RSS
 

Archive for the ‘Flynn and…’ Category

Guinn Big Boy Williams Night on Boot Hill …

15 Jun

Found this out on the Prairie, near Dodge City in an old newspaper found blowing in the wind …

Under the headline “Film Star Sleeps on Boot Hill,” in the Monday, April 3, 1939, Dodge City Daily Globe, a story begins: “For a great many years only concrete faces and the cowboy statue have rested in historic old Boot Hill cemetery. But Saturday night there was a newcomer there.

”The story goes on the tell how Guinn “Big Boy” Williams, one of the stars of “Dodge City,” was found sleeping on Boot Hill Sunday morning after the festivities surrounding the premiere.

Williams woke up sufficiently to elude authorities, who later learned that he had spent the day sleeping in a rooming house on West Chestnut street. Williams had missed the train back to Hollywood. He appeared in a west side grocery store later in the afternoon, took a taxi to the airport and caught a plane to Wichita. From there, he made it back to the coast.

Williams reportedly told a Dodge City man he wanted to sleep among the dead men for his wild West thrill.

 

Ah, Hollywood!

 

— David DeWitt

 

Speaking of Chico …

15 Jun

Here’s the story of “The House That Flynn Built” (Not)

The plot in Chico thickens …

www.newsreview.com…

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

 

Meanwhile, Back in Korea

12 Jun

trove.nla.gov…

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

 

Good Samaritan-Like Flynn

10 Jun

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:

books.google.com…

A GREAT, more detailed account from Tom McNulty:

books.google.com…

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

 

Flynnosophy 101

05 Jun

Flynnie reveals his real-life philosophy of life to “Sister” Bette.

— Tim

 

“The Experts have Spoken”

04 Jun

“It’s officious”, I mean “official”! According to experts of Rottingham, (probably descendants of their shire’s infamous Sheriff of Rottingham), Errol Flynn was NOT the Best Robin Hood. Connery was, Sean Connery.

Yes, you read correctly. Next, we may also learn that Errol was also not the best Captain Blood, George Armstrong Custer, Geoffrey Thorpe, or Gentleman Jim. The Experts have Spoken.

www-nottinghampost-com.cdn.ampproject.org…

“The Best Robin Hood”:

Also-Ran Errol Flynn:

youtu.be/4MqmpL6X_8w…

— Tim

 

“Restored to its Past Glory”

03 Jun

“On October 15th, 1938, Warner Brothers opened The State Theatre as a test market for new films. The state-of-the-art cinema was built in record-time — just four months — for a whopping $70,000. “The Sisters” starring Errol Flynn and Bette Davis was the film on opening day. Adult admission was 30 cents for matinees, 35 cents after 5 p.m. Children’s tickets cost just 15 pennies.”

“As it approaches the 80th anniversary of its opening, the State Theatre has been recognized as a State College historic site.”

onwardstate-com.cdn.ampproject.org…

— Tim

 

Errol & The Blushing Bride

02 Jun

Oakland Tribune
Sunday, December 28, 1941

“Errol Flynn’s been tipping the waiter for Jackie Gately, the prize show girl.”

“American glamour girl Jackie Gately was a burlesque dancer who worked both in the US and Europe. At the age of 17, she was picked as the most attractive girl at the Paradise Restaurant on Broadway in 1938. After that she spent a season dancing in European night clubs, chaperoned by her mother. She appeared in a ‘soundie’ titled The Blushing Bride released in 1942, doing a sort of striptease as the bride gets ready for her nuptial bed, removing her wedding gown, but at the end she is still wearing her undergarments. In 1942, her short career as a glamour girl ended when she married.”

youtu.be/CMAJZ1N_NhQ…

She was “The Girl from Yell County”
books.google.com…

— Tim

 

67 Years Ago Today

30 May

May 30, 1951 – The Canberra Times

ERROL FLYNN TO
ENTERTAIN KOREAN TROOPS

HOLLYWOOD – Tuesday.

Jack Benny and Errol Flynn
will head troupe to ‘entertain
soldiers in Japan and Korea,
the Hollywood Co-ordinating-
Committee of the United Services
Organisation announced yesterday’

— Tim

 

76 Years Ago Today

29 May

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