— David DeWitt
The Bust Of Errol Flynn
22
Feb
Many years ago, my wife and I were visiting the small village of Grand Rapids, Ohio. It is an old town, situated on the Miami and Erie Canal, dating back to the mid 1800s. The downtown is filled with craft stores, antiques, and restaurants; a good place to spend a Sunday afternoon, browsing.
We entered a ceramic shop, as my wife enjoyed painting, and one of her hobbies was ceramics. I noticed on one shelf a series of small busts of various Hollywood stars. One caught my eye, after seeing Gable, Astaire, and Karloff, I noticed another well-known face…. Errol Flynn. Having been a Flynn fan now for several years, I just had to have one. My wife agreed to paint it for me; so away we went with my new prize.
Soon, Errol Flynn adorned my bookcase, in his Don Juan shirt, painted red, looking suave and debonair. It remained there for several years. During that time, our son Nickolas was born. After he was a bit older, his bedroom was moved upstairs. Next to his bed stood the bookcase where Errol resided. After awhile, we would notice the bust had been moved, and was facing the books. I would turn it around, then later notice it was once again turned backwards. By then Nickolas was about 3 years old. When questioned about it, he informed us that he didn’t care for that “man staring at him all night”, which solved the mystery of the moving bust for us.
Errol has since moved downstairs. He now resides in our computer room, where he oversees my typing and e-mailing, from atop another bookcase. Nickolas is 17 now, but still remembers being glared at. And every now and then, I find Errol is facing backwards. Nickolas denies it, of course.
— Bob
MY BUSTER WILES STORY
20
Feb
Back in 2004, I met via the Internet a wonderful fellow by the name of David DeWitt. I’d purchased a CD on e-bay for a collection of radio shows from him. We began a correspondence afterward, about Errol Flynn; next thing I know, we become fast friends, separated by miles only, with a seemingly endless supply of things to talk about.
David introduced me to other Flynn fans, and also steered me towards several other interesting books, and I was able to obtain copies of each, one of which was written by Errol’s stunt double and friend, Buster Wiles. It was, and is, a great book to be sure. I became curious about Buster, and learned that he passed away two years after the book came out in 1988.
One of my hobbies is genealogy. Last fall I answered a request for a lady living in Beaverton, Oregon who was looking for ancestors that lived here. I was able to find the graves at the cemetery for her and send photos. She was very grateful and asked if she could do anything for me. On a lark, I asked her if she could check on Buster for obituary, and possibly locate his resting place. Before long, she wrote back, and sent me the newspaper notice for Buster, and also traveled to Skyline Memorial Gardens in Beaverton, and found Buster’s resting place for me, and sent some great photographs from the cemetery. I thought it rather fitting that we know where one of Errol’s best friends, and true supporters now reposes.
— Bob
This Page–Secure
13
Feb
This page is for any private post that is made to/by members of the blog who are allowed to view this Secure Area.
Permission to view this page may last for a single day, end on a designated day, or hour, or may never expire, according to privileges set by the Administrator.
If YOU are reading this page it is because you have permission, or are a member of The Olympiads. Normal readers of this blog cannot see the Secure folder in the Category List nor any article titles listed under Recent Articles on the Main Page that relate to content inside the Secure folder or The Olympiads.
Only members with permission to view this area can see the Secure folder or article titles related to it. They do not see the contents of the Olympiads folder or article titles related to it under Recent Articles.
Members of Olympiads can see both their own artcle titles and the contents of the Secure folder in the Recent Articles list on the Main Page.
Access to the Olympiads is by Invitation Only…
Thanks!
— David DeWitt
Errol Flynn's Body Departs With Minor Final Dramatics
10
Feb
from THE VANCOUVER SUN Newspaper – October 1959
Surrounded by melodrama in death as in life, the body of actor Errol Flynn left Vancouver by train Friday night bound for burial in Los Angeles.
The coffin was accompanied by stuntman friend Buster Wiles, of Hollywood, who said on leaving he had received a telephoned threat that Flynn's body might be “hijacked.”
They were seen off at the Great Northern station by an unidentified, tearful blonde girl in black, who said she knew the actor in Paris, a few newsmen and railroad officials.
Wiles was undecided whether the threat was serious, but said he was taking “reasonable precautions.”
He said he also planned to “have a few drinks” beside Flynn's body in the baggage car.
“Errol would have liked that,” he said.
As Flynn's body left, his former traveling companion Beverley Aadland arrived in Los Angeles to continue her fight for a burial in Jamaica.
Flynn's widow Patrice Wymore has rejected Jamaica and insisted on Los Angeles.
Miss Aadland collapsed in tears after tripping over a small retaining wall as she left the airliner and had to be carried from the plane by a newsman.
Miss Aadland almost ignored her mother who was in the welcoming party and refused to go home with her.
Instead she went into hiding accompanied by a lawyer and a press agent.
Flynn died here Wednesday following a heart attack. He arrived last week with Miss Aadland to sell his yacht, Zaca, to West Vancouver promoter George Caldough.
On the flight from Vancouver to Los Angeles Miss Aadland revealed her age as 22 and not 17 as both she and Flynn had claimed recently.
She was refused a drink by a waiter in the cocktail bar of Seattle airport because he recognized her from newspaper pictures and said he could not serve minors.
Miss Aadland then produced a passport showing a birthdate in September, 1937.
It was rumored in Vancouver earlier that she and Flynn were giving her age as 17 because he wanted to star her in “Lolita”—a part which requires a child.
Newspaper company logos and mastheads are under copyright. Article text published without a copyright symbol is within the Public Domain.
— David DeWitt
'Errol Flynn always yielded to ladies'
10
Feb
from THE PROVINCE Newspaper – Friday, October 16, 1959By LOUELLA PARSONS, Special to The Province
A world of living was crowded into the 50 years allotted to handsome, tumultuous, devel-may-care, exciting and adventurous Errol Flynn.
The last time I spoke with Errol was when his lawyers and the lawyers of his present wife, Patrice Wymore, were battling for a settlement.
He told me then, “I want a divorce, but she wants a separation and I always yield to the ladies.”
That remark was characteristic of Errol's thinking.
My acquaintance with Errol dates back to the days when he made “Captain Blood” and was the handsomest and most charming actor I think I have ever seen.
He used to come out to Marson's farm, our ranch in the San Fernando valley.
He was as delighted as any happy new father when he telephoned to tell me that Lili Damita, the beautiful French actress who was his first wife, had presented him with a son, Errol Sean Flynn, who is the image of his father and is now seventeen.
WHAT CHARM
What charm Errol had in those days, a charm he never really lost even though he had abused his youth and his health—still, women couldn't resist him.
I know I used to get annoyed with him when he got into the fighting scrapes and court battles, but let me meet him and I was like all the rest, I couldn't help liking him and making excuses for him.
Errol's friendships among men were strong and lasting, no matter what sort of trouble he got into they stood solidly back of him and were as staunch in their devotion as were all the women in his life.
ALL LOVED HIM
Although the legal battles with his ex-wives about alimony were numerous, all of them admitted loving the handsome, attractive, dashing, swashbuckling Flynn.
Errol was actually a replica of all the characters he played on the screen—Don Juan, Robin Hood and other legendary heroes.
With all of this he did not take his career lightly.
DELIGHTFUL HOST
There was a phase in Errol's life when he was married to Nora Eddington, when he fancied himself a country gentleman.
He built a beautiful home on top of Mulholland drive surrounded by acres of land.
I remember going there to a party and what a thoughtful, delightful host he was.
It was all done in good taste and there were no fights nor unseemly conduct.
He showed his real breeding and what he might have been that night.
Errol was well-born.
TAUGHT AT QUEEN'S
I had met his father, Prof. Thompson Flynn, who taught at Queen's University in Belfast, and he was a scholarly gentleman who worried over his errant son's escapades.
After 30 odd years in Hollywood, I think I can safely say that there will never be another Errol Flynn, who secretly loved the reputation of “My Wicked, Wicked Life” the title of his book which is coming out and which he sought to shock his readers.
Newspaper company logos and mastheads are under copyright. Article text published without a copyright symbol is within the Public Domain.
— David DeWitt
Flynn Explains to Reporters
10
Feb
Errol explains to reporters he was “not seriously injured” during campaign with rebel forces of Fidel Castro. Originally Flynn said he'd been nicked in the leg by a bullet. Scarf over shoulder is a gift of friendship from Premier Castro. July 1959 HUSH-HUSH Magazine
— David DeWitt
Dazed Girl Mourns Wandering in Dark
10
Feb
Flynn's Companion Rescued From Harm by Sun Writer
from THE VANCOUVER SUN – Friday, October 16, 1959By PAUL KING, Sun Staff Writer
Hours after she had thrown herself on the body of her friend, Errol Flynn, in an attempt to breathe life back into his lips, Beverley Aadland refused to believe he was dead.
“He's alive,” she insisted. “They've taken him to the hospital, but he's all right. He'll be home again in the morning.”
I found Flynn's 17-year-old blonde travelling companion wandering down a road in British Properties, dressed in undergarments and housecoat. It was 10:15—three hours after the actor's death. She was almost invisible in the fog.
GHOST-LIKE FIGURE
As I pulled up at the George Caldough residence where Flynn and “Woodsey” Aadland had been guests, I noticed the ghost-like figure.
I parked and walked back to where I had seen her.
She had wandered farther down the road.
As I looked, another car came up the road. I saw her framed in the headlights. She was walking into its path.
“Woodsey,” I hollered. She didn't turn.
SAVED FROM AUTO
I ran to where she was and jerked her to the roadside.
The car rolled past. The driver hadn't seen her.
She looked up at me; her eyes were glazed but untroubled.
She was smiling. “What did you do that for?” she asked.
I realized she was hysterical. “What are you doing out here, like this?”
“I just wanted some air—it was so stuffy in the house.”
Then I told her I was sorry about Errol. He had been kind to me when I talked to him two nights before.
Her reply was casual.
JUST IN HOSPITAL
“I don't know why everybody is being so sorry. He's just gone to the hospital.”
I was walking her back toward the house. She was shivering. Then she started to laugh.
“Oh lookit the little puppy.”
A small dog had trotted out of the darkness and was whining at our feet.
“What's the matter little fellow,” she said, bending to pat it. “You're lonely aren't you baby?”
Gone was the harshness in her voice, the cocksure attitude of a vibrant young woman. She sounded like a lost, lonely child.
She refused to believe that Errol was dead. Her body was filled with the sedatives she had received at the hospital.
She had blotted the tragedy of the previous three hours from her mind.
We were nearing the house. The little dog padded alongside.
I said, “Just get some sleep now.”
BACK IN MORNING
The smile broke out again. “That's right. I just need some sleep. Errol's coming back in the morning you know.”
I nodded, but I couldn't speak.
We came into the light from the door.
And then she started to hum. A tiny sound in the night.
Ten minutes later she was asleep.
Newspaper company logos and mastheads are under copyright. Article text published without a copyright symbol is within the Public Domain.
— David DeWitt
