God Bless.

— Tim

 

Guinn Big Boy Williams Night on Boot Hill …

15 Jun

Found this out on the Prairie, near Dodge City in an old newspaper found blowing in the wind …

Under the headline “Film Star Sleeps on Boot Hill,” in the Monday, April 3, 1939, Dodge City Daily Globe, a story begins: “For a great many years only concrete faces and the cowboy statue have rested in historic old Boot Hill cemetery. But Saturday night there was a newcomer there.

”The story goes on the tell how Guinn “Big Boy” Williams, one of the stars of “Dodge City,” was found sleeping on Boot Hill Sunday morning after the festivities surrounding the premiere.

Williams woke up sufficiently to elude authorities, who later learned that he had spent the day sleeping in a rooming house on West Chestnut street. Williams had missed the train back to Hollywood. He appeared in a west side grocery store later in the afternoon, took a taxi to the airport and caught a plane to Wichita. From there, he made it back to the coast.

Williams reportedly told a Dodge City man he wanted to sleep among the dead men for his wild West thrill.

 

Ah, Hollywood!

 

— David DeWitt