FDR’s Birthday Horse Show
All Proceeds to Infantile Paralysis Charities
Errol Rode White House Horse, “Badger”.
“FIRST LADY PRESENTS TROPHY. WASHINGTON, D.C. JANUARY 25. ERROL FLYNN, STEPPING OUT OF HIS ROLE AS MOVIE STAR, TURNED HORSEMAN, AT THE FORT MYER PRESIDENT’S BIRTHDAY HORSE SHOW. MRS. ROOSEVELT PRESENTS THE HACK CLASS TROPHY WHICH HE WON”
— Tim
Invention of the French Riviera:
www.francetoday.com…
Errol & Bridgett:
Errol & Tilda:
Errol & Clelle @ what appears to be Cannes:
03 Sep 1953, Venice, Italy — Original caption: Errol Flynn Suffers Back Injury. Venice, Italy: An old back injury, which sent him to bed in his hotel suite, is keeping film star Errol Flynn from enjoying many days such as the one he is shown sharing with Mrs. Barry Mahon under sunny Italian skies. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS
A Glimpse of Flynn at the Festival:
— Tim
The Marriage of Theodore Thompson Flynn & Lily Mary Young
At St. John’s Anglican (Church of England) Church in Balmain, Sydney*
* Very young Errol was there, too, then several months in Lily’s womb.
— Tim
Rory & Sean have been a Very Big Hit in Coronado this Weekend, at all the VIP Ceremonies, Rory’s sensational Show about Errol, Dive Bomber, introduced by Sean, and a “The Baron of Mulholland” Meet & Greet/Book Signing.
Chris Lemmon and Leonard Maltin were around. Legendary Flynn-Fan Richard Dreyfuss met with Rory & Sean before the show.
Several festival guests had great stories about Errol. One was a little girl at her aunt’s home in Holmby Hills when Errol came by and read all the kids Peter and the Wolf. One fellow’s father used to watch Errol play tennis at the Hotel Del and said he was incredible, one day nearly beating the top ranked player in California/one of best players in the world. Also heard about Errol socializing with Naval officers at North Island Officers Club, at the Hotel Del bar, and at their homes on Coronado.
P.S. Dive Bomber is extraordinary on the big screen.
— Tim
Today and tomorrow will be the Flynn place to be, Flynncluding at the Coronado Library, which is hosting some of the many great events at the Coronado Island Film Festival.
As did Errol himself, numerous Flynn Crowd celebrities used to visit Coronado. One notable Flynnsider who lived on the island wrote the following tribute to the Coronado Library. Who was she or he?
Here are some displays now in the library:
— Tim
Which is your favorite? Others??
She is the Sunlight
100 Years
Passionate Kisses
— Tim
“In Like Flynn” is commonly said to be a reference to Errol Flynn, the Australian film actor. Flynn was famous for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films and for his flamboyant private life. His reputation as a hard-drinking, hell-raising ladies’ man was apparently well justified, although it has doubtless been enhanced by his delight in playing up to his image. For instance, he titled his autobiography – My Wicked, Wicked Ways and also did nothing to dispel the incredible but nonetheless widespread rumours as to the the size of his penis and the number of women who had shared his bed. Flynn was fully acquitted in February 1943 for the statutory rape.
‘In like Flynn’ – was that Errol Flynn?
The word in had been used with regard to success, good fortune or sexual conquest for some years prior to the 1940s; for example:
John Mills’ Life Race-Horse, 1854:
“The handicapper … considerately classed me among the middle ones, and awarded 6 st. 12 lb. as my burthen. ‘He’s vell in,’ said my owner, ‘very vell in.'”
Alfred Mason’s Clementina, 1901:
“His luck for the moment was altogether in.”
E. Wilson’s Twenties, 1923:
“Well, did Mr. Wilson get it in tonight?”
All of the above might lead us to believe that origin of the phrase ‘in like Flynn’ is clear. As so often though, things aren’t quite as tidy as they might first seem. The earliest recorded use of the phrase is in a December 1946 edition of American Speech:
“In like Flynn, everything is O.K. In other words, the pilot is having no more trouble than Errol Flynn has in his cinematic feats.”
That doesn’t have the sexual connotations that the phrase acquired later. There’s also an earlier, albeit oblique, reference from 1942 – in The San Francisco Examiner (Sports section):
“Answer these questions correctly and your name is Flynn, meaning you’re in, provided you have two left feet and the written consent of your parents.”
Errol Flynn’s particular notoriety as someone especially likely to be ‘in’ in a sexual sense came about after his trial in 1943, although he was already known as a screen romantic lead. If the phrase does derive from his name then it appears to have been coined in regard to his all-round flamboyance and fame – which were both considerable by 1942 – rather than specifically his sexual success.
Another possible figure who could plausibly have been the source of the phrase is the political organizer Edward J. Flynn. He was a campaign manager for the Democratic party during the 1930s and 40s and was well-known to be highly effective at arranging political successes. Such machiavellian organizers were known as bosses. Flynn, with some irony, called his autobiography ‘You’re the Boss’, in a reference to the American voting public.
Edward J. Flynn had not been associated with the phrase ‘in like Flynn’ prior to the efforts by etymologists to explain it though and no records from the 1940s make any such link. It seems very much more likely that Errol Flynn is the Flynn in question and, although the phrase may have been used before he was at the peak of his celebrity, it became well-known by association with him.
Adapted primarily and quoting from:
The Phrase Finder
See, also:
— Tim
