Ebb Tide & Sounds of Silence
— Tim
Author Archive
Was Errol in The Bermondsey Kid?
20
Jul
The Bermonsey Kid (1933)
Flynnquiring minds want to know.
From a May 1, 2013 comment by John Walter Skinner. Any updates and/or new perspectives?
Have been doing some idle research of ERROL IN LONDON 1933 and have made some interesting discoveries. FLYNN SCHOLARS please take note of the following movies; – THE BERMONDSEY KID(1933) and THE SCOTLAND YARD MYSTERY(1934). ERROL may have been an EXTRA in both of them….BERMONDSEY KID is fascinating because I got this title from 2 sources,years apart. In Brighton ,England, in the mid 1970s I was semi acqainted with John Montgomery,who,to cut a long story short had been a publicist at Warners Teddington in the 1930s and we were talking about ERROL for some reason and he suddenly came out with the comment that he had been in THE BERMONDSEY KID. I didnt react too much since I thought, as usual,someone had come up with the wrong info….ANYWAY,in more recent years the British director VAL GUEST has written his memoirs and said that ERROL had some connection with this movie. So there we are. Too much of a coincidence? What we have to do,of course,is find a copy of the movie. What is helpful to us is that the picture was produced by IRVING ASHER, directed by RALPH DAWSON,who later won an Oscar as editor of ROBIN HOOD,in Hollywood,and 2 of the cast members co-starred with ERROL in MURDER AT MONTE CARLO.The latter movie,by the way,is now officially lost……s to be the movie available to be screened,but for some reason it doesnt happen…
Hopefully more clues for you out there covering the fascinating 14 months ERROL spent in London and UK 1933/1934… —- john
Thank you, John!
— Tim
Was Errol in Abdul the Damned?
20
Jul
-
Some say so. Some say no.
What say you?
Is he the palace guard on our far left?
Thank you for all the great previous research on this topic, from Karl Holmberg, Tom McNulty, Tina, Brian Twist, Gerry Connelly, et al. This post is intended not to challenge or replace any of their superb research on this topic, rather to bring attention to it and to see if there are any updates and/or new perspectives regarding this Flynnian mystery. Thank you All.
Please see the following EFB post from 2010:
— Tim
Was Errol in The Scotland Yard Mystery?
20
Jul
The Scotland Yard Mystery (aka Third Degree?) from British International Pictures, 1934.
It’s been said. But is it true?
From John Walter Skinner:
Have been doing some idle research of ERROL IN LONDON 1933 and have made some interesting discoveries. FLYNN SCHOLARS please take note of the following movies; – THE BERMONDSEY KID(1933) and THE SCOTLAND YARD MYSTERY(1934). ERROL may have been an EXTRA in both of them …
… and now to SCOTLAND YARD MYSTERY. This is in fact the release title to a picture that shot under the title THIRD DEGREE , this title has baffled FLYNN scholars for years since ERROL lists it in his Spotlight Casting Director entry,unaware of the eventual title change……And there we have it. If we GOOGLE Scotland Yard there appears to be the movie available to be screened,but for some reason it doesnt happen…
Hopefully more clues for you out there covering the fascinating 14 months ERROL spent in London and UK 1933/1934… —- john
Thank you, John.
— Tim
Was Errol in Mimi?
20
Jul
Mimi (1933) with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. & Gertrude Lawrence.
So it’s been said. But is it true?
From preeminent Flynn scholar Karl Holmberg:
Some further info on this most elusive of subjects.
I believe it was through Thames Productions (for the “Hollywood” series) that Irving Asher was interviewed (1978), and that a portion of this interview wound up in Portrait of a Swashbuckler? (There is no credit in the Swashbuckler doco otherwise). In the excerpt contained in the doco, Asher speaks ONLY of Murder at Monte Carlo and no other mentions of UK based films and Flynn.
As TCM recently summarized the current understanding of things:
Flynn himself had gotten his first real start at Teddington Studios appearing in an uncredited bit in I Adore You (1933) followed by the lead in Murder at Monte Carlo (1934). After that producer Irving Asher recommended Flynn to Jack Warner who brought him to the U.S. for his first U.S. film, The Case of the Curious Bride (1935). Asher was also responsible for Knowles and Ian Hunter being signed by Warner Bros. Ironically, all three actors – Flynn, Knowles and Hunter – ended up together in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).
So, upon further checking of the other scant sources on the subject, we have, from Gerry Connelly’s book Errol Flynn in Northampton (1998):
“Irving Asher had a vacancy for a male lead, but shooting began in three days. No time for a screen test so he did something else.
Flynn was appearing as a film extra in the British International Pictures Production of Mimi, starring Gertrude Lawrence and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Asher contacted Fairbanks and asked him to check Flynn out, and tell Asher what he thought. (Connelly said he had seen Mimi and could not spot Flynn).” On receiving a favorable appraisal from Fairbanks … decided … to cast Flynn.”
I do not know where Connelly gets his info concerning his Asher story (as I did not spot a citation, but assume, again, the same Thames interview) … yet, when Fairbanks Jr. had the chance to tell a story, and he was mentally VERY SHARP at this point, he omits this shared film connection, and instead remembers (from Salad Days, 1988):
“I sought out my old Hollywood friend Irving Asher … He was producing Warner Brothers budget quota films and was their overseas representative as well … we toured his small studio at Teddington on the Thames. While going around, he introduced me to a very handsome personable young Australian whom he’d seen in a provincial rep company and whom he had tested and cast in bit parts (note: Asher produced I Adore You and Murder at Monte Carlo). I was asked to see his latest test. I liked it very much and said so … Irving, encouraged, promptly recommended him to Jack Warner …”
So, tis still … “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”.
BUT- as Connelly further relates of the Asher story: “Flynn, around this time (of September/October 1934) placed an advertisement in Spotlight stating he was now available for work …” and “Flynn just turned up one day, got past Asher’s secretary and told him he wanted to be a star”.
So, given this “Rampant Male”-like aggressiveness when it came to pursuit of a film career, it would not be entirely surprising that he might show up for a one or two day shoot as an “extra” (if given the chance)- even one with a most inauspicious of titles like Abdul the Damned.
To be continued (maybe) …
Karl
Extracted from the following, q.v.:
— Tim
Roman Hollywood
10
Jul
When in Rome … Roam Like Flynn
To the Cinecitta, where he filmed Crossed Swords, to the Via Margutta, where he joined Bohemians at the legendary Caffe degli Artisti:
Caffe degli Artisti via Margutta
Errol at the Cinecitta – helping to pave the way for Spaghetti Westerns, with his spectacular Spaghetti Swashbuckler, Crossed Swords.
— Tim
The Eve Club
09
Jul
-
MI5 Honeytrap and one of Errol’s Londontown haunts. Where Secretary of War John Profumo met Eve Club honey Christine Keeler, a decade after young Sean snuck a look-see at the famous dancing girls.
— Tim
Landmark in Lahaina
09
Jul
Young Errol’s Sapphire Mine Estate
08
Jul
Up the Laloki from Port Moresby, Young Errol Flynn is said to have lived and prospected at the Sapphire Mine. Here is some information on this Papuan paradise, and Errol’s connection to it. The second image is said to be a remnant of where Errol lived.
— Tim
