Dear Flynnstones,
here is a video clip about the Royal Command Film Premiere of “That Forsythe Woman“ from November 17 of 1949 in London with the late Queen Elizabeth II and her sister Princess Margaret exchanging glances with Baron Flynn the One and Only. m.youtube.com…
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Dear Flynnstones,
Sankt Moritz is another great storytelling venue Errol Flynn set foot on.
His best man Freddie McEvoy was a regular guest at the famous Badrutt`s Palace Hotel with is first wife, the oil heiress Beatrice Cartwright.
Even though “Pleasure was his business”, Suicide Freddie was not idling his time at the terrace of the luxury hotel all the time.
After winning the gold medal in the Four Men Bobsleigh event at the 1937 World Championship of St. Moritz, he set his sight on the Cresta Run.
He came in second to US war hero Billy Fiske in the 1937 Curzon Cup, the most important race of the season from Junction (abbreviated track).
Our man Flynn tried his luck and risked his looks once there also on January 26th of 1953.
Trained by veteran competitor Colin Mitchell he managed a (respectable for an actor) time of 119.40 seconds from Junction.
Jokingly he addressed the press and said he would have arrived earlier had he not exited the course to sip champagne with a blonde curvier than the notorious Shuttlecock corner.
At Hotel Steffani there is a whole bar dedicated to the icey race.
Barbara Hutton and flynntimo Count Troubetzkoy (A bus line back one century in time « The Errol Flynn Blog) dinned at restaurant “Le Lapin Bleu”
At the foyer, unlike an apple impossible to miss, is an imposing statue of Swiss national hero William Tell which may have given our Hollywood hero the ultimate spin to ditch “The Story of Farouk” for “The Story of William Tell” as his next film.
Banzai,
— shangheinz
What did Errol Flynn, this man with a magnificent spirit and charisma give to Earth other than fun movies, a great smile, and a notable autobiography? Happiness and hope.
I became fully aware of the happiness and hope Errol gave the world from his movies and writings and short time on this earth, two years ago. It was July 2020, I had been to the hospital to have an MRI scan to understand why for a year in total I had been having occasional nocturnal seizures. Well, the scan revealed that at the age of 21 (for one month more as I turned 22 in August) I had a stage 2 glioma bordering on the motor region. I was not completely shocked as it was something I had suspected for a while, but actually having it confirmed sent chills down my spine, and tears down my cheeks. I was devastated. It had already been a hard year as it was, due to lockdown keeping everyone inside, and ridiculously not even allowing the safest and healthiest of activities like Golf which I was playing 3 times a week (4 if the conditions permitted) to be done. To add to that my beloved dog Molly (who had been sick and blind for a long time ) died, and during the night-time of that sad day I suffered a seizure; the one that made me finally arrange to have an MRI done as my Doctors had disgracefully not arranged for one.
But enough dreariness. How exactly did Errol Flynn help me get better? Was it his films? The energy he displayed in his films? His hilarious and exciting book? His funny face and grin which immediately upon looking at it you can’t help but laugh or smile? His philosophy? IT WAS ALL OF THESE! Ever since I first saw Errol Flynn in Captain Blood I was immediately captivated. Here was this grinning Aussie who despite the accent, made you believe he had just stepped into the Elizabethan times! In Robin Hood you believed he really did come from Sherwood forest! And in Dodge City that he really did go to the Wild Wild West! He looked and acted the part of every novel hero, from his physique and profile, down to his posture, demeanour and charm. But as I discovered from watching more of his films, and reading (multiple times) his “Wicked, wicked ways” (and many more books about him since then, including his novels) his real life story, the real Errol Flynn was far more interesting! This man had done everything! Gone to School in London and Australia, joined a “razor gang”, fought and conquered cannibal savages (and of course bedded one of their women), experienced what could of been an episode of Maverick (James Garner coincidentally wore Errol’s outfit from Silver River) in Hong Kong with Ting Ling O’Connor, worked as a seaman, before finally after many years and a tries at plays in London became an actor in Hollywood. And if you’ll forgive me for my crudeness; slept with the world’s most beautiful women. All before the age of 30. What a unique spirit.
I knew that I couldn’t let misfortune get me down. Far from making me give up on life and become a hermit, the diagnosis re-invigorated my desire to live. I started playing golf more regularly, skipping everyday, doing the heavy bag and weights every other day, in short:just doing things that made me happy and kept me healthy. Life was too short to live in despair and fear, you’re here today, try to live it good no matter how hard it may seem, life’s never as bad it seems. There’s always a way. I kept this philosophy I’d learnt from Errol up even when I had the surgery to removed as much of the tumour as was possible (thanks to my great Surgeon and the team at UCLH National Hospital For Neurology). The surgery had due to where it was located and the time it took (9 hours), left me temporarily paralysed on my right side. No more jumping and swinging like Robin Hood, skipping and heavy bag like Gentleman Jim, no! For the next month and a half I had to dig in deep, and use all of the hope that lied within me to get better. “I will see the world!” I will find a beautiful woman!” “I wont let this get in the way of my dreams!”, and like Errol Flynn in bed with a beautiful woman, or against the wild cannibals of New Guinea, I conquered my fear of not being able to use my right side fully again , and am doing well, despite suffering an infection from the first surgery, which meant having to have the bone flap that was removed and put in again during the surgery, removed again, and then 2 weeks ago having what is called “PEEK” put in the spot wear my bone used to be so that as I type this blog I have staples on my scalp. What an eventful year!
Errol Flynn once said in his letters “just one hour of time is far more important than money for time is life. Whenever you waste your time over printed words that neither enlighten nor amuse you, you are in a sense committing suicide.” Truer words were never spoken. This quote could be applied and altered to the use of social media, video games, tv, arguments, youtube etc and still be true. Life is short, the world is big, so why waste your time on negativity? Long live Errol Flynn and his amazing legacy.
A positive and negative
My tumour was found to benign in the biopsy, but the fact I had known I had a tumour was purely down to me arranging to have a MRI done. As I said previously my Doctors never even recommended one. That my tumour was thankfully found to be benign, made me think of those who ended up having the reverse, and of those, those who find out too late, or never at all. If you experience a seizure, or your head has been feeling different and the doctor tells you “it was just a panic attack”, or “don’t worry it’s just a head cold” do get an MRI scan just to be sure. It could literally save your life.
Please donate to these charities if you can www.thebraintumourcharity.org…
— Smordon Cluce
Dear Flynnstones,
this image is Errol Flynn in a nutshell. Heading in the opposite direction of a sheltered area towards fun, females and flynnanigans.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Dear Flynnstones,
the next line in an old song goes like this: … I want to marry you…
This picture may be the earliest testimonial, maybe at a sort of coming out party, of Errol and his future wife, Nora Eddington.
If I am not mistaken, it dates right after Flynn‘s acquittal at „the trial“.
It can even be taken in the immediate aftermath, since our Hollywood hero wears a pinstripe suit and the exact tie as at the verdict’s proclamation.
You see him talking to the press, obviously relieved and back to his daredevilish attitude again.
Enjoy,
PS: Miss Blanca Rosa Welter meanwhile probably had an appointment at the dentist.
— shangheinz
Dear Flynnstones,
as this picture shows, Rufus Edward Mackahan could have held his own as Robin Hood. Billed Alan Hale, he instead got to play Little John in film on three occasions and for the respective generations. A whale of hails to Errol’s most trusted side-, back- and frontkick.
Enjoy.
— shangheinz
In 1965, Sean Flynn had agreed to go to Tabernas, Almeria, Spain to film a movie (which would use the same sets used for Clint Eastwood’s film, “For a Few Dollars More”) with the Spanish twin performers “Pili y Mili”. The film, a Spanish-Italian co-production was to be a western titled, “Dos Pistolas Gemelas”(“Twin Pistols”) for its Spanish language release in 1966 and “Una Donna per Ringo”(“A Woman for Ringo”) for its Italian release also in 1966. The film would be dubbed into English and according to IMDb was released under several different titles in English. I have yet to see any English language prints of the film, but YouTube has a trailer for the film in English under the unlikely title of “Vengeance Ranch”. The trailer trying to sell the film as a rough and tumble western shows almost no scenes of the two musical numbers in the film featuring the twins Pili and Mili, (here listed as “Milly and Phyllis”). The book, “Spaghetti Westerns: the Good, the Bad and the Violent,,,” by Thomas Weisser compares the film to an Elvis Presley type musical because the twin sisters were known for their musical performances and they sing and dance in the film. In my original review of the film for my article, “The Forgotten Films of Sean Flynn, Son of Errol Flynn”, I had labeled the film as “unwatchable” due mainly to the fact that every time I tried to watch it; it put me to sleep. As YouTube now has a better copy of the film than the one I first viewed, I was able to watch it again and this time I was able to stay awake. [The version on YouTube is in Spanish only as was the version I initially watched for my article.] The twins are mildly entertaining as a singing and dancing duo, especially when in one scene they dance a well choreographed version of the “Can Can” dance. Sean is serviceable as the love interest for one of the twins and provides aid to the twins when needed against the “bad guys”. The film is not as “unwatchable ” as I previously thought, but is mildly entertaining.
It might work as a double feature with Errol’s 1950 film “Montana”; a western where Errol does a little singing.—A. R.
[It should be noted that Sean only agreed to do the film for the money, which he would use to finance his next project; to photograph the Vietnam War.]–A. R.
— ILIKEFLYNN
The mail bag brings us a story about a copy of John Decker’s painting that has been in someone’s family for 50 years. Dave Curtin writes us:
Hello,
And it inspired me to reach out. I’m not sure if the family or estate or collectors would be interested, but I have an original Paval portrait of Errol Flynn. It’s pretty amazing.
It’s been in my family for 50 years as it originally belonged to my father who owned a nightclub in West Hollyood in the 1970s.
Then it went to Newport Beach with him and my stepmom, then came back to me to studio city. Now it’s back in Newport Beach.
We’ve thought about selling it from time to time but it would need to go to the right person at the right price. A friend of mine recently purchased a house in West Hollywood behind the comedy store that once belonged to Errol. I might see if he’d like it in that place since it ties back to the story.
Let me know your thoughts on any of this. Here’s an attachment of the photo.
Best, Dave
— David DeWitt
Today is the world premiere of Majorca Bound: Errol’s Flynnest Adventure by Lorenzo Gomez!
Congratulations, Lorenzo, all of your production crew and special guests and thanks for sharing with The Errol Flynn Blog …
Click image to watch!
— David DeWitt
