….with my Mrs. standing in for Errol!
— Robert
Over the years the Gretna Green Wedding Chapel has moved locations around Yuma, Arizona, with at least one disappearing altogether. The actual chapel where Errol and Lili were married on June 19, 1935 still exists and is now a simple, unassuming private home. Because of the growth of foliage in the convening years, it was difficult to line up a single shot to correspond with the vintage photo, so two were required to offer an opportunity to make Then & Now comparisons. Both buildings in the early photo can be seen in current photos on either side of it.
It is apparent that the two buildings have changed very little, but what I find most fascinating is that it appears that the small young palm tree to the left of the chapel entrance in the vintage photo is now a fully grown palm seen in the same position in the current photo on the left. If so, it outlived not only the chapel but many of the marriages conducted at this very location–including that of Flynn and Damita.
Robert
— Robert
NEW DATE and TIME – SUNDAY, February 23, 2014 at 7PM PST & 10PM EST Jack Marino Warriorfilmmaker Show on www.latalkradio.com… on Channel 2
TONIGHT – My guest is Steve Hayes, writer, actor, producer. Steve first came to Hollywood in 1949, stayed a brief time, then went back to Canada and returned in 1950 to stay.
Errol Flynn had promised to sponsor me, he says, but didn’t (typically) so it took me a little while to find one. I then began acting and got my first part at 20th century Fox (where I later was put under contract) in the movie: Bells on Their Toes.
Steve will talk about about Ava Gardner, whom he met at Errol Flynn’s house with her ex-husband, Mickey Rooney. He is pretty sure that was the first time he met her–though he did know Lana Turner well, and he says she also introduced me to Ava–but he says, that was when Ava said we’d already met at Flynn’s.
He will talk about various other movie stars who were in some way attached to her or that he met through her like Lana Turner, Sinatra, and Robert Taylor.
Steve has often told me he has never quite gotten fully over Ava, which is understandable. Sinatra never did either. But she was hard to love. She swore like few women he’d ever known–especially in an era when normal girls rarely swore.
Steve not only knew Lana Turner but worked on a film called Diana or that co-starred a young Roger Moore.
I met Rita Hayworth when I painted her house with my pal and house-painter, Dick Morris, he says. Later, he saw her again and they briefly talked About Hollywood, including about her being being a neighbor of Glenn Ford.
At Errol Flynn’s house he became friends with Ann Sheridan, the Ooomph Girl, who was one of Flynn’s buddies and romantic interests years prior. Steve actually punched out actor Bruce Cabot at a party at Flynn’s.
Ida Lupino was a close pal of Errol’s–I think they cared for one another, he says–and years later, she became a director (Thriller or Chiller) of a weekly TV show. Bob Middleton, Steve’s mentor, starred in one of these shows and Steve visited several days of shooting and talked at great lengths with Ida.
Steve’s birth name was Ivan Hayes, which He says “I soon changed to Steve Hayes because Ivan is Russian for John and the McCarthy/pinko, commie era was in full bloom and Fox insisted I change my name to something more American. I stole the name of Steve from my buddy, Mr. America Steve Reeves, who starred in European films like Hercules.”
Steve has kept a lot of notes for a book entitled:
“Once in Love With Ava.”
YOU CAN GO TO STEVE’S WEBSITE
www.stevehayes.org…
Show call in number: 1-818-602-4929
Jack Marino’s Warriorfilmmaker Show
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Thank you, Jack Marino
Steve “Ivan’ Hayes today and he is holding his 1949 acting head shot when he came to Hollywood.
— David DeWitt
Saw tonight on TCM a terrific segment on the sound recording of Howard Hill’s extraordinary splitting of the arrow in Errol’s Adventures of Robin Hood, followed by a notice that the film will be televised at 8pm this Sunday as part of TCM’s Academy Award Month special programming.
Here are some fascinating facts regarding Errol’s Technicolor masterpiece, the movie said to have saved Erich Corngold’s life:
— Tim
For all of us who used to follow our author Robert Matzen’s E&O blog, here is his new blog and it’s likely he’s going to post some of his old Errol articles, too.
— Inga
Errol Flynn, Sid Ceasar & Mel Brooks!!! – plus two Cuban redheads!! How can anyone ever top that!
— Tim
Errol Flynn & Shirley Temple were never stars in the same movie, but they were certainly mega-stars in the same town – at the same time. While Captain Blood was sailing on the Sirocco, ruling the world as the greatest swashbuckler of all time, Shirley was singing On the Good Ship Lollipop and dancing with Bojangles, winning the hearts of America as the greatest child star in history. Both helped get their many millions of fans through the Depression, and beyond.
Fox & Warners never put them together, but, in addition to them being big box office draws, there were a few intersections. I believe I’ve read that Shirley, when older, did attend at least one party up at Mulholland, for example. During that general timeframe her and Errol made at least one headline together – she with rice being thrown at her, Errol with water.
And, of course – like most other red-blooded American girls – Shirley likely had a crush on Errol, probably dreaming at times of being his first mate:
— Tim