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Writer Louis Kraft Weighs in on Errol Flynn!

29 Sep

Louis Kraft sent some information to us regarding Steve & Genene’s 2018 trip to the United States and it is filled with such great information and links that I just had to turn his comments into a stand alone post!

You know Louis Kraft as a writer and lecturer with three books in the works regarding Errol Flynn. Read about Louis Kraft on his website WriterLouisKraft.com….

Check out his books at Amazon.com….

Hi David,

I hope that the following may be of interest to you and others interested in Errol Flynn (and Olivia de Havilland).

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills might be of interest (www.oscars.org…). They also have a link for their new museum that hasn’t been completed yet: (www.oscars.org…). Unfortunately I can’t find a link to the small research library the Academy had hidden away upstairs. I had visited it a number of times during the 1980s or early 1990s before I officially began researching a book on Flynn. Perhaps the Herrick Museum has replaced what I saw decades ago (www.oscars.org…). I haven’t been to the Herrick Museum yet, but it is on my to do list when I finally get to Flynn full time (as is returning to the USC Warner Bros. Archive; I have probably another decade of research there for two additional books on Flynn (see below).

The Television Academy on Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood is less than two miles from my house (www.emmys.com…). I have never visited it or looked at their website, so I don’t know what is there.

I highly recommend the USC Warner Bros. Archive, which is just off the campus to the east side of the CA 110 Freeway (libraries.us…). I don’t if you can get in as I think that the archive only has room for six people on any given day (back when I was still researching there they were open four days/week from 10 to 4:30 by appointment only). Worse, I believe they only accept visitors that are university students researching projects, professional writers researching projects, and film and music staff researching for their companies (but I’m certain that this is not set in stone). Research there is time consuming. For example: It took me two months to get through The Adventures of Robin Hood file (two boxes) as I look at everything and read most of it. Reservations are required, and they fill up quickly. Also, the researcher to state exactly what he or she is researching (and for what project).

The Doheny Library (libraries.us…) is on the USC campus. I don’t know exactly what is there, but there is more cinema archival material, and from what I’ve heard this includes Jack Warner’s papers.

Oh, if you have time you might consider the Autry Museum of the American West (formerly the Autry National Center) in Griffith Park (I-5 and CA-134 Freeways and just a few miles east of where Errol and Pat are buried at Forrest Lawn) and about eight miles from my house (theautry.org… and theautry.org…). A number of years back the great Southwest Museum merged with the Autry. I had researched the two 1880s Charles Gatewood, Geronimo, and Apache wars & the Ned Wynkoop 1860s Cheyenne wars books (I compared Wynkoop to Flynn in the book); and my current project on the1864 Sand Creek Massacre, which also deals with the Cheyennes and Wynkoop at the Braun History Library. This library as well as the then Autry National Center’s research library both closed forever in 2014 (at least for me; and I had done research at the Autry’s library also). Both will soon reopen as one new research facility currently called the Resources Center of the Autry (it will be between 100,000 and 111,000 square feet), which is about six miles from my house (theautry.org…). The last time I checked the opening was scheduled for 2019. (They now between them house a lot of my Indian wars work and at least two Flynn articles.) Not sure how much Flynn the Autry has, but it began as basically a film and TV museum for Gene A., which honored himself and western film and TV.

I don’t know if you’ve seen all of the blogs below, … but they may be of interest to Flynn and de Havilland fans:

13aug2013: www.louiskraftwriter.com…

30nov2013: www.louiskraftwriter.com…

28mar2014: www.louiskraftwriter.com…

31jan2015: www.louiskraftwriter.com…

25oct2015: www.louiskraftwriter.com…

8jul2016: www.louiskraftwriter.com…

3jul2017: www.louiskraftwriter.com…

31aug2017: www.louiskraftwriter.com…

From Amazon:
Kraft is currently working to complete SAND CREEK AND THE TRAGIC END OF A LIFEWAY for OU Press. His book on Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland during their working time together during the Golden Age of Cinema (ERROL & OLIVIA) also moves toward conclusion.

Thanks, Louis!

— David DeWitt

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Posted in Main Page

The Lady from Shanghai Film Locations!

29 Aug

— David DeWitt

4 Comments

Posted in Films, Zaca

Mail Bag! Errol Flynn Rare Envelopes & Stamps!

02 Aug

Interesting Mail Bag item from Gene Ingram:

Hi, David!

I bought 26 – 4 3/16 X 5 3/16 Envelopes that have Errol Flynn preprinted on the back flap from a man’s family that was a friend of Errol Flynn. The man had a business in another country. He would take the stamps from other foreign countries and put them in envelopes marked in pencil with the name of the country and when had had several would send them to Errol for his collection. The envelopes I have for sale all have stamps in them except one. Some have two or three, some have as many as eight. All of the stamps are from the 1930’s , 1940’s or earlier, and all have been canceled, they are all listed on Ebay, ERROL FLYNN “RARE “ ENVELOPE

These are separate eBay Auctions featuring envelopes with various stamps in each envelope. See images of the stamps below contained in these envelopes. Countries stamps include: Spain, Austria, Peru, Portugal, Turkey, Italy & Finland.

Thanks, Gene!

— David DeWitt

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Posted in Main Page

A Question! Who is that Dog with Errol Flynn?

26 Jul

Going over stuff for 1943, and looking over a shoot at Mulholland with Errol and his artwork during the week of July 20th, before Errol left for Mexico. In a few of the pix Flynn is outside with a doberman pinscher.

My question: Is that Errol’s dog? … or was it Buster’s dog? … and regardless, what was the dog’s name?

Even Matzen’s book, which has a couple of pix of the dog, never mentions his name …

— David DeWitt

13 Comments

Posted in Animals, Candids, Flynn and..., Main Page

Mail Bag! Note from Errol & Fidel actor Jonathan Stewart!

20 Jul

We heard from actor Jonathan Stewart who starred as Errol Flynn in the musical play Errol & Fidel after two of our members Karl Holmber and Gentleman Tim attended the play in NYC.

Hi there,

I qwas given your card by an audience member after one of our performances last week. I’m the actor who played Errol and I hope you enjoyed the show. We all had a wonderful time living in the world of Errol and Fidel and the audiences seemed to love the show. It was a very tall order as an actor to try and inhabit his now almost mythical existence, and I had the time of my life giving it a go. What a fascinating man he was, though I suppose you already know that!

Best,

Jonathan Stewart

I explained I was not at the show myself, but our two chums loved everything about the show, and hoped Rory Flynn would be able to see the show in another venue: Jonathan replied:

Hi David,

Glad to hear your friends got to see the show and enjoyed it. We had a very short run as the show was part of the annual NY Musical Festival which features new works in development selected from hundreds of submissions each year. The creators are all Australian (not surprisingly) and I know their hope is that the show will have a further life somewhere down the road. However at the moment I’m not certain of the status of that. They are all lovely people and huge fans of Errol’s. Please let Rory know what an honor it was for me to play her legendary father, and how much I enjoyed The Baron of Mulholland which I read as part of my preparation for the role. Yes please feel free to use my email as a Mail Bag item on the blog. I’ve attached a few production photos which you may have already seen published on line.

Best,

Jonathan

Thanks so much, Jonathan!

— David DeWitt

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Posted in Flynn and..., Flynn-related, Mail Bag, Main Page, Promo, Special Events

Mail Bag! Errol Flynn Ranch Architects!

08 Jul

We received a great Mail Bag item from Shel Weisbach about Errol’s Mulholland Farm Architects:

Dave,

A permit at the LA Department of Building & Safety, 1941LA16356, dated July 8, 1941, lists William A Lundberg and J. Cecil Strawn as architects. The document was signed by an Angus Ralston,(but, honestly, of this I am a tad unsure as his penmanship and I are at odds), contractor, on behalf of Flynn. The document lists the architects’ license as C343 which was Strawn’s license. No license is noted for Lundberg.

Strawn, earlier in his career, was employed by the legendary starchitect, or star architect, Paul R. Williams. The Flynn ranch house bears some similarities to Oakridge, the Northridge estate of Barbara Stanwyck and, later, Jack Oakie, and the Talton R. Craig Ranch, West Hills. Oakridge was designed by either Williams or Robert Finkelhor, the architect of Bob Hope’s Toluca Lake mansion.

Williams and Finkelhor were part of a small corps of society architects who occasionally traded commissions and at other times collaborated on them. I have found less information on Lundberg – save that he partnered with his son, Harry L., in the design and construction of a number of homes in the well-to-do Hancock Park community. My guess, stress guess, is that Strawn associated with the Lundbergs for the Flynn commission.

California law allows for a single or two-story home to be designed by a non-architect or a non-engineer.
Elite architects employed elite and proven contractors as their clients were demanding and involved. The Lundbergs were craftsmen of a higher order.

The Flynn home was constructed with superior care and materials but may have appeared on the sedate side to an outside observer — a trademark of the Great Depression — those who were blessed tended to control flaunting it amid the poverty of the time. The home is two-story; but, a pitched, or angled, roof and dormers give it a humbler profile. Horizontal boards on the facade is in keeping with a degree of humility. The husky chimneys emit auras of ranch life and, yes, prosperity. I suspect, like Oakridge, there were carryovers of Victorian class distinctions, such as lower ceilings or door knobs vs. levers, to distinguish family rooms from house staff rooms.

If you have a chance, you may enjoy checking out my work, Pathways of the San Fernando Valley, on Amazon books. Thoughts/opinions would be appreciated. If I can again assist I will glad to offer a hand. If I find more info on the home and/or architects, I will share it with you.

Sincerely,

Shel

Thanks Shel, much appreciated!