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Who is visiting Nottingham?
— Tim
Archive for the ‘Flynn and…’ Category
On the Origin of In Like Flynn
11
Jan
“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
Dennis Mullen’s Beat Cancer Friends!
09
Jan
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
A Manly Young Errol — At Mrs. Robinson’s House
02
Jan
Decades ahead of Dustin:
Errol at Mrs. Robinson’s House (in Manly, Australia)
Look how lovely Lily looks (on the far left).
— Tim
New Years with Errol — Ring in with Flynn
31
Dec
New Years with Nora And Ida:
On the A++ Guest List at one or more of Jack & Mary Benny’s legendarily lavish New Years Eve Parties:
Lucy lived right next to the Benny’s, on Roxbury
— Tim
Beyond the Blue Sky
09
Dec
Frank “Spig” Wead: The Legend Behind Dive Bomber
From “The Moguls and the Dictators: Hollywood and the Coming of World War II”
Further information and research assistance is available from the following sources:
From Gale CenGage Primary Resource Research Libraries:
From “Warner Brothers Screenplays, 1930-1950”
Screenplay: Frank Wead, Robert Buckner.
Dive Bomber.
(1941)
Producer: Hal B. Wallis; Director: Michael Curtiz; Principal Cast: Errol Flynn, Fred MacMurray; Source: Original story, “Beyond the Blue Sky,” by Frank Wead; Script: Treatment. Beyond the Blue Sky, by Frank Wead. ND. 102 pp. [100/6]; Final. By Wead and Robert Buckner. 11 Mar. with revisions to 30 Apr. 1941. c 145 pp. [101/2].
Reel: 49
From the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences:
§ Manuscripts Biography/History
The Frank “Spig” Wead papers span the years 1851-1994 (bulk 1929-1947) and encompass 5.1 linear feet. The collection consists of production files, stage files, subject files, photographs, and scrapbook pages. The production files include scripts, clippings, and reviews for films on which Wead served as a writer. Of interest are the files for the stage production and film version of “Ceiling Zero” (1936). Other notable production files include those for “Dirigible” (1931) and “The Wings of Eagles” (1957), the latter based on Wead’s life. The subject files contain information on Wead’s naval career and family genealogy, as well as correspondence. There is no correspondence from John Ford, who directed “The Wings of Eagles.” The collection also includes unpublished aviation-related manuscripts by Wead.
News report of the accident that changed Frank Wead’s life, famously depicted in “On Wings of Eagles”, with John Wayne & Maureen O’Hara:
“Lieut. Frank Wead Slips on Stairway of Coronado Home; Operated Upon. Lieut. Frank Wead, one of the best known aviators in the naval service, was operated on for a fractured neck at the naval hospital yesterday morning. Wead sustained the injury which came near costing his life when he slipped and fell from the top of the stairway of his home in Coronado late Wednesday night. The aviator had just moved into the home and was unfamiliar with the staircase. Physicians, following the operation yesterday, said that Wead will recover but it is doubtful if he will be able to fly again. Wead’s outstanding exploit since entering the naval flying corps was his flight against British pilots in the international seaplane races off the Isle of Wight in 1923, when American naval fliers took all the honors.”
— Tim
Errol Flynn at Home — Ready to Swing
07
Dec
Errol with the Stars & Angels
Scroll down to the fifth clip, from the WPA Film Library, titled “Celebs at PCL Baseball Game”.
See Errol “playing baseball”, looking better at the plate than DiMaggio.*
Despite Errol’s best efforts and magnificent batting stance, this is just not cricket.
* Joltin’ Joe’s wife once wowed the crowd at this very same venue, long gone Gilmore Field,along with one of EF’s best friends, the great Mickey Rooney.
** It’s a close call, but Chuck Connors may have been in the pre-game show and playing for the Angels at this event with Errol, before he himself became a Hollywood star of the cinematic type, though not nearly as incandescent as either Errol or Marilyn.
— Tim
Errol’s Elephants
06
Dec
Star Wars Took Charge of Errol’s Elephants
We all know the Star Wars movies are a feast for the eyeballs, but when you think about it, they are also a special treat for the ears, too. According to Mentalfloss, legendary sound designer Ben Burtt got his star on Star Wars fresh out of the University of Southern California’s film school and “was tasked with coming up with a completely new and organic soundscape for the movie.”
Burtt created Chewbacca’s iconic voice by blending the vocalizations of a bear, a lion, a walrus and a badger. The beloved pint-sized droid R2-D2’s endearing chirps were made using loops on a synthesizer matched with beeps and boops modelled after baby coos performed by Burtt. The infamous deep breathing of the evil Darth Vader was created by putting a microphone inside the regulator on a scuba tank.
But our favourite iconic sound, the swooshing shriek of the film’s TIE fighter engines, are — brace yourselves for a shock — the sound of an elephant call mixed with the sounds of a car driving on wet pavement. According to the blog Unidentified Sound Object, Lucas had seen a documentary about the Battle of Stalingrad and told Burtt the sound of the Nazi rockets would make a great laser-gun noise.
That’s when Burtt stumbled on recordings of some stampeding elephants from an old Errol Flynn movie, which he mixed with recordings of cars speeding through puddles in a rainstorm. He slipped the sound in for a screening at the last moment, and everyone went wild. “I’d really put it in because I had no other alternative, but it got great reviews, so naturally it became the sound of the TIE fighters,” the sound legend said.
— Tim
