RSS
 

Archive for the ‘Behind the Scenes’ Category

Arno Flies to Horse Country

07 Feb

February 7, 2019

Harrison Carroll
LA Evening Herald Express

After mourning for days over the absence of his master, Arno, pet dog of Errol Flynn, is on a plane today speeding to join the Irish star in Upperville, Virginia.

For four years, Arno, a schnauzer, has been an inseparable companion of Flynn’s. He has accompanied the actor on yachting trips and to motion picture sets. He is even allowed to follow Flynn into the green room of the Warner Brothers commissary.

However, the star didn’t see how it was possible to take Arno on his present trip which will include visits to Havana and Mexico City. So, for the first time, master and dog were parted.

Ever since, Arno has been inconsolable. Three days ago he refused to take any more food and has been lying for hours underneath the star’s bed.

Yesterday, in desperation, Flynn’s business manager, Vernon Wood, wired Errol at Mrs. Jock Whitney’s estate in Virginia.

Flynn didn’t lose a minute wiring back to put Arno on a plane.

And now he’ll have to figure out a way to take the dog to Cuba and Mexico.

Llangollen Farm, a polo, fox hunting, and horse breeding, landmark in the rolling hills of Upperville, VA, now valued at over $40 Million

— Tim

 

An Appendix to the Appendix Story

05 Feb

The below is an appendix to this post…

February 5, 1936

Harrison Carroll
LA Evening Herald Express

Errol Flynn is home from the hospital, eleven days after his appendicitis operation.

— Tim

 

Mauch Adeux About Sailing

03 Feb

February 2, 1938

Harrison Carroll
LA Evening Herald Express

A trip such as any small boy might dream of looms for the Mauch Twins if parental and studio consent can be obtained. They have been invited by Errol Flynn to go on a six weeks’ cruise of the Caribbean. It would be the boys first vacation away from their mother and there would be no women on the boat. Mrs. Mauch is torn by misgivings, but may yield.

Here are the Prince and the Pauper with their mother, Mrs. Mauch, Sir Miles Hendon, and William Keighly:

Here, a bit later, are Billy and Bobby (or is it Bobby and Billy) with a big wheel at Warners:

— Tim

 

“Between Pictures”

28 Jan

January 29, 1938

Jimmy Starr
LA Evening Herald Express

STARS FLEE BRIGHT LIGHTS FOR LONELY REST SPOTS

Hollywood is fast becoming fed up with the glitter and the glamour, the hustle and the bustle of the more prominent “between pictures” holiday spots. The trend is definitely toward smaller, more isolated hideaways. Like other people, the stars occasionally tire of the brights lights, the night clubs, the theaters, the traffic, crowded sidewalks, hotels with super-service and the necessity of properly creased trousers and correct coiffures.

Errol Flynn has found the perfect method of “losing himself” between films, on weekends or other days of leisure. The popular Warner star ducks down to Santa Monica, boards his yacht and sails away.

— Tim

 

Sirocco

27 Jan

January 27, 1938

Harrison Carroll
LA Evening Herald Express

Purchase of a 75′ ketch in Boston makes Errol Flynn the No. 1 boat owner in Hollywood.

The Warner star, who planed in yesterday from a shopping tour of eastern shipyards, reveals that he now has a collection of seven boats with still another under construction.

The prize exhibit is the ketch Avenir*, which Flynn just purchased in Boston and which he will later sail through the Panama Canal and up the Pacific Coast.

Besides the Avenir, Flynn still owns a 50-foot yacht, a yawl named the Cheerio, a 25-foot speedboat, an outboard fishing smack and two 20-foot yacht tenders.

Then, in a western shipyard, he is having a lifeboat made over into another tender for his latest acquisition.

When and if he gets a vacation, the star plans a long voyage to the South Seas.

* Errol subsequently named the yacht “Sirocco” after the yacht he owned and captained in Australia and New Guinea before he achieved world fame.

— Tim

 

Zacapulco – Welles Done

25 Jan

Adapted from American Cinematographer, August 1948

For the boating scenes in tropical Mexico, Columbia Studios chartered Errol Flynn’s luxurious yacht, The Zaca, and Flynn himself served aboard as skipper. Scenes were filmed above and below decks, at anchorages in Acapulco Harbor, at Fort San Diego in Acapulco Bay,

In order to shoot the location sequences for Lady From Shanghai, a company of 50 Hollywood actors and technicians flew to Acapulco, along with 60 Mexican extra players and technicians from Mexico City. More than 15 tons of equipment were shipped from Hollywood, one order of six tons comprising the largest single air express shipment ever undertaken by a movie location company.

Shooting aboard the yacht was, from the space standpoint very difficult, and these scenes, as they appear in the picture, are necessarily cramped in composition — but this actually works in favor of the overall effect because it produces an authentic atmosphere of crowded life aboard a small yacht. During filming aboard The Zaca, a long line of native dugout canoes anchored astern formed a bridge from the barge holding the generator so that electrical cables could be stretched for the camera and sound equipment.

In filming sequences at sea, the camera crew discovered that they could not depend upon their usual light meter readings. Reflections from the surface of the water kicked up more intensity than the meter recorded, causing over-exposure of the scene. This effect was noted in the screening of the first rushes, and a series of experimental tests was made to arrive at some sort of rule-of-thumb that could be used to compensate for the additional amount of light

(Left) On location in Mexico, Welles briefs his crew prior to filming a sequence. At his side is Charles Lawton, ASC, whose outstanding photography adds greatly to the impact of the film. (Center) Errol Flynn’s yacht The Zaca is anchored in Acapulco Harbor. Astern are a line of barges over which electrical cable was stretched between the yacht and the generator boat. (Right) For a scene shot in the jungle streams of Mexico, the camera is mounted on a dugout canoe alongside the boat in which the principle players ride.

ascmag.com…

— Tim

 

An Offending Appendix

23 Jan

January 23, 1936

FLYNN OPERATED ON “FOR ART”

For the sake of art, Errol Flynn, Warner Brothers film star, yesterday underwent a surgeon’s knife.

Flynn was stricken at his home Tuesday with an attack of appendicitis and was taken to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. An examination made by Dr. Harley Gunderson revealed an operation was not immediately necessary.

Flynn, however, declared he would like to undergo the operation at once rather than be bothered by the offending appendix.

“I want to play in a picture entitled The Charge of the Light Brigade in April,” Flynn declared, “So let’s have the operation and I’ll be fit by that time.”

So, yesterday the appendectomy was performed. Flynn was reported as “resting comfortably.”

Might this be Errol, too? (Doubtful, but intriguing)

— Tim

 

Qu’y avait-il au menu ici?

19 Jan

— Tim

 

Mysterie Hippie Ship Quiz

14 Jan

Errol Skipped on Skippering this Mysterie Ship Which Thirty Years Later Sailed into Trippie Hippie History.

Who was She?

Here are a few chronological visual clues involving it’s pre-Flynn and post-Flynn news, cruise and crews:

— Tim

 

Cuban Rebel Errol – Injured Like Flynn – January 6, 1959

06 Jan

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, 1959, it was reported around the globe that Errol Flynn had been wounded in Cuba while covering the combat of Fidel Castro’s rebel forces. This was spectacular and very surprising news: Robin Flynn of Hollywood was swashbuckling around in the Sierra Madre Forest with the future Hood of Havana and his Not-So-Merry Rebel Men (and Rebel Girls.) A blockbuster story custom-made for (and by) the one-and-only Errol Flynn.

— Tim