Dear Flynnstones,
this picture was taken only minutes before take-off.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Archive for the ‘Flynn and…’ Category
Errol Royal
28
Sep
Dear Flynnstones,
here is a video clip about the Royal Command Film Premiere of “That Forsythe Woman“ from November 17 of 1949 in London with the late Queen Elizabeth II and her sister Princess Margaret exchanging glances with Baron Flynn the One and Only. m.youtube.com…
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Flynn`s Footsteps- Sloping and Sliding in Switzerland
26
Sep
Dear Flynnstones,
Sankt Moritz is another great storytelling venue Errol Flynn set foot on.
His best man Freddie McEvoy was a regular guest at the famous Badrutt`s Palace Hotel with is first wife, the oil heiress Beatrice Cartwright.
Even though “Pleasure was his business”, Suicide Freddie was not idling his time at the terrace of the luxury hotel all the time.
After winning the gold medal in the Four Men Bobsleigh event at the 1937 World Championship of St. Moritz, he set his sight on the Cresta Run.
He came in second to US war hero Billy Fiske in the 1937 Curzon Cup, the most important race of the season from Junction (abbreviated track).
Our man Flynn tried his luck and risked his looks once there also on January 26th of 1953.
Trained by veteran competitor Colin Mitchell he managed a (respectable for an actor) time of 119.40 seconds from Junction.
Jokingly he addressed the press and said he would have arrived earlier had he not exited the course to sip champagne with a blonde curvier than the notorious Shuttlecock corner.
At Hotel Steffani there is a whole bar dedicated to the icey race.
Barbara Hutton and flynntimo Count Troubetzkoy (A bus line back one century in time « The Errol Flynn Blog) dinned at restaurant “Le Lapin Bleu”
At the foyer, unlike an apple impossible to miss, is an imposing statue of Swiss national hero William Tell which may have given our Hollywood hero the ultimate spin to ditch “The Story of Farouk” for “The Story of William Tell” as his next film.
Banzai,
— shangheinz
Hey Hey Nora…
16
Sep
Dear Flynnstones,
the next line in an old song goes like this: … I want to marry you…
This picture may be the earliest testimonial, maybe at a sort of coming out party, of Errol and his future wife, Nora Eddington.
If I am not mistaken, it dates right after Flynn‘s acquittal at „the trial“.
It can even be taken in the immediate aftermath, since our Hollywood hero wears a pinstripe suit and the exact tie as at the verdict’s proclamation.
You see him talking to the press, obviously relieved and back to his daredevilish attitude again.
Enjoy,
PS: Miss Blanca Rosa Welter meanwhile probably had an appointment at the dentist.
— shangheinz
A Wider Shade of Hale
07
Sep
Dear Flynnstones,
as this picture shows, Rufus Edward Mackahan could have held his own as Robin Hood. Billed Alan Hale, he instead got to play Little John in film on three occasions and for the respective generations. A whale of hails to Errol’s most trusted side-, back- and frontkick.
Enjoy.
— shangheinz
Lil Sean
25
Aug
Dear Flynnstones,
here is one of the earliest photos of Tiger Lil and son Sean.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Danish Delight
24
Aug
Dear Flynnstones,
here is Errol with Miss Denmark Krete Hoffenblad (center) from when he served as connaisseur at various beauty contests all over Europe.
Figures,
— shangheinz
And…Action!
21
Aug
Dear Flynnstones,
here‘s Errol with Anita Louise waiting for the red light to film Green Light.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Squirrol
09
Aug
Dear Flynnstones,
what you gonna do, if you carry a Chip on your shoulder? Answer: You laugh it off…
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Hedda you Hearst?
31
Jul
Dear Flynnstones,
back in the day Tinseltown gossip was never heard through the grapevine. It was put in dark ink by the top two society columnists Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. They played a decades long heads-up game for the scoops, scandals and skirmishes of the Hollywood elite. With their clout they could make or break a career. Fortunately for Flynn, both liked his boyish charm and his mannish mischief. H. Hopper, besides her poisonous pen best known for her flamboyant headdresses, remembers him fondly in her autobiography “The truth and nothing but.”
At San Simon, Hearst`s $40.000.000 Shangri-La in San Luis Obisco County Louella mingeled with a stream of visiting celebrities, stars and producers that poured every weekend into the fabulous, twin-towered castle or the surrounding marble “bungalows” at the summons of W.R (Hearst) and Marion (Davies). So did I. At the fifty-four foot table in the Renaissance dining hall, you`d see Garbo, John Gilbert, Errol Flynn, Norma Shearer, Nick Schenk, Beatrice Lilly, Cissy Patterson, Frank Knox, Bernard Baruch. Name the biggest and they`d be there, including on one occasion, Mr. and Mrs. Cal Coolidge and Bernard Shaw. San Simeon, two hundred miles from Culver City, was too far for daily travels to Metro, (so) Hearst built a new castle for his princess on the gold coast of Santa Monica. This new ninety-nine room Georgian mansion, with two swimming pools, three drawing rooms and a private movie theatre was called the “Beach House”.
Errol was a shoo-in there. Orson Welles was not. His monumental mockumentary movie CITIZEN KANE exposing the real relationship between married man William Randolph Hearst and his protegé Marion Davies put him on the black list of the newspaper tycoon. They would never become Rosebuddies again.
Errol used to live directly across the street from me during his marriage to Lili Damita. All I had to do to pick up an item or two for the column, was sit by the bedroom and listen to them shrieking at each other. I got the lowdown on their separation by just lying in bed and listening. It was a screaming, juicy bout. I was all set to put it on the wire the next morning, when Errol came over in dressing gown and slippers at 7 a.m, got me out of bed and begged me not to print it, saying they hadn´t even talked about a property settlement. Like a fool, I promised to keep silent until he gave me a cue. But he couldn`t keep his own secret and told Louella, who scooped me with my own story. I could have throttled him…
Hedda`s tactful taciturnity (completely out of character) secured her a spot on the flynntourage together with NY collegue Mark Hellinger, who later became a producer for Warner Bros. Once a reporter always a reporter, he often called Hopper from a private booth and drove Jack Warner mad wondering where all the inside information about the lot came from.
He (Flynn) worshiped John Barymore and deliberately started the rumor that he was John`s illegitimate offspring. They came to parting ways however, when he invited “Father” up to Mulholland drive. John, who was incontinent toward the end, forgot himself as he sat on the beautiful settee in the lavishly furnished living room that was Errol`s pride. That was the last time John was invited.
Playing mother alongside Father, Hopper gave our Hollywood hero some good advice. One he really should have taken. H.H. implored him not to spend all his money on parties, but to buy a girl a box of candy in the process or send her some flowers once in a while. She said a single rose each time, could have spared him five lawsuits.
“For one revel at his Mulholland Drive home, Errol Flynn imported a transvestite fairy dressed so skillfully as a girl that nobody guessed the secret. Errol had his swimming pool lit from below and brought on a team of divers to brighten the evening. When his guests went on chattering, taking not a blind bit of notice of the performance, he (himself) dived headlong into the water in protest…
One day he was sun-bathing mother-naked on a sailboat in the Mediterranean, when a sight seeing craft loaded with American schoolteachers came by. He chose the moment to stand up and stretch. One gasping teacher fell overboard, covered in blushes, and he promptly plunged in to retrieve her.
As relentless as the Walt Disney friend Hedda Hopper waged war on unamerican activities in Hollywood during the McCarthy era, she always held a soft spot for Errol Flynn, despite his bouts with alcohol and else.
The last time I saw Errol was in Paris, when he was making ROOTS OF HEAVEN. He wanted his teen-age popsie to stay in the room, while I intervied him. She wouldn`t go, so I did, interview or no interview.
Once more she kept mum and not too long Flynn was gone.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
