The Errol Flynn Blog

Ahoy!

This one is for the new fans. The rest of you may eavesdrop if you wish.

I've noticed that some of the Zaca's new members are also discovering Errol Flynn for the first time. For those of you who have been following recent posts you've already read about some of the photos I've posted over at Dave's website.

I don't have the best collection of Errol Flynn memorabilia, in fact, off the top of my head I can think of a good dozen people who have Flynn collections that are much better than mine (collections that make my pulse race), including members of this group. But Ihave a lot and I like to share it, especially the stills. My collection began in the early 1970s when I began purchasing stills and lobby cards.

So for those of you interested in starting a collection I offer the following advice:

Create a monthly budget and decide precisely how much money you can afford to spend for twelve months. I say twelve months because you'll need one good year to get a feel for what you are doing.

There are numerous archival photography businesses, such as Movie Market, Corbis, and others that sell Flynn photographs, but I'm big on e-bay.

Why e-bay? Because the variety is better and it's possible to purchase scene stills at discount prices, at least sometimes. Also, e-bay is, in my opinion, a gold-mine for the Flynn fan. A week does not go by where I don't see some rare item or rare still. I seestills every week on e-bay that I don't have, and I have a lot.

Next, I recommend you pick one of two of your favorite Flynn films to start and concentrate on collecting stills from those films. In other words, remain focused. Start by purchasing general stills from your favorite film. After that you can branch out into other areas.

I can't tell you exactly how to proceed, but I can share with you how I do it. For example, I use the great book THE FILMS OF ERROL FLYNN by Tony Thomas, Rudy Behlmer and Clifford McCarty as a type of measuring stick. Pick a film from that book and look at the stills. Try collecting those. For example, the entry for DIVE BOMBER has five stills. I have two of those five stills. The one I really want is the one at the top of page 105 where he's running across the aircraft carrier deck. I've never found a glossy of that one. I have many other great stills from that movie, so I can't complain, but I never found that one on page 105.

Once you get into it you'll discover that some stills are very common and easy to obtain. You'll see the same photos from ROBIN HOOD, THE SEA HAWK and others. It's a good idea to buy those up and get it out of the way. After all, you're a collector now! Back to THE FILMS OF ERROL FLYNN, my friend Rick Dodd and I were talking by telephone once how easy it is to flip through that book and spot stills that we DON'T own. It's amazing! It's uncanny how some stills are so elusive. But e-bay has changed all of that and in recent years I've filled in some gaps. Yet I'm always on the prowl for that VIRGINIA CITY still at the top of page 90, that SANTA FE TRAIL still at the top of page 100, that SILVER RIVER still at the bottom of page 151. The list is endless.

But after a few months you'll accumulate some nice photos. Once you collect a reasonable amount from a specific film you'll start looking for candid and other shots not commonly available. I have plenty of stills from THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON but I am always looking for anything from the final scenes at the Little Big Horn that I don't have. Warner Brothers created hundreds of publicity photos for their films and occasionally something will surface. That's when your e-bay budget might suffer a bit. Don't be discouraged if you don't find everything that you want. Half the fun
is in the game itself.

Now I'd like to make an offer to Zaca members (as of this date). If you publicly post your favorite Flynn film on this group's site I'll post a (one) photo (or image) related to that film over at Dave's web-site: rememberingerrol.blogplugs.com…. The main website page is at: coffeewithdavid.com… Then you can save it to your hard-drive for printing on photo paper. I've had a great many people help me over the years and I'd like to return the favor. So how about it? I'm particularly interested in assisting the new fans.

Post your favorite film here and I'll post a photo for you at Dave's place. Duplicates are ok. For example if Mary, George and Bertha all like Robin Hood then I'll post three different Robin Hood images at Dave's place.

A few rules do apply: Please post at least your first name, and all requests should be posted by Sunday noon (Sunday November 18th). A time limit is necessary unfortunately. Other than that, no strings attached. Have fun and happy collecting!

PS- Note that I do NOT have stills from anything prior to CAPTAIN BLOOD other than one still from IN THE WAKE OF THE BOUNTY. Some films are also in short supply but I do have something from everything after that except, of course, HELLO GOD. It may take me a good number of days to comply if there are numerous requests so expect delays. And requests from illiterates will be ignored. Private e-mails to me on this topic will be deleted.

NOTE: Don't forget to help support Dave's Errol Flynn blog by
linking to e-bay or Amazon through his site.

Keep rockin.'

— Shamrock