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Archive for the ‘Newspaper & Headlines’ Category

New Kid On the Lot

29 Dec

Quiz on a Questionnaire

Fresh from England in the Fall of 1934, Errol had his “first official” stateside interview. Conducted on Warner Brothers’ “Burbank campus” by Carlisle Jones, “dean of Hollywood press agents”, this debut interview revolved around answers Errol had recently provided on a WB publicity questionnaire. According to that questionnaire and interview:

1. Errol’s Schoolboy Ambition was:
a) To be a pirate
b) To be a movie star
c) nil

2. His Present Ambition was:
a) Success in movies
b) To meet Greta Garbo
c) To sail to Hawaii in his own yacht

3. His foremost interest aside from acting was:
a) Literature
b) Marrying a movie star
c) Big game hunting in Africa

4. He suppressed a desire to be a:
a) Biologist
b) Bartender
c) Pianist

5. If he failed at acting, he would:
a) Go to law school
b) Marry rich
c) Return to New Guinea as a gold prospector

6. He reported his dancing and singing talents as:
a) God-given
b) Better than average
c) Imperceptible

7. He identified his favorite city as:
a) Paris
b) London
c) Shanghai

8. Following his interview, Carlisle Jones escorted Errol to the Warner Brothers first-aid hospital to treat:
a) A fencing wound
b) A blister
c) A sudden malarial attack

9. The reason for his hospital visit was:
a) Olivia De Havilland
b) Pinch-toed shoes
c) The Sepik River

10. On the way to the Warner Brothers hospital, Errol asked Carlisle Jones:
a) What were the best bars in Hollywood to meet women?
b) Who were the best movie star tennis players in Hollywood?
c) Was Lili Damita married?

— Tim

 

Little Christmas – 1947

28 Dec

In the News, Seventy Years Ago – Reported by Harrison Carrol

“I got a kick out of Nora Flynn’s Christmas gift to Errol – slippers and a robe. Yes, sir, it looks as if the screen’s Don Juan is getting to be quite a family man.”

“The Flynn’s home is practically in chaos. They gave Deidre a bicycle. Since they live on a hilltop, she can’t take it outside. So she is tearing all over the house to the peril of furniture and human beings.”

— Tim

 

Robin Hood Days — 50 Years Ago

04 Dec

‘Robin Hood Days’ Part of Proposed Tourist Program

The Chico City Council has been asked to participate in a tourist-luring program designed to draw metropolitan residents with the slogan “Come to Chico for a Change.”

If the three-part program is adopted, Bidwell Park will become “Sherwood Forest” and “Robin Hood Days” will become an annual civic celebration.

Chamber Manager Don Woodside said chamber officials decided some type of program is necessary to lure motorists from the Bay Area off Interstate 5 on the west side of the Sacramento Valley.

The advertising and marketing program to sell Chico as the recreation center for northeastern California was prepared for the chamber by the San Francisco advertising and public relations firm of Johnson-Gleason.

Johnson-Gleason proposes to capitalize on the fact that Bidwell Park was the site for the filming of the Errol Flynn epic, “The Adventures of Robin Hood.”

Hood’s band of merry men would be identified in the park, such as The Friar Tuck Picnic Area, Little John Acres, etc.

– Chico Enterprise-Record, November 1967

Robin & Marion in Chico, California 1938

________________

Here’s one currently popular site in Chico’s Sherwood Forest – the Sherwood Forest Kids’ Disc Golf Course.

5

— Tim

 

Beginning with Bettongs

29 Nov

From very early on, Errol exhibited an intense interest and unique talent for entrepreneurial adventure. Inspired by his father, this often involved scientific exploration and experimentation. Cruise of the Zaca is an eminent example.

But when and where did young Errol first profitably demonstrate this profound talent and interest? Evidence indicates it was in connection to Professor Flynn’s research into the reproductive biology of Tasmanian bettings. In fact, Errol essentially states so in My Wicked, Wicked Ways:

“When school finished, I raced home to be at his side, to hurry out into the back yard, where we had cages of specimens of rare animals… Through Father’s activity I made my first venture into commerce. He bought all the kangaroo rats [bettongs] he could get hold of for Hobart University. I learned to set box traps in the hills of near-by Mount Wellington. He paid a shilling a head.”

Putting Errol’s bettongs to exceptionally good use, Professor Flynn published a landmark paper in 1930 on the reproduction of the Tasmanian bettong.

Here is a rare nocturnal photo of the hard-to-catch, truffle-hunting Tasmanian bettong in the act of night-jumping.

And here is a spectacular view from Mt. Wellingon of the hills of Hobart where pre-teen Errol trapped bettongs for his father’s pioneering research into marsupials.

— Tim

 

An Homage to Errol

27 Nov

“Wolverton is plainly an homage to the 1930s-1950s Australian actor Errol Flynn. He has Flynn’s flair, his womanising ways (having a hand chopped off would interfere in his removal of corsets, Wolverton quips), a Zorro-esque mask, and even Flynn’s pencil moustache. Only the épée is missing. Wolverton relies upon stealth, wit, and cunning, wise-cracking all the while.”

Wolverton, Thief of Impossible Objects

— Tim

 

Seventy Years Ago Safari

24 Nov

Seventy years ago – during, prior to, and following the Thanksgiving holidays of 1947 – Errol was planning a major hunting expedition.

With what other person did Errol plan this safari, and in what country was it to take place??

¤ They planned to include about thirty (30) people.

¤ It was planned to last for about two months.

¤ They planned to record, ship, and broadcast clips of the expedition.

¤ It would involve big game hunting.

¤ The safari was to begin immediately after completion of The Adventures of Don Juan.

¤ It never happened.

— Tim

 

First Reports of Errol’s Death, in April ’45

19 Sep

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A rash of false fatality fears occurred in 1945, according to the New York Times, following the April 12 death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

New York Times, April 14, 1945

“Widespread jitters bordering on mass hysteria seemed to sweep New York yesterday in the wake of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death, as rumors of killings, accidents and deaths involving prominent persons flooded the city,”

Among the rumored victims mentioned in the story were Van Johnson, Charlie Chaplin, Frank Sinatra, Al Jolson, Errol Flynn, Babe Ruth and Jack Benny. There were so many panicked phone calls to newspapers, radio stations, government offices and private businesses, the Times reported, that harried switchboard operators believed it was part of a conspiracy to hinder communications.

www.theintell.com…

— Tim

 

Flynn Falls in and forJamaica

18 Sep

A Series Look at the History of Errol’s Landfall On and Falling In Love with Jamaica:

— Tim

 

“Lazy as a Cyclone”

09 Sep

So said Mrs. Fleen about her peripatetic, force-of-nature husband.

As for Miss Dynamita, Errol reported: “We fought from the opening gong; so we got married.”

Here’s the Always Astonishing and Often True Life Story of Errol Flynn:
www.newspapers.com…
(As Flynnmates around the globe know, the fully true life story is even more astonishing.)

— Tim

 

Pirate Party on Catalina Isle! First Appearance!

30 Aug

All Flynn followers are familiar with the brief appearance of Errol and Lily in Pirate Party on Catalina Island, but there was always a little confusion about when this quiet little short subject appeared. To help quell any more questions, here is a clip from the Los Angeles Times newspaper of Feb. 12, 1936, page 11.

 

It premiered with the Charlie Chaplin film Modern Times.

Enjoy,

 

— Topper