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Archive for the ‘Friends & Family’ Category

Living according to Sean

21 Aug

Dear Flynnmates,

here are some photos of Sean Flynn`s Paris apartment courtesy of PARIS MATCH Magazine.

It was kept intact by his mother Lili Damita, long after he went missing in Vietnam, in hope he might return.

Its interior shows his old man`s lust for adventure as well as his mom`s knack for flair.

A miniature Zaca can be spotted sitting atop the book shelves and a how-to-become-a-photographer manual resides prominently on the kitchen table.

This time capsule`s address was Champs Elysees No. 77.

Enjoy,

— shangheinz

 

Sean Flynn & Lasden Park!

04 Jun

David Rocco sends us this link: westchestermagazine.com…

Thanks, David …

 

— David DeWitt

 

Flyin’ Like Flynns

02 Jun

Three weeks after the world premier of The Adventures of Robin Hood on May 14, 1938, Errol and Lili fly on Western Air Express.

Photo published in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner on June 2, 1938.

— Tim

 

Mulholland Jack Marino’s Tribute to the Forgotten Heroes of Vietnam

31 May

Directed and Produced by Filmmaker and EFB Author, Jack Marino.

Filmed in part at Mulholland Farm.

Starring William Smith.

Featuring Jack Marino as David DeLuca

With references to Errol, including a “Swordfight” a la Robin Hood in the jungles of Vietnam, some of which can be seen in each of the two previews linked below:


Costume Design by Deirdre Flynn.

— Tim

 

In Memory of Sean

31 May

Errol lost his wonderful son, Sean, to the Vietnam War. This is in memory of Sean and to his magnificently brave service as a war correspondent.

Vietnam News Report by Sean


Last Known Footage of Sean


Jackie Coogan PSA for Sean

— Tim

 

Bonjour, Irene, Bonjour

18 May

May 17, 1950

Errol, Princess Ghica, Margaret Eddington and Marelle Flynn

— Tim

 

One, Two, Three – Kick!

15 May

“Beginning in the late 1930s and booming in the 1940s, conga dancing became wildly popular in the US.” Errol occasionally joined in the Congamania – in Cuba, in Hollywood, and in New York. Here is some evidence, beginning with a news report of a wire from Cuba, where Errol had just been, or was very soon to be, involved in a “free-for-all” Dodge City-like fracas at a famous nightclub in Havana, details of which I will post tomorrow.

May 16, 1938

Harrison Carroll
Evening Herald Express ba

Errol Flynn has wired for reservations at La Conga for the night of May 21.

The La Conga in Hollywood


Errol was still kicking more than a year later. Here he is sitting with his sister Rosemary (and Randy Burke) and in a conga line led by Desi Arnaz on tumbadora at the La Conga in Manhattan, on August 5, 1939:



La Conga, Manhattan

The conga craze continued in Hollywood (and around the world) into the Forties. Here’s Desi Arnaz leading a huge line in Too Many Girls (1940) during which he and Lucy fell in love, leading to groundbreaking television history, in the form of I Love Lucy and Desilu Productions, etc. Look for Lucy near the end of this wildly fun conga clip.

— Tim

 

“A Real Homebody”? — “Poorer but Happier”?

30 Apr

April 30, 1957

Louella 0. Parsons in Hollywood

International News Service
Louella O. Parsons Motion Picture Editor

After six years abroad Errol and Mrs. Flynn (Patrice Wymore) return to Hollywood with baby Arnella.
He’s a real homebody now.

DASHING, happy-go-lucky, colorful Errol Flynn, who lost millions, is poorer today but happier than he’s ever been in his life. And he didn’t hesitate to say that Patrice Wymore (the present Mrs. Flynn) is responsible. Six months ago, Errol owed $900,000. Today, he has paid off $750,000 and sees his way clear to handing over the remainder by December. This is a changed Errol. No longer does that roving eye of his look at every pretty girl who enters a room. In the past, Errol was as wild, unpredictable and full of pranks as anyone I ever interviewed. He always talked with his tongue in cheek, and while I always liked him, I used to have the feeling that some of his nonsense was due to the fact that life was not happy. He asked me to have dinner with him and Patrice at La Rue. You can always depend upon Errol to say something different and to make an interview an occasion, and his first words to me were: “Well, what do you think of her?” pointing to the calm, gracious Patrice. A little embarrassed with such frankness, I countered with, “What do you think of her yourself?” “Well, she’s not my type, but 1 love her,” he laughed. “You know, she saved my life. I’d have run when the going was so tough, but, Pat, without a word of complaint, helped me straighten out my affairs, stuck by me and gave me encouragement. “I never thought I’d ever say I’d be lonely for any woman,” he continued, “but, do you know something? I can’t bear to be separated from her. She gives me a confidence I all but lost during those months of worry.”

The Flynns have been in Europe for six years. They left Hollywood in 1950, and Errol had considerable trouble with William Tell, the picture he was to make in Italy. He says he lost over $200,000 of his own money in it. Errol said, “To show you the kind of girl Pat is, she was expecting our bambina any hour when I got word that I had to be in New York on business. She said, ‘You go right ahead and I’ll wait until you return to have the baby.’ I got back Christmas Eve to find that she’d invited 30 people for Christmas Day egg nogs. On Christmas I rushed her to the hospital where the baby was born within a few hours. We just left all our guests at the party. “I never thought I’d want to settle down to family life,” Errol went on, “but you should see me now. You know how I never wanted domesticity. Whenever it threatened me I’d go away on my boat or take a picture assignment away from home. We now have the greatest family life you ever saw.

“Since I’ve been back in Hollywood,” he said, “we’ve had Pat’s parents from Kansas, her grandmother, and all the children with us My two little girls, Deirdre and Rory, by my marriage to Nora Haymes, spend every week end with us, and our daughter Arnella loves playing with them.” His fourteen-year-old son, Sean, by his marriage to Lili Damita, is the spittin’ image of Errol. Patrice told me Sean spent a little time with them in Europe. “He is so handsome and so intelligent,” she said. “He’s now in Florida with his mother.” A woman who can praise a previous wife’s child is all right for my money. Usually there is a feeling of resentment, but if Pat has any feeling of this sort she’s a great actress. Errol said, “At Universal-International they gave me some of rry ‘face’ back with a great part in Istanbul. I hope to come back and make another picture for them; it’s a nice studio. I’ll return in December.” “Didn’t you almost turn in at Warner Brothers studio by mistake?” I asked him. He started his career at Warners with Captain Blood [the film which made him] one of the top stars in the country.

Errol is older now and wiser. He has taken off some of the weight which so shocked me when I first saw him after his return here. But he’s still and always will be the same charm boy. When domesticity threatened in the past, he’d be off to other shores.

— Tim

 

Errol’s Tasmania

27 Apr

This is what Tasmania was like when Errol last lived Down Under:

— Tim

 

Road to Mulholland

24 Apr

On Sunday, February 13, 1949, Flynn Flung a Party Up at the Farm on Mulholland.

See, Flynn Flings a Party on the EFB

On the list of luminaries invited to that A-list soiree was the fum and gorgeous Dorothy Lamour. Here she is that party, just her and Errol.

It’s been said that Errol and Dorothy dated. They certainly appear to have enjoyed each other’s company very much and could have been an extremely attractive couple. Circa their being together in ’49, Dorothy recorded ‘Moonlight Becomes You’, a sensational song that became an instant classic when Bing Crosby sang it to her years earlier in Road to Morocco.

Seen in a different light, the title ‘Moonlight Becomes You’ could also be interpreted as ironically applying to the rape trial turning point in Errol’s life, though I’m sure Dorothy never had that in mind. …Here she is singing the song that (rightfully) helped make her famous. (I know I’ve had a major crush on her since the day I first her in that Hope-Crosby classic.) Background vocals by the great Crew Chiefs, known mostly for singing during the War with the Glenn Miller Orchestra.


CONNECTIONS

Errol was going through a very difficult time in his marriage with Nora, one that sadly resulted in divorce. Nora was a beautiful and desirable woman, so much so that Dick Hames and John Ireland were both trying to win her affections in 1949. So much so that one of the world’s greatest songwriters – Jimmy Van Heusen – also fell in love with her, making his feelings known for all time in the ‘But Beautiful’ – a now-standard jazz gem which Bing also sang to Dorothy in a Road picture – the Road to Rio! – And which was also sung at Nora’s funeral ❤.

Here’s the beautiful ‘But Beautiful’, written for Nora, sang here to Dorothy Lamour:

— Tim