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Archive for the ‘Gentleman Tim’ Category

A Really Big Show

27 Jan

Ed Sullivan proving Errol wasn’t alone in his admiration of early Castro …

A string of other gushing interviews would quickly follow Sullivan’s, conducted by everyone from the revered CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow to the Hollywood actor Errol Flynn. A few months later, in April 1959, Fidel even traveled on a victory lap of the northeastern United States: he was mobbed by admirers as he ate hot dogs in New York City, spoke at Princeton, and made dutiful visits to hallowed shrines of democracy such as Mount Vernon and the Lincoln Memorial.

www.smithsonianmag.com…

“Errol Flynn’s Ghost: Thomas McNulty on Flynn Meeting Fidel Castro” on Vimeo:

Errol Flynn's Ghost: Thomas McNulty on Flynn Meeting Fidel Castro from Hammer and Nail Productions on Vimeo.

— Tim

 

Get Giesler!

21 Jan

LIFE MAGAZINE – MAY 1, 1944

books.google.com…

— Tim

 

A Classical Quiz

19 Jan

What classical music is used for a theme in the first official U. S. trailer for “In Like Flynn” ?

Classical Clues:

It’s one of the most recognizable musical masterpieces in the world.

The composer was very famous in his own lifetime.

This particular composition of his, however, was not published until forty years after his death.

— Tim

 

In Like Flynn in the U. S. A.

19 Jan

Kudos to King Karl for keeping us current on all the King of Swashbuckler news fit to print!

www.firstshowing.net…

— Tim

 

Trial and Tribulations Begin — January 11, 1943

12 Jan

“Actor Errol Flynn, left, sits at his counsel’s table with defense attorney Robert E. Ford, awaiting the start of his trial on Jan 11, 1943 in Los Angeles, on charges he committed statutory rape upon 17-year-old Betty Hansen, seated at left behind Flynn, and Peggy Larue Satterlee, 16-year-old Hollywood night club entertainer. At the left of Ford is Mickey Satterlee, Peggy’s sister. (AP Photo)”

Defendant: Errol Flynn
Crime Charged: Statutory Rape
Chief Defense Lawyers: Jerry Geisler and Robert Neeb
Chief Prosecutors: Thomas W. Cochran and John Hopkins
Judge: Leslie E. Still
Place: Los Angeles, California
Dates of Trial: January 11-February 6, 1943
Verdict: Not guilty

SIGNIFICANCE: Despite the outcome, the Errol Flynn trial focused national attention on Hollywood’s sexual mores, which both titillated and shocked many Americans. The trial also put the phrase “In like Flynn” into the American language.

In 1942, Errol Flynn was at the height of his swashbuckling Hollywood career. In 10 years, the handsome native of Australia had made 26 movies—among them such overnight classics as Captain Blood, The Adventures of Robin Hood, and The Sea Hawk. Flynn lived a boisterous, daring life that was also devil-may-care. He worked hard, drank hard, loved hard. Women everywhere had fallen for his splendid physique, his cleft chin, and his enticing dimples, and women everywhere were available to him.

At a party in September 1942, Flynn met 17-year-old Betty Hansen, who arrived with a studio messenger and who dreamed of moviedom fame and fortune. By dinnertime, Hansen had thrown up from too much drinking.

The next day, Hansen told her sister that Flynn had taken her upstairs to clean up, then seduced her in a bedroom. A complaint was filed with District Attorney Thomas W. Cochran, who recalled a similar complaint by one Peggy Satterlee after a voyage aboard Flynn’s yacht. That charge had been dropped.

Flynn’s stand-in stuntman, Buster Wiles, later said Satterlee’s father had earlier approached Flynn with a demand for money, or, said Wiles, “he would lie to the police that his underage daughter had sexual relations with Flynn.”

Flynn was arrested in October. He hired Hollywood’s ace lawyer, Jerry Geisler.

Fans and sensation seekers thronged Flynn’s neighborhood, spying through binoculars, prowling over his 11-acre property, mobbing the courthouse at his preliminary hearing, pulling at his buttons and shoes.

Selecting the jury on January 11, 1943, Geisler purposely took nine women, gambling that the females’ attraction to the movie star would outweigh concern over the seduction of innocence.

Prosecutor Cochran opened with the Betty Hansen charge. Geisler’s crossexamination proved that her testimony was confused and that she was currently awaiting action on a possible felony charge with her boyfriend, the studio messenger.

Above trial history from:
law.jrank.org…

— Tim

 

Supreme Failure

08 Jan

The Supreme Court cowardly rewards the greed-driven deceit of Ryan Murphy, FX, and all in the film industry who selfishly perpetuate such conduct.

Bravo, Olivia, for standing up against and exposing these self-serving frauds.

In the words of Olivia’s superb attorney, Suzelle Smith.

“We and Miss de Havilland are very disappointed that the U.S. Supreme Court passed on this opportunity to confirm that the 1st Amendment does not protect the publication of intentional lies in any medium, including so called docudramas,”

“The California Court of Appeal has turned the 1st Amendment upside down, and without doubt more harm to individuals and public deception will result. One day someone else who is wronged for the sake of Hollywood profits will have the courage to stand on the shoulders of Miss De Havilland and fight for the right to defend their good name and legacy against intentional, unconsented exploitation and falsehoods. Miss De Havilland hopes she will live to see the day when such justice is done.”

— Tim

 

1938: Errol’s Greatest Year in Cinema?

02 Jan

May 14, 1938

August 4, 1938

October 14, 1938

December 24, 1938

Plus brief appearances in film shorts Breakdowns of 1938 and For Auld Lang Syne.

— Tim

 

For Auld Lang Syne

01 Jan

Eighty Years Ago

Featuring Errol and a host of Hollywood stars in the 7 minute short For Auld Lang Syne,

James Cagney introduced himself and proceeded to identify the attending guests as they arrived at this benefit function, most of whom stepped up to a microphone to be interviewed on the radio by George Jessel, although the only voice heard during the “arrival” sequence is that of Cagney’s.

Cagney introduced Rudy Vallee as the M.C., and Valle presented the Benny Goodman Orchestra in a swing number and then introduced Dick Powell who sang “Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride” from 1938’s “Cowboy from Brooklyn.” Donald Crisp comes on and introduces himself as the co-M.C. and then he introduces Paul Muni, who makes the appeal to the theatre audience to make donations to the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital.

In order of appearance on-screen was: Cagney, Hugh Herbert, Glenda Farrell, George Jessel, Humphrey Bogart, John Barrymore, Bette Davis, Harmon Nelson, Hal Wallis, Louise Fazenda, Basil Rathbone, Marie Wilson, Freddie Bartholomew, Paul Muni, Errol Flynn, Lili Damita, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Gene Krupa, Dick Powell, Donald Crisp and Muni again.

m.imdb.com…

To Fans of Flynn Around the Globe:

— Tim

 

Hi-Tailing It to Texas

30 Dec

Fleeing Hollywood for the Mexican border

December 29, 1939

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Jimmie Fidler

Errol Flynn will vacation on Big Boy Williams’ paternal ranch near Del Rio, Texas.

Del Rio – The Friendliest Little Border Town in Texas – An Oasis in the Desert”
amp-southernliving-com.cdn.ampproject.org…

“Travelers have long been drawn to this oasis on the Rio Grande. The American Indians who inhabited the area more than 4,000 years ago left detailed pictographs on cave walls, now a sort of primitive history book etched in stone. Spanish missionaries planted a church here in 1635 and christened the spot San Felipe del Rio. It was named not for the Rio Grande but in honor of San Felipe Springs, which still offers up to 90 million gallons of spring water every minute.”

“Queen City of the Rio Grande”
www-mysanantonio-com.cdn.ampproject.org…

“The heyday of Del Rio, the “Queen City of the Rio Grande,” as year-round tourist destination, along with nearby Villa Acuña, Coahuila, appears to have been in the 1930s.

During that era, the two sister cities straddling the Texas-Mexico border enchanted businessmen and the leisure class with mix of oasis relaxation and unregulated foreign intrigue.”

— Tim

 

On the second day of Christmas …

26 Dec

DECEMBER 26, 1939

SIDNEY SKOLSKY PRESENTS

Errol Flynn and Guinn Williams sent Orson Welles a Christmas gift – a ham with a beard on it.

— Tim