As long as we’re horsing around …
Who in the orbit of Errolworld was the first to fly a horse to a thoroughbred race?
He or she was:
1) A singer
2) A movie actor
3) A radio broadcaster
4) A horse breeder and trainer
5) Owner of a famous home and property
6) The flying horse won, paying $38 on a $2 bet, at a track Seabiscuit famously raced at, and the only track in the U.S. permitted to stay ooen during WW II.
7) Along on the (Flying Tiger) flight came a filly as company
— Tim
Live from Caesar’s, photos for the EFB.
Chaplin, Barrymore, Arbuckle, Keaton, Capone, Hayworth and Flynn, they all came here. A top hot spot for Hollywood luminaries during Prohibition, and, again, during the U.S. gambling ban of WW II.
See if you can see Mickey Rooney and Joe DiMaggio in the photos below.
— Tim
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
who is the famous actor that started his career as an uncredited extra in one of Errol`s London Years films.
He has a strong, rather a non- British accent
won an Academy Award
loves golf
starred as king, spy, robber & space cowboy
alongside Ingrid Bergman, Gina Lollobrigida and Brigitte Bardot
Quiz me if you can,
— shangheinz
From American Cinematographer
The Sea Hawk Meets the Six Pack
Hardesty, Mary, American Cinematographer
Miller spot uses classic footage from Flynn adventure to set up clever pitch for product.
Did you ever notice the monkey in the galley scene from the classic film The Sea Hawk starring Errol Flynn? Maybe not, but Miller Beer has cleverly brought him to the foreground with their new Miller Genuine Draft Beer 30-second takeoff. This time the monkey appears monkey appears at one of the portholes and drops a bottle which rolls to one of the rowing men.
“The knife the forced laborers use to extricate themselves and escape [in the film] is now a bottle of beer,” explains cinematographer Curtis Clark, ASC, who collaborated on the ad with first-time director Angus Wall. “The challenge was to link Errol Flynn and the original actors with our new guy. Instead of the knife, he’s handed the bottle of beer.”
To make it appear as if Flynn was actually handed a brew, Clark used motion control and a bottle on a rig to match the actions needed to composite the bottle into the late actor’s hand.
Light, angles and perspective proved to be the biggest worries during the five-day shoot at Renmar Studios in Los Angeles, on a set constructed to match the 1940s set. “We had the original footage with us during the entire shoot, so we were able to estimate the perspective needed,” Clark recalls. Although he didn’t have access to continuity reports of the original footage, he was able to make use of video assist to help him match footage. “We would feed in the original scene and superimpose our bottle over the point where Flynn’s hand was, which allowed us to quickly see if the bottle was at the correct perspective,” explains Clark, who was given one day to shoot two such scenes.
To capture the original Forties look, Clark chose Kodak Double X black & white stock. “We took the closest source of the film – in this case a D-1 transfer from Turner Broadcasting’s library –
and used it on the Cineon at Pacific Ocean Post to replicate the look of the original film grain, which was coarser than today’s stock,” explains Clark. “Because we didn’t know the exact steps the filmmakers went through to create the original footage, we had to guess the grain sharpness and diffusion levels.”
To further add to the authentic period feel, Clark and the director decided to recreate the shooting style of the period using the same lighting techniques and lenses.
Fortunately, Clark had found a set of old Cooke lenses that had been rehoused when he was shooting the King Kong Eveready Battery spot [AC March ’94], so he was able to use that gained knowledge to save time and accomplish his lighting tests in only one day.
“From my work on the King Kong spot I knew we needed to use tungsten lighting and traditional studio lamps. The lighting styles used in those days were, in many respects, old-fashioned,” observes Clark, who notes that many older features lack lighting continuity. “They’re not anything like what we would do today. The trick is to always refer back to the reality of the original film and not do what you would normally do to improve the lighting. Making it nicer is not the point: you want to
capture the original Forties look, Clark chose Kodak Double X black & white stock. “We took the closest source of the film – in this case a D-1 transfer from Turner Broadcasting’s library . We had to guess the grain sharpness and diffusion levels [the original filmmakers used.]”
To further add to the authentic period feel, Clark and the director decided to recreate the shooting style of the period using the same lighting techniques and lenses. Fortunately, Clark had found a set of old Cooke lenses that had been rehoused when he was shooting the King Kong Eveready Battery spot.
Publication information: Article title: The Sea Hawk Meets the Six-Pack. Contributors: Hardesty, Mary – Author. Magazine title: American Cinematographer. Volume: 76. Issue: 5 Publication date: May 1995. Page number: 81+. © American Society of Cinematographers.
Is there anyone out there who knows where to find a copy of the Sea Hawk Miller commercial? I’m sure we all would love to see it posted! Thanks.
Here’s the scene stealing Sea Hawk monkey stealing a separate scen from Sea Hawk:
— Tim
Hangout of Hollywood megastars travelling to and fro Old Tijuana:
Note images of Veronica Lake, Clark Gable and Lana Turner on the southern wall:
The former secret upstairs casino:
From the official website, here’s interior shot of the current day restaurant, with a commanding image of Flynn:
— 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
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
Whatever happened to Errol’s search for Paul Redfern?
Is it a riddle wrapped in a mystery?
— Tim
