I am sure you are all aware that TCM has started a WINE CLUB, which goes well to toast a movie in particular ‘The Adventures of Don Juan’.
So very innocent – entirely innocent I am!
How nice of TCM to especially advertise a wine for Errol and his movie, which is scheduled to play Friday, February 12 at 2:15 pm EST. I am going to order it and hope it will arrive by the 12th. I then will toast you all, Errol and the movie!
Enjoy!
— Tina
January 26, 1943
TELLS OF FLYNN ACCUSER’S HOPE FOR MOVIE ROLE
Witness Testifies of Girl’s
Plan to Meet Actor.
Los Angeles, Cal., Jan. 25 (M)
A brunette soda fountain girl, Mons Mervyn, today told the jury trying Errol Flynn on statutory rape charges that one of the complaining witnesses, Betty Hansen, informed her she hoped to meet Flynn and get into the movies with his help.
Miss Mervyn said she worked at a drug store where Miss Hansen, a Lincoln, Neb., girl was employed
for two weeks. She said Betty told her she considered Flynn good looking.
Yacht Employee Questioned.
The defense switched to testimony about Miss Hansen after summoning as its first witness Corp. Hubert L. Oliver of Glendale, Cal., now stationed at a Texas army camp. Oliver said he was employed by Flynn as a seaman on his yacht, the Sirocco, that he was aboard the vessel the night 17-year old Peggy La Rue Satterlee, the other complaining witness, contends she was seduced by the screen star.
Oliver testified he heard no disturbance or outcry and that Flynn, to his knowledge, was not below deck at the time of the alleged attack.
Flynn, Oliver said, was at the wheel of the yacht all the way home.
Says Door Won’t Lock.
Mrs. Helga Brabon, former caretaker at the Bel Air home of Fred McEvoy, where Miss Hansen alleged Flynn seduced her, Betty was wrong in saying Flynn locked the door after taking her to the bedroom. She said the door of the room In question has a lock “but it never worked, that I know of, and it still won t work.”
Mrs. Addle E. Odell, operator of a
Hollywood apartment house, said Miss Hansen rented one of her apartments Oct. 1, 1942, as Mrs. Betty Gray. Mrs. Mary Ross, juvenile division policewoman, that Miss Hansen told her Flynn seduced her In a double bad In a large bedroom. This contrasted to Betty’s direct testimony that the alleged seduction occurred In an alcove off the large bedroom.
Jerry Giesler, Flynn’s attorney, said Flynn, himself, will take the stand, probably tomorrow or Wednesday.
Satterlee & Hansen with LA District Attorney Thomas Cochran:
05 Nov 1942, Los Angeles, California, USA — Peggy Satterlee shows a photo of herself and Errol Flynn on his yacht during his trial at a Los Angeles courthouse. Satterlee accused Flynn of committing statutory rape against her on the yacht. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS
— Tim
FDR’s Birthday Horse Show
All Proceeds to Infantile Paralysis Charities
Errol Rode White House Horse, “Badger”.
“FIRST LADY PRESENTS TROPHY. WASHINGTON, D.C. JANUARY 25. ERROL FLYNN, STEPPING OUT OF HIS ROLE AS MOVIE STAR, TURNED HORSEMAN, AT THE FORT MYER PRESIDENT’S BIRTHDAY HORSE SHOW. MRS. ROOSEVELT PRESENTS THE HACK CLASS TROPHY WHICH HE WON”
— Tim
Today and tomorrow will be the Flynn place to be, Flynncluding at the Coronado Library, which is hosting some of the many great events at the Coronado Island Film Festival.
As did Errol himself, numerous Flynn Crowd celebrities used to visit Coronado. One notable Flynnsider who lived on the island wrote the following tribute to the Coronado Library. Who was she or he?
Here are some displays now in the library:
— Tim
As you know, our chum and fellow Flynn aficionado Dennis Mullen is fighting cancer and has a GoFundMe Campaign sponsored by this blog. He today gave us an update and a few words of thanks for all those who care about his condition and are helping him to fight and win:
“Feels strange being a ghostwriter and copy editor while simultaneously being at a loss for words. I can’t thank all of you enough–or to my satisfaction at least–for not only your generosity, but also for your genuine empathy and compassion.
One of my goals is to properly correspond with you all once I am firmly in the recovery lane and we can chat about…..Caribbean adventure and/or Old Hollywood perhaps. Until then I’m not typing or reading so good due to severe rolling stomach pain, nausea, and blurry vision.
I’ve been day-dreaming about a “fair day in the tropics” these last few weeks. A simple line, yet full of promise and intrigue–two Errol Flynn attributes! I hope I can feel good again as this journey has been day-to-day hell for me and I am having a hard time coping both physically and psychologically. Thank-you everyone for thinking of me and helping me. I won’t ever forget it.”
Dennis Mullen, January 12th 2016
If you would like to help in your own area you can do so by downloading the poster below as a pdf, printing it and putting it up in your local community centers, library, or church. A little effort by a lot of people can make a hell of a difference.
— David DeWitt
“In Like Flynn” is commonly said to be a reference to Errol Flynn, the Australian film actor. Flynn was famous for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films and for his flamboyant private life. His reputation as a hard-drinking, hell-raising ladies’ man was apparently well justified, although it has doubtless been enhanced by his delight in playing up to his image. For instance, he titled his autobiography – My Wicked, Wicked Ways and also did nothing to dispel the incredible but nonetheless widespread rumours as to the the size of his penis and the number of women who had shared his bed. Flynn was fully acquitted in February 1943 for the statutory rape.
‘In like Flynn’ – was that Errol Flynn?
The word in had been used with regard to success, good fortune or sexual conquest for some years prior to the 1940s; for example:
John Mills’ Life Race-Horse, 1854:
“The handicapper … considerately classed me among the middle ones, and awarded 6 st. 12 lb. as my burthen. ‘He’s vell in,’ said my owner, ‘very vell in.'”
Alfred Mason’s Clementina, 1901:
“His luck for the moment was altogether in.”
E. Wilson’s Twenties, 1923:
“Well, did Mr. Wilson get it in tonight?”
All of the above might lead us to believe that origin of the phrase ‘in like Flynn’ is clear. As so often though, things aren’t quite as tidy as they might first seem. The earliest recorded use of the phrase is in a December 1946 edition of American Speech:
“In like Flynn, everything is O.K. In other words, the pilot is having no more trouble than Errol Flynn has in his cinematic feats.”
That doesn’t have the sexual connotations that the phrase acquired later. There’s also an earlier, albeit oblique, reference from 1942 – in The San Francisco Examiner (Sports section):
“Answer these questions correctly and your name is Flynn, meaning you’re in, provided you have two left feet and the written consent of your parents.”
Errol Flynn’s particular notoriety as someone especially likely to be ‘in’ in a sexual sense came about after his trial in 1943, although he was already known as a screen romantic lead. If the phrase does derive from his name then it appears to have been coined in regard to his all-round flamboyance and fame – which were both considerable by 1942 – rather than specifically his sexual success.
Another possible figure who could plausibly have been the source of the phrase is the political organizer Edward J. Flynn. He was a campaign manager for the Democratic party during the 1930s and 40s and was well-known to be highly effective at arranging political successes. Such machiavellian organizers were known as bosses. Flynn, with some irony, called his autobiography ‘You’re the Boss’, in a reference to the American voting public.
Edward J. Flynn had not been associated with the phrase ‘in like Flynn’ prior to the efforts by etymologists to explain it though and no records from the 1940s make any such link. It seems very much more likely that Errol Flynn is the Flynn in question and, although the phrase may have been used before he was at the peak of his celebrity, it became well-known by association with him.
Adapted primarily and quoting from:
The Phrase Finder
See, also:
— Tim
Please take a moment to go read my campaign to help Dennis Mullen fight his recent diagnosis of cancer and donate something if you can to help him get through to a hopeful recovery. He has been diagnosed with a serious form of cancer and I’d like to call on all of our Flynn family to help him. He has been a tireless Flynn supporter and researcher. He’s walked literally in Flynn’s footsteps in Jamaica on Navy Island, was allowed to enter the closed military base where the Titchfield Hotel stood not once but three times (something only someone with the charm of Flynn himself could accomplish) and has traveled to Havana 12 times to give his famous Havana Writer’s Retreat to lucky writers from around the world. He knows every footstep Flynn made in Havana. He lives in Canada so his major medical expenses are going to be covered but we all know that it is worry about the daily expenses, bills not paid because employer benefits are thin and run out and we know that being able to afford the right foods and vitamins to help him fight cancer can make all the difference in a positive attitude and a good fight against cancer.
I don’t want our dear friend to stress over not having the funds to make a good fight of this, or worry about things that he can’t afford while undergoing chemo that is going to start almost immediately. If there are generous hearts among you, I know you will find a way to donate something toward making our Flynn friend comfortable and ease his mind about being safe and able to fight as hard as he can to save his life. Those who know him have experienced his generosity and kindness over and over again and his great sense of humor, his abilities as an editor and creative. I think if anybody deserves a bit of support it is Dennis Mullen …
I thank you all personally for reading this and for anything you may be able to do to help. Please share the following link in your social medias and send it to people who you think would like to help, too.
These campaigns succeed or fail based on how many people share these links. It’s very important to spread them around and let people know about this. A ten dollar donation or more will make an incredible difference!
— David DeWitt
