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Archive for the ‘Wives’ Category

“Lazy as a Cyclone”

09 Sep

So said Mrs. Fleen about her peripatetic, force-of-nature husband.

As for Miss Dynamita, Errol reported: “We fought from the opening gong; so we got married.”

Here’s the Always Astonishing and Often True Life Story of Errol Flynn:
www.newspapers.com…
(As Flynnmates around the globe know, the fully true life story is even more astonishing.)

— Tim

 

Pirate Party on Catalina Isle! First Appearance!

30 Aug

All Flynn followers are familiar with the brief appearance of Errol and Lily in Pirate Party on Catalina Island, but there was always a little confusion about when this quiet little short subject appeared. To help quell any more questions, here is a clip from the Los Angeles Times newspaper of Feb. 12, 1936, page 11.

 

It premiered with the Charlie Chaplin film Modern Times.

Enjoy,

 

— Topper

 

“First Images of Baby Sean”!

09 Jul

“Spotlight on Errol Flynn”, Movie-Radio Guide, June 1940

“Unfortunate for Flynn fans, Proud Papa Errol has set his foot down on having photos taken of the infant.”

— Tim

 

Flynn River

28 Jun

You always rolled in style
And always brought a smile …

Oh dreammaker, you heartbreaker
You were off to see the world,
And there was such a lot of world to see …

June 28, 1935

Harrison Carroll – Los Angeles Evening Herald Express

Lili Damita’s new groom, Errol Flynn, is versatile to no end. In addition to acting for Warner pictures (he has a good chance for the lead in Captain Blood) the young Irishman is writing a book about his experiences in the interior of New Guinea.

Seems he once went there on commission of the British government to promote peace between the tribes of aborigines. And, while there, was lucky enough to make a gold strike and have a river named after him.

All in addition, of course, to his prowess as an athlete. Flynn was the amateur boxing heavyweight champion of Ireland and competed in the 1928 Olympic Games. And he’s an ace at tennis, too, which is Hollywood’s favorite game.

— Tim

 

Film of Errol & Lili Skiing!

23 Jun

On the slopes of “Hollywood St. Moritz” (aka Sun Valley)

youtu.be/UlcyL3Vgufc…

— Tim

 

In the Wake of Hurricane George

16 May

With hurricane season rapidly approaching in Florida, here is a rarely seen photo of Errol and Nora arriving in Miami in the wake of “Hurricane George”, “one of the most powerful and largest storms ever to hit SE Florida.” www.wunderground.com…

1947 was the first year the U.S. Air Force officially assigned names to hurricanes. The worst hurricane that year was Hurricane George, aka “the Fort Lauderdale Hurricane”, because of the Category 4 havoc it caused in Fort Liquordale. It caused extensive damage in Louisiana and Mississippi, also.

“Errol Flynn and his wife, Nora, are pictured on their arrival here by plane from Jamaica. Their flight course closely paralleled the course of the hurricane. ‘Shocking and sad, ‘ Flynn said of storm-wrecked Miami.” Flynn and wife are shown on the stairs of an airplane.” September 20, 1947.

In October, the long-delayed filming of The Adventures of Don Juan began in California.

Orange represents Category 4 winds:

Man on Miami Beach, where there was major flooding and damage, including to 334 hotels:

— Tim

 

Eighty Years Ago – 4/5/1937 – Lili

05 Apr

Los Angeles Evening Herald Express – April 5, 1937

LILI DAMITA MAY FLY TO WOUNDED ERROL FLYNN

All Lili Damita is sure of today is that she must get post-haste to the side
of her wounded husband, Errol Flynn — by airplane if possible.

After a night of frantic worry over the fate of the handsome actor-adventurer
as the result of an alarmist telephone call from a London friend saying Flynn
had been killed near Madrid, Miss Damita planned to ask the foreign office for
a special permit to fly to Spain.

The actress poured out her thanks in a torrent of emotional words when she was
informed that latest information said that Flynn had been only slightly wounded
and had left Madrid for Valencia.

(Madrid advisers said Flynn was grazed on the head by a machine gun bullet
when he was visiting the University City front.)

In the meantime Miss Damita made frantic efforts to get in touch with Flynn,
planning to defer her departure until she gets direct word from her husband.

Her only worry as she prepared from Leeds Castle in Kent to the foreign office
here was whether the reported injury to Flynn’s handsome Irish face will mar his
film career.

— Tim

 

Flynn v. Flynn

08 Feb

All Rise. Flynn versus Flynn is in session.

scocal.stanford.edu…

— Tim

 

The Palm Beach Story

19 Dec

Visiting with the Vietors

southwood-on-palm-beach

Last year I published a post entitled “A Stay at Palm Beach with the Jell-O Queen” about Errol & Lili’s visit/vacation at Southwood, the prominent mansion of Eleanore Emily Woodward Vietor.*

A Stay at Palm Beach, with the Jell-O Queen

In response to that post, I received correspondence from a descendent of the Vietors, who has very generously sent some clarifying and enhancing information, including in part the following news articles, the first of which reports (with a corrected date) on the party given for Errol & Lili in 1938. Look at that guest list! The Crockers (parents of Zaca owner Templeton Crocker), the Pillsburys (with all their dough), Howie Hughes, and E.F. Hutton (www.youtube.com…), among many other deep pockets and Cafe Society-Era socialites.

palm-beach-party-for-errol-and-lili

Southwood also had a fascinating JFK connection:

1961-cernadas-wrightsman-kennedy

See, also, for an account of the Robin Hood Parody film starring Errol, Lili, Paulette Goddard, et al.:

BATTERS UP!

errol-and-lili-robin-hood

* Southwood was only a very short walk from Mar-a-Lago, the new Winter White House, designed by the very same architect, Marion Sims Wyeth. … Not that anyone who was anyone on Palm Beach in those days would deign to undertake such a horrendously plebeian trek without chauffeur and vetements formels.

— Tim

 

BATTERS UP!

14 Oct

A DOUBLE HEADER QUIZ

FIRST PITCH – Right Down the Middle

With the summer season of Cricket beginning Down Under, who was “The Errol Flynn of Cricket”?

the-errol-flynn-of-cricket-1

SECOND PITCH – A Screw Ball

What film did both Errol and Lili appear in?

This being a Hall of Fame-level pitch, I provide the following batting tips
(not that they’ll likely help much – this a very, very tough one!):

> It was produced by Howard Hughes.

> Paulette Goddard co-starred.

> E.F.Hutton was involved.

> It was filmed entirely outside California.

damita2

— Tim