for your tomorrow, we gave our today.”
Today is the 75th Anniversary of VJ Day and I’m watching it’s remembrance on the BBC.
These moving words were quoted in connection with the Burma Campaign (“a forgotten Army in a forgotten war”).
Well worth a visit to the Burma Star site (www.burmastar.org…) and finding out a bit more of the larger story behind a certain cinematic effort and of which “Errol Flynn described … as one of the roles that he was most proud of.”
— Karl
August 13, 1946
After Setting Sail Out of Balboa:
The Zaca cruised into San Diego to load dredges, seines, dipnets, lobster traps, gill nets, microscope, aquariums, sorting trays, jars, preservatives, and smaller paraphenalia, collected by prominent Scripps Institute Professor Carl Hubbs for the scientific explorations and studies on what later became known as “Cruise of the Zaca” Errol’s arrival was met with “a flurry of reporters” and a “feminine hubbub on the dock as girls from nearby Navy offices came to beg autographs from their hero.” The athletic actor was limping that day, having somehow sprained his ankle aboard ship on the way down from Long Beach. Errol signed autographs with a flourish while Nora watched with amusement and Professor Flynn remarked on “the depths to which humanity will fall.”
The reporters had already had a field day, by discovering from Nora that she was expecting a child and so would require a doctor on the voyage.
Zaca was manned by a crew of ten and also carried an artist (John Decker), three above-and below-water photographers, Flynn’s manager, Errol and Nora, and Flynn’s father.
…
Thanks to Betty Shor for her superb account of the Zaca’s scientific expedition from which the above info has been extracted!
These are the downton docks in San Diego, the foot of Broadway, circa the time of Zaca’s arrival. Lane Field (Home of the PCL Padres) is on the right and the Pacific Fleet’s Navy Supply Center (where the flock of Navy girls likely came from) is on the left.
— Tim
August 11, 1936
Louela O. Parsons
Los Angeles Times
Sally Eilers is the most thrilled girl in Hollywood over winning the women’s doubles title with Josephine Cruikshank in the West Side Tennis Club’s first annual tournament; club members, headed by Errol Flynn, Frank Shields and Michael Bartlett, campaigning for less eccentric court attire. We’re with them 100 percent as long as they don’t bar Nigel “Willie” Bruce’s battered felt hat and John Cromwell’s pipe.
…
Here’s sexy silent and early talkies star, Sally Eilers. Her first husband was Hoot Gibson , who can be seen having a hoot in this Dodge City Premier photo featuring Errol. Her second husband was Harry Joe Brown, who produced both Captain Blood and Son of Captain Blood. In fact, Harry Joe Brown may have been the prime person responsible for Jack Warner’s selection of Errol as Captain Blood.
And here is the 1934 U. S. Tennis Team – Caroline Babcock, Alice Marble, Josephine Cruikshank, and Sarah Palfrey – as they boarded the steamship Bremen to return to the U.S. after defeating the United Kingdom team at Wimbledon. Josephine Cruikshank is third from the left. Alice Marble, another tennis friend of Errol’s (who won 18 Grand Slam Championships!) is second from the left.
Josephine Cruikshank a regular at the Los Angeles Tennis Club where the Pacific Southwest Championships as well as the Motion Picture tournaments were played. Other players at the club included Mickey Rooney, Rudy Vallee, Ozzie Nelson, Sam Yorty and Bing Crosby. Errol asked Josephine to be his partner in the Motion Picture championship final in 1937.
— Tim
“August 7, 1937
MPH
What the Picture Did for Me
The Green Light, Errol Flynn, Anita Louise – Just a natural for any spot. This was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Too bad we could not get more productions like this. Good cast and excellent story. Running time: nine reels. July 15 – A. L. Dove, Bengough Theatre, Bengough, Saskatchewan, Can. Rural and Small Town Patronage.”
…
Bengough, with a population of about 337, is known as the “Gateway to the Big Muddy (Valley and Badlands)”. Before Errol was seen by the populace in and around Bengough, the gentlemen in the photo below used to show up in the area to escape U.S. legal authorities. Their names were Butch and Sundance.
…
“August 7, 1937
MPH
What the Picture Did for Me
The Prince and the Pauper: Big time stuff in any man’s town. Box office all the way. Running time, 115 minutes – W. E. McPhee, Strand Theater, Old Town, Maine. General Patronage.”
…
In 1936, the Strand featured Bing Crosby in Rhythm on the Range. The theater was upgraded and modernized as depicted below to accommodate Old Town’s mid-1930s population of approximately 7500.
…
— Tim
August 1, 1950
Los Angeles Herald Examiner
“Sitting only two seats apart, without a glance to each other, Errol Flynn and the first great love of his life, Actress Lili Damita, are shown in court in the legal battle over Flynn’s petition to cut down his alimony payments to her. Flynn is seeking a reduction on her $18,000 annual tax-free alimony, and Miss Damita is fighting to protect it. They appeared without exchanging greetings.”
— Tim
The spectacular art deco home of Dolores Del Rio
July 29, 1936
By Reine Davies
Hollywood Parade
Los Angeles Times
Dolores Del Rio and Cedric Gibbons, those inveterate Sunday-at-homers, were again delightfully at home last Sunday with a party of intimate friends.
Beginning with luncheon served in the attractive poolside pavilion, the afternoon was devoted to tennis and swimming, with refreshing interludes at the cocktail oasis. And in the party were the Manuel Reachis, Connie Bennett and Gilbert Roland, Virginia Bruce, Dr. Carl Voelimuller, Lili Damita and Errol Flynn, Irene and Elliot Gibbons, Fay Wray, Willis Goldbeck, the Lewis Milestones, and Elizabeth Allen.
— Tim
Saddened by the passing recently of Olivia de Havilland, though thought I’d share an excerpt from her obituary in Variety which reveals the real gravity of her bond with Errol, which was clearly no trivial matter, feelings she no doubt took to her grave …
‘Warners screen-tested her with a promising young actor, Errol Flynn, and co-starred them in the 1935 “Captain Blood,” the first of a series of swashbucklers for the two. The most popular of these was the first Technicolor version of “The Adventures of Robin Hood” in 1938, but there were also “The Charge of the Light Brigade” (1936), “The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex” (1939) and “They Died With Their Boots On” (1941).
The chemistry between the two spawned years of rumors on the pair’s relationship, culminating in Flynn’s declaration of his love for de Havilland in his autobiography. De Havilland admitted to her attraction to Flynn in an interview to the Independent in 2009 but said she never allowed the pursuit to go further than the screen because of Flynn’s marriage with actress Lili Damita.
“What I felt for Errol Flynn was not a trivial matter at all. I felt terribly attracted to him. And do you know, I still feel it,” de Havilland said.’
Her full obituary can be read here:
variety.com…
— Philip
“Actor Ian Holm died June 19 at the age of 88, according to a statement from his agent. Holm had a long and varied acting career that saw him cast as a slew of characters, including Bilbo Baggins in the “Lord of the Rings” movie trilogy, Ash in Ridley Scott’s “Alien” and athletics coach Sam Mussabini in the 1981 movie “Chariots of Fire,” a performance for which he was nominated for an Oscar.”
And why would this veteran actor get a mention in this forum?
Your may recall the excellent documentary “The Adventures of Errol Flynn”?
Here’s part of a review in Variety:
“Imbued with the same swashbuckling spirit as its subject matter, this Turner Classic Movies documentary qualifies as must-see TV for anyone warned on the cinematic exploits of Errol Flynn, whose life on and off makes for a great deal of fun. Flynn crammed plenty of living into the quarter century between becoming an enormous star and dying at the age of 50, and this documentary is the perfect companion piece to a retrospective of his films- the kind of package that has made TCM a welcome have for movie buffs.”
Holm lent his marvelous speaking voice to this effort as he was, in fact… THE NARRATOR!
And it was an IMMEASURABLE contribution to the overall experience in its viewing MUCH LIKE a Korngold or Steiner score was to a Flynn film.
Rest well, Ian- with our thanks… AND, for this lesser known laurel that is acknowledged once again here today.
— Karl
July 21, 1946 – New York Times
“Errol Flynn’s Father Here For Expedition”
…
“Theodore Thomson Flynn, Professor of Zoology at Queens College, Belfast, Ireland, and the father of Errol Flynn, screen actor, arrived yesterday on the United States liner Washington, which docked at Pier 62, North River, from Le Havre, Southampton and Cobh.”
Cruisin’ on United States liner Washington
…
Pier 62 – Now the Northernmost of the Chelsea Piers
July 29, 1946 – Los Angeles Times.
“Errol Flynn’s Father Arrives to Join Cruise”
The Flynn Family to Research the Tuna Family
Cruise of the Zaca
— Tim
