Dear Flynnstones,
witness Geisha Man Errol Flynn greeting Japanese actress Izumi Yukimura gently on June 21st of 1957 during the Berlinale, where she entered the competition with the film Arashi.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
A Ship Mast with a View
16
Dec
Dear Flynnstones,
high above you see what Errol saw when he mounted the mast of his beloved ZACA like in the iconic photograph below.
The overview pic is from William Beebe‘s book “Zaca Venture“ recently featured on the blog.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
The Zaca before Errol Flynn!
13
Dec
Before Errol Flynn owned the Zaca the ship had an adventurous life. All recorded here in ZACA VENTURE …
The Zaca is a two masted black diesel schooner, one hundred and eighteen feet over all, with a gross tonnage of eighty four; Templeton Crocker is her owner, tanned a pleasant ochraceous tawny, five feet ten over all, with a refined tonnage of about twelve stone. The two, in juxtaposition, with a hand-picked captain and crew, set themselves to aid and abet a scientific expedition. The Invitation was to spend two months on the Zaca in the Gulf of California; the Acceptance materialized as the Twenty-fourth Expedition of the Department of Tropical Research of the New York Zoological Society; the Route included Cedros Island, Cape San Lucas, Guaymas, Inez Bay, the Banks of Punta Arena and Gorda, Mazatlan, and Clarion Island; the Chronology was the year nineteen hundred and thirty six from March twenty fifth to May twenty fifth, San Diego to San Diego; the Personnel included Templeton Crocker, Master and Owner, Alfred Pedersen, Captain, three members of my Staff, John Tee Van, General Associate, Jocelyn Crane, Technical Associate, George Swanson, Artist, myself, and a crew of fifteen, French, Norwegian, Latvian, Irish, Swedish, German, and Samoan. And there was also Toshio Asaeda, Japanese artist, photographer, preparateur; a walking, sleepless incarnation of the word Work. Our trip took on the character of the spoor of a drop of water meandering down a dusty windowpane, in that we made decisions suddenly as to the details of the exact route, and adapted our plans to contingencies and the incidence of favorable locations. From our basic plan we never swerved, which was to spend as little time as possible in disconnected and uncorrelated dredging, seining, and diving, but to concentrate our researches in two or three zoologically interesting places. These proved to be the Inez Bay region, Cape San Lucas and the adjoining Banks, and Clarion Island. Whatever of value may accrue to our published scientific results will be due to this course of action. (From the Preface)
— David DeWitt
Mail Bag! Debunking Errol Flynn’s Beam Ends!
13
Dec
Our great friend Jan van der Vliet sends a link to an article debunking Errol Flynn’s book Beam Ends from the the Australian newspaper The Bulletin written by Frank Clune a contemporary of Flynn.
Scroll to IMAGE NUMBER 50 …
Thanks, Jan!
— David DeWitt
Mail Bag! Juliet Greco Gravesite Visit!
08
Dec
Another Mail Bag item from Debby Phielix From her recent visit to Paris. Debby found the grave of Juliet Greco and sends us a couple of pictures! Debby writes:
Here are my photo’s of the grave of Juliette Gréco. You can post them on the mainblog if you want.
Juliette Gréco was and still is well loved in France. With the help of a friendly gardner I was able to find her grave at the Montparnasse cemetery. The rose you see in one of the photos is mine. A way to pay my respect to Errol’s co-star in his last two good movies, The Sun Also Rises and The Roots of Heaven. She is buried with her last husband Gérard Jouannest who died 2 years before Juliette.
Thanks, Debby!
— David DeWitt
Mail Bag! Sean Flynn Apartment Building!
07
Dec
The Mail Bag brings us contemporary views of the apartment building Errol Flynn’s son Sean Flynn lived in in Paris. Debby Phielix sends them with this message:
One of the first things I do when I visit Paris is rush to the Champs Elysees. It is one of my favorite places in Paris. This time I had another goal. To find Sean’s appartment. After leaving the GeorgeV metro station it was easy to find. Next to the Longchamps store was what I was looking for. Sean Flynn’s Paris house. Ofcourse now long gone, but when I looked up I couldn’t help but wonder where in the building he lived.
I doubt there are still appartments in the building as I noticed names of offices next to the door. And it is one of the most expencive streets. I took some pictures and raised my bottle of water as a toast to father and son who are together again in heaven.
I hope the photos are good enough to post. The last one is made across the street, so you can see the whole building.
Thanks, Debby!
— David DeWitt
The Old Sport and the Sea
23
Nov
Dear Flynnstones,
the A-list of anglers anchored at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club situated at the Peruvian Pacific Coast more than 1000 miles north of its capital Lima.
Amongst them were the prime actors of their time, the likes of Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Bob Hope, Gregory Peck and Errol Flynn.
Membership fees of 10.000$ a year kept the club, which also ran a hotel, a bar as well as a restaurant, extremely exclusive.
This elusive hideaway became one of Ernest Hemingway‘s favorite haunts. The Chicagoean writer of writers loved this deep sea fishing paradise, where the biggest of marlins (black ones) went straight to heaven, mucho! Don Ernesto even caught the Nobel Prize there. Due to his poor health at the time after two plane crashes in Africa, he was unable to haul in the mega marlin he already had hooked. Sometimes you win, when you lose.
Years later Papa came back to supervise the filming of “The Old Man and the Sea‘ in person. Folklore has it, he can be seen in some scenes,
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Bucket List
22
Nov
♦
Dear Flynnstones,
according to the annals of Schlosshotel Gerhus, a luxurious residence shaped after an Italian Renaissance Palais and situated in Grunewald, it was the site of an In(famous) like Flynn night.
While Errol stayed in Berlin for the Biennale of 1957, he took part in a fine wine degustation there.
Unaccustomed to merely sipping and tasting different wine sorts, our Hollywood hero soon became bored with the procedure. He saw no point in disposing the rest of your glass into a champagne bucket that was passed around and waiting his turn for a refill.
Immediately he started to down the grape juices like Vodka shots.
Roli, as called amicably by the German public, may have thought he owed his audience and put up a stiff performance.
At a certain point he wrestled the bucket away from the waiter and drank the whole mix in one heartily gulp.
Needless to say, he had to lie down thereafter.
Which goes to show, that he who lives by the bottle, will die by the bucket.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Tap Fence
20
Nov
Dear Flynnstones,
even while crossing swords the tandem of Errolivia was a congenial duo. Much like Ginger and Fred the ballet of Blood looks beautiful.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
