The Errol Flynn Blog

Dear Flynnstones,

meet Sir Anthony Jenkinson, descendent of the 2nd Lord Liverpool, when he visited Errol at Elstree Studios in 1952.

They got acquainted probably via mutual friend David Niven in Hollywood of 1938.

The Etonite worked as wartime correspondent during WWII and was assigned by his school friend Commander Ian Fleming to the Carribean on a secret mission to document the activities of Nazi submarines in the area.

He was accompanied on this snoop cruise by none other than Hemingway‘s brother Leicester. Big Brother wrote in ernest about their adventures in the book (not the song!) “Islands in the Stream“.

Sir Alex was the first journalist to interview Chairman Mao and may have given Flynn the idea to do so likewise with Fidel Castro.

Jenkinson set up shop, a shipyard to build schooners, in Jamaica, where the seafarer and the swashbuckler again often met.

Ahoy,

— shangheinz

Dear Flynnstones,

here you see young paperazzo Gianni explaining Errol how he took the shot of a lifetime.

And here you can watch it from every angle:

m.youtube.com…

Click,

— shangheinz

Dear Flynnstones,

here is a rare pic of Errol a mere two weeks before his untimely death visiting Ringling Bros. Circus.
The team of three shows him with his past protegé and fiancé in spe Beverly and her friend Linda.
Where Flynn put his buzzsaw straw hat, if he threw into the ring or lent it to Maurice Chevalier remains an open investigation.

Make ‘em laugh,

— shangheinz

Dear Flynnstones,

there can never be another Flynn, right?

But while reading  Samuel Marx’ superb book “Deadly Illusions“ on Jean Harlow and the murder of Paul Bern, I came across a namesake actor’n’athlete, who could have given Errol a run for his ringside reputation. en.m.wikipedia.org…
MBF threw in the Tinseltown towel early and made way for the real deal. He may have given Warners the idea to market our Hollywood hero as a bonafide boxer of Olympic proportions though. Luckily they didn‘t change the name of the aspiring contender to Terrence Thompson or Leslie LeBaron  or…

The studio then and there already knew the prequel can never outdo the original.

Enjoy,

— shangheinz

Dear Flynnstones,

here is our man Flynn with jet set reporter Benno Graziani, one of the of the all time great photographers. www.vogue.co.uk/article/benno-graziani-interview…

His motto went a little like this: “Make em laugh, then shoot them“.

And it applied very well to their encounter in Deauville.

Enjoy,

— shangheinz

[embedyt] www.youtube.com…

Dear Flynnstones,

look what I refound amongst the material I have gathered over the years on Errol‘s half finished William Tell film- an appearance on the BBC Show “In Town tonight“ from November 1953.

I remember a conversation with this blog‘s own Inga, when she posted a list of all Flynn radio outings. I said I thought that it was a TV  show, because I had seen a clip from it. Matter of factly it may have been both. Despite being broadcast only into the ether, Robin Hood hawking for £ 50.000 in order to become Will Tell was too interesting to not put on camera also.

By the end of the year, he would have the money (not from United Artists boss Arthur B. Krim, not from Brother Warner), spend it elsewhere and move to England to do three movies there.

Instead resuming Tell with a different script & director two years later, it became apparent that the scenes already in the cans would stick out like an arrow from a head. Reshooting was not an option. The apple shot had been missed.

Enjoy,

— shangheinz

Dear Flynnstones,

“If the lock doesn’t click, you must acquit.“

Enjoy,

— shangheinz