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It Was Eighty Years Ago Today — 3/30/37

30 Mar

March 30, 1937

Hollywood Citizen News – Elizabeth Yeaman

The Warner Bros. are sincerely worried over their failure to locate Errol Flynn,
who was hastily summoned back to Hollywood when it was learned that he was
planning to penetrate war-torn Spain. Errol was in Paris, and last Friday he told
his wife, Lili Damita, he was leaving for Spain. He left, while Lili remained in Paris.
He didn’t tell her where he was going in Spain, and apparently Lili didn’t bother to inquire.

Robert Schless, head of the Warner Paris office, has not been able to locate him. Errol,
when he left, was determined to do some war corresponding in Spain. He started to make
arrangements with the United States for some special articles, but the studio jumped in
and soured the deal. Errol threatened that he would make arrangements with an English syndicate.
This he may have done.

Warners cabled him to be back here by April 15, to start the The Perfect Specimen.
I doubt if they actually had a picture ready for him, but hoped to get him back on the plea of urgency.
Miriam Hopkins has been announced for the co-starring spot in The Perfect Specimen, but that
announcement is quite premature, for she has not been signed for the role.

— Tim

 

Flynn had a Cabin in the Garden of the Gods?

29 Mar

A Question, Not a Quiz.

Flynnvestigating other matters, I came across claims and suggestions implying that Errol may have owned a lake and cabin/hunting lodge at the long now gone “TWIN LAKES PARK”, “Twenty-five miles from Hollywood”, aka “Southern California’s Garden of the Gods”. One site suggests, too, that he even built a dam at near his alleged lodge.

Quoting a comment on the great Iverson Movie Ranch post linked below:

“One of the “Twin Lakes” was reputed to belong to Errol Flynn and the dam can still be seen from DeSoto Ave. (North of the 118) Flynn had a cabin (The old Dave Rhodes Ranch) and he used to hunt in the area.”

iversonmovieranch.blogspot.com…

Quoting a site on local (Chatsworth) history:

“Errol Flynn once owned a hunting lodge in Chatsworth and built a dam that still remains just north of the 118 freeway near Browns Canyon Road?”

activerain.com…

Does anyone have any information or thoughts on these claims? Should we be hunting for this lakeside lodge of Errol Flynn? – Or are these claims of Flynn’s lakeside lodge a dam mistake?

Here are front and back looks of a now long gone entrance to Twin Lakes Park:

Here’s a glimpse of the Twin Lakes gate in White Heat, filmed by Raoul Walsh:

— Tim

 

Dr. Who?

28 Mar

Given the Green Light by shangheinz on “Errorol”:

WHAT PROMINENT ENGLISH DOCTOR HELPED ERROL TREAT HIS SINUSES?

He was a “Harley Street” practitioner.

Early in his career, he pioneered and advocated the use of “truth drugs”.

He famously advocated one such drug in a French murder case.

Mid-career he was involved as an expert witness in a Hong Kong medical malpractice case.

He was later involved in a notorious British abortion/killing-of the-mother case.

He communicated from England to Errol elsewhere in Europe.

He had an indirect connection to the Profumo Affair.

Late in his career, he was quoted in Sports Illustrated concerning the abilities of women drivers.

He looked like this, but usually wore glasses during the years he treated Errol:

— Tim

 

Traveling Time & World with the Errol Flynn Theatre

18 Mar

1000th Night of Don Juan (January 2, 1958) (On the Road from Venice to Padua)

www.youtube.com…

Declasse (April 5, 1957)

www.youtube.com…

Girl in Blue Jeans (February 22, 1956)(1950’s England)

www.youtube.com…

Fortunes of War (October 11, 1956) (Revolutionary France)

www.youtube.com…

Rescued (April 13, 1957)

www.youtube.com…

The Duel (June 6, 1956)

www.youtube.com…

The Kinsman (June 12, 1956)
www.youtube.com…

The Sealed Room (January 12, 1956)

www.youtube.com…

Strange Auction (Ireland) (May 17, 1957)

youtu.be/xglwHbi2FaE…

Wife of the Czar (Russia) (September 16, 1956)

www.youtube.com…

— Tim

 

Eireann Errol?

17 Mar

How Irish was Flynn?

Still widely regarded as an Irishman, even more so in his Hollywood hey days, how Irish was Errol in reality? Genetically and culturally?

The name Flynn and his father’s apparent ancestral and professional connections to Ireland seem to indicate Errol had some significant percentage of Irish blood, but how much? He also seemed to treasure and/or at least play up his Irish. He may not have liked being portrayed as a American-Irish motorcycle cop, as he was initially by Warners, but he did seem to relish the roles of Peter Blood and Gentleman Jim. His fighting spirit appeared Irish in nature also. And he did go by Flynnie in his early days. How much of it was real, and how much was theater, perhaps designed to make big green off of the huge population of Irish-American movie fans?

What do you think, me fellow fans of Flynn?

www.bbc.com…

www.irishnews.com…

www.youtube.com…

— Tim

 

Companion Piece

16 Mar

A QUIZ

Adjunct to the “(Cooking) Out Like Flynn” post put up earlier today, I offer the following quiz:

With what poet did Errol once share a steak and very-specially-boiled potato on the beach?

Clue Numero Uno: A renowned travel and culinary writer raved about the potato.

Clue Numero Dos: It happened in F.L.A.

Clue Numero Tres: At least two of the three steak and potato eaters mentioned were authorities on cocktails.

— Tim

 

(Cooking) Out Like Flynn

16 Mar

IT WAS EIGHTY YEARS AGO TODAY
March 16, 1937, in the Los Angeles Evening Herald Express

_______________

Green Light Hero Does His Cooking Best Outside

In the opinion of Errol Flynn, cooking is best in the great open spaces.

Flynn, the Irish actor, author, world-traveler and soldier-of-fortune now starring in the Cosmopolitan production of Green Light, which closes tonight at Warners’ Hollywood and Downtown, is a great admirer of culinary delicacies.

“You can’t do food real justice,” he contends “unless it’s cooked in the open. I’d trade the finest kitchen range anytime for a small plot under the trees by an open stream.”

Flynn learned the art of cookery beside roaring bonfires. His tutors were natives of New Guinea, Australia, and the uncharted islands in the South Seas.

He discovered that they know more about cooking and seasoning than most of the civilized races of the earth.

_______________

Here’s Errol shopping on Catalina for one of his famous pig-on-a-spit backyard roasts:

And here he is on a picnic with Livvie:

— Tim

 

Errol’s Barman at “London’s Most Famous Hotel”

15 Mar

Here’s the story on Joe Gilmore, former barman at the Savoy Hotel’s “American Bar” in London.

i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03550/gilmore2_3550591b.jpg…

Flynn, Neil Armstrong, Lady Di, he served them all.

For Errol, served rare Vodka with red pepper, as recounted in the article below.

www.independent.co.uk/topic/errol-flynn…

Errol at the Savoy in ’54, Joe’s first year at the “American Bar”
media.gettyimages.com…

Here’s Errol at the Savoy, Joe’s first year at the Savoy’s American Bar:
media.gettyimages.com…

— Tim

 

Flynn Lines & Flynnish Lines

14 Mar

What are Flynn’s most famous lines and alleged lines? What are your favorites?

Here are six to kick off the post.

— Tim

 

“Situation Dynamite”

14 Mar

— Tim