Dear fellow Flynn fans,
after that ghost sighting: www.theerrolflynnblog.com…
here`s another h(a)unting experience with our Hollywood hero.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Archive for the ‘Shangheinz Shanties’ Category
Ghostship Zaca
20
Mar
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
while watching an alltimer`s classic called “Pandora and the flying Dutchman” with two Errol Flynn related actors, Ava Gardner and James Mason, I thougt I had seen a ghost.
The ship the cursed captain is confined to, starkly resembled the “ZACA”. But as I found out in Ava`s biography “Love is nothing”, it was the “ORION” rented from industrialist family Bertrand.
Though much bigger in size, she still has the lookalike of Errol`s yacht. If you take a peek into the film, the interior is done in similar fashion.
Here is the Trailer: www.youtube.com…
As the the story ghosts, one can find the film, too, somewhere out there in the vast Internet Ocean.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Sad Patrice’s Day
17
Mar
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
it was almost one year ago that Errol`s third wife Pat passed.
While he wrote about her:
“Nobody ever tried harder to make me happy than Patrice .”
She said about him:
“I wish I could be angry at Errol, but I just can`t.”
Here is an interesting article about the swashbuckler and the sparkplug:
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Proposin`like Flynn
08
Mar
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
we all know Errol had a very romantic side to him. This eventually led to three marriages and at least as many engagements.
When filming Robin Hood he metaphorically went to one knee in front of Lady Livvie, while officially still married to Mrs. D(yn)amita. Later he promised Jamaican paradise on earth to Romanian princess Irene Ghica.
But his engaging behaviour went way back to his theater days in England. Here is a daughter`s account -not an alien to acting herself- about her mother`s flynntanglement .
“Her stage name was Elizabeth Inglis. She had walk on movie parts in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Letter” & “The Thirty-Nine Steps.” She was born and mostly raised in boarding schools in England. She went to the Royal Academy of Arts in London at Picadilly Circas after high school where she was “discovered” by a Hollywood talent scout. In high school she had a steady date by the name of Errol Flynn, who went with her to the USA, by ship for a summer in Hollywood, and later became a big star. The Hollywood set was into party after party after party. Errol Flynn was a real womanizer, but he couldn’t get to first base with my mother because she could see right through him. He proposed, but she indicated that Errol had to get permission from her father. So he wrote this three page letter expounding all of her many virtues and how he would do right by her. Her father wrote back and said that he didn’t care what she did, now that she was out of the house! She still would not marry him. So later at one of these “Hollywood Parties,” Errol Flynn introduced my mother to my father. He was very shy. Her dates with him were different. She would get a couple of tickets to a “Talkie” or silent show and then call him up and see if he wanted to go. . . After a bit of this they got together.”
Obviously she was not just another Flynn prospect, but a hopeful, who found happiness elsewhere.
Now was Errol rather supposing than proposing? Who knows how many more brides-not-to-be there were?
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Shangheinz Shanties
01
Mar
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
a shanty here is a little ditty,
about Errol Flynn and the nitty gritty,
it`s tis`n´dat and “O my gosh”,
but mostly it is buckled swash.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Case of the curious blog II
10
Feb
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
I summon you to a quizzical sequel of yesteryear`s:
Who knows more of these announced, bounced & trounced film projects of Errol?
Dragonfly- our Hollywood hero vesting the uniform of an Air Force officer and gentleman.
The man who cried- an epic 4 hours lenghty follow up film to “Hello God” with director William Marshall about the perfect murder.
Escape from Elba- planned as his last film under the guidance of producer buddie Barry J. Mahon.
Ivanhoe- was Errol actually supposed to play the Black Knight or would he appear opposed to Robert Taylor in his second (cameo) outing as Robin Hood?
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
The roots of travel III
24
Jan
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
this is the latest and last installment on Aussie adventurer Frank Hurley and his influence on Young Errol.
He is the likely source for his travel bug and recurring themes in Flynn`s persuit of a life lived to the fullest . See:
Now Hurley as a person bears some striking biografical similarities to our Hollywood hero. A school drop out, a war correspondent and an explorer with artistic aspirations, that is what he was and then he was some more:
In an ever ongoing quest to expand bounderies and human horizons, he pioneered in the art of underwater photography.
He kept a diary all his life and carried the honoray title “Captain” everywhere he went. Even though heavily criticized for altering his pictures (he was a master in blending and coloring them) and romanticizing his undertakings to extreme, his works stand the test of time.
Errol would have been inclined to say, that Frank Hurley merely was “hamming it up”. There`s no ha(r)m in doing that, is there?
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
The Charge of the Mate Brigade
20
Jan
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
Errol`s inventor- mentor and first director Charles Chauvel launched an all out attack on Tinseltown three years after “Charge” and two before “You must remember this”.
He came up with a very watchable and highly respectable film. See for yourself, it may be deja vue all over again.
One can easily picture Errol in there, leading the Aussie avalanche, if he hadn`t made the big leagues by then.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
The roots of travel II
06
Dec
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
here are three reconstructed clips from the film “Pearls and Savages” of Frank Hurley about his New Guinea adventures from 1921-1923:
Errol was merely a teenager when these silent films hit movie theaters all over Down Under.
See: www.theerrolflynnblog.com…
They sparked the imagination of a whole continent. An Aussie penny for your thoughts on what might have served as an inspiration for Young Errol.
Do you detect any recurring themes of Errol`s later life? Are there any parallels to his voyage to NG at all?
Let`s all wear a Fedora hat as thinking cap. Each entry will receive the honorary Dr. Australia Jones- Award.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
A bus line back one century in time
24
Nov
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
who said, there is no time machine? Well, this weekend I went on a bus from Austria to the tiny state of Liechtenstein, which took me way back into the last century.
I had the great honor to get invited by a real baron to sit bedside and have a little chat. His name is Eduard Alexandrowitsch von Falz Fein, originally from Russia. He is 102 years old. “My legs are gone, but my mind is crisp. Why don`t you come and join me at my chalet? Excuse me, for not meeting you at the entrance, my staff will let you in.”
I had approached this noble gentleman, when I became aware that the best friend of Prince Igor Troubetzkoy, the fourth husband of Barbara Hutton was still alive. You remember the story, don´t you…?
Baron Eddie competed at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmish Patenkirchen (Germany) in the bobsleigh 4 men event against, amongst others, Errol`s pest pal Freddie McEvoy. “We became friendly, but not friends. One had to take Freddie with a grain of caution.” During winter season they would be together at St. Moritz. Summers were spent on the Côte d´Azur, another hunting place of Freddie. And in between seasons the Russian aristocracy resorted to the Ritz and Maxim`s in Paris.
When I asked him, why McEvoy himself wouldn`t marry Barbara , the baron had the following explanation. “What is better than a rich woman wife? Rich women without obligation, of course!”
Von Falz Fein remembered pompous parties aboard Freddie`s yacht in Cannes and Nice. At one of these he was introduced to Errol Flynn. “Well I was not so much into movies. Naturally I knew who he was, but I was not in awe. I had sat on the knee of the Czar as a little boy, I had withnessed Hitler at the `36 Summer Olympics in Berlin leaving the Stadium stone faced after Jesse Owens victory. I had hosted royalty like King Farouk- the pervert (O- tone Baron), but Flynn had a presence and elegance about him without arrogance. He was easy to talk to, when he wasn`t drinking of course. One time on a boat trip, either to Portofino or Spain, he was so smashed, he couldn`t tell starboard from portside. Apart from that he was swell, but I didn`t know him too well…”
“Now concerning the torrid affair between Barabara and Igor, which eventually led to their marriage. Ìt nearly didn`t happen. And it was all my fault. A newspaper had printed a photo I had taken from Babs and Igor. Soon St. Mo. was filling with reporters waiting for the big “Yes”. Barbara was furious and I was in the dog house. But instead of calling the whole thing off, I contrived the plan to have them married in Chur in Switzerland, an hour`s drive from my place in Vaduz. I acted as best man. When all was said and done, instead of a lavish feast, the four of us had hot chocolate at tea time. And that was about it. I truely must say that my tovarishch Troubetzkoy wasn`t in for the money.”
When the baron heard of Suicide Freddie`s death at sea, he like everybody else that kew McEvoy, his vicious vitality and competitive spirit, couldn`t believe it. “That incident may forever remain a secret.”
Another secret Eduard von Falz Fein was able to lay to rest, at least for him, was the remainder of the lost Amber Room, the 8th wonder of the world. After extensive searches and researches that he financed, he is convinced, that it was destroyed during a bomb raid in Königsberg. “Ashes to ashes and amber to amber.”
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
