We have had bandwidth problems several times recently due to image sizes being huge. Our digital cameras can create very large pictures with a great deal of detail but when these are opened or uploaded to our computers - we get into storage problems and run out of bandwidth before the end of the month, so to avoid this our new Author Graham Howe suggested to me some ideas in a recent personal email. I don't think he will mind if I record here just of bit our conversation:
It is too easy with broadband to send a full size digital camera image, 4 or 5 at full size will soon start eating up storage. For display on the page it really isn’t necessary to be more than 750 kilobytes per picture I MB absolute maximum. Maybe you could give away some piece of freeware to compress image size?
- just a thought but good to encourage people to think before uploading about size of picture.
I just thought offering it may make people think to reduce it before uploading. It also saves you the headache of having to archive or remove older posts which are nice to see for newbies.
We will obviously restrict size if we upload.
Best Graham
I appreciate the links, Graham! Image Resizer is a freeware I am using quite successfully myself on Windows XP.
Rory Flynn and Steve Hayes shared the airwaves this week on an exclusive BBC 4 radio interview and the two shared studio space listening to each other's interviews with the interviewer in London... it was great fun, said Steve, who also has a two page spread in the new book ERROL FLYNN SLEPT HERE (look for our blog Authors Jack Marino and Robert Florczak in this book, too!) from authors Robert Matzen and Mike Mazzone... this is now one of my most favorite Flynn books, ever... aside from Steve Hayes own double volume of memoirs Googies - Coffee Shop to the Stars...
Rory Flynn (The Baron of Mulholland, another fave!) will be sending us some pictures and a story about her exciting visit (with her son Sean Flynn) to Hobart for the recent Centenary Celebrations for her father's 100th birthday in Tasmania...
Steve and Genene Randall of Hobart kindly sent me a poster from the events in Tas, and some wonderful looking brochures from those celebrations... will share with you, soon...
Our Errol Flynn blog Author and professional writer Steve Hayes has a new book coming out in the Robert Hale publisher's western series A Black Horse Western, called Packing Iron... this is the second in a trilogy Steve has forthcoming from this publisher. Due out August 31, 2009 - you can purchase it (hardback, 160 pages) from the Robert Hale website...
Life and Times has a bit of audio that Chris Driscoll found for us concerning Flynn's 100th Anniversary... check it out. It is an hour long and ends with one of Errol's radio shows, Mr. & Mrs. Smith with Lana Turner...
Chris says: "...with [Errol] being interviewed and Norah as well, she sounds a lot like Rory...one account of Errol riding off on horseback with a bow and arrow to hunt boar! [When you get to the page] Just click to listen..."
Since a few of us have been scouting the property up at Mulholland where Errol had a hilltop home - it seems a good idea to mention the article in the June 2, 1939 LA Mirror that Rick Stinehour found on their history blog...
Rick says,
It is a piece from a column -- "Nuestro Pueblo" -- that the paper ran on a regular basis. This particular article deals with the monument devoted to Colonel Lankershim, which abutted the Mulholland Farm property. Quite an interesting account of the Boy Scouts annoying EF's pets!
Also, deserving mention, if you go to the LA Time's website and access this article directly, some kind soul has taken photos of the contemporary sight and provided information as to how visitors may take a hike into see the monument in person. What a trip that would be! -RS
I was unable to find the link to the photos for us - but one of you computer whiz types out there might have better luck! Meantime Rick provides a photo of the article for us and I have made it into a pdf... Enjoy!
Three days before Errol Flynn's 100th Birthday a ray of light shines brightly on his star in Hollywood... today, his star sits just a few feet from a popular eatery on Hollywood Blvd - and not too far from Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
The first star in the Hollywood Walk of fame was placed for Joanne Woodward on February 9, 1960 and to date there are over 2,000 stars representing stars who have made significant contributions to film, radio, television and the recording industry. Stars near Flynn's include Robert Vaughn and Leonard Nimoy just across the street...
While Steve and Genene Randall kicked off Errol's Centenary Celebrations with guests Rory Flynn and her son Sean in Hobart, Tasmania - Jack & Louise Marino's 100th Birthday Bash for Errol Flynn at a gathering of The Mulholland Drive Boys, with guests Ron Fisher (husband of Beverly Aadland), and his daughter, Aadlanda, actor William Smith (Forgotten Heroes, directed by Jack), and his wife Joanne and Paul Picerni (who played Detective Steven Ranier in Mara Maru with Flynn), was held in Burbank, California.
Jack says he owes his lovely wife Louise all the credit for opening her home to so many people and working so hard to make the evening a huge success. She was the perfect hostess... and everyone enjoyed her warm smile and many thoughtful kindnesses during the event...
Special Guest was Trudy McVicker who knew Earl Conrad and Tony Thomas well, among other Flynn writers and is a true "Keeper of the Flame".
On hand was Flynn biographer Tom McNulty (Errol Flynn, The Life & Career), and his wife Jan, Musician and Artist Robert Florczak and his wife, Annette, Actor and Photographer Dick Wieand, Actor, Playwright and Author Louis Kraft, Karl Holmberg of the Yahoo chat group The Zaca, Steve Latshaw, Polly Kranjcich, Kent Hagen, Donny Sarian, Greg Maradei, Karen Figilis owner of Flynn's Appian Way home and many others... including one very lucky fellow named Carl Zetterstrom who journeyed all the way from Sweden to be at Errol's gravesite on June 20, and ended up being invited to a very special party!
Details of the party in Burbank and Special Events in Hobart will be forthcoming along with a gallery of photos! Stay tuned...
Something a bit different this time in our Traditional Welcoming for new Authors! Karen Lynne and Graham Howes have produced a play about Errol Flynn (Karen wrote it, Graham directed) which was presented at the Aldwych Theatre in London's West End Theatre district.
They say they have been working on the play and substantially reworked it since its debut and are looking for investors to bring the play to a new full staging. Copies of the play are available for serious investors...
Firtsly let us be the first to say Happy Birthday for Errol's centenary.
As we are in Hobart we get to celebrate before those in America and most of the world. We have celebrated in style accompanied by Rory and Sean Flynn. Tasmania and Australia has been most gracious to them with interviews on radio, television and newspapers from both here and the world. There is a story coming out in the Washington Post and it can be read at this addy, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/18/AR2009061804465.html or if you go to this address you can see a tv show called collectors and a segment on Errol Flynn. Yes I'm the big guy in white shirt and Genene is sitting to the right of me in Blue. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/collectors/video/download.htm We trust that you enjoy them.
Today being Errols 100th there was a plaque unveiling outside the State Theatre in Hobart of which there is a pic with Genene. Tonight there is a Gala Ball with the Errol/Pirate theme. Rory and Sean will be there with Sean singing a couple of songs. Rory is such a lovely person that takes the time to talk with people and listens as well. We feel priveledged to have met Rory on the three occassions that she has been to Hobart and look forward to her coming again.
Bung Ho everyone and enjoy your festivities on this great occasion.
Chums! I am heading to LA tomorrow for a certain Birthday Party that celebrates dear old Errol Flynn's 100th here in America - while half a world away, in Hobart, Tasmania - a special celebration is also happening for the Centenial of Errol's birth in the city of his birth itself!
Rory Flynn and her son Sean will be attending and many attractions are planned... check out the blog post on this and while you are at it - check out Robert Florczak's video tribute to Errol on uTube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Fvu5W5UPU
Watch it in HQ for best quality.
This means I will not be available to answer your many emails and I am sad about this - but I am sure you understand how happy I am to be attending the Centenial Bash for Errol Flynn in LA at the end of this week!
Bonny is the author of the new book Master of Errol Flynn's Yacht Zaca about the years her father was Captain of Errol Flynn' beloved Zaca... welcome, Bonny!
I heard recently from a young fellow named Samuel who runs the Errol Flynn Channel on uTube dedicated to "Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland and many others from the 30's until today..." At just 16, Samuel has set out a career path for himself in films and we wish him every success - this is just the kind of dedicated young man the film industry needs and he represents the next generation of Errol Flynn fans we all want to see go forward...
Our new Author Lou Alexander "met" Errol Flynn as a very young child when his teacher pointed out Flynn sitting in a car by the curb as Lou and his fellow children stood outside his school with their teachers. Lou noticed his teacher seemed to be excited about the handsome man sitting in the car - and when he asked who he was - she said, Why, that's Errol Flynn!
At last, Bonnie Cother is back from her visit to the UK and I have just now been in touch.
The ordering particulars are these:
The book is $29 (USD) and for the USA, shipping and handling is $5. Please check with her if you are outside USA.
No credit card or personal checks. A money order or the equivalent and to please make the check out to Veronica Cother-Bentley and send your order to the address below.
The Post Office informs her that shipping usually takes between 5 and 6 days.
If you want it sooner that can be arranged also but you must contact her for a different price
She has said: "my father was the Master/Captain of Zaca during 56/57........... the journal is full of photos of EF and family, copies of original letters to and from EF........log book entrants........... telegrams, and information dad has typed re meeting with EF."
(Bonnie has further related this most interesting tidbit- that her father and Errol Flynn had MUCH common- not the least of which ... a shared birthday!)
I am REALLY looking forward to this book as it is another unusual (and to date, unknown) witness to events that has come forward- albeit indirectly. In fact, had Ms Cother not gone through her fathers' things, discovered this treasure trove of Flynn stuff (and, in many cases VERY fragile items at that) and TAKEN THE TIME OFF to do loving justice to the assemblage of it all ... I shudder to think of the alternative! Afterall, think of the almost fate of the Zaca itself!
I want to thank you for being a fan and posting TCM programming on your blog. I wanted to be the first to share with you the news of the TCM Vault Collection. Because you’re a classic film fan I know you’re just as excited as we are of our newest development. TCM is making over 100 classic films from the Warner Archive collection available on DVD for the first time.
The collection features rare titles such as “Doc Savage”, “Mr. Lucky”, “Westbound”, “Abe Lincoln in Illinois”, “The Mating Game”, and “Mannequin”. Many of the early films in the TCM Vault Collection feature stars like Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, and Spencer Tracy.
To view the TCM Vault Collection titles go to tcm.com/vault
We just received a very kind email from Bruce Bell at www.brucebelltours.ca which reads:
Hi David, I took these photos over a 3 week period in Nov-Dec 1987 while visiting LA. At the time I was reading 'My Wicked Wicked Ways' and decided to go in search of the infamous Mulholland ranch. As luck would have it Errol's former home was being renovated and the gate was open to let the workers come and go. I asked the foreman if I could take some pictures and he said it was cool. I went back a few times over the course of the few weeks while I had access. I really couldn't believe my luck reading about Errol Flynn while wandering the rooms of his beloved Mulholland Ranch.
I've made a photo album out of these extraordinary photos... you can click the image below on any Gallery page to view a slide show of that gallery! This one points to Bruce's Gallery!
We are celebrating the centenary of the creation of the School of Biology/Zoology at the University of Tasmania, in particular its first Professor TT Flynn, as well as the birth of Errol in Hobart with a small exhibition in the foyer of the Morris Miller Library on the Sandy Bay campus of UTAS.
It will display photographs and plans of the original biology buildings built in 1909, publications by TT Flynn, including copies with his annotations - zoological specimens, lantern slides, equipment and glass plate negatives related to his research, the birth record of Errol from the Queen Alexander Hospital records, the enrolment register of Errol at Friends school, his school photo and enrolment card, editions of Errol's books from the State Library and other interesting items.
It will be running from the 11th June through to the end of July. We hope you can visit us during this time.
Best wishes,
Gillian
Gillian Ward Publications Librarian
Copyright and Digital Assets (CADA) University of Tasmania Library Private Bag 25 Hobart Tasmania 7001
Special thanks for reproducing this notice goes to Steve and Genene Randall -EFSOT
Steve and Genene Randall have just sent us a proof copy of their Errol Flynn Centenary brochure for Flynn's 100th birthday celebration in the land of his birth, Tasmania - in Hobart! It's a beautiful brochure, download it now to discover all the events planned for this special day...
Stpehen Youngkin sent this to me... fascinating, as SPOCK might say! Stephen writes:
Amongst the many people I interviewed for my biography of Peter Lorre was cinematographer Oswald “Os” Morris, whose screen credits include: Beat the Devil; Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison; Lolita; The Spy Who Came in from the Cold; The Taming of the Shrew; The Man Who Would Be King; Equus, etc.Os was an interviewer’s dream.He was affable, unassuming, hospitable and rolled out anecdotes with a storyteller’s gift for narrative and a historian’s eye for accuracy.In other words, I just sat back and listened.
Sensing my interest in his colorful tales about John Huston (they worked on eight films together), he said that he one day hoped to include them in an autobiography.That was 1988.Having recently seen Os on a documentary about Huston, I thought to look and see if he ever did pen that book.Long story short, it came out last year:
Huston, We Have A Problem: A Kaleidoscope of Filmmaking Memories (Scarecrow Press, 2006).
One of the films Morris shot was The Roots of Heaven with Errol Flynn, who, said Morris, had trouble remembering his dialogue, sweated and drank heavily.Nothing new there.However, what did catch my attention was mention of a Flynn film that was new to me (and may be to other members):
“My last film [as clapper boy] at Elstree was the Karl Grune-directed Abdul the Damned [1935], hokum about an operetta star (Adrienne Ames) assailed by a villainous Turkish sultan (Fritz Kortner).In the cast as a palace guard was a handsome lad called Errol Flynn.He was immediately talent spotted.Irving Asher, head of production at Warner Bros. studios at Teddington, Middlesex, tested him, the result was sent to Burbank, and Errol was given a six-month contract.”p. 8.
We are honored to announce that Rory Flynn - daughter of Errol Flynn - has joined this blog as our newest Author! We look forward to her comments and insights...
Cinematographer and director Jack Cardiff, who actress Marilyn Monroe once described as "the best in the world", has died aged 94.
He was best known for his work on movies such as The African Queen and Sons and Lovers, and was awarded an Oscar for Black Narcissus in 1948.
The filmmaker was also presented with an Honorary Oscar in 2001.
Born to two music hall artists, he grew up in the theatre, resulting in a showbusiness career spanning 90 years.
He moved into film as a runner on the 1928 drama The Informer, then progressed to work as a camera operator and, eventually, cinematographer.
In an article for The National Gallery in 2007, Cardiff described his early film set experiences.
"I suppose I was much less than an apprentice when I first went behind the camera," he wrote.
"I was a runner, whose main job was to supply the German director with Vichy water because he had a problem with flatulence.".
He also described how, as a child, he used to watch art directors work in theatres, painting the backdrops and setting up the lights.
"I was fascinated by two men up in the wings, one on each side of the stage, following the actors with a spotlight," he wrote.
"I spent a lot of time with them and a stirring was born in me which I later recognised as an urge to create. Light and colour became my world."
In 1937 he shot Wings of the Morning, the first film in Britain to be shot in Technicolor.
He also worked with cinema greats Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe in the 1957 movie The Prince and the Showgirl.
He was made an OBE in 2000.
Inspiration
In 2001, he took part in an interview with readers of the BBC news website, in which he revealed he would have been a painter if he had not worked in film.
In fact much of his work was inspired by impressionist painters - he said the lighting and colour palette of Black Narcissus "was inspired by Vermeer".
Cardiff was admired by many in the film industry, including Martin Scorsese.
The director once described the 18-minute dance sequence in 1948's The Red Shoes as "a moving painting".
Scorsese added the cinematographer could "paint with the camera".
When asked which films he was most proud of, Cardiff said the "successful" ones had really made their mark.
"Naturally, I am proud of successful films that I have enjoyed working on like The Red Shoes and the Black Narcissus and I have had a certain satisfaction from that.
"But the films that I am most proud of - the film for instance that I made under great difficulty, Sons and Lovers, I wanted to make it into a good film because the book is marvelous and I didn't want to let the author down."
There’s something not quite right about Shelby’s Oasis, the run-down tourist trap in the middle of the Arizona desert. For a start, the Shelby sisters, Agnes and Diana, seem to have more skeletons than closets in which to hide them. And with rumours of a fortune in gold buried somewhere on the property, who can really be trusted – the sisters' scheming brother Scott? The seductive Kelly-Anne? Or Mitch, the manipulative loner who accidentally stumbles into their twisted lives? Only one thing’s for sure: nothing at Shelby’s Oasis is quite as it seems.
(197 pages)Paperback book : $14.62Download : $7.01
Robert Florczak has an uncanny eye for creating Then and Now photos of locations where Flynn films were made or the man himself appeared in life: check out his gallery...
Our friend and fellow Flynnatic Stephen Youngkin has a wonderful interview on Imbd about his excellent bio of Peter Lorre, The Lost One... done for Cinema Retro by Herbert Shadrak.
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