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Archive for the ‘Gentleman Tim’ Category

Lili Leaves for PB

12 Mar

March 12, 1938

Louella O. Parsons
Los Angeles Examiner

Lili Damita leaves for Palm Beach shortly to meet Errol Flynn and come back through the Canal with him.

And here’s a photo of Tiger Lil’ taking a “Palm Beach Cab” on what appears what might be the town’s world famous Worth Avenue. Probably taken after she divorced Fleen.

picclick.com…

“The bicycle chair- sometimes called the “Afrimobile” or “Palm Beach Cab” was the only wheeled conveyance (other than a railroad or trolley car) allowed on Palm Beach at the turn of the century. The hotels employed drivers by the hundreds during the season.”

— Tim

 

‘A Different Idea of Elegance’

12 Mar

March 9, 1938

Erskine Johnson
Behind the Makeup
Los Angeles Examiner

Errol Flynn’s ambition is to play Cyrano de Bergerac on the screen, but studio bosses frown on the idea of his appearing with a long, false nose.

— Tim

 

$500 Reward Quiz

10 Mar

What does a $500 reward have to do with Errol Flynn?

— Tim

 

Looks Like a New Team

08 Mar

Read the rest of this entry »

— Tim

 

White Rajah, Wrong Times

07 Mar

March 7, 1939

Hollywood Citizens News

Errol Flynn’s four assignments, in order of their production, will be The White Rajah, written by him; The Sea Hawk, The Knight and the Lady, with Bette Davis, and Don Juan. Each will be a $2,000,000 film.

Errol’s White Rajah contract with Warners:

Another swing and a miss in ’47”

— Tim

 

The Valley of Death

06 Mar

March 5, 1936

Harrison Carrol
LA Evening Herald Express

Movie location scouts have found a replica of Tennyson’s famous near Chatsworth, Cal., and the scene will shortly become one of Hollywood’s biggest sets. The picture, of course, is The Charge of the Light Brigade. Warner Bros had to find a valley floor big enough for the operations of 300 infantry and of 690 calvarymen. Tennyson’s poem had only 600 calvarymen in the charge, but studio research depts. are more accurate than poets and they have determined that 690 calvarymen actually stormed the Russian fortifications.

These fortifications, to be erected upon the top of the hills forming one wall of the valley, are to be on a grand scale. No miniatures for this battle scene, which, if you remember, finds the English the French and the Turks pitted against the armies of the czar.

Looking toward an English market for this Crimean War special, Warners is out to get a British cast to support Irish-born Errol Flynn in his second screen appearance. They have cabled Irving Asher to test the best available young actors in London for the role of Flynn’s younger brother.

“The Battle of Balaclava is one of the most famous battles of all time, despite being a comparatively minor engagement in the Crimean War. The futile heroics of the soldiers who fought there may have gone relatively unnoticed if not for a picture and a poem.”

“The battle itself is fraught with anecdotes and personalities that combine to make legend. The events of October 25th, 1854 evolve like the episodes of a Greek tragedy, with the fate of the soldiers hinging on the acts of a handful of characters.”

smithjan.com…

— Tim

 

Morning After

05 Mar

March 4, 1939

Erskine Johnson
Behind the Makeup
Los Angeles Examiner

Morning after the Academy Awards banquet, Donald Crisp sent a telegram to Errol Flynn, vacationing in the South. “Dear Errol,” it read. “Last night the Academy Awards banquet was held. Your name was not mentioned.”

Deplorable that Flynn was not even nominated for his immortal portrayal of Robin Hood.

The nominees were:

Spencer Tracy, for Boys Town

Charles Boyer, for Algiers

James Cagney, for Angels with Dirty Faces

Robert Donat, for The Citadel

Leslie Howard, for Pygmalion

And the winner was:

Spencer Tracy, for Boys Town

www.oscars.org…

Proper Evaluations of Flynn’s Greatness

The model of an action hero in 1938’s The Adventures of Robin Hood, the dashing star made the swordplay and wooing look so effortless that it’s easy to ignore the craft behind his derring-do. – Entertainment Weekly

 

He was the Tom Cruise of the 1930s, a global superstar whose natural charisma and box-office power put him at the tippytop of Hollywood — and he never won an Oscar. Unlike Cruise, Flynn was never even nominated, not for “Captain Blood,” “The Charge of the Light Brigade” or 1938’s still-dazzling “The Adventures of Robin Hood.” – Boston Herald

 

Unfortunately, at the time when Errol enjoyed his greatest success, the adventure film, as a genre, was not sufficiently appreciated and therefore [Errol’s] appearances therein were not as highly regarded as they [are now.] … [He] played his roles with unmatchable verve, conviction, and style. In doing so, he inherited the mantle of Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., who was my favorite film star at the age of 9 and whose ‘The Black Pirate’ left an indelible impression on me. No one since Errol has worn that mantle; it is buried with him. – Lady Marian Fitzwater

 

— Tim

 

Uncommonly Quiet

03 Mar

March 2, 1942

Harrison Carroll
Evening Herald Express

Are Warners trying to keep Errol Flynn under wraps these days? His set is usually closed to newspaper people and the studio publicity department is uncommonly quiet about the star.

This article was written during filming of Desperate Journey, at a time which Errol was said to be suffering from tuberculosis, dropping to 165-pounds at one point.

— Tim

 

In a State of Chaos

02 Mar

As quoted in My Wicked, Wicked Ways

March 1, 1949

Sheila Graham
New York Journal-American

Errol Flynn is far from being the happiest man in the world at this point. Not only is his domestic life in a state of chaos, but he has to make a western as his next movie. Errol is tired of shooting it up in the saddle. He doesn’t want to be a rich man’s Roy Rogers.

1949 – In the State of Chaos

1950 – In the State of Montana

— Tim

 

Leap Day 1940 – Part 2

01 Mar

February 29, 1940

Sidney Skolsky
Watching Them Make Pictures

If you wait long enough on a Michael Curtiz set, you’re bound to hear a Curtizism. The other afternoon on the set of The Sea Hawk I had a long wait. In fact for the first time I thought reliable Mike was going to fail me. Director Curtiz had Errol play a scene over and over. And everytime he gave an order I expected him to pull a gem. But he didn’t.

Finally, Errol did the scene the way Curtiz and reliable Mike came through. He said: “Errol, you worked hard. But it’s alright. You can’t get anything for nothing unless you pay for it.”

— Tim