Relevant Audio runs from about 16 to 25 minute marks (mixed with intermittent discussions regarding John Wayne, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, and Peter O’Toole.)
— Tim
Archive for the ‘Newspapers & Magazines’ Category
A New Type of Hollywood Hero … Errol Flynn!
24
Nov
This is from the Dayton Daily News, Nov. 24, 1935. The first pic is an overall of the entire page, but unfortunately is not legible due to the limited size of the copy here, as well as the quality of the paper. But added is the blow-up of Flynn. Those who have access to newspapers.com…, or a similar site, can read the read the content …
— David DeWitt
A Deep Dive
03
Aug
Into the Pioneering Photography of Peter Stackpole on August 1 and 2, 1941
Photographer Peter Stackpole (1913-1997), was the son of artists, Ralph Stackpole and Adele Barnes Stackpole. Educated in the San Francisco Bay area and Paris, Peter Stackpole grew up under the influence of his parent’s friends and peers, Dorthea Lange, Edward Weston and Diego Rivera. Maturing in this supportive artist community, Stackpole began developing his photographic style at a young age. Stackpole’s appreciation for the hand-held camera and his developing technical expertise found a perfect subject in the construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
In 1935, twenty-five of Stackpole’s bridge photographs were exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Art. This led to several freelance projects and in 1936, when Henry Luce established his ground-breaking “picture” magazine LIFE, Stackpole was hired as one of the four staff photographers. Stackpole worked for LIFE from its founding until 1961, moving gracefully between photographing the glamorous and young in Hollywood, and the more routine lives of the laboring class, always endeavoring to present his subjects authentically.
“Stackpole’s portraiture of Hollywood stars created approachable and endearing characters, and is recognized as a pioneering contribution to “media culture,” solidifying Hollywood icons as a subject of fascination within popular culture.”
“Stackpole’s most dramatic moment happened in 1941, when he was assigned to rendezvous with Errol Flynn’s yacht Sirocco to take underwater pictures of Flynn spearing fish.”
“I used to be a kind of beach bum between assignments, but it never occurred to me to take underwater pictures,” Stackpole said. “I’d never seen an underwater camera. Fins weren’t invented yet, and face masks were few. I had a friend make up a plastic box to hold my oldest, most expendable Leica.”
“Aboard the yacht, Flynn fitted him with a pair of hand-carved wooden goggles to use underwater. Stackpole got 15 decent shots before his camera flooded [including] one shot of Flynn climbing the mast of the Sirocco.”
— Tim
Figure This Quiz!
01
Aug
The following three sets of measurements were recorded as belonging to three Hollywood stars circa 1942. One set belonged to the mighty Flynn. Which set was it? To whom did the other two sets belong to??
Thank you to one of the world’s best Flynn researchers for finding these figures! Very few measure up to him!
Irish blood in all three.
All worked for Warners.
One was a star before Errol and later married a good friend of Errol. He, though, was not a good friend to Errol – likely out of bitter envy because he did not generate the sparks or voltage Errol did, either with women or on screen. In fact, even his wife liked Errol more than she liked him.
The other was a friend to Errol, but played enemies of him in two films. He became a big star after Errol did.
— Tim
Sixty-Six Years Ago Quiz
17
Jul
Sixty-six years ago Errol selected the cover photo for a magazine because it reminded him of the location depicted below. Where is the location and why was it memorable to him??
Added Friday 10 p.m. EST
— Tim
Cover of The Queenslander — July 13, 1938
13
Jul
The Queenslander was the weekly summary and literary edition of the Brisbane Courier, the leading journal in the colony — and later, federal state—of Queensland since the 1850s. The Queenslander was launched by the Brisbane Newspaper Company in 1866, and discontinued in 1939.
— Tim
May Day No. 2: The Legend of Maid Marian
01
May
In addition to its connection to Robin Hood, May Day has had a very long and very strong association with the Virgin Mary, most especially among Roman Catholics. The legend of Maid Marian may have arisen from that association, as did apparently Olivia’s costuming, as well as her physical appearance, in The Adventures of Robin Hood.
In the 1400s Catholics, as all Christians were at the time, in England celebrated May Day on the religious holiday of Whitsun featuring a quasi-religious rebel who robbed and murdered government tax collectors and wealthy landowners in plays and games. Agrarian discontent lay at the foundations of the feudal system that was built on the shoulders of toiling peasants. As time went on, the characters of Maid Marian, Friar Tuck and Alan-a-Dale entered May Day rituals as well. Robin Hood was actually shown at this time participating in Mariology, the cult of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Originally Maid Marian (or the French Marion) was a shepherdess associated with the Queen or Lady of May or May Day. Keeping this in mind, “the world’s foremost authority on Robin Hood,” author Jim Lees in The Quest for Robin Hood set forth that the hypothesis that Maid Marian may originally have been the personification of the Virgin Mary and derived from the older French tradition of a shepherdess named Marion and her shepherd lover Robin in Adam de la Halle’s Le Jeu de Robin et Marion, 1283. In fact, Marian’s association with May Day celebrations lasted long after Robin Hood’s did, as pointed out by Scottish born poet Alexander Barclay in 1500, “some merry fytte of Maid Marian or else of Robin Hood.”
May Day in the Catholic Church
The Legend of Robin Hood and Maid Marian
Here’s a May Day Celebration in England from the Days of Errol Hood and Maid Olivia:
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Hell, even atheist Katie Hepburn celebrated May Day!
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Here’s a majestically beautiful May Day ceremony in 2018 from a Catholic School in St. Louis:
…
— Tim
