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Archive for the ‘Behind the Scenes’ Category

“A Clash of Temperament”

16 Nov

November 16, 1936

EVENING HERALD EXPRESS

Lili Damita, Errol Flynn Separated, Friends Report

Errol Flynn, star of Captain Blood and Charge of the Light Brigade , and his wife, glamorous Lili Damita of the files, have separated, friends said today.

Flynn is an outdoor man, while Lili likes to dance and attend the numerous affairs of the smart film set, said intimates of the couple, who explained that it was a clash of temperament and that no other persons were involved.

Flynn plans to leave for Europe in about a week and indications are that Miss Damita will then seek a divorce.

— Tim

 

The Hurricane

15 Nov

While it’s still hurricane season here in the U.S. …

LOS ANGELES EXAMINER – NOVEMBER 16, 1936

by LOUELLA O. PARSONS

Bargaining, I hear from a reliable authority, is going on between the Warner Brothers Studio and Samuel Goldwyn. Sam wants Errol Flynn for the lead in Hurricane and offers in exchange William Wyler, the director, and any other bit of property loose on the Goldwyn lot. First time I ever heard of a star being swapped for a director or vice versa. But Wyler is an ace director and is as valuable in his way as Flynn.

Not only has Sam set his heart on Flynn, but John Ford, who will direct for Goldwyn, also has the same idea. And talking about goofy trades, Ford agreed to direct Hurricane on condition that Sam buy him a boat and equipment to film exteriors in the South Seas where he is now vacationing. Margo, who is superb in Winterset, will probably get the lead opposite Flynn, with Basil Rathbone set for an important role.

COULD THIS HAVE BEEN A GREAT ONE OF FLYNN? I believe so. With Wyler directing and the film earning three Academy Awards, but ultimately hampered by the casting of Jon Hall. Errol, IMO, could have lifted this to a Hollywood classic.


Plus, there could have been some very good amour between Flynn and Lamour!

“The Hurricane is a 1937 film set in the South Seas, directed by John Ford and produced by Samuel Goldwyn Productions, about a Polynesian who is unjustly imprisoned. The climax features a special effects hurricane. It stars Dorothy Lamour and Jon Hall, with Mary Astor, C. Aubrey Smith, Thomas Mitchell, Raymond Massey, John Carradine, and Jerome Cowan. James Norman Hall, Jon Hall’s uncle, co-wrote the novel of the same name on which The Hurricane is based.”

The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, winning in the category for Best Sound.
Best Sound Recording – Thomas T. Moulton
Best Supporting Actor (nomination) – Thomas Mitchell
Best Music, Score (nomination) – Alfred Newman

New York Times critic Frank S. Nugent praised the climactic special effect created by James Basevi, stating, “It is a hurricane to blast you from the orchestra pit to the first mezzanine. It is a hurricane to film your eyes with spin-drift, to beat at your ears with its thunder, to clutch at your heart and send your diaphragm vaulting over your floating rib into the region just south of your tonsils.”

He complimented the performances of all of the principal actors with the exception of Hall, whose Terangi was described as “a competent Tarzan”. He also faulted the uneven pacing, but in the end, characterized the film as “one of the most thrilling spectacles the screen has provided this year.”

youtu.be/CatmKnFtn-c…

— Tim

 

Welcome to Modesto, Errolivia

14 Nov

EIGHTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

November 15, 1938

EVENING HERALD EXPRESS

by Harrison Carroll

Fans up at Modesto drove Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn to take refuge in their rooms. The stars, in location for Dodge City, tried to eat in the hotel coffee shop, but admirers pushed in a plate glass window in on them. A jagged hunk of glass just missed Flynn’s nose and landed spear-like in his steak.

BTW, This incident likely occurred at one of the best hotels in downtown Modesto (Hotels Covell, Hughson, or Modesto), on one of the very streets (10th or 11th Street) where George Lucas later cruised cars as a teenager, as famously depicted in American Graffiti. … Though a relatively small, California Central Valley town, Modesto was nationally-renowned for it’s architecture.

— Tim

 

“A Pretentious Film”

09 Nov

November 9, 1935

EVENING HERALD EXPRESS

THE YOUNG MAN ABOUT HOLLYWOOD

New Casting Experiment Puts Unknown Newcomers in Featured Lead Roles

At Warners, Capt. Blood, a pretentious film, is in work with an
‘unknown’cast. Errol Flynn has the lead. Ever hear of him?

— Tim

 

Oceans Apart . . . – – – . . . 80 Years Ago This Week

03 Nov

November 3, 1938

Louella O. Parson
Los Angeles Examiner

“Errol Flynn has promised to be home November 11 from his Honolulu holiday.”

. . . – – – . . .

November 4, 1938

Harrison Carroll
Evening Herald Express

Yesterday’s late editions carried a one-paragraph story from London that will lift eyebrows in Hollywood. It quoted Lili Damita as follows:

“I’ve retired from film work forever. I’m going to settle down and be a wife and a mother.”

Only one thing that would have tilted the eyebrows higher—if Errol Flynn had said: “I’m going to settle down and be a husband and father.”

— Tim

 

Time to Put Away the Costumes — 80 Years Ago

02 Nov

Halloween was yesterday. Time to put away the costumes.
And time for a “Time to Put Away the Costumes” story from the days of Robin Hood.

November 1, 1938

“Behind the Makeup”

“Attendants in the Warner Brothers Studio wardrobe department are storing away
the armor worn by soldiers in the movie Robin Hood. Between each suit
of mail goes a generous number of moth balls. The moth balls are necessary
because movietown armor is made of wool, painted to look like armor.”

– Erskine Johnson, Los Angeles Examiner

This film will never go in moth balls, but its woolen armor did, as reported eighty years ago today.

— Tim

 

(Not So) Confidential

28 Oct

www-wsj-com.cdn.ampproject.org…

 

“We all read it,” Marlene Dietrich said, “not because it was any good . . . but to find out if we were in it.”

Errol Flynn came to Los Angeles in hopes of testifying against the magazine. Many stars fled the town and country.

 

— Tim

 

Walking the Hall of Justice — October 22, 1942

23 Oct

In this October 22,1942 AP file photo, actor Errol Flynn is flanked by his attorneys Robert E. Ford, left, and Jerry Giesler, right.

— Tim

 

A Year for Paternity? — — 75 Years Ago Today

19 Oct

Did Errol conceive two children in 1940? Sean, and Marilyn??

Shirley, or Shirley Not??

===

Oct. 18, 1943: Los Angeles is in the middle of a paternity suit brought by Shirley Evans Hassau, 21, against Errol Flynn. Hassau charged that Flynn was the father of her daughter Marilyn, who was 3. Hassau was seeking $1,750 a month child support, $10,000 in attorneys fees, $5,000 for hospital expenses and $2,000 in court costs.

An aunt, Florence Muller of San Francisco, had raised Marilyn since she was 5 weeks old and refused to let Hassau see her, The Times said.

Hassau’s suits against Flynn were dismissed in 1951. In 1940, two weeks after Marilyn was born, Flynn agreed to pay Hassau $2,000 although he denied being the father. The actor said he wanted to avoid a long court trial and adverse publicity.

— Tim

 

The Case of the Curious Pneumonia

07 Oct

EIGHTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK – OCTOBER 1938

Los Angeles Examiner – Louella Parsons, October 4, 1938

Errol Flynn heard yesterday for the first time that he had pneumonia when he was so critically ill last week. So remarkable was his recovery that he is expected to go home today, and Lili Damita will sail Thursday on the Queen Mary. Errol’s doctors have ordered him to rest for two weeks, after which he is to report to Warner studio for Dodge City.

Don’t say “That’s where we came in,” for Hal Wallis really tried to borrow Ronald Coleman and Cary Grant for the remittance man who goes western. But when neither English accent was available, he went back to the original idea of putting Flynn in the role, postponing The Sea Hawk until early next year. Michael Curtiz, the director, who always favored Flynn, was rejoicing yesterday, for both Flynn and Olivia de Havilland were in Robin Hood Curtiz’ biggest hit.

Dodge City could-have-been cowboys, Coleman and Cary:

— — —

Los Angeles Evening Herald Express – Harrison Carroll
October 5, 1938

Errol Flynn went from the hospital to Edmund Goulding’s house at Palm Springs. He wanted to take a trip to Mexico City, but doctors vetoed it.

movielanddirectory.com…
— — —

Los Angeles Evening Herald Express – Jimmy Starr
October 10, 1938

Lili Damita shushed those Paris divorce rumors by nixing her trip to Gay Paree with the Jack Warners and flying back to hubby Errol Flynn in Palm Springs.

Here they are in Palm Springs:

— Tim