September 7, 1938
Louelle O. Parsons
Los Angeles Times
Errol Flynn and Lili Damita, a couple of love birds all alone on their yacht at Catalina over the holiday, stopped a lot of “talk” by their devotion.
Their boat was a beautiful sight racing another yacht under full sail.
— Tim
‘What George Lucas Borrowed from The Adventures of Robin Hood to Make Star Wars’
Errol Flynn exudes exuberance that can’t be understated as the beating heart of the film.
Flynn makes The Adventures of Robin Hood a joy to watch.
Not only did the film get the legend of Robin Hood, of medieval heroes and villains, right, it got them so right that its distillation of the myth is still the gold standard almost a century later.
In 2003, Roger Ebert wrote:
The ideal hero must do good, defeat evil, have a good time, and win the girl. The Adventures of Robin Hood is like a textbook on how to get that right.
— Tim
This post addresses the fringe Flynn-connections in EFB Author Rider McDowell’s highly-regarded Off-Broadway play, Fringe Deaths
…….
PAYTON’S PLACE
Barbara Payton’s place in Errol’s world is summarized this way in Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye by John O’Dowd:
“Few actresses in Tinseltown’s century-long history, with the possible exception of Frances Farmer, have undergone such extreme privations or suffered more extracted indignities than the beautiful, doomed Barbara Payton (1927-1967).”
“Inelegantly described by Howard Hughes associate Johnny Meyer as ‘Hollywood’s biggest trollop,’ Payton spent her early years in Minnesota and the Texan dustbowl of Odessa, before moving to Los Angeles at age 21 in search of stardom. Upon her arrival the aspiring actress promptly entered into a string of dalliances with all manner of showbiz types, including aging Lothario Errol Flynn, Bob Hope, Batman & Robin’s Robert Lowery and Gregory Peck, as well as assorted lowlifes, clingers-on and neophytes, though she ultimately rejected Hughes himself as ‘too strange.’ The bulk of her conquests were married, which did little to endear her to the womenfolk of Tinseltown, though as Payton’s former lover Steve Hayes puts it ‘she didn’t seem to care about anything except getting laid and having a good time.”
GEORGE REEVES
The Adventures of Superman star had at least one connection to The Adventures of Robin Hood star through Jerry Giesler, who petitioned for a reinvestigation of Reeves’ mysterious suicide as a possible homocide.
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JACK RUBY
Jacob Rubinstein’s connection to Errol was through one of Errol’s other famous legal eagles, Melvin Belli. “King of Torts” Belli represented Ruby after he was charged with killing Lee Harvey Oswald, essentially arguing that he (Ruby) was a patsy forced to murder another patsy.
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ALFALFA (STYMIE & SCOTTY)
Though Errol wasn’t a Little Rascal, he certainly was a Big Rascal. Here’s Alfalfa appearing to channel some of Errol’s charm and swag with the ladies.
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Here’s Errol with very popular child star Scotty Beckett, who Alfalfa replaced in Our Gang.
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Last but not least, Matthew “Stymie” Beard was in Captain Blood!
— Tim
…
—————————–> ERROL, THE (SUPER)HUMAN CYCLONE
— Tim
“Besides the one-bedroom, two-bathroom main house, there are two guesthouses.
One, built as an office, has a cathedral ceiling, a full bathroom and French doors that lead to the gardens. The other guest suite, reached by a bridge and set above the garage, was sometimes used by “The Adventures of Robin Hood” star Errol Flynn.”
www-latimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org…
“Over a bridge and through a salvaged church door sits the onetime private escape of the swashbuckling actor Errol Flynn”
www-dailynews-com.cdn.ampproject.org…
— Tim
August 27, 1936
Harrison Carroll
Evening Herald Express
Errol Flynn’s story will now be appearing any month now in the Cosmopolitan. He describes it as an incident in his life.
————————- Cosmopolitan Magazine, November 1936, featuring Errol’s Beam Ends —————————
— Tim
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – 1996/01/01: New Guinea Highlands, Near Tari, Huli Dancers With Ceremonial Wigs, Bird Of Paradise Feathers. (Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)
August 21, 1937
WHAT THEY DO FOR INSOMNIA
Evening Herald Express
“Errol Flynn, old boy, tell us what you do for insomnia?”
After Errol had exploded and used a little language we convinced him we really meant exactly what we said, and he was surprised to find he did have an insomnia cure. Seemed it rarely is needed, but when it is he remembers a long tiresome trek he took in New Guinea one time, afraid to sleep because the local head-hunters seemed determined to add the handsome Flynn top-piece to their collection. Said Errol:
“It’s like counting sheep, only I count head-hunters.”
…
Headhunting History in New Guinea:
Headhunting was practised by many Austronesian people in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. Headhunting has at one time or another been practised among most of the peoples of Melanesia,including New Guinea. A missionary found 10,000 skulls in a community longhouse on Goaribari Island in 1901.
Historically, the Marind-anim in New Guinea were famed because of their headhunting. The practice was rooted in their belief system and linked to the name-giving of the newborn. The skull was believed to contain a mana-like force. Headhunting was not motivated primarily by cannibalism, but the dead person’s flesh was consumed in ceremonies following the capture and killing.
The Korowai, a Papuan tribe in the southeast of Irian Jaya, live in tree houses, some nearly 40 metres high. This is believed to be a defensive practice, presumably as protection against the Citak, a tribe of neighbouring headhunters. Some researchers believe that the American Michael Rockefeller, who disappeared in New Guinea in 1961 while on a field trip, may have been taken by headhunters in the Asmat region. He was the son of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller.
nypost-com.cdn.ampproject.org…
— Tim
Charleroi Mail
3rd Week of August, 1943
FLYNN YACHTING WITH APPRENTICE MACHINIST
Errol Flynn was yachting off the coast of Mexico Saturday with his newest girlfriend, a 19-year-old apprentice machinist from a Los Angeles airplane factory, Nora Eddington.
A nice girl she is, too, reported Flynn by phone from Acapulco, Mexico, and a fine companion for a fishing trip.
— Tim
