Aug. 19, 1979: Beverly Aadland writes to Los Angeles Times, publicly revealing that she lived in Palmdale (in the Antelope Valley, north of LA), happily married and expecting her first child!
— Tim
Back Fence Gossip
18
Aug
August 17, 1936
Jimmy Starr
LA Evening Herald Express
Hollywood is a funny town when it comes to rumors. A new-married couple can be doing fine, enjoying marital bliss and all of that – but along comes some back fence gossip, and the whole village is suddenly buzzing with separation reports. Such has been the experience, at least, of Lili Damita and Errol Flynn during the past few weeks.
Definitely putting an end to such absurd chatter, Lili and Errol have announced their plans for a lovely Irish-type home on Lookout Mountain. Together they designed it and even went in for a bit of landscaping, Irish flowers, all imported, will be featured in the grounds, while the backyard boasts of magnificent stables and a circular feeding bin. When completed, the entire place, no doubt, will be one of Hollywood’s show spots.
…
“Over the decades, many stars resided in this area, including Chester Conklin in his $70,000, 10-room mountain retreat, Jill Esmond and Laurence Olivier in a “rambling ranch house,” Bert Wheeler, Joan Blondell and George Barnes, John Carroll, Lew Ayres, Burl Ives, Edward G. Robinson, Cary Grant, Errol Flynn, Ida Lupino, and Harry Houdini. Its soaring views still attract high-end customers.”
In the 60s and 70s, Laurel Canyon was second only to Haight-Ashbury as a Mecca for Hippies. This is “where Joni Mitchell was living when she wrote “Ladies Of The Canyons” and “Clouds”; and, Graham Nash wrote “Our House” when he was living here with her. Frank Zappa’s infamous home during the sixties was located on the NW corner of Lookout Mountain and Laurel Canyon, where now is a vacant lot. He eventually moved because every nut in town knew where he lived.” Other rock stars included Jim Morrison, John Mayall, Carole King, The Mamas and The Papas, Dusty Springfield, Brian Wilson, and many others. The 2001 film Laurel Canyon is an homage to this legacy, as is this year’s Echoes of the Canyon.
— Tim
Thomas McNulty and the Wild West …
16
Aug
If you know Errol Flynn, you know his great book The Life and Career, Errol Flynn … but he is also a prolific Western and Pulp fiction writer!
— David DeWitt
Adventure is Calling
16
Aug
…
August 13, 1936
Harrison Carrol
LA Evening Herald Express
Adventure is calling again to Errol Flynn.
Instead of sailing to Europe in a de luxe suite as other movie stars do on vacation, the young Irish actor is headed for the wilds of Borneo, where he and a friend will photograph background shots of The White Rajah, Flynn’s own story, in which he will star for Warner Brothers.
The unusual holiday will begin as soon as he finishes one more picture declared the actor yesterday, and will take him away from Hollywood for a period of three months.
As the expedition will penetrate into uncivilized country, the star’s wife, Lili Damita, will not accompany him.
His partner in adventure will be Dr. Hermann Erben, with whom Flynn once sailed up a savage infested river in New Guinea. At that time the thought of Hollywood never enter the actor’s mind. He was the owner of a pearling schooner that Dr. Erben chartered for the expedition.
…
…
August 17, 1936
Harrison Carrol
LA Evening Herald Express
Errol Flynn calls up to say he still has not given up hope of persuading Lili Damita to brave the wilds of Borneo with him.
— Tim
77 Years Ago Today
16
Aug
August 15, 1942
Errol becomes a U.S. Citizen.
From My Wicked, Wicked Ways:
“In August 1942, I received my naturalization papers. I was an American citizen.”
“The country had been good to me. It had given me wealth and an international reputation.”
— Tim
“The Louse That Roared”
15
Aug
August 14, 1935
Winchell’s Daily Tattle
LA Evening Herald Express
By Walter Winchell
The Lili Damita-Errol Flynn honeymoon is over. It’ll be denied, but Lili is planning a Paris divorce.
—–
Winchell, aka “The Louse That Roared” – “not noted for accuracy”, nor concern for accuracy – wrote this winchell-worded letter to Lili in ’41, after Tiger Lil’ complained to him about an article he published falsely claiming Errol had been charged with statutory rape:
“Dear Mrs. Flynn, Thank you for your letter. The item was garbled by Western Union. I wired it to New York CIty from out of town. Best Wishes, Walter Winchell”
— Tim
The Maestro at The Bard
13
Aug
Robin Hood and Beyond at the Bard Music Festival
This Friday: August 16, 2019
It was through Max Reinhardt that Korngold first started writing for Hollywood, where he and his family joined the growing exodus of émigrés from Europe. Korngold believed that “music is music, whether it is for the stage, rostrum, or cinema,” and his background in concert music, opera, operetta, and musical comedy proved invaluable in writing for film. His Academy Award-winning score for The Adventures of Robin Hood – an epic Technicolor swashbuckler starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland – integrated music from both his Sursum Corda and his original material for Rosen aus Florida into a taut, genre-defining masterpiece.
www-newyorker-com.cdn.ampproject.org…
— Tim
Tiger Lil’ Plenty Upset
13
Aug
August 14, 1938
Louella O. Parsons
Movie-Go-Round
Los Angeles Examiner
Lili Damita, plenty upset over the press mistaking Errol Flynn’s trip to Reno as a divorce move, was talking about throwing a cocktail party for the newspaper clan to prove she and Errol are still happy. But friends talked her out of it — because Errol isn’t as strong on denials. Many times in the past when these rumors have cropped up Lili has called us and made explanations, but it is hard to hide the fact any longer that things haven’t been going so well for them the last year.
And then there was this …
— Tim
Lord’s Office, Flynn Calling
12
Aug
August 11, 1938
Harrison Carroll
Evening Herald Express
Best rib of the week was pulled off by producer Robert Lord on Warner Casting director Steve trilling. The day Errol Flynn was supposed to report for Dawn Patrol, Lord called Trilling and said the Irish star was on the phone from New York saying he had flown there and was taking an added week’s vacation. Then they pretended to transfer Flynn’s call to Trilling.
It was the perfect gag because Hollywood believes that Flynn would do anything.
Trilling’s blood pressure soared 20 points before the ribbers finally revealed that Flynn was sitting in Lord’s office.
— Tim
Writer Louis Kraft’s New Book Coming Along …
11
Aug
If you love Errol Flynn, you should know that writer Louis Kraft is planning new books on Flynn … his plate is full but he has a new book coming down the pipeline first and this is a peak at its cover artwork …
Louis says:
More’s a comin’ … and this has been a comin’ for a long-long time. Sand Creek and the Tragic End of a Lifeway will be published in spring 2020 (University of Oklahoma Press). The book cover design has been completed, and the art is the only image I considered for the dust jacket. In 1999 I met Cheyenne chief Gordon Yellowman, when we both spoke at a major event at the Fort Larned NHS, Kansas. During the conference Gordon and Cheyenne chief Lawrence Hart blessed the Cheyenne-Dog Man-Lakota village, which is some 30 miles to the west of the fort (it is a major historic site that has been protected due to a lot of people’s efforts over the years). During the day of the talks, Gordon was selling prints of his painting, “Sand Creek.” I bought one, framed it, and it has been displayed at Tujunga House ever since. He was thrilled when I called him to ask if I could use his art on the cover. When he said, “yes,” I was more thrilled. … Sometime in September I’ll post a blog that details the Sand Creek book’s progress in detail.
,/br>
— David DeWitt
