— Tim
Archive for the ‘Newspaper & Headlines’ Category
For His Own Good
26
Apr
In Like Lynn — In for Flynn
24
Apr
April 26, 1938
Elizabeth Yeaman
Hollywood Citizen News
Warners are remaining absolutely mum on the subject of Errol Flynn, whose picture, Robin Hood, was enthusiastically greeted at a preview last night. Flynn, so far as known, is still aboard his yacht in waters off the Bahama Islands. Frank Heacock, a member of the publicity department who is with Flynn, has communicated several times with the studio, but apparently Heacock cannot get Flynn to say yes or no about returning for Sister Act.
It may be that Flynn thinks his absence speaks for itself. However, with the picture ready to start and the rest of the cast all lined up, a delay in production will be an expensive matter. If Flynn should return promptly, he probably would be forgiven and put right into the picture. But in view of the silence and his absence, naturally the studio is moving to protect itself against delay.
As a result, Jeffrey Lynn has been given extensive tests for the past few days, for the role that Flynn was set to play in Sister Act. Lynn is 27, and those who saw him on the local road show of “Brother Rat” will remember him as a member of that company. Warners were immediately interested in him and sought his release from George Abbott. He was brought into the studio last January, and has been going through a grooming process. His first movie role of any size was When Were You Born?, which has not been released. And he had the role of romantic interest opposite Kay Francis in In Every Woman’s Life.
If Lynn suddenly steps into the lead opposite the Lane sisters in Sister Act, it will be a very sudden leap up the ladder of opportunity.
***
The Jeffrey Lynn story:
www.outofthepastblog.com…
In Lynn, each girl sees the attainment of her desires… See, beginning at 1:01 in the official trailer below:
Haven’t seen it anywhere, but methinketh the name “Jeffrey Lynn” was likely created to sound like “Errol Flynn”. His real name was Ragnar Godfrey Lind.
— Tim
Not Just Any Port — “Dodge City of the Caribbean”
24
Apr
April 12, 1938
Jimmy Starr
Evening Herald Express
In the year of 1692 the quiet little village of Port Royal, Jamaica, was startled by a loud rumble, followed by a violent earthquake that slid the entire town into the ocean. On days when the water is clear, sightseerers hire a small boat to visit the site of the tragedy and to view the remains of a city underwater.
There are superstitious natives in that region who claim they can still hear the bells ringing in the sunken church. Intriqued by the fame of the bells, adventure-some Errol Flynn, Warner star, who is cruising with his new yacht in that section, informs me that he is going to make a deep-sea dive in an effort to recover the bells. If successful, the ancient chimes will be brought to Hollywood for exhibition.
***
Captain Blood’s Port Royal, Warner Bros. Publicity Still 1935
— Tim
Dozens of Dirty Rumors
23
Apr
April 23, 1938
Louella O. Parsons
Los Angeles Examiner
Dozens of dizzy rumors floating about Warners efforts to get Errol back in town in a hurry for Because of a Man. One yarn is that Errol is quite ill and unable to return and another is that Warners are unable to contact him because his boat has no wireless. However, the studio says he is expected to put in at Bahamas tomorrow where Warners will have a telephone line held open to tell him to fly home. The studio has shot around him just as long as they can and there’s still another rumor that if he isn’t reached, they’ll start casting about for another hero.
***
Would it be Warners’ own Dick Powell?
Or perhaps MGM’s Melvyn Douglas?
Or would they pick someone whose name sounded more like Errol Flynn’s?
— Tim
Olivia in Ireland
22
Apr
April 22, 1938
Harrison Carroll
From Belfast, Olivia de Havilland writes that her trip has been taken up partly by commissions for her Hollywood friends. In the village of Shanonbridge, she looked up George Brent’s old nurse who, at 79, is still earning her living as a dress-maker. The star’s visit almost caused a riot in the community.
In Belfast, Olivia spent a day with Errol Flynn’s parents. His father, a professor of biology at Queen’s university, still isn’t sold on Flynn’s acting career.
He told Olivia he wishes that Errol would give up the cinema, return to Ireland, and take up a more serious vocation.
Warners would be satisfied if he’d even get off his yacht and return to Hollywood.
***
Following the filming of The Adventures of Robin Hood, before its release on May 14, 1938:
Meanwhile, back across the pond, with Warners in hot pursuit:
— Tim
Wrestling with Lili
18
Apr
April 22, 1935
Lloyd Pantages
Cover Hollywood
Los Angeles Examiner
“Lili Damita has developed a sparkling interest in Man Mountain Dean – of all people.
Every time he gives forth in a local match, Lili can be found hanging over the canvas at ringside…”
Here is some Pathe film of perhaps such a match, a late 1934 contest between Jumpin’ Joe Savoldi and Man Mountain Dean at the Olympic Auditorium in LA. Anyone see Lili hanging over the canvas? Maybe she was studying some of Jumpin’ Joes’s famous flying kicks for her early dates and dalliances with Flynn.
— Tim
Thanks for the Memory — — A Poetastic Quiz
16
Apr
Who was the following for, whose films we adore, but is with us no more?
(Even more fun if the verses are sung, to the music below, a tune you all know)
Thanks for the memory.
For that dolly shot,
The tears that menthol brought,
We went to see the rushes,
… and the rushes weren’t so hot.
But thank you so much.
Thanks for the memory,
Why is Gale so slow?
Why does Lola blow?
Why aren’t Rose and Pat on time?
… and Felix gotta go?
But thank you so much.
You said hell with the mixer.
Then Flynn said hell with the picture.
But you’re a Hungarian Fixer.
We’ve had so much fun – you five bell bum!
Thanks for the memory.
We really think you’re tops.
You never turn out flops.
… and Limey says your only fault
is that you eat the props.
So thank you very much.
Cheerio, Toodle-oo
— Tim
No Blood. No Charge.
13
Apr
June 13, 1935
Hollywood Citizen News
by Elizabeth Yeaman
Apropos of The Three Musketeers, and the quest for a dashing D’Artagnan, Warners are looking for a captain Blood to replace Robert Donat in the picture of that title. Captain Blood was Irish and had all the emotional verve typical of the Irish, so Warners hacve decided to test George Brent for this role. Errol Flynn, another Irishman under contract to Warners, probably would be tested also if he had been established with the film public, but since his name is unknown outside of Hollywood, he will not qualify. Dwight Franklin, a great authority on pirates, who has been working on technical aspects of Captain Blood, feels that Brent should qualify for the role.
***
It is possible that Leslie Howard will be the star of The Charge of the Light Brigade, which Warners are going to produce as a big special during the coming year. The story, written by Abe Jacoby, was suggested by the Tennyson poem, “Charge of the Light Brigade.” Action will center around the Crimean War and Florence Nightingale will be one of the principal characters.
_____________________
Before Blood, Before Flynn was in the Big Money:
— Tim
Trial and Tribulations Begin — January 11, 1943
12
Jan
“Actor Errol Flynn, left, sits at his counsel’s table with defense attorney Robert E. Ford, awaiting the start of his trial on Jan 11, 1943 in Los Angeles, on charges he committed statutory rape upon 17-year-old Betty Hansen, seated at left behind Flynn, and Peggy Larue Satterlee, 16-year-old Hollywood night club entertainer. At the left of Ford is Mickey Satterlee, Peggy’s sister. (AP Photo)”
Defendant: Errol Flynn
Crime Charged: Statutory Rape
Chief Defense Lawyers: Jerry Geisler and Robert Neeb
Chief Prosecutors: Thomas W. Cochran and John Hopkins
Judge: Leslie E. Still
Place: Los Angeles, California
Dates of Trial: January 11-February 6, 1943
Verdict: Not guilty
SIGNIFICANCE: Despite the outcome, the Errol Flynn trial focused national attention on Hollywood’s sexual mores, which both titillated and shocked many Americans. The trial also put the phrase “In like Flynn” into the American language.
In 1942, Errol Flynn was at the height of his swashbuckling Hollywood career. In 10 years, the handsome native of Australia had made 26 movies—among them such overnight classics as Captain Blood, The Adventures of Robin Hood, and The Sea Hawk. Flynn lived a boisterous, daring life that was also devil-may-care. He worked hard, drank hard, loved hard. Women everywhere had fallen for his splendid physique, his cleft chin, and his enticing dimples, and women everywhere were available to him.
At a party in September 1942, Flynn met 17-year-old Betty Hansen, who arrived with a studio messenger and who dreamed of moviedom fame and fortune. By dinnertime, Hansen had thrown up from too much drinking.
The next day, Hansen told her sister that Flynn had taken her upstairs to clean up, then seduced her in a bedroom. A complaint was filed with District Attorney Thomas W. Cochran, who recalled a similar complaint by one Peggy Satterlee after a voyage aboard Flynn’s yacht. That charge had been dropped.
Flynn’s stand-in stuntman, Buster Wiles, later said Satterlee’s father had earlier approached Flynn with a demand for money, or, said Wiles, “he would lie to the police that his underage daughter had sexual relations with Flynn.”
Flynn was arrested in October. He hired Hollywood’s ace lawyer, Jerry Geisler.
Fans and sensation seekers thronged Flynn’s neighborhood, spying through binoculars, prowling over his 11-acre property, mobbing the courthouse at his preliminary hearing, pulling at his buttons and shoes.
Selecting the jury on January 11, 1943, Geisler purposely took nine women, gambling that the females’ attraction to the movie star would outweigh concern over the seduction of innocence.
Prosecutor Cochran opened with the Betty Hansen charge. Geisler’s crossexamination proved that her testimony was confused and that she was currently awaiting action on a possible felony charge with her boyfriend, the studio messenger.
Above trial history from:
law.jrank.org…
— Tim
Hi-Tailing It to Texas
30
Dec
Fleeing Hollywood for the Mexican border
December 29, 1939
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Jimmie Fidler
Errol Flynn will vacation on Big Boy Williams’ paternal ranch near Del Rio, Texas.
“Del Rio – The Friendliest Little Border Town in Texas – An Oasis in the Desert”
amp-southernliving-com.cdn.ampproject.org…
“Travelers have long been drawn to this oasis on the Rio Grande. The American Indians who inhabited the area more than 4,000 years ago left detailed pictographs on cave walls, now a sort of primitive history book etched in stone. Spanish missionaries planted a church here in 1635 and christened the spot San Felipe del Rio. It was named not for the Rio Grande but in honor of San Felipe Springs, which still offers up to 90 million gallons of spring water every minute.”
“Queen City of the Rio Grande”
www-mysanantonio-com.cdn.ampproject.org…
“The heyday of Del Rio, the “Queen City of the Rio Grande,” as year-round tourist destination, along with nearby Villa Acuña, Coahuila, appears to have been in the 1930s.
During that era, the two sister cities straddling the Texas-Mexico border enchanted businessmen and the leisure class with mix of oasis relaxation and unregulated foreign intrigue.”
— Tim
