April 17, 1935
Harrison Carroll
Lily Damita and Errol Flynn are still going places together.
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Here they are two months later, on June 16, at the Venice Amusement Pier, with Marlene Dietrich and Madonna (or perhaps that’s Carole Lombard?) Errol became “the talk of the town” for his immense popularity with the many women at the Tunnel of Love that night. Talk about going places, four days later he and Lili flew to Yuma. Then he flew into immortality.
— Tim
Young Errol Flynn at a Suez Canal Land Rush? Sounds like some sort of a flim-flam pyramid scheme!
April 15, 1936
Harrison Carroll
Errol tells me that his life story has had a favorable first reading by a publisher and that his agent has asked for a second copy to be submitted to the magazines. What excites the young Irish actor more, however, is the fact that Warner Brothers have bought one of his stories and will probably star him in it. The background is the land rush after the opening of the Suez Canal.
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Is this a between-takes candid of Errol in his Suez Canal biographical epic for Warner Brothers?
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— Tim
Drunk or Not So Drunk – That was the Question
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LIFE Magazine – April 1, 1939
“Last fortnight [Virginia City’s] population totaled 500, most of whom got so drunk that Warner Bros. curtailed its visit and hustled its valuable stars back to Reno’s safer streets.”
Famed Ghost Town of the Comstock Lode Awakens for the Premier of “Virginia City” – See page 32
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LIFE Magazine – April 15, 1939
No Black Eye for Errol
Drunks in Virginia City
SIRS:
THE UNDERSIGNED REPRESENTING THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA CITY DEMAND THAT YOU RETRACT AND APOLOGIZE IN YOUR NEXT ISSUE THE FOLLOWING ISSUE PUBLISHED IN IN APRIL FIRST ISSUE, PAGE 32: “LAST FORTNIGHT ITS POPULATION TOTALED 500, MOST OF WHOM GOT SO DRUNK THAT WARNER BROS CURTAILED ITS VISIT AND HUSTLED ITS VALUABLE STARS BACK TO RENO’S SAFER STREETS.” THE STATEMENT IS FALSE AND AN INSULT TO THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA.
WILL COBB, STATE SENATOR – THOMAS LYNCH, ASSEMBLY MAN
VIRGINIA CITY, NEV.
Editor’s Response: Thousands of visitors poured into Virginia City that day. Probably they were the ones that raised most of the commotion. The fact remains that what made the movie stars hustle back was the conduct of the patrons of the Virginia Theater where the stars were scheduled to make personal appearances. Said a U.P. dispatch to the New York Times: “So gala was the occasion that Manager Hart installed a bar in his lobby and served free whiskey and champagne to all ticket holders…. Manager Hart rushed new relays of case goods from the Bucket of Blood across the street.” When the Warner Bros. executives reached the theater, they decided the patrons were drunk, that the situation was too dangerous for them to risk their valuable stars. If Errol Flynn, for instance, had received a black eye from a flying bottle, it would have cost them $20,000 a day. So they took everybody back to Reno.
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LIFE Magazine – May 6, 1940
I read your issue of April 15 that Warner Bros.could not risk taking Errol Flynn et al into the Virginia City Theater because they decided “the patrons were drunk” and there was some danger Mr. Flynn’s being hit by a flying bottle.
I do not know who your informant is, but he or she s – to put it mildly – a liar. I was in that theater. My family was there. great many people I know were also there. There was no drunkenness and no disorderly conduct. Mr. Flynn would have been very much safer than he was in Reno.
True, Mr. Hart did dispense free champagne, but those who drank it were on the streets and not in the theater.
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Errol the Auctioneer, on the same stage used by Gentleman Jim Corbett, Mark Twain, Lillie Langtry, John Philip Souza, and Edwin Booth, among many other legendary greats
“Piper’s Opera House is a historic performing arts venue in Virginia City. It served as a training facility in 1897 for heavyweight boxing champion Gentleman Jim Corbett, in preparation for his title bout with Bob Fitzsimmons. The current structure was built by entrepreneur John Piper in 1885 to replace his 1878 opera house that had burned down. The 1878 venue, in turn, had been to replace Piper’s 1863 venue which was destroyed by the 1875 Great Fire in Virginia City. Mark Twain spoke from the original Piper’s stage in 1866, and again a century later in the third venue, as portrayed by Hal Holbrook in his one-man play Mark Twain Tonight! A lynch mob hung a victim from the first venue’s rafters in 1871. American theatrical producer David Belasco was stage manager at the second opera house before moving to New York City. Piper’s opera houses played host to Shakespearean thespians such as Edwin Booth. Musical performers Lilly Langtry, Al Jolson and John Philip Sousa once performed here. In 1940, Errol Flynn auctioned off historic Piper memorabilia from the opera house stage, during a live NBC broadcast that coincided with the premiere of Flynn’s new movie Virginia City.”
— Tim
There were railroads and then there was the Santa Fe …
April 14, 1939
Hollywood Citizen News
The Warner Bros. are not going to wait a year before setting to work on another epochal western picture. Success of Dodge City (it’s breaking records at the Strand in New York) hs encouraged the studio to start preparing at once Diary of the Santa Fe, film story of the railroad.
In addition to Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, and Bruce Cabot, who were seen in Dodge City, the new picture will feature Buck Jones and Hoot Gibson, foremost western stars from away back. The saddle heroes almost overshadowed the other stars in attention from the public during the recent trek to Dodge City.
History and Importance of the Santa Fe Railroad …
— Tim
He Died 70 Years Ago This Week
From My Wicked, Wicked Ways:
“It was the beginning of 1935. I bought a little car. Often I went for a spin with a big fellow named Bud Ernst.
He was six foot five, weighed about two hundred and fifty pounds. He was a flier, a fun guy.”
…
“He was my first and long-time friend in Hollywood. … We certainly had memorable times together in my early days behind the fog, smog, and grog curtain of Hollywood. How many words would you like on the shock a man gets when his dear friend, a roistering, Falstaffian ruffian, suddenly goes out, buys himself a 16-gauge double-barrel shotgun, some cartridges, and blows the top of his head off.”
Report in the New York Times, April 11, 1950
On June 20, 1935 – a date that will live in Flynnfamy – Bud flew Errol and Lili to Yuma to tie the knot. Five days following, he flew himself and Lyda Roberti to do the same.
One of Errol and Ernst’s “memorable times together in the early days”:Adventure at Asuncion Bay
Bud’s father, Hugh C. Ernst, was the brilliant business manager for the phenomenally successful bandleader Paul Whiteman, who had a major role in the 1924 first performance (by George Gershwin and the Paul Whiteman Orchestra at Aeolian Hall in New York) and subsequent popularizing of what many believe to be America’s most important musical composition, Rhapsody in Blue. After managing Paul Whiteman, he became a major executive with NBC. Through his father, Bud grew up “knowing everybody” in the world of music and radio.
Bud was director of the pioneering and hugely popular radio show “Queen for a Day”. Here’s one of the the show’s broadcasts, from February 1950, less than two months before Bud’s death:
— Tim
A very detailed piece, great reading!
Thanks so much Raphael!
Raphaël Millet is a film director, producer and critic with a passion for early cinema. He has published two books, “Le Cinéma de Singapour” (2004) and “Singapore Cinema” (2006), as well as directed documentaries such as “Gaston Méliès and His Wandering Star Film Company” (2015), screened as part of the 2015 Singapore International Film Festival, and “Chaplin in Bali” (2017), which opened the Bali International Film Festival in 2017.
— David DeWitt
April 13, 1939
ERROL FLYNN IN REAL LIFE ADVENTURE
Los Angeles Evening Herald Express, April 13, 1939
Errol Flynn, the Robin Hood of the movies, shared the glory of a real-life adventure today. He made a mercy flight in an airplane through foggy skies 100 miles don the Mexican coast to bring back a sick sailor from the actor’s yacht.
Ray Hayes, 23, the sailor, was stricken with appendicitis aboard Flynn’s yacht, the Sirocco, disable in Asuncion Bay with a broken propeller. The yacht is headquarters for a tropical seas film Flynn is making on his own hook.
With pilot Hugh Ernst*, Flynn landed in a small cabin plane on a bean field 16 miles from the beach. A launch brought the sick man ashore and he was then carried back to the plane. An ambulance met them at the airport here and Hayes was taken to Santa Monica hospital.
Hayes was still in serious condition today. His appendix was feared ruptured.
…
…
* Errol’s First and Long Time Hollywood Buddy, Bud Ernst, with his famous newlywed wife, actress Lyda Roberti:
…
Errol, Howard Hill and Big Boy Williams off the coast of Mexico on the Sirocco following filming of Dodge City, 1939:
Sirocco South of the Border, circa 1940:
— Tim
Second week of April, 1960
“In a photo taken by guest Bob Profeta during a party at their Hollywood apartment, Florence Aadland, left, scuffles with her 17-year-old daughter, Beverly, during an argument over whether the television was too loud. You may recall that Beverly Aadland was in the news in 1959 as Errol Flynn’s “protege.” She was being held on charges of prostitution and lack of parental supervision after William Stanciu was shot to death while struggling with her over a gun.”
Victoria Advocate – April 10, 1960
Paul V. Coates Confidential File – April 13, 1960
Daytona Beach Morning Journal – April 14, 1960
— Tim
After introducing live-action formats to classics such as ‘The Lion King’, ‘Aladdin’ and the latest ‘Mulan’, Disney is working on remaking the 1973’s classic animated film ‘Roin Hood’ for its streaming platform Disney Plus.
The remake version of ‘Robin Hood’ will be helmed by Carlos Lopez Estrada, who is known for working on ‘Bindspotting’. According to Hollywood Reporter, the new film is to be a musical and will include anthropomorphic characters in a live-action/CG hybrid format.
The deal was reportedly sealed before the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic and the project is in its early development, according to reports.
However, the news regarding the remix of the classic hasn’t been well received by fans, who are asking Disney to “reconsider” its options as there can never be a “good live-action ‘Robin Hood’ movie.”
And some, terming it disrespectful to the original, wrote, “This is particularly insulting because we already have a perfect ‘Robin Hood’ movie with Errol Flynn. No one’s been able to top that. I’m assuming that this will be a mocap movie with real sets and locations. What else could Disney do to justify calling it ‘live-action’?”
One fan, who is of an opinion that Disney always takes good classic movies and turns it bad, said, “Bad idea. ‘Robin Hood’ has been remade COUNTLESS times. Why can’t corporations just leave the classics alone? I know it’s for a generation but more often than not, they find a way to screw the classics up.”
Meanwhile, another agitated fan added, “Unpopular opinion but Disney’s ‘Robin Hood’ is a masterpiece all on its own, and shouldn’t be tampered or remade. Disney, please consider your options.”
Similar to the original, the remake version is said to portray the Sherwood Forest warrior as a fox and Little John as a black bear, Friar Tuck as a badger, the wolf as the sheriff of Nottingham and Maid Marian as a vixen.
However, fans have expressed disappointment in Disney for not coming up with something new.
“What is wrong with Disney? No one likes the remakes- spoils the original. I’d be sacking my story writers – just come up with something new already. ‘Robin Hood’ is one of my all-time faves, I can still recite it word for word,” lamented one Twitter user.
Robin Hood as Fox
— tassie devil
