What the Picture Did for Me
The Green Light, Errol Flynn, Anita Louise – Just a natural for any spot. This was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Too bad we could not get more productions like this. Good cast and excellent story. Running time: nine reels. July 15 – A. L. Dove, Bengough Theatre, Bengough, Saskatchewan, Can. Rural and Small Town Patronage.”
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Bengough, with a population of about 337, is known as the “Gateway to the Big Muddy (Valley and Badlands)”. Before Errol was seen by the populace in and around Bengough, the gentlemen in the photo below used to show up in the area to escape U.S. legal authorities. Their names were Butch and Sundance.
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“August 7, 1937
MPH
What the Picture Did for Me
The Prince and the Pauper: Big time stuff in any man’s town. Box office all the way. Running time, 115 minutes – W. E. McPhee, Strand Theater, Old Town, Maine. General Patronage.”
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In 1936, the Strand featured Bing Crosby in Rhythm on the Range. The theater was upgraded and modernized as depicted below to accommodate Old Town’s mid-1930s population of approximately 7500.
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It hurts so much and I am so disappointed that we won’t be able to see each other this summer … I must go to Spain to try to make some money and besides the Jamaica house is not yet finished …
But whatever happens I am definitely going to pick you up and take you to Jamaica for the Christmas vacation. And you can help me get this new house fixed up and all feminine and stuff. All the things I don’t know anything about … and we’ll have horses and boats and maybe I can even fix you up with some dates, although I guess I’m going to be a little jealous when all those nice looking guys come around …
Into the Pioneering Photography of Peter Stackpole on August 1 and 2, 1941
Photographer Peter Stackpole (1913-1997), was the son of artists, Ralph Stackpole and Adele Barnes Stackpole. Educated in the San Francisco Bay area and Paris, Peter Stackpole grew up under the influence of his parent’s friends and peers, Dorthea Lange, Edward Weston and Diego Rivera. Maturing in this supportive artist community, Stackpole began developing his photographic style at a young age. Stackpole’s appreciation for the hand-held camera and his developing technical expertise found a perfect subject in the construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
In 1935, twenty-five of Stackpole’s bridge photographs were exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Art. This led to several freelance projects and in 1936, when Henry Luce established his ground-breaking “picture” magazine LIFE, Stackpole was hired as one of the four staff photographers. Stackpole worked for LIFE from its founding until 1961, moving gracefully between photographing the glamorous and young in Hollywood, and the more routine lives of the laboring class, always endeavoring to present his subjects authentically.
“Stackpole’s portraiture of Hollywood stars created approachable and endearing characters, and is recognized as a pioneering contribution to “media culture,” solidifying Hollywood icons as a subject of fascination within popular culture.”
“Stackpole’s most dramatic moment happened in 1941, when he was assigned to rendezvous with Errol Flynn’s yacht Sirocco to take underwater pictures of Flynn spearing fish.”
“I used to be a kind of beach bum between assignments, but it never occurred to me to take underwater pictures,” Stackpole said. “I’d never seen an underwater camera. Fins weren’t invented yet, and face masks were few. I had a friend make up a plastic box to hold my oldest, most expendable Leica.”
“Aboard the yacht, Flynn fitted him with a pair of hand-carved wooden goggles to use underwater. Stackpole got 15 decent shots before his camera flooded [including] one shot of Flynn climbing the mast of the Sirocco.”
The following three sets of measurements were recorded as belonging to three Hollywood stars circa 1942. One set belonged to the mighty Flynn. Which set was it? To whom did the other two sets belong to??
Thank you to one of the world’s best Flynn researchers for finding these figures! Very few measure up to him!
Irish blood in all three.
All worked for Warners.
One was a star before Errol and later married a good friend of Errol. He, though, was not a good friend to Errol – likely out of bitter envy because he did not generate the sparks or voltage Errol did, either with women or on screen. In fact, even his wife liked Errol more than she liked him.
The other was a friend to Errol, but played enemies of him in two films. He became a big star after Errol did.
“Sitting only two seats apart, without a glance to each other, Errol Flynn and the first great love of his life, Actress Lili Damita, are shown in court in the legal battle over Flynn’s petition to cut down his alimony payments to her. Flynn is seeking a reduction on her $18,000 annual tax-free alimony, and Miss Damita is fighting to protect it. They appeared without exchanging greetings.”
Dolores Del Rio and Cedric Gibbons, those inveterate Sunday-at-homers, were again delightfully at home last Sunday with a party of intimate friends.
Beginning with luncheon served in the attractive poolside pavilion, the afternoon was devoted to tennis and swimming, with refreshing interludes at the cocktail oasis. And in the party were the Manuel Reachis, Connie Bennett and Gilbert Roland, Virginia Bruce, Dr. Carl Voelimuller, Lili Damita and Errol Flynn, Irene and Elliot Gibbons, Fay Wray, Willis Goldbeck, the Lewis Milestones, and Elizabeth Allen.
Eight years ago when adventuresome Errol Flynn, now Warner’s new film rave, represented the British Government at New Guinea, one of his many odd duties was to act as physician and surgeon.
When a native named Joe Speedie appeared at headquarters with a gangrenous toe as a result of having been bitten by a poisonous fish, it was “Dr” Flynn who performed the necessary amputation of the infected toe. The emergency operation saved Joe’s life.
Last week, “Dr” Flynn received a belated fee for his surgical gesture, a valuable gold-headed cane. Joe explained in the accompanying letter that he had seen Errol in Captain Blood and was most happy to have located his benefactor of long ago. And Errol’s quite proud of his ‘fee.’
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The article says that Speedie was bitten on the toe by a poisonous fish. What it likely meant is that he was bitten or injected by a venomous fish. Venom is injected. Poison is ingested.
“Poisonous fish are fish that are poisonous to eat. They contain toxins which are not destroyed by the digestive systems of animals that eat the fish. Venomous fish also contain toxins, but do not necessarily cause poisoning if they are eaten, since the digestive system often destroys their venom.”
“Stonefish are venomous marine fish classified in the genus Synanceja and the family Synancejidae, found in shallow waters of the tropical Indo-Pacific. They are sluggish, bottom-dwelling fish that live among rocks or coral and in mud flats and estuaries. Thickset fish with large heads and mouths, small eyes, and bumpy skins covered with wart-like lumps and, sometimes, fleshy flaps, they rest on the bottom, unmoving, blending almost exactly with their surroundings in form and color. They are dangerous fish. Difficult to see, they can, when stepped on, inject quantities of venom through grooves in their dorsal-fin spines. Wounds produced by these fish are intensely painful and sometimes fatal.”
Watch your step! They can also live and attack on land for up to 24 hours!!
In the mid-1940s, a very famous personality and friend of Errol produced a movie in which he wanted Errol to play a key role. Errol, however, did not appear in the film, thus providing a very big break for the person who did play the role and went on to become a star.
Who was the producer? What was the movie? What was the role? Who played the role?
“Deposition filed by Screen Hero Errol Flynn (second from left) charged today he is permitted to few visits to his son by his ex-wife-actress Lili Damita, and that he is forced to pay ‘taxes on taxes’ on both income and money he gives his wife. He has petitioned for reduction in alimony payments. WIth him after court appearance are Attorney Sid Dorfman (left), for Miss Damita, and Flynn’s attorneys, Jerry Giesler (right) and Bob Ford.”
