An EFB Four Score Anniversary News Report: June 3, 1937
Harrison Carroll – Los Angeles Evening Herald Express
It took plenty of talk for Warner Bros to persuade Errol Flynn to remove a good luck chain from his neck for prize fight scenes in The Perfect Specimen. The charm was made from the first nugget taken out of the New Guinea gold fields. It was given to Flynn eight years ago by a priest. The actor takes it off for the first time for the picture.
— Tim
Hollywood Citizen News – Behold Them Minus Hokum by Peter Pry – December 1, 1934
Errol Flynn, newly arrived Irish actor, will have to call out the police reserves for protection
when the local gals discover that he is independently wealthy and doesn’t need to act for a living.
Flynn has lots of that appeal too, and is a husky specimen. He hewed a fortune out of a gold mine in
New Guinea, he represented Ireland as a boxer in the Olympic games of 1928, he has braved cannibals,
is 25, and has never been married! He has only been acting for two years. And he refused the role
of Oberon in A Midsummer’s Night Dream because he didn’t want to start his film career by
playing the king of the fairies.
Los Angeles Evening Express – Harrison Carroll – December 3, 1934
Actors making their debut in Hollywood usually proceed cautiously. Not so, Errol Flynn,
the 25-year-old Irishman signed by Warner Brothers. In his biography charge, which all
newcomers are asked to fill out, Flynn gave some answers that made the boys eyes pop out.
For one thing, he listed actors as his pet aversion. And there were some hotter ones but
we can’t go into them.
Flynn is 6 feet 2, weighs 180 pounds and his hands are calloused. He is a descendant of
Fletcher Christian , of the crew of the famous British ship, the Bounty. He was once a
pearl fisherman and he made a good stake for himself prospecting for gold in the heart of
New Guinea. In 1928, he represented Ireland in the boxing events of the Olympic Games.
And his description of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. will get a chuckle out of Hollywood. Young Doug,
he says, has dveloped an Oxford accent so thick that it is hard for even English people to
understand him.
Los Angeles Examiner – Lloyd Pantages – January 29, 1935
Errol Flynn is not only a good looker, but a swell actor, so keep your eyes open for this gentleman.
Los Angeles Evening Herald Express – Elizabeth Yeaman – February 5, 1935
Despite the fact that Errol Flynn is an extremely handsome young Irishman and fairly bursting with
personality, Warners have cast him as a murderer for his film debut here. He will be the villain in
The Case of the Curious Bride, in which Warren Williams has the lead of the sleuthing attorney.
Hollywood Citizen News – Elizabeth Yeaman – March 26, 1935
Errol Flynn, the husky Irish actor at Warners, gets his second film assignment. He will be seen as a
pirate with Robert Donat in Captain Blood. Now it is uncertain if Jean Muir will have the
feminine lead.
Tanikiu Tumas to King Karl Holmberg for the articles and Flynnspiration!
— Tim
An EFB Four Score News Report: The Anniversary of The Prince and the Pauper
Louella O. Parsons – Extract from the Los Angeles Illustrated Daily News – May 12, 1937
“Miles Herndon, dashing soldier of fortune, delivers the rightful prince.
Warners are indeed fortunate in having Errol Flynn in the family to play Herndon.
Where I ask you, is there a more suitable actor for a role that calls for
a handsome devil-may-care adventurer? Errol may have had bigger roles, but
never one that suited him better.”
Elizabeth Yeaman – Extract from the Hollywood Citizen News – May 13, 1937
With the coronation in England dominating the headlines for days, nothing
could have been more timely than Warners’ film version of The Prince and
the Pauper, which is climaxed by an elaborate coronation sequence.
Harrison Carrol – Extract from the Los Angeles Evening Herald Express – May 13, 1937
If Mark Twain had been alive today and had written The Prince and the Pauper
under Hollywood assignment, he could not have turned out a more perfect screen
story for this coronation year and for two extraordinary child actors, Billy
and Bobby Mauch.
In its spectacular and veracious coronation scenes this is as timely a picture
as could be asked.
It is Errol Flynn, playing a good natured soldier of fortune, who takes the young prince under his wing – not the least believing his story – and finally clears the way for a nick-of-time restoration of the royal youth, just as the unwilling beggar boy is about to be crowned king of England. In the role, Flynn is a dashing figure.
Warners have made the coronation ceremony one of the year’s spectacular screen episodes.
The Prince and the Pauper is an excitingly narrated, handsomely prodeuced, finely acted picture – an artistic achievement for producer Hal B. Wallis and all concerned – and a box-office natural.
Heading the supporting bill is a color short, A Day at Santa Anita.
Flynn saves England!
Just in time for the Coronation!
— Tim
By all accounts, Errol was a consummate, and very prolific prankster. World class, I’m sure. Being that this is April Fools Day, it seems like a perfect time to document and discuss some of Errol’s practical jokes, and alleged practical jokes. Surely there were hundreds, maybe thousands, most now lost forever. There are enough accounts existing, however, for us to get a good flavor of his sensational sense of humor.
My favorite may be one I heard on Hollywood Boulevard from a tour guide a few years back when my son and I attended a TCM Classic Movie Festival. It’s vintage Flynn, something only he could have pulled off with such magnificent flair and humor. … I will post it up later, but, first:
Here’s an untoppable, top tier EFB post by Flynnmaestro King Karl Holmberg. Awesome, Karl. Thanks!
PLEASE POST ALL YOUR FAVORITES!
Here’s an alphabetical list of phrases that may help searches and recollections:
A Parrot in Panama
A Rice Bowl for Stockwell
Arno was a Real Pisser
David Invites a Date for Dinner
Hugh Jorgen
Mickey Visits the Farm
Niven Goes Skiing
Olivia’s Panties
Paul’s Passport
Taxi Driver
The World’s First Living Bracelet
Weekend at Errol’s
— Tim
March 30, 1937
Hollywood Citizen News – Elizabeth Yeaman
The Warner Bros. are sincerely worried over their failure to locate Errol Flynn,
who was hastily summoned back to Hollywood when it was learned that he was
planning to penetrate war-torn Spain. Errol was in Paris, and last Friday he told
his wife, Lili Damita, he was leaving for Spain. He left, while Lili remained in Paris.
He didn’t tell her where he was going in Spain, and apparently Lili didn’t bother to inquire.
Robert Schless, head of the Warner Paris office, has not been able to locate him. Errol,
when he left, was determined to do some war corresponding in Spain. He started to make
arrangements with the United States for some special articles, but the studio jumped in
and soured the deal. Errol threatened that he would make arrangements with an English syndicate.
This he may have done.
Warners cabled him to be back here by April 15, to start the The Perfect Specimen.
I doubt if they actually had a picture ready for him, but hoped to get him back on the plea of urgency.
Miriam Hopkins has been announced for the co-starring spot in The Perfect Specimen, but that
announcement is quite premature, for she has not been signed for the role.
— Tim
Given the Green Light by shangheinz on “Errorol”:
WHAT PROMINENT ENGLISH DOCTOR HELPED ERROL TREAT HIS SINUSES?
He was a “Harley Street” practitioner.
Early in his career, he pioneered and advocated the use of “truth drugs”.
He famously advocated one such drug in a French murder case.
Mid-career he was involved as an expert witness in a Hong Kong medical malpractice case.
He was later involved in a notorious British abortion/killing-of the-mother case.
He communicated from England to Errol elsewhere in Europe.
He had an indirect connection to the Profumo Affair.
Late in his career, he was quoted in Sports Illustrated concerning the abilities of women drivers.
He looked like this, but usually wore glasses during the years he treated Errol:
— Tim
Versus
Inspired by the U.S. Army’s “Merrill’s Marauders”, Warner Bothers produced Operation Burma! in 1945. It’s an outstanding film and one of Errol’s personal favorites. Nevertheless, it backfired big time for Flynn, with Winston Churchill, Lord Mountbatten, enraged members of the British Army and citizenry, hurling personal attacks at Flynn, falsely accusing him of acting as if “he won the War single-handedly”.
See, for example, this article from just last week again mocks and maligns Errol and the movie (along with some other great films):
www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/772318/Based-true-story-historical-action-films-accuracy…
Despite all these bitter complaints and attacks, however, Operation Burma! had a very strong and obvious connection to actual military operations of Merrill’s Marauders in Burma. As evidence, here is a National Archive video including 1944 news reel film which I believe likely inspired production of Operation Burma! Similarly, the second link is a transcription of a New York Times report further hailing the heroics of Merrill’s Marauders. Clearly, this unique operation in Burma was all very well and widely known and praised prior to the making of Operation Burma!.
Here is a better, more informed and informative criticism of the film:
I recently visited the outstanding World War II Museum in New Orleans and was very significantly impressed by their extensive exhibit on Merrill’s Marauders (Below are a couple of poorly-taken cell phone photos I took which fail to capture the very high quality of the museum and exhibit.) This exhibit serves to further confirm the profound actual and public relations impact Vinegar Joe Stillwell and Frank Merrill’s operations had against the Japanese in Burma, and on the American public.
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SO, based on the unquestionably significant and heroic courage and accomplishments of Merrill’s Marauders, my question for all on both sides of the pond and beyond, is:
Was Errol and Operation Burma! wrongly and/or excessively criticized (or at least not properly or sufficiently credited) for this extraordinary war film?
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— Tim
