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Archive for the ‘Main Page’ Category

Better Than All of Errol’s!?! — Put Together!?!

01 Oct

“This story has more drama and twists and hair raising adventures than all of Errol Flynn’s movies put together.”

m.filmfare.com…

We shall see about that!

— Tim

 

Who was Jack Warner’s Favorite WB Star?

01 Oct

He or she was:

Born in Europe

Made no films in Europe

Did not win an Academy Award

Has a star on Hollywood Boulevard

No other star had his or her first or last name

Was one of Warner Brothers’ most important and beloved stars

— Tim

 

Writer Louis Kraft Weighs in on Errol Flynn!

29 Sep

Louis Kraft sent some information to us regarding Steve & Genene’s 2018 trip to the United States and it is filled with such great information and links that I just had to turn his comments into a stand alone post!

You know Louis Kraft as a writer and lecturer with three books in the works regarding Errol Flynn. Read about Louis Kraft on his website WriterLouisKraft.com….

Check out his books at Amazon.com….

                                                                                                                                   © Pailin Subanna-Kraft

Hi David,

I hope that the following may be of interest to you and others interested in Errol Flynn (and Olivia de Havilland).

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills might be of interest (www.oscars.org…). They also have a link for their new museum that hasn’t been completed yet: (www.oscars.org…). Unfortunately I can’t find a link to the small research library the Academy had hidden away upstairs. I had visited it a number of times during the 1980s or early 1990s before I officially began researching a book on Flynn. Perhaps the Herrick Museum has replaced what I saw decades ago (www.oscars.org…). I haven’t been to the Herrick Museum yet, but it is on my to do list when I finally get to Flynn full time (as is returning to the USC Warner Bros. Archive; I have probably another decade of research there for two additional books on Flynn (see below).

The Television Academy on Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood is less than two miles from my house (www.emmys.com…). I have never visited it or looked at their website, so I don’t know what is there.

I highly recommend the USC Warner Bros. Archive, which is just off the campus to the east side of the CA 110 Freeway (libraries.us…). I don’t if you can get in as I think that the archive only has room for six people on any given day (back when I was still researching there they were open four days/week from 10 to 4:30 by appointment only). Worse, I believe they only accept visitors that are university students researching projects, professional writers researching projects, and film and music staff researching for their companies (but I’m certain that this is not set in stone). Research there is time consuming. For example: It took me two months to get through The Adventures of Robin Hood file (two boxes) as I look at everything and read most of it. Reservations are required, and they fill up quickly. Also, the researcher to state exactly what he or she is researching (and for what project).

The Doheny Library (libraries.us…) is on the USC campus. I don’t know exactly what is there, but there is more cinema archival material, and from what I’ve heard this includes Jack Warner’s papers.

Oh, if you have time you might consider the Autry Museum of the American West (formerly the Autry National Center) in Griffith Park (I-5 and CA-134 Freeways and just a few miles east of where Errol and Pat are buried at Forrest Lawn) and about eight miles from my house (theautry.org… and theautry.org…). A number of years back the great Southwest Museum merged with the Autry. I had researched the two 1880s Charles Gatewood, Geronimo, and Apache wars & the Ned Wynkoop 1860s Cheyenne wars books (I compared Wynkoop to Flynn in the book); and my current project on the1864 Sand Creek Massacre, which also deals with the Cheyennes and Wynkoop at the Braun History Library. This library as well as the then Autry National Center’s research library both closed forever in 2014 (at least for me; and I had done research at the Autry’s library also). Both will soon reopen as one new research facility currently called the Resources Center of the Autry (it will be between 100,000 and 111,000 square feet), which is about six miles from my house (theautry.org…). The last time I checked the opening was scheduled for 2019. (They now between them house a lot of my Indian wars work and at least two Flynn articles.) Not sure how much Flynn the Autry has, but it began as basically a film and TV museum for Gene A., which honored himself and western film and TV.

I don’t know if you’ve seen all of the blogs below, … but they may be of interest to Flynn and de Havilland fans:

13aug2013: www.louiskraftwriter.com…

30nov2013: www.louiskraftwriter.com…

28mar2014: www.louiskraftwriter.com…

31jan2015: www.louiskraftwriter.com…

25oct2015: www.louiskraftwriter.com…

8jul2016: www.louiskraftwriter.com…

3jul2017: www.louiskraftwriter.com…

31aug2017: www.louiskraftwriter.com…

From Amazon:
Kraft is currently working to complete SAND CREEK AND THE TRAGIC END OF A LIFEWAY for OU Press. His book on Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland during their working time together during the Golden Age of Cinema (ERROL & OLIVIA) also moves toward conclusion.

Thanks, Louis!

— David DeWitt

 
1 Comment

Posted in Main Page

 

Where it all began!

27 Sep

No sooner Captain Blood hit the cinemas Errol dabbled already in Texas Gold! Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea!
January 22. 1936

Hurray, I did it! Finally!

— Tina

 
 

In An Ascot at Alta

25 Sep

“Only Errol Flynn could pull off wearing a short-sleeve shirt and ascot while skiing at Alta”

books.google.com…

“The coolest ski lodge in the US is a 78 year old building in Utah that resembles a 1940s prep-school dorm with a few added Bauhaus touches. Imagine cement-block walls, mid-century industrial Bertoia chairs, and floor-to-ceiling windows with eye-popping views of the slopes. Then imagine that it’s booked solid for much of the ski season with Park Avenue families and well-heeled West Coasters who’ve been coming for generations.”

“It’s called the Alta Lodge, and it has the catbird seat at Alta Ski Area, famed for the 500 plus inches of champagne powder that falls from the skies above the Wasatch every winter.”

“Errol Flynn and Claudette Colbert used to visit back in the day, and Alfred Hitchcock used the lodge as a location in his film Spellbound.”

www.forbes.com…

www.altahistory.org…

— Tim

 

Tassie members to visit the USA

23 Sep

Hi all
This may seem a bit silly but Genene and I are hoping to holiday in the States in September next year and need some guidance. as we have not been there before we dont really know what to do and see. At present we would like to spend time in L.A. and New York with side trips to other areas such as Vegas and the Grand Canyon, you know, the tourist spots.
We are hoping that some of the members would like to make our holiday a bit more enjoyable by suggesting where to go and what to see as well as those places that we should not go to especially if they would be a waste of time and money. Of course anything Errol should be on our list, that would go without saying!
If you would like to correspond to our private email it is

er********@aa**.au












If anyone could put us in contact with Karl Holmberg and Brian Twist that would also be appreciated.
Steve and Genene

— tassie devil

 
5 Comments

Posted in Main Page

 

First Reports of Errol’s Death, in April ’45

19 Sep

.

A rash of false fatality fears occurred in 1945, according to the New York Times, following the April 12 death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

New York Times, April 14, 1945

“Widespread jitters bordering on mass hysteria seemed to sweep New York yesterday in the wake of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death, as rumors of killings, accidents and deaths involving prominent persons flooded the city,”

Among the rumored victims mentioned in the story were Van Johnson, Charlie Chaplin, Frank Sinatra, Al Jolson, Errol Flynn, Babe Ruth and Jack Benny. There were so many panicked phone calls to newspapers, radio stations, government offices and private businesses, the Times reported, that harried switchboard operators believed it was part of a conspiracy to hinder communications.

www.theintell.com…

— Tim

 

Flynn Falls in and forJamaica

18 Sep

A Series Look at the History of Errol’s Landfall On and Falling In Love with Jamaica:

— Tim

 

This Sunday Morning

17 Sep

Posted Sunday, September 16, 2017

A fascinating behind-the-scenes bio of Warner Brothers’ songwriter, Moe Jerome.

From Tin Pan Alley to Tinseltown, from “A Daughter’s Prayer at Twilight” to “Some Sunday Morning”.

www.thedailybeast.com…

“At Warner Bros. from 1929 to 1949, he wrote, not for the masses, but for a film’s producer who wanted a song for a comedy or a western, or a drama or a musical. Take, for example the 1945 film San Antonio, starring Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith. He and his lyricist partner, Ted Koehler, quickly created a lovely ballad called “Some Sunday Morning.”

“The film was an instant hit. So was “Some Sunday Morning.” It was Flynn and Smith’s romantic theme song. Every time the two appeared on screen, the melody played in the background, courtesy of the film’s composer, Max Steiner. Smith sang it in a large production number set in the local saloon.”

“As early as January 5, 1946, the song made Billboard’s “Honor Roll of Hits,” a list denoting America’s top tunes. It charted at Number 9. Sales of sheet music were also excellent: for 14 weeks, the song was in the top five. And early in 1946, the song was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song.”

Some Sunday Morning”

What initially brought Jerome great fame and success, however, was “Just a Baby’s Prayer at Twilight”, a song he wrote during World War I – once contemporaneously called “the greatest constructed song ever published.”

“Moe had high hopes for a particular melody he wrote, a kind of lullaby he often hummed when he put his young son to sleep. But he wanted this song to be a statement about the cost of the war, what it did to those left behind.”

“Just a Baby’s Prayer at Twilight (For My Daddy Over There)”

— Tim

 

Go Get ‘Em, Livvie!

14 Sep

We’re in your corner!

The Feud Over Feud is Not Over: Livvie Scores an Early Knock Down!m.economictimes.com…

— Tim