The Lido Club was near Picadilly Circus, on Swallow Street, a short block long known as a hotspot for nightclubs, from the early 20th Century to the Swinging Sixties (George Harrison himself once co-owned a nightclub at 9 Swallow Street.)
A Shot from Right Rear Side, with Errol Smiling
— Tim
Previously I have posted about possible Flynn and son double features such as, “Uncertain Glory” and “Stop Train 349” and “The Big Boodle” and “Mission to Venice”. Today I have put together what I feel is another interesting combination, that of Errol’s “Desperate Journey” and Sean’s “Five Ashore in Singapore”.
Released in 1942, “Desperate Journey”, has Errol and his team after a successful bombing raid over Nazi Germany, having their plane shot down by enemy fire. Then he and the surviving four of his crew must make it out of Germany alive and get back to England. Errol’s crew includes; the ever reliable Alan Hale, Arthur Kennedy and a future US president, Ronald Reagan. Also included is the beautiful actress, Nancy Coleman. While most of the action is of the tongue in cheek kind, the film still has plenty of good thrills under the able direction of Errol’s favorite director, Raoul Walsh.
“Five Ashore in Singapore” (aka “Cinq Gars Pour Singapour”) had its world premiere in 1967 and was Sean’s last starring role. He had as his leading lady the very sexy, Marika Green who also happens to be the aunt of Bond girl, Eva Green. Also according to Perry Deane Young in his book, “Two of the Missing”, Tim Page, Sean’s friend and colleague, who had gone to Singapore with Sean appears as an extra in a scene in the movie. For more on this film, one can read the excellent article by Raphael Millet previously posted on this site. Suffice it to say Sean also leads a team of five men here to solve the mystery of missing US marines in that capital city. While not a classic, it still has a lot of action and is a document of its time. –A.R.
— ILIKEFLYNN
No other aspect of the history of the Robin Hood legend deserves more notice than the hero’s participation in the May Day Games.
May Day Games and the Robin Hood Legend
Robin Hood ballads reflect the discontent of ordinary people with political conditions in medieval England. They were especially upset about new laws that kept them from hunting freely in forests that were now claimed as the property of kings and nobles. Social unrest and rebellion swirled through England at the time the Robin Hood ballads first became popular. This unrest erupted in an event called the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.
The earliest known mention of Robin Hood is in a ballad called Piers Plowman, in which a character mentions that he knows “rimes of Robin Hood.” This and other references from the late 1300s suggest that Robin Hood was well established as a popular legend by that time. One source of that legend may lie in the old French custom of celebrating May Day. A character called Robin des Bois, or Robin of the Woods, was associated with this spring festival and may have been transplanted to England—with a slight name change. May Day celebrations in England in the 1400s featured a festival “king” called Robin Hood.
Dressing up as the medieval social justice warrior was among young Henry VIII’s favourite pastimes.
— Tim
Louella 0. Parsons in Hollywood
International News Service
Louella O. Parsons Motion Picture Editor
After six years abroad Errol and Mrs. Flynn (Patrice Wymore) return to Hollywood with baby Arnella.
He’s a real homebody now.
DASHING, happy-go-lucky, colorful Errol Flynn, who lost millions, is poorer today but happier than he’s ever been in his life. And he didn’t hesitate to say that Patrice Wymore (the present Mrs. Flynn) is responsible. Six months ago, Errol owed $900,000. Today, he has paid off $750,000 and sees his way clear to handing over the remainder by December. This is a changed Errol. No longer does that roving eye of his look at every pretty girl who enters a room. In the past, Errol was as wild, unpredictable and full of pranks as anyone I ever interviewed. He always talked with his tongue in cheek, and while I always liked him, I used to have the feeling that some of his nonsense was due to the fact that life was not happy. He asked me to have dinner with him and Patrice at La Rue. You can always depend upon Errol to say something different and to make an interview an occasion, and his first words to me were: “Well, what do you think of her?” pointing to the calm, gracious Patrice. A little embarrassed with such frankness, I countered with, “What do you think of her yourself?” “Well, she’s not my type, but 1 love her,” he laughed. “You know, she saved my life. I’d have run when the going was so tough, but, Pat, without a word of complaint, helped me straighten out my affairs, stuck by me and gave me encouragement. “I never thought I’d ever say I’d be lonely for any woman,” he continued, “but, do you know something? I can’t bear to be separated from her. She gives me a confidence I all but lost during those months of worry.”
The Flynns have been in Europe for six years. They left Hollywood in 1950, and Errol had considerable trouble with William Tell, the picture he was to make in Italy. He says he lost over $200,000 of his own money in it. Errol said, “To show you the kind of girl Pat is, she was expecting our bambina any hour when I got word that I had to be in New York on business. She said, ‘You go right ahead and I’ll wait until you return to have the baby.’ I got back Christmas Eve to find that she’d invited 30 people for Christmas Day egg nogs. On Christmas I rushed her to the hospital where the baby was born within a few hours. We just left all our guests at the party. “I never thought I’d want to settle down to family life,” Errol went on, “but you should see me now. You know how I never wanted domesticity. Whenever it threatened me I’d go away on my boat or take a picture assignment away from home. We now have the greatest family life you ever saw.
“Since I’ve been back in Hollywood,” he said, “we’ve had Pat’s parents from Kansas, her grandmother, and all the children with us My two little girls, Deirdre and Rory, by my marriage to Nora Haymes, spend every week end with us, and our daughter Arnella loves playing with them.” His fourteen-year-old son, Sean, by his marriage to Lili Damita, is the spittin’ image of Errol. Patrice told me Sean spent a little time with them in Europe. “He is so handsome and so intelligent,” she said. “He’s now in Florida with his mother.” A woman who can praise a previous wife’s child is all right for my money. Usually there is a feeling of resentment, but if Pat has any feeling of this sort she’s a great actress. Errol said, “At Universal-International they gave me some of rry ‘face’ back with a great part in Istanbul. I hope to come back and make another picture for them; it’s a nice studio. I’ll return in December.” “Didn’t you almost turn in at Warner Brothers studio by mistake?” I asked him. He started his career Warners with Captain Blood [the film which made him] one of the top stars in the country.
Errol is older now and wiser. He has taken off some of the weight which so shocked me when I first saw him after his return here. But he’s still and always will be the same charm boy. When domesticity threatened in the past, he’d be off to other shores.
— Tim
Huston was a very skilled boxer, with a very long reach. Both went to the hospital, were complimentary of each others fighting skills and etiquette, and subsequently became friendly. The fight is thought to have been over OdH, with whom both Errol and JH had been in love.
— Tim
Jimmy Starr – April 29, 1936
LA Evening Herald Express
Already ranked as one of the movie village’s tennis greats, Gilbert Roland took it upon himself to name Hollywood’s 10 best racket wielders.
On the set of Paramount’s The Last Train from Madrid, Gilbert put Garbo in the top spot among feminine tennis players, Errol Flynn equals her in the men’s division. Others are Marlene Dietrich, Cedric Gibbons, Constance Bennett, Gary Cooper, Carole Lombard, Harold Lloyd, Elizabeth Allen and Ronald Colman.
Errol Backstroking in Hollywood Circa 1935
— Tim
My brother, Chris Reid, died yesterday. He was a huge fan of Errol Flynn, so much so that he moved thousands of miles to live in Chico, where he graduated from Cal State there. He knew Bidwell Park intimately and all the other famous (and many only rarely known) Flynn sites in and surrounding Chico. I was fortunate to get a few royal tours. He also knew many of Errol’s other haunts in California and Mexico. In fact, I was with him when we climbed the hills of Hollywood in a valiant but unsuccessful attempt to penetrate Mulholland Farm. (If only we knew Jack Marino then!) Chris could and did quote Flynn fluently. He was also a very big Beatle fan, hence the ‘Let It Be’ inspired image below that will be part of a forthcoming video tribute. He was only 57, is already very dearly missed, and will be forever by his large family and many friends.
Godspeed on your new journey, Chris.
— Tim
April 25, 1938
Elizabeth Yeaman
Hollywood Citizen News
Although Warners aren’t saying anything about it yet, I understand that beginning this morning Errol Flynn is A.W.O.L Flynn was told to be on the set this morning to start work on Because of a Man, which is the new title for Sister Act, in which the Lane Sisters will be featured. The last I heard of Flynn he was in Florida waters aboard his yacht, and the studio sent out stories that he was shooting devil fish with his Robin Hood’s bow and arrow!
…
— Tim
Which was Safer?
April 25, 1939
Jimmy Starr
Evening Herald Express
It isn’t news that Errol Flynn and wifey, Lili Damtat often engage in what is any married couple’s right -yiu a slight family spat, or mild disagreement. But it is rather important when said argument saves them from possible physical injury.
The other day Errol decided to purchse a low-wing monoplane. He had just given a check for payment when the row started. Errol interrupted the verbal excitement long enough to tell his friend, Bud Ernst, to try out the plane.
While Errol and Lili were settling their differences, Bud was gracefully sailing through the air in the new plane. When he started to land, however, spectators were horrified to see him start the descent minus the landing gear.
Ernst pancaked the plane to the ground but with slight damage. Had Errol and Lili been on the plane, the “belly” landing would have been impossible without a serious crack-up. Ernst explained that the lever operating the retractable gear had jammed.
And that’s the story of a spat that was worth while.
…
In actuality, Errol may have been safer in the air with his buds than he was on the ground with Lili. Dueling with the Red Baron in the skies above France may have been less challenging than drinking Pink Champagne with Fleen’s Red Hot Dame from France in the hills above Hollywood.
— Tim
