For Fans of Flynn who can make it to Manhattan over the next several months, there’s at least two events worth attending. There’s the Errol & Fidel musical (in July) that David recently made known to us. But, first, there’s The Adventures of Robin Hood at the Film Forum on May 10. Both look to be Flynnsational:
Screening information is as follows:
“THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD”(1938)
Saturday, May 20 – Film Forum, 209 W. Houston Street in New York City
Co-presented by Film Forum, featuring special guests Ben Burtt & Craig Barron
Join Oscar®-winning visual effects supervisor Craig Barron and Oscar-winning sound designer Ben Burtt as they deconstruct the extraordinary artistry behind “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” with a special emphasis on matte painting and sound effects, including a recreation of the archery tests that went into finding that just right “zing” sound.
It has been announced in New York that ERROL AND FIDEL, a new musical written by four Sydneysiders, will open this year’s New York Musical Festival, the most prestigious showcase for new work in the music theatre world …
PER THE IMBd: This biopic depicts Errol’s roust-about early life in Australia, before he became an internationally famed celebrity. In those days he was an adventurer, opium smuggler, gambler, street fighter, womanizer, and gold prospector. The film, based on Flynn’s early autobiography “Beam Ends,” was written for the screen by Luke Flynn, who found the inspiration as a result of travels through Australia in the footsteps of Luke’s iconic grandfather.
__________
Characters beyond Errol’s days of Beam Ends have been previously mentioned also, including Olivia De Havilland and Michael Curtiz. See, for example this previous IMBd cast of characters:
It has been quite some time since we last had contact. You may remember me – the guy who was writing an epic poem on the life of Errol Flynn. Well, ten years in the making and I recently finished it. Now of course comes the real work, finding a publisher, but in the meantime I thought you might like to read the manuscript version. Book-length poems may not be your bag, but the Flynn aspect could still carry you through.
I see that the blog is flourishing. Back in 2009 you were kind enough to post some of my stanzas. So my impulse in contacting you now is not completely self-serving – I thought you might be curious to see how things turned out.
On 11 May I have a rearding from the poem at the renowned literary salon of Britta Gansebohm, with novelist/playwright Carey Harrison moderating:
I was on Facebook the other day and noticed that Jack Marino’s old friend, actor William Smith, had turned 84. Bill Smith is retired now but among his many film credits you already know him for are such films as Any Which Way You Can with Clint Eastwood, Darker than Amber with Rod Taylor, and Twilight’s Last Gleaming with Burt Lancaster. TV audiences remember him from his role on Rich Man, Poor Man as the evil Falconetti. But he also appeared in literally hundreds of top classic tv shows like “Kung Fu,” “The Bearcats,” “Columbo,” “Mission Impossible,” “Ironside,” “The Six Million Dollar Man,” “Police Woman,” “The Rockford Files,” “Planet of the Apes,” “Kolchak, The Night Stalker,” “SWAT,” “Police Story,” “Logan’s Run,” “Vegas,” “Fantasy Island,” “The Dukes of Hazard” and “The A Team.” And as Conan the Barbarian’s father! And there is another film performance that links him to Errol Flynn. Jack Marino cast him in the role of General Gregori Zelenkov in the 1990 film directed by our own Jack Marino, FORGOTTEN HEROES. Jack even plays a small role in the film himself. See him in the Trailer below chomping on a cigar!
The war in Viet Nam War was deeply unpopular. And if you were in uniform during that war as in all wars you did your duty as well and as bravely as any other soldier in any war throughout history. But when you got home from this war, the welcome was not the same as it was for the heroes of other wars. It was not until years later that any sort of respect for the veterans of the Viet Nam War was recognized. Jack’s film FORGOTTEN HEROES was made to address the overdue respect these veterans deserved and to be a great adventure story as well, and as I was reading more about the film on Facebook (I had seen the DVD release and had a chance to meet William Smith at Jack and Louise’s now legendary 100th birthday centennial for Errol Flynn in Hollywood in 2009, and had Smith sign my copy of the DVD) I noticed a review of the film written by filmmaker Steve Latshaw who was at the party that lasted over five days! Steve had written the review in 2008. It was on Facebook the other day, too. Jack had posted this:
Hollywood is a tough and unforgiving business and when a fellow artist, filmmaker, writer admires your work and puts it in writing, it makes all this struggle worth it.
Jack
“I am watching FORGOTTEN HEROES tonight and am reminded of what a beautiful, heartfelt film it is. You’ve seen it so many times it’s impact may be lost on you. It’s truly a great film, beautifully shot. And I loved the nods to Errol, particularly the incredible scene where the surfer has been tortured and asks the Greek to kill him. It reminded me of the great scene in Objective Burma – but you took it further and the emotional impact was profound.
I have made over 35 movies in my career. I have always wanted to make a film that would affect people lives in a profound and positive way. I haven’t yet done so. I’ve often said I’d give up my career if I could make one film like that. You did it right out of the gate.
I am and continue to be in awe of your passion and envious of your talent.
Bung Ho!
Steve
Steve Latshaw – Filmmaker
April 13, 2008
And that is not the only nod to Flynn. Jack, always a Flynn fan, and a friend of the Flynn family, adds a few Flynn touches like dueling shadows, some western style gunplay and even a bit of swordplay! You can’t miss these references if you love dear old Errol and never do these moments get in the way of the exciting story. They just make you smile and appreciate them.
That takes a lot of skill on Jack’s part.
And to help bring a bit of recognition to the veterans of the Viet Nam War Jack decided to donate a portion of every DVD ordered from his Forgotten Heroes the Movie website to benefit veterans.
If you know a veteran, please consider sending them a copy of this extraordinary movie. And share Forgotton Heroes the Movie homepage on a few Social Media for others to see …
Some years ago I obtained a box of Errol Flynn’s personal papers from storage and the only item I kept was the copper plate for making his calling card. I toyed with the idea of making the back of my business card to be that of Errol Flynn’s calling card but never did. Possibly you could inform those interested that the printing plate will be offered by Profiles In History at their Hollywood auction in late May to mid-June time frame.
The auction catalogue is not out yet but I have attached the pre-catalogue below for all of my Flynn items (see below) for those interested.
The copper plate is something the true Flynn collector could use as well as enjoy as it was Flynn’s personal property and was used to make his calling card.
The following link is to the Profiles In History website and shows the upcoming Hollywood auction highlighting a few items from my collection. The entire auction should be available within the next month including all of the Flynn items below.
Rory Flynn tells me she just signed a contract to allow a new board game to be produced based on movie adventures of her father Errol Flynn! She sends us a copy of the proposal ad … No idea when the game would be available as yet but how exciting is this?
Robert Matzen has written a new book about the life of Jimmy Stewart and in the book he features someone many of us at The Errol Flynn Blog love very much: Trudy McVicker. Her connections to Flynn go deep. She encountered him as a young girl when he and his wife Pat were staying at a hotel in Germany and he smiled at her as he walked past her and of course she never forgot it. Later, she became great friends with Earl Conrad – the ghostwriter of My Wicked Wicked Ways who worked intimately with Errol to give the world his life story.
Robert writes to us:
David, my new book, “Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe” is being released today and I’ve been meaning to contact you. Could you please let the Flynn network know that Trudy McVicker is featured in Mission because her life intersected with the Eighth Air Force on several occasions. I spent months working with her on her story as a witness to history and she is known by her birth name Gertrud Siepmann in the narrative. There are five short chapters that concern her.
I approached Trudy to tell her story because I knew she was in the war but didn’t know any details. It turns out she remembers Kristallnacht pretty vividly and saw Hitler speak in 1939. She was a witness to the first RAF bombing of Germany in Wilhelmshaven in 1940 (after relentless night bombing the family fled to the country), and in 1944 she lived in Eppstein just northwest of Frankfurt when Jim and the boys flattened it. She remembers a B-17 crew of Americans that was captured and paraded down the Bergstrasse of Eppstein and she watched dogfights between Allied and Luftwaffe fighters. On one occasion she had to dive for cover when a P-47 Thunderbolt detected movement and swept down to “stitch the road.” Her mother and brother were wounded in another P-47 attack on a train they were riding in.
It was a difficult decision on her part to agree to be a part of the book because many of her memories are painful, and she was concerned how Stewart would be portrayed, as well as how her family would be seen given that her father was affiliated with the German Navy. But she did agree and now her precious link to history has been preserved in the book.
There are three supporting characters that help give a 360-degree view of Stewart’s world: Gertrud Siepmann the little German girl (12 when the war ended), Clem Leone, an American radioman from Baltimore, and Dolfo Galland, the commanding general of German fighters. With these three, we get to see not only what Jim saw from the flight deck of a B-24 but also the view amidships from the radio operator’s position, the view of the bomber stream from the German POV, and the effect of bombing on the ground as seen by the Siepmann family.
I have known Trudy for almost 40 years and the fact that she grew up in the middle of WWII was an abstract thing until I started to read some short stories she wrote about it and interview her for details. Last year Mary and I visited Eppstein where she lived and also Frankfurt, a city she still dearly loves. We even saw the very bomb shelter in Eppstein where she and her family would duck–it’s still there, carved into the rocky hillside with the big wooden doors padlocked (photo attached). The more we talked, the more things she remembered and the results are pretty spectacular.
I thought your group would get a kick out of the fact that Trudy is having the spotlight shone on her. After her lifetime of generosity and helping others, nobody could possibly deserve it more.
Today is Mission’s official publication date and it’s already doing pretty well on Amazon. It was just a couple of hours ago rated a “must-read book of the week” by the New York Post. The website is www.goodknightbooks.com….
