Dear fellow Flynn fans,
There is a mention of Errol in the new Woody Allen film “Café Society”. It is fine movie overall with a genuine Hollywood of (G)old feel to it.
Best line: “Life is a comedy written by a sadistic comedy writer”.
And woodyn’t you know it, Flynn is in this lovetriangle-homage-farce about real and made up movie stars, panicky producers and go for it gaffers.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Our brother-in-Arms Jack Marino sends these photos of Pat Wymore’s grave marker next to Flynn’s!
Jack, we tip our hat to you …
— David DeWitt
Arrogate v. California Chrome. Names that would have worked well in Errol’s own stable.
It was a great day at the races today at Hollywood’s hometown horsetrack, Santa Anita, one of Errol’s favorite haunts, where he often played the ponies, and occasionally raced some of his own.
“America’s biggest race may be the Kentucky Derby, but Santa Anita – or ‘Hollywood’s Racetrack’ – in California wins in the glamour stakes.”
“Since Santa Anita Park opened back in 1934, the horse race track has been featured in numerous films, including A Star is Born (1954), Bob Hope’s The Lemon Drop Kid, the Marx Brothers film A Day At The Races and National Lampoon’s Vacation to name just a few.”
— Tim
In Celebration of Rita Hayworth’s 98th Birthday
Live from Lovely Rita’s home in Chula Vista, California, where she lived as a young teen, working across the border in Golden Age Tijuana, only fifteen or so minutes away. Rita performed at Hollywood honcho hangouts like the Hotel (Agua) Caliente and the Foreign Club Cafe de Luxe, where she began her entertainment career dancing with her father in The (Dancing) Cansinos.
In a photo taken this weekend for the EFB, here is Margarita’s former childhood home, a fact her present day neighbors were thrilled to learn.
And here are photos from that era of her early career, when she was Margarita Cansino.
As a young teen, Rita danced at the following famous Hollywood-popular venues in Tijuana, where it is said she was discovered..
¡Adios, Flynnamigos!
— Tim
Hola from Becki on our right and Anita on our left!!
From an old South of the Border haunt of Hemingway, Gardner, Hayworth and Flynn.
Famous for paella and its old Hollywood, bullfight and jai lai crowds, the food remains sensational. Being there before paella time, I had the calamari steak, which was muy, muy, muy sabroso – the best I ever had.
Becki and Anita are fantastic and couldn’t believe how handsome Flynn was and how beautiful Ava was during their Chiki Jai heydays.
Becki, by the way, says she’s ready to go Hollywood herself, Hollywood agents out there. With looks and a personality reminiscent of Linda Christian, I highly recommend her!
— Tim
Having recently landed at Lindberg Field in San Diego and headed into Mexico today, I thought I’d publish these protoflynnical, Lindberg Field and Mexico-related Hollywood news reports from March 24, 1939:
Los Angeles Evening Herald Express – Jimmy Starr:
Errol (pronounced Errant) Flynn, Hollywood’s “Peck’s Bad Boy” grown up, and his wife,the lovely Lili Damita, were finally lured from their vacation in Mazatlan, Mexico, by the Warner Studio, which demanded his return for picture work.
An effort to reach the film plant on time nearly cost them their lives. Chartering a plane, with Ted Brown as pilot, in Mazatlan, the trio battled heavy fog for most of the way to San Diego.
More thrilling than a horror movie, they were lost somewhere over San Diego. Their gas was low. They had lost their radion beam. With but two minutes of gas time in the tank, Brown took a chance, started to pancake the ship earthward. He caught his radio beams. Luckily, he was over the field!
“We owe our lives to Brown’s remarkable ‘deadstick’ landing,” said Errol, who, with Lili, was still somewhat jittery over the experience.
Lili and Errol arrived in Hollywood yesterday morning.
___________
Los Angeles Evening Herald Express – Harrison Carroll
Even Lili Damita, who is on the impulsive side herself,was amazed at Errol Flynn’s first official act on returning to California. The Irish star climbed out of a chartered plane, in which he and Lili had flown from Mazatlan, and immediately his eyes fell upon another ship standing on the field.
“That’s a slick job. I’d like to take it up myself,” said the star.
“Go ahead,” said one of the spectators, “it belongs to me.”
So Flynn, whose feet had been on solid ground for less than ten minutes, hopped into the plane alone and took it aloft.
Lili, left standing there, could only shake her head and mutter: “That man! That man!”
btw, in researching this post, I discovered evidence that indicates the pilot who saved Errol & Lili’s lives in San Diego may have been the father of the highly respected tenor saxophonist Ted Brown. Here he is playing “On a Lost Plane to Lindberg” – I mean “On a Slow Boat to China” with jazz legend Art Pepper:
As always with these historic newspaper article posts, all thanks ans praise goes to Flynn Meister Karl Holmberg! Muchos gracias, Mi Amigo!
— Tim
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
I came acoss a curious statement in the obituary (www.smh.com…) of nazitorious biographer Charles Higham.
“Higham had a delight in the macabre and the absurd, exemplified by his invitation to the English widow of Hermann Erben for dinner in Los Angeles with a Flynn double, Chuck Pilleau. Higham coaxed from her a bizarre revelation: SS agent Erben was circumcised.”
Now more interesting than Dr. Erben`s anatomy is that another little known stuntman, stand- in or stooge of Errol is brought into play, a certain Charles Pilleau.
I found an entry on this virtually unrecorde go- to gent, posted by a friend of his, a one time actor and passionate golfer:
“All I know is that I found a picture on the web of a suppossedly Errol swinging a golf club. And it was a lefty swing? I wish I knew how to post it here. I was given an old “Brassie, driver” by my old friend that I used to rent an apartment from in Hollywierd in the early 80’s ( N Franklin & Hollywood Blvd ). I was studying acting, rasing hell around town and just enjoying my youth (srtaight). His name was Chuck “Sir Charles Pilleau”. What a charachter and friend. He was long in the tooth with some great stories. He took a liking to me cause I’m a Texas boy. I as well enjoyed his company as I used to help him around town to get his tasks done since he only had one eye and a lung left. Don’t feel sorry. I saw some of the gals that old Chuck had over from time to time. He had the charm. Another of our friends eventually aided old Chuck in finding his way back to Australia where I heard he passed a few years later. I know that he was FLynns buddy cause he had all the pictures hangin on the walls and the stories were abundant and in line with everything that I had heard about Flynn. Except there were no gay stories from Chuck. The gay stories according to him were an attempt to ruin him. I believe my friend Chuck Pilleau………Still Puzzled About This Old Brassie Driver……….Was Errol right handed or not? I haven’t answered it yet. Pardon…..distracted with memmories of my pal Chuck. He seemed almost “life like” to Errols immage and mannerisims…..John Horton el************@*ol.com…. ”
Unfortunately when I tried to contact Mr. Horton to putt him the photo pictured above as answer to his question, I came across another obituary: dfw.cbslocal.com…
Enjoy while you can,
— shangheinz
Ada here,
I am sending along the first of two pix of, I assume, one of your favorites, Lily Damita.
This one, I am not positive about. I believe it was taken by Errol during a trip to Catalina Island approx July 7th, 1938, during the holiday week when Errol was off. I can identify no one except Lily. Do you have any info on this shot?
I’ll toss it out to the world, Ada! Very nice, rare candid …
— David DeWitt
