What the Picture Did for Me
The Green Light, Errol Flynn, Anita Louise – Just a natural for any spot. This was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Too bad we could not get more productions like this. Good cast and excellent story. Running time: nine reels. July 15 – A. L. Dove, Bengough Theatre, Bengough, Saskatchewan, Can. Rural and Small Town Patronage.”
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Bengough, with a population of about 337, is known as the “Gateway to the Big Muddy (Valley and Badlands)”. Before Errol was seen by the populace in and around Bengough, the gentlemen in the photo below used to show up in the area to escape U.S. legal authorities. Their names were Butch and Sundance.
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“August 7, 1937
MPH
What the Picture Did for Me
The Prince and the Pauper: Big time stuff in any man’s town. Box office all the way. Running time, 115 minutes – W. E. McPhee, Strand Theater, Old Town, Maine. General Patronage.”
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In 1936, the Strand featured Bing Crosby in Rhythm on the Range. The theater was upgraded and modernized as depicted below to accommodate Old Town’s mid-1930s population of approximately 7500.
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H.H.T.
New York Times
Master of Ballantrae at the Paramount
With plenty of good, old-fashioned muscularity crowding a highly pictorial Technicolor frame, at least three-fourths of “The Master of Ballantrae” makes a rousing, spectacular outlet for a pair of estimable adventurers, Errol Flynn and the master himself, Robert Louis Stevenson. In the new Warner Brothers arrival at the Paramount yesterday, Mr. Flynn is leading a fine, predominantly British cast through one of the liveliest, handsomest and most absurd screen free-for alls ever to leave the Victorian talespinner’s pen. If the excessive length and staggeringly heroic exploits can be pinned on Warners and Mr. Stevenson, respectively, no one, assuredly, should question the lavish elasticity of the proceedings. It is played well by the entire cast, and seasoned throughout with some brazen drollery. The film was gleamingly authenticized in such locales as Scotland, England and Sicily. Herb Meadow’s adaptation fittingly charts a cluttered, tumultuous odyssey for the indefatigable protagonist, leader of the fiery Durisdeer clan and fugitive champion of the Stuart Restoration, as he engineers a magnificent career in high-seas piracy and returns home, a wiser, if no less boisterous, rebel. The direction of William Keighley is equally alert and scenic, whether scouring the craggy, heather-strewn battlegrounds of the clansmen or capturing the lusty barbarism of the pirates’ island sanctuary. And since the dialogue is more often pungent than standard, the motivations and characterizations retain a surprising air of conviction, for all the flying kilts, sabers and sails. Mr. Flynn is, in turn, bold, roguish and forgiveably self-satisfied in his best swashbuckler since “The Sea Hawk,” thirteen long years ago. The featured players, a spanking round-up, are crisp, restrained and forceful, one and all, particularly Roger Livesey and and Anthony Steel, and the ladies in the case, Beatrice Campbell and Yvonne Furneaux. Last but not least, the truly stunning color photography of that British ace, Jack Cardiff, provides a canvas that stands as a model of its kind and fully rates the classic archive reserved for Mr. Stevenson, long, perhaps, after Mr. Flynn and company are forgotten. Meanwhile, Mr. Flynn is having himself, as well he might, a field day.
THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE, screen play by Herb Meadow, based upon the Robert Louis Stevenson story directed by William Keighley and presented by Warner Brothers. Jamie Durisdeer . . . . . Errol Flynn, Col. Francis Burke . . . . . Roger Livesey, Henry Durisdeer . . . . . Anthony Steel, Lady Alison . . . . . Beatrice Campbell, Jessie Brown . . . . . Yvonne Furneaux, Lord Durisdeer . . . . . Felix Aylmer, MacKellar . . . . . Mervyn Johns, Arnaud . . . . . Jack Berthier, Mendoza . . . . . Charles Goldner, Maj. Clarendon . . . . . Ralph Truman
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“Sitting only two seats apart, without a glance to each other, Errol Flynn and the first great love of his life, Actress Lili Damita, are shown in court in the legal battle over Flynn’s petition to cut down his alimony payments to her. Flynn is seeking a reduction on her $18,000 annual tax-free alimony, and Miss Damita is fighting to protect it. They appeared without exchanging greetings.”
Dolores Del Rio and Cedric Gibbons, those inveterate Sunday-at-homers, were again delightfully at home last Sunday with a party of intimate friends.
Beginning with luncheon served in the attractive poolside pavilion, the afternoon was devoted to tennis and swimming, with refreshing interludes at the cocktail oasis. And in the party were the Manuel Reachis, Connie Bennett and Gilbert Roland, Virginia Bruce, Dr. Carl Voelimuller, Lili Damita and Errol Flynn, Irene and Elliot Gibbons, Fay Wray, Willis Goldbeck, the Lewis Milestones, and Elizabeth Allen.
Eight years ago when adventuresome Errol Flynn, now Warner’s new film rave, represented the British Government at New Guinea, one of his many odd duties was to act as physician and surgeon.
When a native named Joe Speedie appeared at headquarters with a gangrenous toe as a result of having been bitten by a poisonous fish, it was “Dr” Flynn who performed the necessary amputation of the infected toe. The emergency operation saved Joe’s life.
Last week, “Dr” Flynn received a belated fee for his surgical gesture, a valuable gold-headed cane. Joe explained in the accompanying letter that he had seen Errol in Captain Blood and was most happy to have located his benefactor of long ago. And Errol’s quite proud of his ‘fee.’
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The article says that Speedie was bitten on the toe by a poisonous fish. What it likely meant is that he was bitten or injected by a venomous fish. Venom is injected. Poison is ingested.
“Poisonous fish are fish that are poisonous to eat. They contain toxins which are not destroyed by the digestive systems of animals that eat the fish. Venomous fish also contain toxins, but do not necessarily cause poisoning if they are eaten, since the digestive system often destroys their venom.”
“Stonefish are venomous marine fish classified in the genus Synanceja and the family Synancejidae, found in shallow waters of the tropical Indo-Pacific. They are sluggish, bottom-dwelling fish that live among rocks or coral and in mud flats and estuaries. Thickset fish with large heads and mouths, small eyes, and bumpy skins covered with wart-like lumps and, sometimes, fleshy flaps, they rest on the bottom, unmoving, blending almost exactly with their surroundings in form and color. They are dangerous fish. Difficult to see, they can, when stepped on, inject quantities of venom through grooves in their dorsal-fin spines. Wounds produced by these fish are intensely painful and sometimes fatal.”
Watch your step! They can also live and attack on land for up to 24 hours!!
In the mid-1940s, a very famous personality and friend of Errol produced a movie in which he wanted Errol to play a key role. Errol, however, did not appear in the film, thus providing a very big break for the person who did play the role and went on to become a star.
Who was the producer? What was the movie? What was the role? Who played the role?
“Deposition filed by Screen Hero Errol Flynn (second from left) charged today he is permitted to few visits to his son by his ex-wife-actress Lili Damita, and that he is forced to pay ‘taxes on taxes’ on both income and money he gives his wife. He has petitioned for reduction in alimony payments. WIth him after court appearance are Attorney Sid Dorfman (left), for Miss Damita, and Flynn’s attorneys, Jerry Giesler (right) and Bob Ford.”
3 STARS ASSIGNED TO ‘BLACK PRINCE’:
Errol Flynn, Peter Finch and Joanne Dru Will Make Film in England for Allied
“FLAMING WITH THE BARBARIC CRUELTIES AND INFAMOUS CONQUESTS OF THE DARK AGE OF TERROR!
Edward, Prince of Wales, son and heir to his father King Edward III of England, leads an English army to the French province of Aquitaine to protect the inhabitants from the ravages of the French. After defeating the French in battle, the defeated French plot to kill the prince. Failing in this, they kidnap his lady, the lovely Lady Joan Holland. Of course Prince Edward has to ride to the rescue, adopting numerous guises to save his paramour, which ultimately end in him leading his men into one final climactic battle against the French.”
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“Theodore Thomson Flynn, Professor of Zoology at Queens College, Belfast, Ireland, and the father of Errol Flynn, screen actor, arrived yesterday on the United States liner Washington, which docked at Pier 62, North River, from Le Havre, Southampton and Cobh.”
Cruisin’ on United States liner Washington
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Pier 62 – Now the Northernmost of the Chelsea Piers
July 29, 1946 – Los Angeles Times.
“Errol Flynn’s Father Arrives to Join Cruise”
