Here’s the story of “The House That Flynn Built” (Not)
The plot in Chico thickens …
If you’ve ever tasted kiwis from Costco, or sneaked a peak of gorgeous Barbi Benton, this article and video may have extra appeal for you. videosellsrealestate.com…
— Tim
Korean War Project
Salute Of Entertainers
Jack Benny and Company
(w/ 5th RCT, 24th Div.)
It was around the middle of July, 1951. The peace talks began earlier and there was peace in the Kumhwa valley.
Instead of combat, everyone was talking about rotating home. There was also a rumor about a USO troupe coming to this forward camp. During combat, we would see entertainers of two or three hitching rides to the rest areas, rain or snow, to give their little shows. I gave them a lot of credit for their courage. Bob Hope was also here for the troops but he was 50 miles behind us somewhere.
On this July day, the entertainers in trucks and jeeps, came driving into this little clearing. A makeshift stage was built for the occasion. To our surprise, It was none other than Jack Benny and with him, in the group was Errol Flynn and Marjorie Reynolds.
This is the first time I’d ever seen movie stars in the flesh. For this country boy, I was fascinated and they looked so human and of course, they were. On the stage, Jack did his comedy of jokes and Errol and Marjorie acted their series of mostly funny skits, a lot of laughs for all of us.
Everyone was standing around intermingling after the show. I was standing close to Jack. He somehow looked smaller than in the movies. I slowly sneaked up behind him and sure
enough, I really was taller than he was!
Errol Flynn was walking by and I got this sudden impulse. I stuck out my hand and Mr. Flynn, can I shake your hand sir? He stopped, looked at me for a couple of seconds, smiled and said, My pleasure, lad, my pleasure. I think when he stopped and saw this oriental face, I can feel his uncertainty, but I think what won him over was this pure American slang coming from this face. He must have thought this guy has got to a real Yankee.
RICHARD ISERI wrote on January 29, 2018
Garden Grove California
— Tim
Only Errol Flynn could pick up, I mean rescue, seven swimming nymphs in the middle of a desert.
Here’s a photo of the 1940 “Aquacade Motorcade” after they arrived at Treasure Island for the Golden Gate International Exposition (aka World’s Fair). Not sure if any of these swimming nymphs were the exact ones “rescued” by Errol, but the timing appears to fit, and, as happy as they look, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.
Billy Rose Aquacade Motorcade Nymphs
San Francisco, 1940
A good, brief account in a Michael Curtiz biography:
A GREAT, more detailed account from Tom McNulty:
One or more of these seven damsels in distress were likely in this Wirkd’s Fair film before they traveled west through the Painted Desert of Arizona, where they were detoured by Virginia City Flynn:
— Tim
JOHN BARRYMORE SHUFFLED OFF HIS MORTAL COIL – MAY 29, 1942
A GREAT PROFILE OF THE GREAT PROFILE www.tcm.com…
A COCK AND BULL STORY?
According to Raoul Walsh’s autobiography:
“(Raoul Walsh) snatched actor John Barrymore’s barely cold body from the (Pierce Brothers) funeral home and seated it on Errol Flynn’s sofa. ”Errol came in (from an intense session at the Cock and Bull), let out a piercing scream, and ran out of the house.” From behind an oleander bush, Flynn yelled at Walsh, ”Get him out of the house, you crazy Irish bastard, before I have a heart attack!””
Walsh repeated the story in the 1973 documentary “The Men Who Made the Movies”.
Errol has an essentially equivalent account in My Wicked, Wicked Ways.
The Pierce Brothers Mortuary
(Photo taken at the wake of Thelma Todd)
The (original) Cock and Bull on the Sunset Strip:
Is this story true? Or, is it just cock and bull? …. Plus, was it an inspiration for Weekend at Bernie’s?
— Tim
Questions are raised by the extract below from “Gloria Swanson: Ready for Her Closeup” regarding a possible affair between Lili and the Marquis Henri de la Felaise (James Henry Le Bailly de La Falaise, Marquis de La Coudraye) Gloria Swanson’s husband:
Reports are that the Marquis was homesick for France and may have been looking for a French speaking mistress and wife. Perhaps that’s why he was interested in Lili. After a few years, he did divorce Gloria and immediately marry (his mistress) Constance Bennett, who, having lived in Paris many years, was fluent in French and all things French. He was quite famous in France, a WWI hero and heir to the Hennessey Brandy fortune.
Photo of Kennedy with the Marquis at Biarritz, France:
www.alamy.com…
So, was it Joe Kennedy who induced Lili to work in Hollywood?
If so, should Joe Kennedy receive any credit for paving the way for Errol to become a Hollywood star, albeit indirectly and unwittingly?
Adding to the intrigue is that Joe Kennedy may have employed Lili in Palm Beach (she lived a very short walking distance from the Kennedy Compound) to care for Lt. JFK after he was injured on PT 109. It would not be a bit surprising to me if Joe tried to get a touch or two of nursing himself from Lili. (I’d be surprised if he had not. Lili was quite a money-hunter, schemer and temptress, and JP could brag that he had Errol Flynn’s girl working under him.
Here’s a photo of WWII Nurse-in-Training Damita, with Myrna Loy:
— Tim
They died with their boots on.
“Most of them had fled famine-ravaged Ireland in the 1840s and found, in the US Army, a secure meal-ticket and adventure, first in the Civil War – where the Irish fought on both sides – and later in the Indian Wars, as America spread westward across the Great Plains.”
“Errol Flynn played the swashbuckling Custer in the buckskin jacket, a jacket that in real life, we now know, had been made for him by 35-year-old Sergeant Jeremiah Finley from Co Tipperary, one of the Seventh Cavalry’s regimental tailors. Finley died on Last Stand Hill.”
How Irish was Flynn?
— Tim
Whether it was asthma, a preference for stage over film and Hollywood, and/or love of a woman in London, the great Robert Donat backed out of playing Captain Blood. The rest is history. This is his story:
— Tim
Evil I see, but Medieval? That haircut, and that outfit??
And what about Hood’s hoodie? Errol could be rolling over in stitches over this error.
— Tim
