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Archive for the ‘Wives’ Category

“She Doesn’t Want to Learn”

25 Aug

Last Week of August, 1936

Peter Pry’s Notebook
Hollywood Citizens News

Errol Flynn, nearing completion of his starring role in The Green Light is spending his odd moments looking at palatial automobile trailers. He goes on vacation after the picture, and he wants a trailer so he and his wife, Lili Damita, can cook their meals. He plans to penetrate into the mountains, beyond the range of hotels and restaurants, so if they are to eat at all, the meals will have to be cooked. Lili has never cooked anything in her life and she doesn’t want to learn. Errol thinks it will be fun to have her cook. Apparently he isn’t considering his own stomach or peace of mind!

— Tim

 

Adventure is Calling

16 Aug

August 13, 1936

Harrison Carrol
LA Evening Herald Express

Adventure is calling again to Errol Flynn.

Instead of sailing to Europe in a de luxe suite as other movie stars do on vacation, the young Irish actor is headed for the wilds of Borneo, where he and a friend will photograph background shots of The White Rajah, Flynn’s own story, in which he will star for Warner Brothers.

The unusual holiday will begin as soon as he finishes one more picture declared the actor yesterday, and will take him away from Hollywood for a period of three months.

As the expedition will penetrate into uncivilized country, the star’s wife, Lili Damita, will not accompany him.

His partner in adventure will be Dr. Hermann Erben, with whom Flynn once sailed up a savage infested river in New Guinea. At that time the thought of Hollywood never enter the actor’s mind. He was the owner of a pearling schooner that Dr. Erben chartered for the expedition.

August 17, 1936

Harrison Carrol
LA Evening Herald Express

Errol Flynn calls up to say he still has not given up hope of persuading Lili Damita to brave the wilds of Borneo with him.

— Tim

 

“The Louse That Roared”

15 Aug

August 14, 1935

Winchell’s Daily Tattle
LA Evening Herald Express

By Walter Winchell

The Lili Damita-Errol Flynn honeymoon is over. It’ll be denied, but Lili is planning a Paris divorce.

—–

Winchell, aka “The Louse That Roared” – “not noted for accuracy”, nor concern for accuracy – wrote this winchell-worded letter to Lili in ’41, after Tiger Lil’ complained to him about an article he published falsely claiming Errol had been charged with statutory rape:

“Dear Mrs. Flynn, Thank you for your letter. The item was garbled by Western Union. I wired it to New York CIty from out of town. Best Wishes, Walter Winchell”

— Tim

 

Tiger Lil’ Plenty Upset

13 Aug

August 14, 1938

Louella O. Parsons

Movie-Go-Round
Los Angeles Examiner

Lili Damita, plenty upset over the press mistaking Errol Flynn’s trip to Reno as a divorce move, was talking about throwing a cocktail party for the newspaper clan to prove she and Errol are still happy. But friends talked her out of it — because Errol isn’t as strong on denials. Many times in the past when these rumors have cropped up Lili has called us and made explanations, but it is hard to hide the fact any longer that things haven’t been going so well for them the last year.

And then there was this …

— Tim

 

Shelter from the Storms

08 Aug

[The storm at sea, and the storm on Lookout Mountain.]

August 10, 1938

Harrison Carroll
Evening Herald Express

Errol Flynn flew into town yesterday from his jaunt to the Cal-Neva Lodge and Reno. His yacht, the Sirocco, docked a few hours earlier at San Pedro. It ran into a storm after leaving Cape San Lucas, losing its mainsail and had to seek shelter until the wind blew itself out. Then, 100 miles south of Ensenada, it ran out of fuel and had to make a long tack out to sea to make the Mexican port. The overhaul will cost the actor a pretty penny.

theculturetrip.com…

— Tim

 

Change of Mind?

07 Aug

August 8, 1938

Harrison Carroll
Evening Herald Express

Players change their minds so rapidly. Errol Flynn said he was sailing down the Mexican coast and that night he decided to go to Reno instead.

_____

Was the honeymoon over for Mr & Mrs Fleen?

divorceseekers.wordpress.com…

— Tim

 

A Puppy in Paris

02 Aug

August 3, 1935

Harrison Carroll
Evening Herald Express

It seems strange enough to be recorded here.

Ten years ago director Michael Curtiz was looking for a particular type of girl for a picture, Puppies in Paris. His luck was poor until chance carried him to a performance of the “Follies Bergere.” In one of the specialty dancers, a girl glamorous and young, he saw the ideal type for the role. So he hired her — and that is how Lili Damita got her start in pictures.

Today, in the Warners Brothers film, Captain Blood, Curtis is preparing to give another untried player, Errol Flynn, his first big chance at film fame. Flynn is married to Lili Damita.

And some people don’t believe in coincidence.

______

Lili in Poupee De Paris aka Red Heels aka …

— Tim

 

Cagney and Flynn Go Long

26 Jul

Jimmy and Errol during the filming of Frisco Kid and Captain Blood. No hug or smile for hubby, though!

July 25, 1935

A Little from Lots

by Ralph Wilks

Photography on two Warner special productions, Frisco Kid, starring James Cagney, and Captain Blood, co-starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, starts next Monda at the Burbank studios under the direction of Lloyd Bacon and Michael Curtiz, respectively.

____

Look for Lili in the poker scene ~ 0:47 – 1:00, and in the “star-in-every-role” end credits:

— Tim

 

“The Bachelor”

02 Jul

July 2, 1937

Harrison Carroll
LA Evening Herald Express

“Never one to abide by Hollywood custom, Errol Flynn bought a small sailing yacht yesterday and announced that no women will be allowed on board.

In keeping with the policy, the star revealed he has decided to re-christen the yacht “The Bachelor.”

Which, of course, led someone to remind Flynn that he himself is no bachelor–still being married to the exotic French actress Lili Damita.

“She can’t come aboard the yacht either,” declared the Irish actor. “I never saw a woman yet who stand rough sailing without getting either sick or frightened. And I intend to have some real fun in this boat.”

The yacht, of modest size compared to most owned by Hollywood celebrities, was purchased by the star from George Arthur, the producer. It carries an auxiliary motor as well as sails.”

*******

Errol sails The Bachelor, aka Cheerio II

— Tim

 

Baby Talk

24 Jun

June 24, 1935

Film Flam with Sidney Skolsky
Hollywood Citizen News

Lily Damita has told intimates that the reason she got married is that she wants a baby (Flynn).

*******

June 30, 1935

Louella Parsons
Movie-Go-Round
Los Angeles Examiner

The real story behind the marriage of Lily Damita to handsome Errol Flynn is that the gay Damita has a yen to go domestic in a big way. She confided to a close friend months ago that she was tired of gadding about.

“The next time I meet a man I really like,” she said. “I am going to marry him, settle down and have babies. I believe I want a child more than anything else in the world.”

*******
She lived a gay life in Europe and Hollywood before semi-settling down with Flynn …

She seems to be showing in this photo … just about everything but a baby bump!

Press speculation on how their baby would look …

It took guile and a while …

— Tim