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Archive for the ‘Behind the Scenes’ Category

April 29 — 1945 — — Errol Peps Up Hollywood Party

29 Apr

Huston was a very skilled boxer, with a very long reach. Both went to the hospital, were complimentary of each others fighting skills and etiquette, and subsequently became friendly. The fight is thought to have been over OdH, with whom both Errol and JH had been in love.

— Tim

 

Errol’ s Last (?) Will and Testament filed April 27, 1954

27 Apr

Flynn Will Omits Bev

NEW YORK (UPI)

— A fight brewed today over the estate of actor Errol Flynn, whose will was filed for probate here Wednesday. The will, dated April 27, 1954, left most of his estate to his widow, Mrs. Patrice Wymore Flynn, with specific bequests to his children and parents. In Hollywood, his former wife, Mrs. Nora Haymes, said Flynn had told her there was another will dated sometime in 1957 in which he left everything to his children and parents. She said she planned to consult an attorney to protect the interests of her two daughters by Flynn.

Melvin Belli, San Francisco attorney representing Beverly Aadland, Flynn’s 17-year-old companion for the past year, said he was amazed that no provision had been made for his client He said he knew Flynn wanted to provide for Beverly and Belli said he would do something about it. Flynn and his widow had been separated for some time while he travelled to Europe and the Caribbean with Beverly.

— Tim

 

In Memory of Chris Reid – He Spoke Flynn Fluently

26 Apr

My brother, Chris Reid, died yesterday. He was a huge fan of Errol Flynn, so much so that he moved thousands of miles to live in Chico, where he graduated from Cal State there. He knew Bidwell Park intimately and all the other famous (and many only rarely known) Flynn sites in and surrounding Chico. I was fortunate to get a few royal tours. He also knew many of Errol’s other haunts in California and Mexico. In fact, I was with him when we climbed the hills of Hollywood in a valiant but unsuccessful attempt to penetrate Mulholland Farm. (If only we knew Jack Marino then!) Chris could and did quote Flynn fluently. He was also a very big Beatle fan, hence the ‘Let It Be’ inspired image below that will be part of a forthcoming video tribute. He was only 57, is already very dearly missed, and will be forever by his large family and many friends.

Godspeed on your new journey, Chris.

— Tim

 

“In Some Respects, the Most Beautiful Photoplay Ever Made”

26 Apr

April 26, 1938

James Francis Crow
Review of Previews
Hollywood Citizen News

The Adventures of Robin Hood in the new Warner version, with Errol Flynn appearing in the title role as a swashbuckling successor to the swashbuckling Douglas Fairbanks, presents itself, first of all, as a box office smash. It is a picture of abundant action and high romance, the well-nigh infallible guarantees of commercial success. Done in Technicolor and magnificently mounted, it is in some respects the most beautiful photoplay ever made. Last night’s preview was marked by frequently recurring bursts of applause by which the audience paid tribute to the artistry of color camera craft in the vivid depiction of marital pageantry, of flashing swordplay, of rollicking adventure among the the gaily garbed long bow warriors of Sherwood Forest.

It is a picture of emphatic and dazzling excellencies. Flynn is excellent, as are Basil Rathbone, Clude Rains, and Alan Hale. Olivia de Havilland is captivatingly beautiful in the role of Lady Marian.

www.youtube.com…

— Tim

 

The Curious Case of the Corpse/Superstar Holdout

26 Apr

April 26, 1938

Elizabeth Yeaman
Hollywood Citizen News

Warners are remaining absolutely mum on the subject of Errol Flynn, whose picture, Robin Hood, was enthusiastically greeted at a preview last night. Flynn, so far as know, is still aboard his yacht in waters off the Bahamas. [Warners] cannot get Flynn to say yes or no about returning for Sister Act.

April 27, 1938

Harrison Carroll
LA Evening Herald Express

As this is written, Flynn is still a holdout on returning to the studio. Warners wanted him badly for Sister Act, but Errol was delayed two and a half weeks in getting away from Miami and, so far, he is refusing to give up his vacation.

Quite a turn of fortune for the Irish actor who, two short years ago, was glad to play a corpse in The Case of the Curious Bride.

— Tim

 

“Errol and Peggy are a Thing”

23 Apr

So said Sidney Skolsky on this date in 1944

Who was Peggy Maley, you ask?

Here she is, Miss Atlantic City, circa the mid-Forties, the days Errol and her were said to (very briefly) be “a thing”

— Tim

 

Autograph Army on Patrol in Chico

23 Apr

AUTOGRAPH ARMY ALWAYS ON TRAIL OF CINEMA STARS

Restaurant Employee Pays For Olivia De Havilland’s Meals For Signature

REDEEMS HER CHECKS

Player Is Now With Errol Flynn in “Adventures of Robin. Hood”
By FRANK HEACOCK Hollywood,Cal., March 3, 1938

The prophet may be without honor in his own country but the movie star certainly isn’t. One of the demonstrations of the honor in which the screen darlings are held is their pursuit by autograph hunters. And nowhere does the autograph hunter flourish more lustily than in California, country of the movies. And California signature-seekers have several times achieved new highs of ingenuity in devising methods of obtaining the coveted name scrawls of their film favorites. Most unusual of them came to light recently during the filming of “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” when the company was on location near Chico, Calif.

Signs the Checks

When a film troupe is on location, be it explained, the studio takes care of meals and accommodations for its members. And to simplify the business of paying for meals the studio arranges for members of the company to sign their checks; a company auditor paying them later. Members of the “Adventures of Robin Hood” company, in which Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland are co-starred, ran up a healthy accumulation of meal checks to be paid off. But a week after her arrival at Chico it was found no meal check signed by Miss de Havilland had turned up at the hotel where she was staying.

Auditor Stumped

Now Miss de Havilland, by her own admission, is a girl who likes her victuals. She wasn’t on a diet and she certainly wasn’t paying for for own meals. The auditor couldn’t figure it out.

Sold Autographs

Investigation disclosed that a kitchen employee had been removing her “autographed” meal checKs from the daily collection and dropping into the cash register an amount equivalent to the price of her meals. The hotel employee then proceeded to sell the “autographs” to a Hollywood autograph broker of whom there are dozens. The broker, according in the avid autograph collector, was paying him fifty cents more for each signature than the check bearing it cost him. Considering that there was nothing intrinsically dishonest in his actions, the hotel contented itself with a reprimand and a proposal that he denote his profits to a local charity. But by that time eighteen Olivia de Havilland autographs had found their ‘way to market’.

Tribute to California’s ingenious autograph hunters. Tribute, too, to the healthy appetite Miss de Havilland worked up during the making of “The Adventures of Robin Hood” in Chico’s bracing atmosphere.

— Tim

 

A Mom and Pop Story — Starring Olivia de Havilland

22 Apr

April 22, 1938

Harrison Carroll

In Belfast, Olivia de Havilland spent a day with Errol Flynn’s parents. His father, a professor of biology at Queen’s University, still isn’t sold on Flynn’s acting career. He told Olivia he wishes that Errol would give up the cinema, return to Ireland, and take up a more serious profession.

Warners would be satisfied if he would even get off his yacht and return to Hollywood.

What was Professor Flynn thinking? Did the distinguished zoologist not study the biology of homo sapiens in addition to marsupials? What red-blooded Aussie human male in his right mind could ever quit this? Certainly not Virile Errol Flynn!

Making movies with Olivia was a very gracious thing.

And a very passionate thing.

Errol was right, and right on time, not to miss that train!

— Tim

 

The Knights and The Baron — A Million Dollar Story

21 Apr

DENIES ACCUSATIONS

NEW YORK, April 21, 1937

Errol Flynn, film player, denied today in a telegram to the Knights of Columbus that he had engaged In activities in behalf of loyalist Spain. The telegram, addressed to John L. Rossborough, state deputy in Oakland, California, and Thomas B. Flanagan, secretary of the Los Angeles council, was made public here by Warner Brothers.

Catholic Opposition to Communism in Spain

“Catholics believed that communism was the antithesis to Christianity and thus the only way to save the soul of the country was to side with those opposing it. The archbishop of Toledo wrote to the American bishops in 1937 asking for support, stating that “the National army is defending the essential foundation of society.” The final straw that pushed Catholics to side with the Nationalists was the persecution of the Church religious. In total 12 bishops, 4184 priests, 2365 male religious, and 283 female religious were killed by the Republicans during the war.”

ACTOR DENIES SAYING STARS RAISED FUNDS

Report That $1,500,000 Given By Certain Film Players to Loyalists Claimed False

By United Press
HOLLYWOOD, April 21, 1937

An Interview with Errol Flynn In Barcelona Spain, in which the film actor and soldier of fortune purportedly told of helping raise a $1,500,000 fund in the Hollywood film colony to aid the loyalist forces, came under the scrutiny of the Knight of Columbus today. Thomas B. Flanagan, secretary of the Los Angeles council of the Knights of Columbus, said he was sending a report on Flynn to John J. Rossborough, state deputy of the order at Oakland, California, and to the national headquarters of the organization’s newly launched “antiradical” campaign at New Haven, Conn.

The purported interview was published in the Hollywood Reporter, a film trade paper. The Reporter stated the interview was filed to them by “our regular Barcelona correspondent.” The part to which the Knights of Columbus reportedly found most objection to follows:

SAYS FUND RAISED

“Is it true that money has been collected in Hollywood to help the Spanish government?’ asked the Reporter. “‘Yes,’ said the actor, ‘Fredrick March, James Cagney and I were the initiators and $1,500,000 has been raised so far”.” Flynn, husky film leading man and husband of Lili Damita, French actress, has been in Spain as a roving correspondent He was reported wounded by a machine gun bullet in dispatches from Madrid which later developed to be erroneous.

The Hollywood Reporter’s dispatch upon his arrival at Barcelona, strong loyalist headquarters, further stated: “When Errol Flynn arrived in Barcelona he was greeted by the “commissioner of public spectacles, J. Carner Rlbalta, who introduced him to the “commissioner of propaganda” of the Catalonian government, Jaime Miravitles, and the heart of the cinema section the same department, Juan Castanyer.

While in Barcelona, Flynn was considered a guest of honor of the Catalonian government and all facilities were accorded him. “In an interview with the press, Flynn said his visit to Spain was prompted by a desire to ascertain the truth regarding conditions here. “Asked by the press boys what was the general impression in the United States about the war, he replied: “That’s it, the confusing news and the fact that all the American press is in the hands of powerful trusts made me decide to take this trip to see with my own eves what is really happening and write a series of articles for publication.”

The dispatch ended:

“Flynn was accompanied by his old friend, Dr. Hermann F. Erben, a well known member of the American Communist party.”

Per the San Bernadino Daily Sun, April 22, 1937

— Tim

 

A Kiwi in Hollywood Hog Heaven

20 Apr

April 20, 1936

Harrison Carroll

Evening Herald Express

Errol Flynn and Lili Damita don’t intend to live all the time on the ranch where he expects to raise hogs. They are building a house -n the Laurel Canyon district. One of the most unusual houses in Hollywood, too, for it will be modeled after Flynn’s ancestral home in Belfast. Incidentally, did you know that Errol was not born in Ireland? It was New Zealand while his father and mother were on a scientific expedition.

— Tim