Dear fellow Flynn fans,
Today marks the 80th anniversary of the general release in the USA of the greenest adventure movie ever. Feel free to post away your favourite shot or memory of Robin Hood & his merry men and maids.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Author Archive
Signature of the times
07
Apr
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
we often wondered aloud on the blog, which of the many signed cheques, autographs and contracts bore the real signature of Errol.
If we assume that at different times his business procurator Al Blum, third wife Pat Wymore and young assistent Ronnie Shedlo took over the duties of signing off for Flynn, there are plenty of documents for sale that make you question its origin.
Furthermore it is safe to say that everybody’s handwriting varies under the influence over the years.
Now this is meant to be a forum to compare memorabilia with our Hollywood hero’s lettering and to assign a certificate of Flynnticity.
Back to you.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Happy Easterrol!
01
Apr
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
I raise my grail and wish you and your loved ones a Happy Easter holiday with a sip of rhum, which must have been conceived by a thirsty Flynnthusiast somewhere in Holland.
The label is named after Errol’s original hideaway in Jamaica and even depicts his beloved Zaca. Its scent and taste is ripe with plumes, almonds and coffee beans. You can mix it with Coke, inject it in oranges and it’s said to cure everything from scurvy to a clear head.
Cheers mates,
— shangheinz
Niven talks Flynn (fluently)
28
Mar
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
Niv the Shiv remembers fighting Flynn fondly.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Stuntmen, stand-ins and stooges VI
22
Mar
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
Semi Pro Baseball player Fred “Slugger” Graham was as fierce as they come when it came to fisticuffs on film.
But he will foremost be remembered for taking the fall for Basil Rathbone in “The Adventures of Robin Hood”.
First at the spiral staircase swordfight he broke his ankle and then the death plunge of Sir Gizmo (short for Guy of Gisborne) landed him in the hospital for good.
Yet he went on to cross knuckles with the likes of Roy Rodgers, Rex Allan and Jock Mahony (www.theerrolflynnblog.com…)
His give and take on screen brawling sounded like this:
“Fights came easy to me. My ideas to make fights look good on screen were to stay loose and relaxed, a little distance from your opponent, and throw punches. Never throw a punch at chin level because a good take makes it look like a miss. Throw (the punch) at the opponent’s eye level because a good take makes it appear like its right on the chin.”
When he met John Wayne at Republic Pictures, he`d see his prolific puglistic career prolongued as the number one go to fall guy for the Duke.
Had Cabot, another later year regular at Wayne westerns doublecrossed him like Flynn, he would have ended up caputt.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Can`t keep a good Flynn down
05
Mar
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
we tackled the topic of Errol`s coming up short at the Oscars here before: www.theerrolflynnblog.com…
Last night though the Academy acknowledged his status among the true greats in their heartwarming hommage of 90 award winning years.
At 3.12 into the video the golden bad boy of Hollywood can be seen in the blink of an arrow.
Please don`t comment if you think that these two seconds of fleeting fame were expendable meriting narrowly a blog entry.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Brushbuckler
01
Mar
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
whoever said that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder may well have been a caricaturist. Those acerbic artists have a keen mean eye for the special facial features of a person. Especially Errol deemed handsome if not downright beautiful enticed them to sharpen their pencils another notch. The image above shows our Hollywood hero as seen and drawn by Adrian Teal. By no means an ugly inkling, don’t you think?
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
White House matinee idol
22
Feb
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
although absent in this picture of the Who’s Who of Hollywood on the lawn of the US presidential palace, Errol did attend often. Even after his untimely death. How? Both presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronnie Reagan loved to show movies to a selected collection of guests. And Flynn was there in spirit as well as on the screen. Drumroll please, once you scroll down the lists and see their choice of favourite films here: www.slashfilm.com…
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
In should’ve been Flynn 14
19
Feb
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
this is another possible missing masterpiece in Errol’s filmography due to a one punch (rather a rum punch) tussle with Canadian millionaire Duncan McMartin at the Windsor Hotel on the Bahamas. Our Hollywood hero would forever claim that his old back injury backfired on him and therefore he had to renounce the role of Albion Hamlin, a farmer-laywer, who handles the estate of title giving Lydia Bailey during the Haitian revolution.
The bahama court drama of was settled with a 14.000.- fine for the former flynntimo Duncun, who said the he could not remember but a pad on his old friend’s shoulder. A far cry of the initial quest of $230.000.- for the pain gained and the picture lost.
Tyrone Power also did turn down the Lydia lead, which went to Dale Robertson instead. The 180lb former prizefighter and WWII hero had been approached before for the movie “Golden boy”, but at that time DR saw his future in training polo ponies and indirectly launched the career of William Holden.
Director Jean Negulesco also had Flynn ties, since he was the second unit director of “Captain Blood”. Watch his work here: www.dailymotion.com…
and form your own opinion on number fourteen of bygone opportunities.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
