Dear Flynnmates,
here is a picture of Errol Flynn and the crew of the Kathleen (more likely the sloop than the schooner) at the Royal Jamaica Yacht Club.
The first blog member that guesses, who the lady at his side was, wins a rum punch lollipop.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Rory Flynn, daughter of Errol Flynn announces on the blog today that she has fully restored the famous John Decker portrait of her father:
During my childhood this portrait always hung at Mulholland Farm in my father’s den … the artist was John Decker most famous for his portraits and characterizations of Hollywood celebrities Katherine Hepburn, Buster Keaton, John Barrymore, Jimmy Durante and others as historical figures.
He was quite well-known, and a friend of my father who invested in an art gallery with him in Hollywood, and I think he painted this in 1947… many years later, another wife later, the portrait was taken to Jamaica where it remained for about 25 years when it was almost completely destroyed in a hurricane.
The water damage was horrible.
My stepmother relocated it to the basement where it sat all these years until I was able to retrieve it after her death. I handed it over to the art curator John Short and John Hamm who run the North Carolina Gallery of Fine Art where it was beautifully and miraculously restored to its former condition with almost exactly the same frame that my father had made for it.
I am thrilled and excited to have this hanging in my home and I can’t thank these gentlemen enough for the year that it took for them to restore it …
Rory Flynn with Curator John Short
Click image to enlarge
… thanks, Rory!
“North Carolina Gallery of Fine Art specializes in 19th, 20th and 21st century museum quality art. Our special exhibit is the “Face of Lincoln” bronze sculpture by Robert Merrell Gage (American 1892-1981). The gallery also provides art restoration services for paintings and frames, art appraisals and the professional curation of small private and business art collections”
— David DeWitt
March 9, 2003
The New York Times Magazine
“A quiet spot by the Jamaica seashore, looking out at the activity in the ocean, hearing the wind sob with the beauty and the tragedy of everything.”
Errol’s Diary: April 4, 1954, Boston Estate, Jamaica
— Tim
Kingston learns Flynn is In……….
January 3, 1947
Kingston, Jamaica
“FILM FANS MOB ERROL FLYNN AT MYRTLE BANK”
Errol Flynn came ashore from his yacht at the Myrtle Bank Hotel at noon yesterday – and nearly created a riot. As the handsome, dashing screen star entered the lobby., a waiting army of female hotel fans, who had impatiently been waiting his coming ashore, mobbed him in traditional style.
Since news of his arrival spread through Kingston and St. Andrew yesterday, local cinemaddicts have been concentrating on the Myrtle Bank in an effort to secure autographs, snapshots, or just look at the daring he-man lover of the screen in the flesh.
Gathering yesterday morning a battery of woman fans filled the lobby and verandahs of the hotel. “Bobby-soxers” were in the majority, but there were lots of grownups, too. Impatiently they looked out across the hotel lawn to the pier, and beyond it, where the Zaca rode at anchor on the quiet Caribbean.
Came 12 o’clock and still no sign of the tall hero of Captain Blood, Elizabeth and Essex and other screen successes which have thrilled local audiences. The now-retired movie actor, who arrived here on Wednesday, stayed aboard his yacht this afternoon, along with members of his party.
THE WORD GOES UP
Suddenly there was a sensation. The word went up that he was coming. Large as life, and as handsome as he appears on screen, Errol Flynn walked into the lobby. Something like a cross between a scream and a sigh issued from a hundred lips. The actor smiled at the demonstration.
When they crowded around him, however, he decided it was too much of a good thing. Quickly getting into a waiting motorcar, he left the hotel and did not return until during the evening. The fans, torn between partial satisfaction and partial disappointment, went away.
Presence of the popular actor, whose exploits, on and off the screen, have won him wide mention, has made Myrtle Bank the focus of local attention. Busiest switchboard in town is the PBX at Myrtle Bank, where the telephone operator spent half a day yesterday saying, “Yes, he is here. No, he hasn’t come ashore yet.”
CLERKS KEEP BUSY
No less busy has been the desk, where the clerks have been equally engaged in answering queries as to the whereabouts of Mr. Flynn. Autograph books and baby cameras have been greatly in evidence, while the staff have been kept on their toes coping with the extra demand on their time as a result of the increased number of visitors to the hotel.
…
A look at Jamaica circa shortly before Errol first arrived:
…
And shortly after he moved there:
— Tim
April 12, 1938
Jimmy Starr
Evening Herald Express
In the year of 1692 the quiet little village of Port Royal, Jamaica, was startled by a loud rumble, followed by a violent earthquake that slid the entire town into the ocean. On days when the water is clear, sightseerers hire a small boat to visit the site of the tragedy and to view the remains of a city underwater.
There are superstitious natives in that region who claim they can still hear the bells ringing in the sunken church. Intriqued by the fame of the bells, adventure-some Errol Flynn, Warner star, who is cruising with his new yacht in that section, informs me that he is going to make a deep-sea dive in an effort to recover the bells. If successful, the ancient chimes will be brought to Hollywood for exhibition.
***
Captain Blood’s Port Royal, Warner Bros. Publicity Still 1935
— Tim
Named and Catapulted to Fame by Flynn
Sherwood had its Merry Men, Jamaica has its Jolly Boys
Jamaica Music Museum pays tribute to the Jolly Boys
“The Jolly Boys are a mento group originally from Port Antonio, formed in 1945. First starting as part of a group that played at Errol Flynn’s parties, the band established itself as one of Jamaica’s enduring mento bands. Over seven decades they have won mento band competitions, toured across the island and around the world, and released ten albums. They also appeared in the 1989 film The Mighty Quinn, which featured Denzel Washington. With their 2010 cover of Amy Winehouse’s Rehab, the group facilitated a mento revival that has attracted music scholars and enthusiasts from around the world.”
“… Errol Flynn named this group “The Jolly Boys” after the vibe he caught from their playing. With Flynn’s imprimatur, the Jolly Boys music quickly defined mento and calypso entertainment in Port Antonio and set a high musical standard.”
” … Errol Flynn used to dock his yacht, Zaca, [at Port Antonio] back when the buccaneering Hollywood star was known as “Jamaica’s greatest tourist”. “Mr Errol Flynn, man. Yeah, baby!” twinkles [one of the Jolly Boys]. “He loved the local bars. He’d hang here and buy a bottle of white rum for the people.”
— Tim
