Buenos Dias, Amigos.
Errol was a very frequent traveler to Mexico during his heydays in Hollywood. He drove, he flew, and he sailed to South of the Border. In celebration of today’s Cinco de Mayo holiday, here are five chronological photos taken in Mexico City, Acapulco, and Morelia, plus a bonus bow-and-arrow-fishing film with Howard Hill in the famous sportfishing waters off the coast of Old Mexico.
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— Tim
David,
The replacement Sean Flynn Memorial Tree has been planted and the memorial monument has been relocated so that it now faces the entrance to the Trail of Honor.
Next step now is to obtain a memorial monument for Dana Stone and place it at a tree that is across from the Sean Flynn monument. I am in negotiations with the Friends of Lasdon Park organization to reach an agreement on how we can honor Dana Stone.
David Rocco
Thanks so much, David!
— David DeWitt
Two notable Bruces have identical connections to this date, May 3. Who were they?
The first knew Errol in three decades.
The second knew him in two.
— Tim
Previously I have posted about possible Flynn and son double features such as, “Uncertain Glory” and “Stop Train 349” and “The Big Boodle” and “Mission to Venice”. Today I have put together what I feel is another interesting combination, that of Errol’s “Desperate Journey” and Sean’s “Five Ashore in Singapore”.
Released in 1942, “Desperate Journey”, has Errol and his team after a successful bombing raid over Nazi Germany, having their plane shot down by enemy fire. Then he and the surviving four of his crew must make it out of Germany alive and get back to England. Errol’s crew includes; the ever reliable Alan Hale, Arthur Kennedy and a future US president, Ronald Reagan. Also included is the beautiful actress, Nancy Coleman. While most of the action is of the tongue in cheek kind, the film still has plenty of good thrills under the able direction of Errol’s favorite director, Raoul Walsh.
“Five Ashore in Singapore” (aka “Cinq Gars Pour Singapour”) had its world premiere in 1967 and was Sean’s last starring role. He had as his leading lady the very sexy, Marika Green who also happens to be the aunt of Bond girl, Eva Green. For more on this film, one can read the excellent article by Raphael Millet previously posted on this site. Suffice it to say Sean also leads a team of five men here to solve the mystery of missing US marines in that capital city. While not a classic, it still has a lot of action and is a document of its time. –A.R.
— ILIKEFLYNN
During Nazi occupation of France in World War II, the showing of “American, Russian, and British, films were out of the question.” Directed primarily by Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, film censors were especially assiduous in barring presentation of Jewish productions out of Hollywood. Warner Brothers were/was at the top of their hit list. In the post war years, however, movie fans in France and throughout Europe very much welcomed, even clamored for, great Hollywood films. Hence, on May 2, 1947, La Charge Fantastique (They Died with Their Boots On) was released in France.
— Tim
In addition to its connection to Robin Hood, May Day has had a very long and very strong association with the Virgin Mary, most especially among Roman Catholics. The legend of Maid Marian may have arisen from that association, as did apparently Olivia’s costuming, as well as her physical appearance, in The Adventures of Robin Hood.
In the 1400s Catholics, as all Christians were at the time, in England celebrated May Day on the religious holiday of Whitsun featuring a quasi-religious rebel who robbed and murdered government tax collectors and wealthy landowners in plays and games. Agrarian discontent lay at the foundations of the feudal system that was built on the shoulders of toiling peasants. As time went on, the characters of Maid Marian, Friar Tuck and Alan-a-Dale entered May Day rituals as well. Robin Hood was actually shown at this time participating in Mariology, the cult of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Originally Maid Marian (or the French Marion) was a shepherdess associated with the Queen or Lady of May or May Day. Keeping this in mind, “the world’s foremost authority on Robin Hood,” author Jim Lees in The Quest for Robin Hood set forth that the hypothesis that Maid Marian may originally have been the personification of the Virgin Mary and derived from the older French tradition of a shepherdess named Marion and her shepherd lover Robin in Adam de la Halle’s Le Jeu de Robin et Marion, 1283. In fact, Marian’s association with May Day celebrations lasted long after Robin Hood’s did, as pointed out by Scottish born poet Alexander Barclay in 1500, “some merry fytte of Maid Marian or else of Robin Hood.”
May Day in the Catholic Church
The Legend of Robin Hood and Maid Marian
Here’s a May Day Celebration in England from the Days of Errol Hood and Maid Olivia:
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Hell, even atheist Katie Hepburn celebrated May Day!
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Here’s a majestically beautiful May Day ceremony in 2018 from a Catholic School in St. Louis:
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— Tim
No other aspect of the history of the Robin Hood legend deserves more notice than the hero’s participation in the May Day Games.
May Day Games and the Robin Hood Legend
Robin Hood ballads reflect the discontent of ordinary people with political conditions in medieval England. They were especially upset about new laws that kept them from hunting freely in forests that were now claimed as the property of kings and nobles. Social unrest and rebellion swirled through England at the time the Robin Hood ballads first became popular. This unrest erupted in an event called the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.
The earliest known mention of Robin Hood is in a ballad called Piers Plowman, in which a character mentions that he knows “rimes of Robin Hood.” This and other references from the late 1300s suggest that Robin Hood was well established as a popular legend by that time. One source of that legend may lie in the old French custom of celebrating May Day. A character called Robin des Bois, or Robin of the Woods, was associated with this spring festival and may have been transplanted to England—with a slight name change. May Day celebrations in England in the 1400s featured a festival “king” called Robin Hood.
Dressing up as the medieval social justice warrior was among young Henry VIII’s favourite pastimes.
— Tim
“On the night of April 30, 1972, 38-year-old Scala was found dead in her Hollywood Hills home. Los Angeles County Coroner Thomas Noguchi reported her cause of death was from an “acute ethanol and barbiturate intoxication” and was later ruled accidental.”
“The circumstances surrounding Scala’s death have been questioned, with some believing it was a result of either murder or suicide rather than accidental. Her sister, movie actress Tina Scala, believed that she did not intend to take her life nor that her death was accidental. Scala had a prescription for valium and three tablets were missing from the bottle, but valium is a benzodiazepine, not a barbiturate. Also, Scala was discovered nude sprawled across her bed and bruises were found on her body and blood was on her pillow.”
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On May 23, 1956, Louella Parsons reports that “while Errol Flynn was making Istanbul in Hollywood, he saw Gia Scala at Universal-International. ‘That’s the girl I want for my picture, The Big Brodie,’ he said. So what Errol wants, Errol gets.”
In 1962, Gia and her husband, Don Burnett, starred together in The Triumph of Robin Hood. He as Robin Hood, she as Anna, much the equivalent of Maid Marian. Later that year they bought a home on Mulholland Drive.
— Tim
