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.
“At Warner Bros. from 1929 to 1949, he wrote, not for the masses, but for a film’s producer who wanted a song for a comedy or a western, or a drama or a musical. Take, for example the 1945 film San Antonio, starring Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith. He and his lyricist partner, Ted Koehler, quickly created a lovely ballad called “Some Sunday Morning.”
“The film was an instant hit. So was “Some Sunday Morning.” It was Flynn and Smith’s romantic theme song. Every time the two appeared on screen, the melody played in the background, courtesy of the film’s composer, Max Steiner. Smith sang it in a large production number set in the local saloon.”
“As early as January 5, 1946, the song made Billboard’s “Honor Roll of Hits,” a list denoting America’s top tunes. It charted at Number 9. Sales of sheet music were also excellent: for 14 weeks, the song was in the top five. And early in 1946, the song was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song.”
Some Sunday Morning”
What initially brought Jerome great fame and success, however, was “Just a Baby’s Prayer at Twilight”, a song he wrote during World War I – once contemporaneously called “the greatest constructed song ever published.”
“Moe had high hopes for a particular melody he wrote, a kind of lullaby he often hummed when he put his young son to sleep. But he wanted this song to be a statement about the cost of the war, what it did to those left behind.”
“Just a Baby’s Prayer at Twilight (For My Daddy Over There)”
Legend has it Errol was “blown off course” by a hurricane in 1946, causing him to dock The Zaca in Jamaica, leading him to discover and soon move to Port Antonio. If this is true, which hurricane was it? Officially, per the charts below, there were seven Atlantic Ocean hurricanes in ’46. By my calculations, it appears No. 7 would have been most likely. Earlier that year, during all the other official hurricanes that could have forced Errol into Jamaica (except possibly “extratropical” No. 6), it appears to me that Zaca was exclusively in the Pacific – San Francisco, Los Angeles, Mexican islands & waters (filming Cruise of The Zaca), Acapulco (filming Lady from Shanghai), et al. Anyone out there know for sure? If any of this is not accurate, please let us all know!
Here’s a Jamaican-written history:
“1946: Actor Errol Flynn’s schooner Zaca docks in Kingston for repairs, Flynn discovers Port Antonio and then sails there, beginning his lifelong love affair with the area and reviving Porty as a secluded destination for the rich and famous.
Christopher Columbus arrived in Jamaica in 1494 and claimed it for Spain. He liked the island so much he returned four times. In 1655 the British took control, turning it into a colony. It was Errol Flynn, however, who really turned the international spotlight toward Port Antonio. The swashbuckling actor was a social swashbuckler in real life, and to this day the people of Porty love to tell tales about Flynn – many of them taller than the Blue Mountains.
No doubt, the hard-living, high-sporting Flynn enjoyed women, drinking, gambling, sailing, fishing and being a prankster. He was dead serious, however, about his love of Port Antonio and its prospects. Flynn’s very presence in Port Antonio in the 1950s helped attract celebrities and international attention.”
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.)
“NASA Sees Remnants of A Once-Swashbuckling Cyclone Errol in So. Indian Ocean”
“Unlike the famous Hollywood actor of days gone by the remnants of cyclone Errol are no longer making a lot of noise in the Southern Indian Ocean. In fact, NASA satellite data reveals that wind shear has taken its toll on the center of the storm’s circulation, despite some improved convection.”
“Errol Flynn was an actor in the 1930s and 40s known for his swashbuckling film roles in movies like Captain Blood and Robin Hood. Cyclone Errol was known for its rains and wind in northern Western Australia and then in Indonesia’s West Timor.”
