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Errol Flynn Mailbag! Dean Stockwell recalls Errol Flynn!

21 Aug

Got a nice link to the following quote about Errol Flynn from actor Dean Stocvkwell’s imdb page:

(In a 1984 interview) There were uglies and there were beauties. For me, Errol Flynn was the best. I didn’t know anything about sex or what manhood was – and he opened that door for me.
[In a 1984 interview] Dick Widmark… I remember him with such fondness. He and Errol had something in common. They didn’t have a condescending attitude. Being human and honest in a relationship seemed to mean more to them than anything else. It meant a great deal to me. I don’t know if Widmark is aware of that. They were straight with me – like, I would imagine, a father would be to a son… if he loved and respected him. And I didn’t have a father with me.

Thanks to: bob schaffer

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— David DeWitt

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Posted in Main Page

Errol Flynn Mailbag! George Oppenheimer

13 Aug

From Karl Holmberg:

The BRILLIANT comedy writer for the 50’s TV show Topper… had a Flynn tie-in:

George Oppenheimer had a prolific career as a critic, playwright, screenwriter and publisher. A graduate of Williams College, he was first engaged as an advertising publications manager by Alfred A. Knopf, before venturing into the publishing business as co-founder of Viking Press (with Harold Guinzburg) in 1925. Eight years later, Oppenheimer moved to Hollywood, contracted by the writing team of George S. Kaufmanand Robert E. Sherwood to complete the screenplay of Samuel Goldwyn’s spoof comedy Roman Scandals (1933). Kaufman and Sherwood had concocted the original story, but decided to leave the project because of star Eddie Cantor’s continued micro-management of their script. For the remainder of the decade, Oppenheimer worked at MGM, where he was often employed as a script doctor, ironing out incongruities and improving the work of his fellow writers. He had a hand in several major box-office hits, including Libeled Lady(1936), A Day at the Races (1937) and A Yank at Oxford (1938).

After wartime service with South-East Asia Command (First Motion Picture Unit) in India as writer, producer and director of training films and documentaries, Oppenheimer resumed his work in Hollywood, co-writing Adventures of Don Juan (1948) and scripting twenty-five episodes of the popular comedy series Topper (1953). In 1955, he forsook the screen for a position as drama critic for Newsday, based in New York. From 1970 to 1972, he held a position as president of the New York Drama Critics Circle.

Thanks, Karl!

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— David DeWitt

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Posted in Mail Bag, Main Page

We Welcome New Author Suzanne Issa to The Errol Flynn Blog!

08 Aug

I’m very happy to announce our newest Author on The Errol Flynn Blog, Suzanne Issa! Her mother and father knew Errol well, and Suzanne tells me:

Yes, as a child we used to spend our holidays at Tower Isle and I remember Errol Flynn walking through the hotel, dressed in white slacks and and white shirt opened to the waist, looking very tanned and very handsome. I had a childhood crush on him.
He also was a frequent visitor at my father’s hotel in Kingston, The Myrtle Bank Hotel.

Another childhood Memory was, very late one night, a car was honking in our driveway at our Kingston home and it was Errol Flynn calling out to my father that he had broken his leg and asking if he could spend the night. I was thrilled to say the least.
His third and last wife, Patrice Wymore who passed away last year was also a great friend and continued to make Jamaica her home she lived and owned a large estate in Port Antonio with cattle. Her grandson, Luke inherited the property after her death and I believe it is now for sale.
If I come across any more recollections, I will send them to you, along with any photos I may find.

Best Regards,
Suzanne

Suzanne, we look forward to your posts and comments!

Welcome aboard …

— David DeWitt

5 Comments

Posted in Blog Authors, Main Page, Suzanne Issa

Remembering Patrice Wymore

08 Aug

Thanks to Suzanne Issa for pointing bus towards this article remembering actress and Rancher Patrice Wymore.

— David DeWitt

1 Comment

Posted in Friends & Family

Mail Bag! Who is that Mystery Woman with Errol Flynn?

08 Aug

We received a nice email today referring to a photo published on the blog with the question Who is the lady? Although our Author Mary Ann discovered the answer, this, too, confirms the facts from a great source.

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The mystery woman is my mother, Lorraine Issa and that photo was taken at The Tower Isle Hotel which was built and owned by My father, Abe Issa (Jamaica’s Father Of Tourism). It opened in 1949 and hosted many celebrities from around the world. Errol Flynn was A friend of both my parents and was a frequent visitor to the hotel. In 1978, the hotel became the worlds 1st all-inclusive hotel for couples only. It was called Couples Ocho Rios but after an extensive renovation years later, changed the name to Couples Tower Isle which it is now called.

Suzanne Issa

Thanks, Suzanne!

— David DeWitt

1 Comment

Posted in Mail Bag, Main Page

Rick Dodd has Passed Away …

04 Aug

Brian Twist contacted me awhile ago with the sad news of legendary Rick Dodd’s passing away recently, but the family wasn’t prepared to release the sad news until today. Claire, Rick’s daughter, emailed Brian, and asked that he tell a few people including Tom McNulty, Jack Marino, and his dear friend Trudy McVicker that he had passed peacefully on July 20, 2015. Rick Dodd is a name many of you first encountered within the pages of several books about Errol Flynn.

This was before the internet, and it’s instant informmation on almost any subject. In those days, you went to a library to look up subjects like Errol Flynn on card index files and hunted up reference materials like books and magazines and newspapers and held the source masterial in your hand. In the books about Flynn invariably a photo of Errol would be credited: Courtesy Rick Dodd Collection. That’s was my first encounter with his name. Nobody had a better collection of Flynn memorabilia in the world than Rick Dodd for a very, very long time.

Rick Dodd suffered from medical conditions for a long time in his later years. But his spirit was undimmed. His funeral will be August 10, 2015.

Tom McNulty allows me to quote part of an email we exchanged about his friend Rick Dodd:

I will miss our phone conversations and letters. Each Christmas since the mid 90s or so I have been sending him a gift – usually books I had privately made or had printed of Errol Flynn photos. And each Christmas he would raise a glass and salute his hero and all of Errol’s fans as well. Rick Dodd was the last of the true gentlemen. Let him rest easy and let us pray that if indeed such things are possible he is having a good laugh and sharing stories with Errol Flynn as he would wish. There goes a bright light but I am privileged to have called him my friend.

Thanks, Tom … We wish Rick’s family our deepest condolences on their loss, and we mourn the passing of a fine gentleman.

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