The Errol Flynn Blog

Make-up artist, Robert Schiffer:

  I was in Acapulco, with Flynn, on the Zaca. He drank a lot then, but he was still in great shape. Every day we'd sail out there, and for the cocktail hour he'd drink beer–or anything he could get his hands on–and by the time we sailed into that harbor, he was smashed. But he could sail that boat! He would sail right up between the rocks–just a beautiful sailor. Then we'd anchor and the two of us would go up to the little bar and drink tequila–he was always bare chested, with a knife stuck in his belt. Then he'd walk out and sleep with a prostitute. He'd go up to the whorehouses and come back in the morning.
  He met a girl in Acapulco–her father was the owner of the Las Americas Hotel, which was a big hotel in those days–and he was really on the make for her. She was a beautiful girl, but her father was chaperoning her. Flynn kept asking her out to the boat, but she would never come.
  Well, I was sitting on the fantail of the boat one day and Flynn had brought back one of those Mexican prostitutes with him. She had hair all over her legs, and a moustache. You just wanted to shave her! It was eight or nine in the morning and I was looking at this apparition. They hadn't been to sleep and I was looking at this horrible girl, in the bright light of day, and I was thinking, “How can this good-looking famous guy end up with this real baggage.
  Suddenly, out from the beach comes a motor launch, and in this motor launch is the owner of the Las Americas and his daughter–they had finally decided to come out and visit. Flynn, as the boat came aside, walked over and asked them to come aboard. They stepped onto the boat. Flynn brought them back to the cockpit and said, “I'd like you to meet Mr. and Mrs. Schiffer.”

From the book, Gone Hollywood (Doubleday, 1979)

— Robzak