Mail Bag! Thanks to Jan van der Vliet …
The Chicago Review, 2006
— David DeWitt
Archive for the ‘Mail Bag’ Category
The Errol Flynn Blog Migration in November!
01
Nov
Mail Bag to The Errol Flynn Blog from our hosting outfit at PressHarbor:
“Thank you for your patience, at last we are ready to begin migrations of all accounts to our new hosting platform.
“Our new platform will continue to be based on Plesk, so all of your existing accounts and passwords will migrate as-is, but this newer version of Plesk and the underlying hardware, software, and infrastructure updates will offer:
– increased security
– improved and guaranteed performance
– free SSL certificate via Let’s Encrypt
– more current versions of PHP
There’s more to come, especially for those of you with multiple sites, but the first phase will be to migrate all sites to the new platform by the end of November.”
The migrations are set to begin November 3, until the end of the month, and we do not yet know what dates our blog will move but we will get that information before it actually happens, I think. It will involve changing our dns server information for our domain name so if, one day, you cannot reach the blog, this will be why. I am told content creation might be interfered with during the the actual move, so let’s all be aware of the the situation and I will keep you as updated as possible …
— David DeWitt
Sean Flynn in FIVE ASHORE IN SINGAPORE
18
Aug
In the Mail Bag we receive this nice inquiry from French film director Raphael Millet. Unfortunately, I do not have any hi res scans or photos of this poster and am wondering if any of you can help him out? He writes:
Bonjour,
I found your contact on the Errol Flynn blog.
I am a French film director, producer and critic.
I love Errol Flynn’s movies.
I also have a passion for Sean Flynn, and great interest in the later part of his life (from 1965 onwards).
I am currently writing a long article about the movie FIVE ASHORE IN SINGAPORE for a magazine published in Singapore.
I have many images of it, including French lobby cards, posters in various languages. But I have no poster of the film in English, and I think this would be most relevant for a publication in English.
I noticed that you have a very nice poster in your collection (see image here attached).
Would it be possible to ask you for a very good high res copy or photo of it, if you have any, in order to have it reproduced in the magazine, together with my article?
It would be a nice way to celebrate Sean Flynn and to pay tribute to his Singaporean adventure.
In exchange, I’d be very happy to have a copy of the magazine being mailed to you, upon publication (around October).
Looking forward to your kind reply.
— David DeWitt
Mail Bag! A Flynn State of Mind!
26
Jul
This comes from our chum Claudia Raab and expresses a great idea:
Hi David,
Hope all is well.
A couple of days ago I had an interesting conversation with a friend who also loves to travel to the U.S. and she told me that she has succeeded in visiting all States at least once.
After this talk I started wondering how many States our man Errol might have been to, and whether this might even be a topic for the EFB.
I can think of some but I’m sure the Flynnthusiasts from the EFB know a lot more.
Alabama
Alaska – USO tour in 1943
Arizona – filming for Virginia City (Sedona, Painted Desert, visiting the Grand Canyon and probably quite a few bars in Flagstaff) and Without Incident at Old Tucson Studios
Arkansas
California – that’s a no-brainer ;-)
Colorado – premiere of Silver River in Denver
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas – premiere of Dodge City
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada – premiere of Virginia City, boating/fishing on Lake Mead with Sean
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico – filming of Rocky Mountain around Gallup, premiere of Santa Fe Trail
New York – he visited NYC quite a few times
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon – fishing on the Klamath River (although that might have been in Northern California)
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah – skiing at Alta
Vermont
Virginia/DC
Washington – stopover in Seattle on his way to Alaska (not sure about this; I think I read it somewhere but can’t find any evidence)
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Best,
Claudia
Thanks, Claudia!
— David DeWitt
Mail Bag! More from Audie! Hollywood Censorship!
13
Jul
Audie writes back!
Thank you David,
The movie, “The Sun Also Rises” was a great addition the current the running of the bulls and we watched the provided link last night. The contribution was assuredly welcomed.
Interestingly enough, my husband and myself have become fans of Portuguese bull “fighting” or rather harassing the bull rather than killing the beast. The main characters in the ring is not the bull but rather the magnificence Lusitania horses that are Haute Ecole trained and seemingly love their faire. The “Suicide squad” is something you don’t see in Spanish bull fighting and dangerous but quite entertaining.
I found this on Open Culture with a blurb about our Boy:
“Another speech, however, passed without a murmur. After Errol Flynn’s character discovers the bodies of his friends, mutilated after hideous tortures by the Japanese, a newspaper correspondent spits out, “They’re degenerate, immoral idiots. Stinking little savages. Wipe them out, I say. Wipe them off the face of the earth.” Flynn says nothing in response.*
*Screenwriter Alvah Bessie, of later Hollywood Ten fame, had written a reply for Flynn’s character that said the violence was fascist, not inherently Japanese. But producer Jerry Wald cut it.
For reference, it can be found here:
and below: then click the link “wrote a letter to a Jesuit priest”
Please use this of Open Culture information whatever you wish that might seem noteworthy to other Flynn fans (my very small contribution), if not already posted.
Enjoy,
Audie
— David DeWitt
Mail Bag! Errol Flynn Fan Since Age 11!
12
Jul
Received this wonderful mail bag item from Claudia Raab this morning and am sharing it with everybody!
Thanks, Claudia!
Hello David,
As an Errol Flynn fan since my 11th birthday when I saw „The Adventures of Robin Hood“ for the first time, I’ve been following your blog for quite a while now. I still can’t get over how much information and interesting tidbits you and the other authors have gathered and presented there.
I’m nowhere close to being a “Flynn scientist” like you guys, but I’ve managed to visit some locations connected to him in one way or the other, mainly during my trips to the Southwest and the West coast (my favorite places to go on vacation).
I visited the El Rancho Hotel in Gallup last year which was mentioned in your blog two weeks ago, and took a picture of the sign at the door of the Errol Flynn room. Feel free to add it to your blog if you think it’s interesting enough! What I really liked is that the room next to Errol’s is named after his friend Ida Lupino.
I also visited Lone Pine with the beautiful Alabama Hills where parts of “The Charge of the Light Brigade” and “Kim” were filmed. The small movie museum there has several posters of Flynn movies as well as a coat that he wore in “Kim”. Thought you might like the photos (although you’ve probably seen it yourself).
Keep up the great work!
Best regards
Claudia Raab
(Munich, Germany)
— David DeWitt
Mail Bag! Contemporaries of Flynn?
10
Jul
William Russo send me another interesting email, and I think it is worth publishing!
Dear David,
Amazing what turned up from just a few references to MWWW. And thanks for the tip on the Earl Conrad book; I was able to order a copy from Amazon.
There is another topic I would like to throw open. As a long time student of history (I detest the term “history buff”) I take particular interest in discovering what things or personages were contemporaneous within a given context. That is, when we study certain regions in a linear fashion, we fail to realize the full context of the surrounding world at that time. For example, long ago I knew a few things about Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana purchase. I also knew a few things about the French revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte. But when I realized that Jefferson negotiated the purchase from Napoleon, I was stunned. I had never even considered them as contemporaries!
So, I started to wonder a few years ago, who might Erroll Flynn have crossed paths with? Some Googling came up with a few surprises. FDR and Eleanor, for one. Not surprising in the time frame, but interesting that Flynn merited such status. One connection that for some forgotten reason intrigued me, was, did Flynn know Hemingway? What little I found turned out to be even more intriguing. Based solely on comments from Hemingway; Hemingway, early on anyway, without having ever met him, seemed to have a low opinion of Flynn, considering him something like a dilettante and a clown. As time passed, I got the impression that Hemingway resented Fynn’s fame as an adventurer, didn’t want to acknowledge it, and may have been jealous that Flynn was living the life that he, Earnest Hemingway should be noted for. I think Hemingway wanted to be the model for the prototypical, honest, down to earth, man’s man adventurer, without promoting himself as such; except that was exactly what he was doing; promoting himself, which of course contradicts the image. He had the habit of overstating the importance of understatement as a demeanor. In any case he may or may not have met Flynn in Spain during the Spanish civil war. Though he walked out of a screening of The Sun Also Rises in disgust, after a few minutes, he later commented that he heard Flynn had been pretty good. I did find a picture of the two, presumably from the mid 1950s, both old and grizzled, possibly taken in Cuba. I do not know the occasion or their dispositions.
I was happy to discover that Erroll and Orson Wells, had a cordial relationship, including as drinking buddies; and that Flynn, the older of the two, regarded Wells as a somewhat wayward youth! I do know that Wells persuaded Flynn to let him use the Zaca as the yacht in Lady from
Shanghi. I know also that Flynn spent a short time with Fidel Castro in 1958 or 59 and I’m sure Castro thought that pretty cool, as did Flynn, in that it re-affirmed his belief that he was a legitimate journalist.
So who other unlikely or notable personages crossed paths with our man Flynn?
Thanks, William! As I replied to you, it is more a question of Who did Flynn not meet?
— David DeWitt
Mail Bag! Errol, Audie and the Bird Man!
05
Jul
Received a great email from Audie in Portugal who has a question and an interesting story about how Errol reaches so many people even today!
I read MWWW in the late 70’s/early 80’s in paperback edition, borrowed from a friend and was hooked!
It wasn’t until much later while at a St. Simons Island, GA, USA library I found a book about his son and himself and was hooked all over again.
My future (and now) husband (living as expats in Portugal) attended a Flynn celebration in St Augustine, Florida when Rory was supposed to be there at a “Sea Hawk” film in 2015.
Even tho she was not there, my future husband and myself enjoyed the festivities. We will always remember that time as “young” oldsters.
I have followed (lurked) this blog since a bit before then and have collected many books about ELTF.
My all time wish about MWWW’s is to know about the first edition copy, printed in England in which “Tiger Lil’s” comments were deleted for the USA edition. If anyone knows, I would be very much interested in what she had to say about him.
Does anyone know?
I have several first edition books about our favorite playboy and also have several first edition books by David Niven, who has several amusing (or not, in David’s case) anecdotes about his Hollywood friend.
From a somewhat long time lurker (only about 4 years, now), I very much like the daily edition of this great blog.
Keep up the good work David!
Warm regards,
Audie
And an addendum:
About giving books to interested Flynn fans, here is another personal Flynn story.
There happens to be a bird loving gentleman who frequents the park next to the pier on St. Simons Island, GA. He arrives in the morning with his lawn chair and several bags of day old bread. Once settled in, he tosses up bread tidbits and watches the starlings (and now sea gulls) play their swoop and grab game in mid air. The amazing thing is that the birds respect him and never leave their “calling cards” anywhere near where he is sitting. They light upon his head and his arm, when extended, for the treat. He can individually identify them and one he calls Niki because of the recognizable white brand on its wing. The locals call him “Bird Man” and he has been the focus of a couple of news worthy articles.
The first time I met him, somehow within the first 10 minutes of conversation settled on Flynn. Not a usual topic for a first meeting. He told me that his middle name was Errol and it seems as though he was conceived one night after his parents watched an amorous Flynn movie.
While making plans to visit the Flynn blowout at St. Augustine Florida with my future husband on our first date… I had noticed a duplicate first edition copy of MWWW in my library and gave it to him. He was very grateful and hesitated to take it but after knowing of the duplicate, he accepted the book, smiling.
I didn’t have a chance before we left to let “Bird Man” know that the man I introduced to him (and also this blog) is now my husband and we moved to Portugal a year ago. Maybe he will reading this and I am raising my hand from far away, wishing him well. I will call him by the name he wished his parents had used, “Ian Errol”.
I love this blog and it is the only one I read faithfully every day. Thank you everyone for your contributions.
Audie in PT
— David DeWitt
Mail Bag! Dead Ringer for Flynn, The Sons of Flynn!
03
Jul
The mailbag brings us a wonderful email from William Russo:
I’ve been reading your stuff I guess for a couple years now. Truly enjoy it. Takes me into a world I truly love. Though it was the world of my parent’s generation, I feel a nostalgia for it I cannot explain. Though I grew up on Flynn’s movies, I did not come to become immersed into his life and personality until late hippie years. One of my best friends then was a guy named Steve Gilbert. He was a dead ringer for Flynn. Amazingly he had gone to Hollywood High, knew and even dated, I think, Rory! I introduced him to “My Wicked, Wicked Ways”. We each had a copy and would quote from it regularly. We both thought of it as kind of a Bible. I started a club; called it “The Sons of Flynn”. I always kept a couple copies of the book and whenever I met someone who reminded me of Flynn in some significant way, I’d give them a copy. There were only about four additional that I deemed worthy. Most recently, a couple years ago, I met a twenty something attractive blonde from South Africa by way of Canada, at a Cannabis farm in Humboldt county. Not only was she into Flynn, but astonishingly, knew that Vivica Linford played the Queen of Spain, in Don Juan ! She wanted a copy of the book (I didn’t have one at the time), and demanded to become a member of the club! Unfortunately, we lost touch before she could be initiated. This was never a club in anything more than a name, and in my own imagination. One “member” lives in Honolulu, a good look-a- like, the most like Flynn athletically, an ex Army Ranger. Another lives in western Massachusetts. The other is the guy who owned the cannabis farm; eerily reminiscent of the Robin Hood persona. As for Steve, sadly he died about the same age as Erroll, from drug and alcohol abuse. I think Rory’s book, the Baron of Mulhollandis a treasure. It’s like being there, feeling it all. I am going to be traveling in Europe soon (doing some sword fighting!) and living my own version of The Sun Also Rises. Though most of my reading material will on kindle on my tablet, I will be taking only one book, my original paperback copy of My Wicked, Wicked Ways.
Cisco Bill
Thanks so much for the note! and what a read MWWW’s is … I envy anybody who is reading it for the first time, and understand why we keep going back it! Here is the first paperback I read of it:
And two others I read later on:
— David DeWitt
Mail Bag! French Curtiz Bio & Film Book!
16
Apr
Dear Sir,
For all those who love Curtiz and read French, I found this book. He presents an excellent biography and analyzes each of his films including his pre-Hollywood production.
Best – Erik Anzi
Thanks, Erik!
— David DeWitt
