“The Movie Adventures Of Eva Jordan” by Jan Hill.
Eva is thirteen (going on fourteen) and intensely curious. And she wonders why Mr. Owens is talking about Spain, and those “fighting their leader, General Franco, and his fascist ideology.” He adds, “big-time Hollywood actors, like Errol Flynn, the same fellow who will be here soon to play Robin Hood, have already gone to Spain to see what they could do to help the Loyalists.”
— David DeWitt
April 23, 1941
Hollywood Parade
Los Angeles Times
By Ella Wickersham
Once again the door of the picturesque garden house of the Beverly Hills Hotel to receive a notable and festive medley of filmlanders,with Edmund Goulding in the hosting role and Doris Duke Cromwell enjoying the honor spot.
Apropos of the parties Doris has tossed for Eddie’s delectation at her sumptuous home in Hawaii during his Honolulu holidays, and to provide the visitor with a homelike atmosphere, the Garden House was adorned with palms, Polynesian blossoms and other Hawaiian detail.
A Hawaiian played a soft obbligato to the cocktail chatter, and among those bidden wer the Herbert Marshalls, the Gary Coopers, Reggie Gardiner, Ann (Mrs. Jack) Warner, Sonja Henie and Dan Topping, Harry Crocker, Minna Wallis, Lionel Atwell, Barbara Hutton, Cary Grant, Gloria Swanson, John McLane, Walter Brooks, Jack Warner, Rex Cole, the Errol Flynns, Edgar Selwyn, Kay Sutton, the Ben Finneys, Joan Bennett, Sam Hoffenstein, the Sam Raphaelsons, Philip Terry, Gene Markey, the Charles Boyers, Lothar Mendes, George Brent, Ann Sheridan, Tim Durant, the Charles Feldmas, Eddie Sutherland, Mary Rogers, Dudley MurphyCharles Chaplin, Mona Maris, Gregory LaCava, Andy Lawler, Jean Negulesco, and Roland Young.
…
Look for this photo of Errol at the B.H.H. in the video below – with Barbara Stanwyck, Gary Cooper, Tiger Lil, Rocky Cooper, and Robert Taylor. The date of this photo is uncertain to me, but it was definitely taken at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and it appears to be relatively contemporaneous.
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— Tim
“Beginning in the late 1930s and booming in the 1940s, conga dancing became wildly popular in the US.” Errol occasionally joined in the Congamania – in Cuba, in Hollywood, and in New York. Here is some evidence, beginning with a news report of a wire from Cuba, where Errol had just been, or was very soon to be, involved in a “free-for-all” Dodge City-like fracas at a famous nightclub in Havana, details of which I will post tomorrow.
May 16, 1938
Harrison Carroll
Evening Herald Express ba
Errol Flynn has wired for reservations at La Conga for the night of May 21.
…
The La Conga in Hollywood
…
Errol was still kicking more than a year later. Here he is sitting with his sister Rosemary (and Randy Burke) and in a conga line led by Desi Arnaz on tumbadora at the La Conga in Manhattan, on August 5, 1939:
La Conga, Manhattan
The conga craze continued in Hollywood (and around the world) into the Forties. Here’s Desi Arnaz leading a huge line in Too Many Girls (1940) during which he and Lucy fell in love, leading to groundbreaking television history, in the form of I Love Lucy and Desilu Productions, etc. Look for Lucy near the end of this wildly fun conga clip.
— Tim
May 15, 1939
Louella O. Parsons
I don’t like to tell tales out of school but the real reason Warners is changing the title The Knight and the Lady to Elizabeth and Essex is a compromise gesture to both Bette Davis and Errol Flynn.. It seems there was considerable soothing to do since Bette thought The Knight and the Lady didn’t get over the Elizabeth idea and Errol didn’t like the idea of just plain Queen Elizabeth. I understand there’s been some discussion about the willing – whether it is to be Bette or Errol first.
When the dust clears I imagine Flynn will be the gallant Irishman and give in to the lady. By the way, the title Elizabeth and Essex will have to be specially purchased since it belongs to another story not owned by Warners.
…
— Tim
May 13, 1936
Evening Herald Examiner
He-Men of Filmdom Tell “Worst Fears”
Can you imagine those big “he-men” of the screen – Errol Flynn, Clsrk Gable, George Brent, and Victor McLaglen – having the jitters from fright.
Flynn’s great scare came six years ago in New Guinea when he was prospecting for gold. In the middle of a wide stream his raft fell to pieces. He and six natives started swimming for shore, when Flynn felt something bump his knee.
“Alligator!” cried one of the natives, and immediately disappeared with a blood-curdling scream. Flynn and the rest made the shore safely, but Flynn had to examiner his hair to examiner his hair in the mirror to convince himself it hasn’t turned wjite.
…
— Tim
May 11, 1940
The Weekly Wireless
Miriam Hopkins in three moods -demure, gay and grim. The swash buckler is, as you probably guessed, none other than Errol Flynn.
The appearance of a grasshopper in the leading
lady’s bed may wreck a million-dollar movie. That’s why location-man hates arranging locations, especially for films such as
Warner’s spectacular “Virginia City,” made at Flagstaff, with Miriam Hopkins and Errol Flynn.
The stars, director Michael Curtiz, and about a hundred others spent six weeks on the famed
Painted Desert.
Only those who have been on “location” trips can have any idea of the headaches involved. Joe Barry, who handled the “Virginia City” job, estimated the expense og the trip at approximately £20,000, over and above regular salaries and production costs.
But money was the least of his worries. A location invariably offers unexpected problems, which may vary from finding lost children to the discovery of a grasshopper in the leading lady’s bed.
He can figure almost exactly the cost of train fare and freight. He can allow £2OOO, more or less, for food for the company, and not be far wrong.
Even if Miss Hopkins had insisted on strawberries for breakfast, or if Mr. Flynn had called for a special kind of beef to keep up his flagging strength, the final totals would not have been changed much. But there are other expenses which cannot be budgeted so closely. There are the items of rent and feed for horses needed, in addition to those taken from Hollywood, accommodation and food for drivers of trucks and buses from the studio and those hired “on the ground.”
Flagstaff, where the company had to stay, is a small town of 4000 inhabitants, with three small hotels and a limited number of restaurants.
The problem of assigning living quarters and eating places was no small one, and arrangements for doctors, nurses, dentists, barbers, laundries, and filling stations had to be made.
Dry-cleaning alone presents a problem in a small community. Even though he allowed £3OO for that
item, he had to be sure that the local cleaners could give him the overnight service he needed.
He had to get local people to serve as extras, and this invariably led to hard feelings on the part of those he did not employ.
A location-man must, if possible, re-route any regular plane service over the location. Railroad whistles have to be suppressed.. Officials of all kinds must be met, wheedled, placated, and side-tracked. Sometimes fences had to be removed, and replaced later,and roads had to be covered up. (“Virginia City” starts in American Civil War times, so that motor cars and their tracks must be kept well out of sight.)
Irate neighbors in the vicinity who had not been employed by the company chopped wood and beat
on tubs, to the dismay of the sound men, until Joe appeased them.
Fire hazards had to be watched, dry creeks to be flushed with water dragged miles in tanks, a telephone from the company headquarters to the home studio had to be kept open continuously.
On any location at night there are standing-room-only signs before the theatres and cafes. Ice cream is at a premium. The studio had to
put up a big bond that no liquor will be allowed on the Indian reservation near the “Virginia City” camp.
Joe brought the “Virginia City” location back to Hollywood according to budget. But he lost weight doing it. He always does.
…
ERROL’S LETTER ABOUT THE LOCATION
…
…
DICKIE JONES’S MEMORIES OF ERROL AND FLAGSTAFF
Did you stay in Flagstaff while filming Virginia City?
DICK JONES: Oh yeah, I remember it real well. I just about ate myself to death with trout. I loved it. I actually came back to Flagstaff later that year to do The Outlaw.
What can you tell us about the personal appearance you made at Flagstaff’s Orpheum Theater while filming here?
I don’t remember it at all. I probably did a trick roping act, because that was the only thing I knew. (Laughing) I could strum a ukulele but that wouldn’t have been much!
Do you have memories of working with Errol Flynn in Virginia City?
The one thing I can remember was that he had this standard-sized schnauzer. He had that dog trained. [Flynn] had this swagger stick and he’d be slapping his boot with it, then he’d stop to talk to somebody and he’d slap them on their boot with that swagger stick. Then when he walked away the dog would come up and lift its leg up on them. I think [co-star] “Big Boy” Williams almost wanted to kill him!
I really enjoyed working with Errol Flynn. I worked with him again on Rocky Mountain (1950); that was my favorite of all the films I ever made. [Flynn] was one of the best journeyman actors. He knew his trade and worked his craft real well.
— Tim
On May 9, 1936, Errol filed his Declaration of Intention to become an American Citizen. He did so at the Calexico border.
A Declaration of Intention is the formal act of a foreigner declaring that it is his or her bona fide intention to become a citizen of the United States, and to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, whereof he may at the time be a citizen or subject.
When Errol came to Hollywood, before the visas expired, studio stars who were foreign citizens would sometimes leave and return to the U.S. via Mexico. This is what Errol did, as evidenced by his Declaration of Intention.
Errol became a naturalized American citizen on August 14, 1942.
— Tim
MAY 6, 1938
Voyaging Star Appears Next in ‘White Rajah’ or ‘The Sea, Hawk’
SAILS YACHT TO N. Y.
By LOUELLA 0. PARSONS Hollywood,
Warner’s wandering boy, Errol Flynn, has promised at long last to bring his boat into the New York harbor May 12. At least that’s what the brothers Warner hope will happen. That would land him in the big town just in time for the opening of his most successful picture, “The Adventures of Robin Hood.” After he attends the premiere, Flynn will fly to Hollywood and get ready to star in either “The Sea Hawk,” Sabatini’s romantic sea story, or in “The White Rajah,” which he himself selected. Of course, Warners believe this will happen, but you can never be sure what Errol, who gets the wanderlust every so often, will really do.
— Tim
