The Errol Flynn Blog is pleased and honored to Announce Louis Kraft has joined our blog!
Louis Kraft is an Author of books, and plays, and is also a noted lecturer. Check out his website at Louis Kraft Writer for more information.
From the website:
Errol & Olivia
Author Louis Kraft discovered swashbuckling actor Errol Flynn while still a boy. Soon after Flynn’s performance as George Armstrong Custer in They Died With Their Boots On (1941) introduced Kraft to the Indian wars West and ultimately his involvement in writing about racial relations on the frontier. At the same time it also introduced Kraft to actress Olivia de Havilland, whom he has known for over 10 years.
Kraft’s progress as a writer has seen him grow from a screenwriter of films that almost sold but never did to a writer of baseball articles to a writer of articles dealing with the Indian wars to a writer of fiction and nonfiction dealing with the Indians wars and then to articles and lectures about Flynn, which are a direct lead-in to this study of Flynn, de Havilland, their times and working relationship.
The manuscript continues to undergo research as it is written.
On October 18, 2008 Louis Kraft was the guest speaker at
The Burbank Historical Society
1015 W. Olive Ave., Burbank, CA
The historical society, which is located near the Warner Bros. film studio, houses two costumes from the Errol Flynn/Olivia de Havilland film “They Died With Their Boots On” (Warner Bros., 1941). The costumes, Flynn’s West Point uniform and de Havilland’s black mourning dress, are on display in the society’s Gordon R. Howard Museum.
Kraft spoke about “Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, “They Died With Their Boots On,” and a fellow named Custer.”
Errol with Bes Mudi, his Siamese cat, and Zaca's mascot. The black and tan Siamese was given to Errol by makeup man, Ward Hamilton. No alley cat, Bes Mudi had a famous lineage. His mother was Mei Ling and her's was Ah Fui (no kidding!). Mei Ling's sire was Brant's Prince Chan who came out of the Double International champion, Si Mingo… if that makes sense to any of you…
Our dear friend Linc Hurst passed away from us in Nov 2008
Professor Lincoln D Hurst was perhaps the world's leading authority on the life of Errol Flynn having collected more detailed original documents than any other collector. One of his prized posessions was Errol's “Lost” Spanish Diary… which again refutes the Charles Higham charges in Errol's own hand… Gentleman and Scholar, kind-hearted and generous… his voice will be missed…
I found out tonight that my favorite professor, Lincoln Hurst, died. “Favorite Professor” is a title that does not even come close to the impact Professor Hurst had on my life. A favorite professor is a person that tells great stories, challenges students to greater knowledge and whatnot. I believe God placed Hurst in my life to completely turn it upside down.
I am in grad school today because God used Hurst to get me in there. I am at Texas A&M, specifically, because of him. He asked me what school I wanted to go to and I answered A&M. The next day, he overnighted his recommendation (it became lost in the mail) and made a phone call to the A&M communication graduate director to get me in. It worked.
But that's not even the most important thing Hurst did for me. Lincoln Hurst was the only Calvinist I knew at UC Davis. I wasn't a Calvinist yet but I confessed to him during our weekly visits that I had so many questions about predestination that nobody was willing to answer for me. He didn't say anything about how Calvinism answers all those questions or try to force anything on me. He simply said, “Read Romans. Then come back and tell me what you found.” Well, as some of you know, I read Romans with new eyes while on a retreat in the mountains of Santa Cruz. I went up the mountain as an Arminian and came down as a Calvinist.
I told Hurst that and he just scratched his beard as he always did when he had too many thoughts and not enough words to keep up with them. We moved from talking about research at every meeting to him steering me in the right direction in my early Calvinist days. He was the only one in California that I could talk to about this new theology thing. I learned that there were other ways to think of the end times besides Dispensationalism. I learned to study God's word as a cohesive whole, and not just concentrate on random verses.
I was at his lecture on Romans and was amazed at how he stood for Christ against the students who quickly labeled him a heretic to his face. I was ready to jump on anyone who insulted him but even when the students closed in on him, he was at peace. He stood his ground and was able to answer their questions humbly and with grace. I won't forget that moment. I won't forget him. He was not just a favorite professor. He was my friend and a father in Christ to me. And now he is rejoicing with the Lord as we speak. I will see you soon my friend.
*Here is his bio on wikipedia for anyone interested: en.wikipedia.org… *
Dr. Lincoln D. Hurst was a Religious Studies faculty member who taught most of the department's Christianity and New Testament-related classes during his tenure at UC Davis. His classes were always packed and many students wait-listed just for the opportunity to be admitted. Students found his comical style of teaching endearing and interesting. He kept the material fun and alive.
Dr. Hurst was an internationally recognized scholar and historian who published extensively on a wide variety of topics, including history, the Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and film.
A memorial [pdf] took place on December 4, 2008 on the UC Davis campus. The tribute video shown at the memorial is available on Youtube.
To keep alive the memory of Professor Lincoln D. Hurst, a Professor Lincoln Douglas Hurst Memorial Fund will be created and the money donated to purchase media material, such as DVDs, to be used in the teaching of Religious Studies courses. Many people who knew Dr. Hurst know that his passion for film was incorporated in his teaching. If you would like to contribute please send a check, payable to UC Regents, to:
Religious Studies c/o Lincoln D. Hurst Memorial Fund University of California, Davis One Shields Avenue Davis, CA 95616
Google just launched a new service; it's an online archive of Life Magazine photos!
Entering Errol Flynn returns some results. Most of these I've seen elsewhere, but some I haven't, certainly several of those of Sean. What's good is that there are high resolution versions. Feel free, David, to upload any of these to the blog galleries.
In Memoriam…
Happy Thanksgiving to all… 2008!