Jerry Hoffman
(PH for Louella O. Parsons)
Los Angeles Times
Lili Damita and Errol Flynn getting special attention from Eddie Brandstatter at Sardi’s
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Between 1932 and 1936, Sardi’s was the one of the most spectacular dinner clubs in Hollywood, ran by “Party King” Eddie Brandstatter, one of the most spectacular restaurateurs in Hollywood during the Roaring Twenties. His amazing history – including the fascinating history of restaurants in LA and Hollywood preceding Sardi’s – can be heard in the video below, with a detailed description of Sardi’s can be heard beginning at ~ 34:00. Eddie Brandstatter; Party King of the Twenties
Preceding Sardi’s he owned the also-legendary Cafe Marmont, among a half dozen or so other high end restaurant nightclubs.
Here in all her splendor is the statue he infamously stole, which, before being convicted, he told the court he needed for a Warner Brothers party:
Bette Davis was preening herself in front of a mirror one day on the set of The Sisters, currently showing at Warners Hollywood and Downtown theaters, when Errol Flynn asked her why she was gazing at herself with such approval.
“Well, I like that.” Bette pretended to be put out. “I’m admiring my hairdress—don’t you like it? You should.” Bette replied, “because I copied it exactly from the hairdress worn by Fritzi Scheff in a picture made of her when she was at the peak of her career.”
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I sure hope Bette didn’t burst out singing Fritzi’s big hit “Kiss Me Again” to Flynn! Arno would have had to come to his rescue! (Song begins at 1:50)
A Tribute to Errol – Eternal Voyager – June 20, 1909 to Infinity
What is the indirect connection between “The Golden Record” that went into space with Voyager in 1977
and Errol’s death in Vancouver, 1959? (Focus on the brilliantly-played music)
Would Errol have been better than the usually great Fredric March in this film? I believe so.
October 10, 1935
Los Aneles Times
I Cover Hollywood
By Lloyd Pantages
Warner Brothers are so enthused about Errol Flynn’s work in Captain Blood that they would like to give him the lead in Anthony Adverse only there’s a slight catch, as they already signed Fredric March for the part. Nevertheless, seeing how Errol is under a long-term contract to them and March isn’t, maybe they’ll give it to him and put Freddy in something else.
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“The big trouble with the 14th century insofar as the movies are concerned is the fact that most of the ladies dressed like nuns.”
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October 8, 1937
The Evening Herald
Klamath Falls, Oregon
DREARY DUDS IRK STYLIST AT FILM LOT
By Frederick C. Othman
Hollywood Citizen News
The big trouble with the 14th century insofar as the movies are concerned is the fact that most of the ladies dressed like nuns. This is particularly bad for movies in full color, and it explains why Milo Anderson, Warner Brothers costume expert, is cheating on history today in dressing the folks appearing in Hollywood’s latest version of Robin Hood.
This picture first was made in 1922 by Douglas Fairbanks, when movies were black and white and noiseless. Warners’ version calls tor full color and a couple of million dollars to make it realistic. Nearly $500,000 of this money went to Anderson for fancy clothes. He was ready for a real spree in silver cloth and slashed velvet and whatnot, when he discovered that all the women of Robin Hood’s time. from the queen on down to the lowliest peasant, dressed mostly in black and dark brown. They all wore coifs, such as nuns still wear, and shoes which look a lot like gymnasium slippers.
CHEATS A LITTLE
“So we had to cheat a little.” young Anderson said. “We put In a spot of color here and a splash there. We had to.”
His spots and splashes looked pretty gay to us. One bolt of cloth, with silver threads running through the gold, cost Warners $25 a yard. “But it looks too fine,” he said. “So I had it dyed a light blue and I told the dyer to be a little careless. The result looks like it may really have been made six centuries ago. He had to make 45 costumes for the ladies in the picture, of whom Olivia de Havilland, as Maid Marian, is the most important. Each dress took about 40 yards of velvet and other rich cloth, which cost an average of $4 a yard.
The result was inclined to depress Anderson. He cheered up only when he got the chance to rig out the men in the film. “They were the gay sex in those days,” he said. “They went in for slashed silks and doublets and whatnot, all in the brightest color combinations available.”
Anderson displayed the costumes he’d built for Errol Flynn as “Robin Hood”; Ian Hunter as “King Richard”; Claude Rains as “Prince John”; Basil Rathbone as “Sir Guy”; Alan Hale as “Little John”; and Eugene Pallette as “Friar Tuck.” These garments really were something with long tight pants of rainbow hue and doublets and tabards and curves of spots and stripes and curlicues.
On the same movie lot we met Mrs. Felix Mauch, wife of the general agent in New York city of the Toledo. Peoria, and Western railroad, and her two 13-year-old sons, Billy and Bobby. Mrs. M. stands by to keep an eye on her famous twins, who now are starring in “Penrod and His Twin Brother.” But it doesn’t do her much good. “I can’t tell them apart myself,” she confessed. “When one of them needs a whipping. I have to spank both of them to make sure I’m punishing the right one.”
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