From Olivia’s childhood home in beautiful Saratoga, California:
A fun and very informative circa 1990’s interview of Olivia from Saratoga, including some very humorous references to “touching bases” (and not touching bases) with Errol. (At ~ 12:00 and briefly at very end of interview.)
— Tim
As long as we’re horsing around …
Who in the orbit of Errolworld was the first to fly a horse to a thoroughbred race?
He or she was:
1) A singer
2) A movie actor
3) A radio broadcaster
4) A horse breeder and trainer
5) Owner of a famous home and property
6) The flying horse won, paying $38 on a $2 bet, at a track Seabiscuit famously raced at, and the only track in the U.S. permitted to stay ooen during WW II.
7) Along on the (Flying Tiger) flight came a filly as company
— Tim
Arrogate v. California Chrome. Names that would have worked well in Errol’s own stable.
It was a great day at the races today at Hollywood’s hometown horsetrack, Santa Anita, one of Errol’s favorite haunts, where he often played the ponies, and occasionally raced some of his own.
“America’s biggest race may be the Kentucky Derby, but Santa Anita – or ‘Hollywood’s Racetrack’ – in California wins in the glamour stakes.”
“Since Santa Anita Park opened back in 1934, the horse race track has been featured in numerous films, including A Star is Born (1954), Bob Hope’s The Lemon Drop Kid, the Marx Brothers film A Day At The Races and National Lampoon’s Vacation to name just a few.”
— Tim
Live from Caesar’s, photos for the EFB.
Chaplin, Barrymore, Arbuckle, Keaton, Capone, Hayworth and Flynn, they all came here. A top hot spot for Hollywood luminaries during Prohibition, and, again, during the U.S. gambling ban of WW II.
See if you can see Mickey Rooney and Joe DiMaggio in the photos below.
— Tim
From American Cinematographer
The Sea Hawk Meets the Six Pack
Hardesty, Mary, American Cinematographer
Miller spot uses classic footage from Flynn adventure to set up clever pitch for product.
Did you ever notice the monkey in the galley scene from the classic film The Sea Hawk starring Errol Flynn? Maybe not, but Miller Beer has cleverly brought him to the foreground with their new Miller Genuine Draft Beer 30-second takeoff. This time the monkey appears monkey appears at one of the portholes and drops a bottle which rolls to one of the rowing men.
“The knife the forced laborers use to extricate themselves and escape [in the film] is now a bottle of beer,” explains cinematographer Curtis Clark, ASC, who collaborated on the ad with first-time director Angus Wall. “The challenge was to link Errol Flynn and the original actors with our new guy. Instead of the knife, he’s handed the bottle of beer.”
To make it appear as if Flynn was actually handed a brew, Clark used motion control and a bottle on a rig to match the actions needed to composite the bottle into the late actor’s hand.
Light, angles and perspective proved to be the biggest worries during the five-day shoot at Renmar Studios in Los Angeles, on a set constructed to match the 1940s set. “We had the original footage with us during the entire shoot, so we were able to estimate the perspective needed,” Clark recalls. Although he didn’t have access to continuity reports of the original footage, he was able to make use of video assist to help him match footage. “We would feed in the original scene and superimpose our bottle over the point where Flynn’s hand was, which allowed us to quickly see if the bottle was at the correct perspective,” explains Clark, who was given one day to shoot two such scenes.
To capture the original Forties look, Clark chose Kodak Double X black & white stock. “We took the closest source of the film – in this case a D-1 transfer from Turner Broadcasting’s library –
and used it on the Cineon at Pacific Ocean Post to replicate the look of the original film grain, which was coarser than today’s stock,” explains Clark. “Because we didn’t know the exact steps the filmmakers went through to create the original footage, we had to guess the grain sharpness and diffusion levels.”
To further add to the authentic period feel, Clark and the director decided to recreate the shooting style of the period using the same lighting techniques and lenses.
Fortunately, Clark had found a set of old Cooke lenses that had been rehoused when he was shooting the King Kong Eveready Battery spot [AC March ’94], so he was able to use that gained knowledge to save time and accomplish his lighting tests in only one day.
“From my work on the King Kong spot I knew we needed to use tungsten lighting and traditional studio lamps. The lighting styles used in those days were, in many respects, old-fashioned,” observes Clark, who notes that many older features lack lighting continuity. “They’re not anything like what we would do today. The trick is to always refer back to the reality of the original film and not do what you would normally do to improve the lighting. Making it nicer is not the point: you want to
capture the original Forties look, Clark chose Kodak Double X black & white stock. “We took the closest source of the film – in this case a D-1 transfer from Turner Broadcasting’s library . We had to guess the grain sharpness and diffusion levels [the original filmmakers used.]”
To further add to the authentic period feel, Clark and the director decided to recreate the shooting style of the period using the same lighting techniques and lenses. Fortunately, Clark had found a set of old Cooke lenses that had been rehoused when he was shooting the King Kong Eveready Battery spot.
Publication information: Article title: The Sea Hawk Meets the Six-Pack. Contributors: Hardesty, Mary – Author. Magazine title: American Cinematographer. Volume: 76. Issue: 5 Publication date: May 1995. Page number: 81+. © American Society of Cinematographers.
Is there anyone out there who knows where to find a copy of the Sea Hawk Miller commercial? I’m sure we all would love to see it posted! Thanks.
Here’s the scene stealing Sea Hawk monkey stealing a separate scen from Sea Hawk:
— Tim
Hangout of Hollywood megastars travelling to and fro Old Tijuana:
Note images of Veronica Lake, Clark Gable and Lana Turner on the southern wall:
The former secret upstairs casino:
From the official website, here’s interior shot of the current day restaurant, with a commanding image of Flynn:
— Tim
In Celebration of Rita Hayworth’s 98th Birthday
Live from Lovely Rita’s home in Chula Vista, California, where she lived as a young teen, working across the border in Golden Age Tijuana, only fifteen or so minutes away. Rita performed at Hollywood honcho hangouts like the Hotel (Agua) Caliente and the Foreign Club Cafe de Luxe, where she began her entertainment career dancing with her father in The (Dancing) Cansinos.
In a photo taken this weekend for the EFB, here is Margarita’s former childhood home, a fact her present day neighbors were thrilled to learn.
And here are photos from that era of her early career, when she was Margarita Cansino.
As a young teen, Rita danced at the following famous Hollywood-popular venues in Tijuana, where it is said she was discovered..
¡Adios, Flynnamigos!
— Tim
The most handsome man ever. Errol Flynn?
… Or was it Brooke’s father, and Errol’s former tennis friend, Frank Shields?
Two opinions found in this definitive article on New York’s premier high society haunt. I vote with the Lebanese doorman’s wife. How about you?
— Tim
A DOUBLE HEADER QUIZ
FIRST PITCH – Right Down the Middle
With the summer season of Cricket beginning Down Under, who was “The Errol Flynn of Cricket”?
SECOND PITCH – A Screw Ball
What film did both Errol and Lili appear in?
This being a Hall of Fame-level pitch, I provide the following batting tips
(not that they’ll likely help much – this a very, very tough one!):
> It was produced by Howard Hughes.
> Paulette Goddard co-starred.
> E.F.Hutton was involved.
> It was filmed entirely outside California.
— Tim
