— David DeWitt
Houston, You Had a Party
“Bedlam in Diamonds – Seventy Years Ago'””
The Shamrock Hotel Grand Opening
Starring Errol Flynn, Ginger Rogers, Dorothy Lamour, Lana Turner, ~ a cast of approximately 170 more celebrities, and Fifty Thousand extras
On March 17, 1949, the iconic Shamrock Hotel opened with a huge shindig. Hollywood celebrities including Ginger Rogers and Errol Flynn came to town for the grand opening, and Houstonians paid $42 a head to go to the dinner. About 3,000 people showed up in total, a thousand more than organizers had expected. Rich and famous attendees, even Houston’s mayor, ended up dining on hallway floors. Although the Houston Chronicle described the night as “bedlam in diamonds,” it is still remembered as one of the biggest social events in Houston history.
www-chron-com.cdn.ampproject.org…
— Tim
Over the Bridge, Not Far Away – A Guest House for Errol — At Mike Curtiz’s Cotswold Cottage
“Besides the one-bedroom, two-bathroom main house, there are two guesthouses.
One, built as an office, has a cathedral ceiling, a full bathroom and French doors that lead to the gardens. The other guest suite, reached by a bridge and set above the garage, was sometimes used by “The Adventures of Robin Hood” star Errol Flynn.”
www-latimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org…
“Over a bridge and through a salvaged church door sits the onetime private escape of the swashbuckling actor Errol Flynn”
www-dailynews-com.cdn.ampproject.org…
— Tim
August 27, 1936
August 27, 1936
Harrison Carroll
Evening Herald Express
Errol Flynn’s story will now be appearing any month now in the Cosmopolitan. He describes it as an incident in his life.
————————- Cosmopolitan Magazine, November 1936, featuring Errol’s Beam Ends —————————
— Tim
Mail Bag! A few Words from TJR McDowell!
Got this nice message from TJR McDowell:
Sean Flynn with Errol …
David: I spent some time today looking over your Flynn Blog. It really is extraordinary, the best blog on the internet. I’ve been fortunate enough to be allowed to post a few things about Flynn, and it’s been very gratifying. Flynn has popped up in my life at the oddest times.
I went to a school named Lawrenceville in NJ, and my math teacher, Mr. Parks, an old fossil but nice guy, occasionally would talk about Sean Flynn who he’d also taught at Lawrenceville. Errol visited once on parents day, and Mr. Parks met him and said he was friendly and proud of Sean. We were asked to pray for Sean at chapel (this was in 1972, my 8th grade year), as I think it was his birthday, and he was still missing in Cambodia.
I know a guy from Sean’s class who said Sean was a nice low key guy, who struggled (like everyone there) in class, but excelled on the swim team..I knew another fellow in London name Colin Crewe who told me he spent a day with Errol in the late 1950’s when he worked for Lloyds of London and was insuring Errol for a film and assigned to tag along with him for a day, and that Flynn wore this beautiful blue wool suit and Colin went out the next day and bought one.
Then there was Robin Moore whom I knew slightly, wrote French Connection, and he told me about hanging out with Flynn in Jamaica, teasing the native dogs and hitting on the native women, and how Flynn once fought with a young Chris Blackwell, the record magnate, whose family lived in Jamaica. Then there was an in depth article I wrote for Premiere Magazine all about the Garden of Allah, and there were sundry Flynn stories here; I interviewed everyone from Hal Roach to Cesar Romero to Billy Wilder to Glen Ford who had me over and we talked for hours and he thought Flynn was a man’s man but basically a sad guy.
Lastly, I once interviewed Charles Higham, who wrote the untold story, the weirdest most dysfunctional misanthropic con man I’ve ever spoken with, a sick guy who was into exploiting everyone to make a living; his book was sheer invention calculated to get on best seller lists everywhere, which it did.
All best, Rider
Thanks, TJR …
— David DeWitt
“She Doesn’t Want to Learn”
Last Week of August, 1936
Peter Pry’s Notebook
Hollywood Citizens News
Errol Flynn, nearing completion of his starring role in The Green Light is spending his odd moments looking at palatial automobile trailers. He goes on vacation after the picture, and he wants a trailer so he and his wife, Lili Damita, can cook their meals. He plans to penetrate into the mountains, beyond the range of hotels and restaurants, so if they are to eat at all, the meals will have to be cooked. Lili has never cooked anything in her life and she doesn’t want to learn. Errol thinks it will be fun to have her cook. Apparently he isn’t considering his own stomach or peace of mind!
— Tim