How I Became a Flynn Fan

Many years ago, when I was a young lad of 20-ish, I was working at my first job at a local printing plant. A co-worker and I were talking about old movies and movie stars, when he mentioned Errol Flynn. I'd only heard of him in passing, probably because of Robin Hood. I'd never even seen an Errol Flynn movie. My friend lent me his copy of My Wicked Wicked Ways. Well, I read the book, and was instantly hooked. So I read it again. Before long, I found a copy for myself. I asked mom and my aunts about him. They remembered him of course, but didn't know too much about him.

I then began scouring the TV for any Errol Flynn movies. Back then we were blessed with three stations….not including PBS. The movie output of those three stations was, shall we say….few and far between. Then late one Friday night, I managed to get a very snowy Detroit station to come in, and they were showing Charge Of The Light Brigade! Finally, there was Errol Flynn!!….for about 30 minutes, till the station signal faded away. But that was a start. Not long after, the same station came in again, and this time I managed to see Cry Wolf.

Later, after moving to town, cable became available. Then I was able to see several other Flynn movies, and later Portrait Of A Swashbuckler on the Biography Channel. I purchased several more books about Errol over the years, by Tony Thomas, Buster Wiles, Earl Conrad, George Morris, Michael Freedland, and best of all, Thomas McNulty's fabulous book. There was one other, that won't be mentioned…

And thanks to David DeWitt, another chapter of Flynn information, photos, stories and articles once again remind me of that day, four score and ten years ago, when I first became aware of our Mr. Flynn!

— Bob

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