The Errol Flynn Blog

— Robert

NEW DATE and TIME – SUNDAY, February 23, 2014 at 7PM PST & 10PM EST Jack Marino Warriorfilmmaker Show on www.latalkradio.com… on Channel 2

TONIGHT – My guest is Steve Hayes, writer, actor, producer. Steve first came to Hollywood in 1949, stayed a brief time, then went back to Canada and returned in 1950 to stay.

Errol Flynn had promised to sponsor me, he says, but didn’t (typically) so it took me a little while to find one. I then began acting and got my first part at 20th century Fox (where I later was put under contract) in the movie: Bells on Their Toes.

Steve will talk about about Ava Gardner, whom he met at Errol Flynn’s house with her ex-husband, Mickey Rooney. He is pretty sure that was the first time he met her–though he did know Lana Turner well, and he says she also introduced me to Ava–but he says, that was when Ava said we’d already met at Flynn’s.

He will talk about various other movie stars who were in some way attached to her or that he met through her like Lana Turner, Sinatra, and Robert Taylor.

Steve has often told me he has never quite gotten fully over Ava, which is understandable. Sinatra never did either. But she was hard to love. She swore like few women he’d ever known–especially in an era when normal girls rarely swore.

Steve not only knew Lana Turner but worked on a film called Diana or that co-starred a young Roger Moore.

I met Rita Hayworth when I painted her house with my pal and house-painter, Dick Morris, he says. Later, he saw her again and they briefly talked About Hollywood, including about her being being a neighbor of Glenn Ford.

At Errol Flynn’s house he became friends with Ann Sheridan, the Ooomph Girl, who was one of Flynn’s buddies and romantic interests years prior. Steve actually punched out actor Bruce Cabot at a party at Flynn’s.

Ida Lupino was a close pal of Errol’s–I think they cared for one another, he says–and years later, she became a director (Thriller or Chiller) of a weekly TV show. Bob Middleton, Steve’s mentor, starred in one of these shows and Steve visited several days of shooting and talked at great lengths with Ida.

Steve’s birth name was Ivan Hayes, which He says “I soon changed to Steve Hayes because Ivan is Russian for John and the McCarthy/pinko, commie era was in full bloom and Fox insisted I change my name to something more American. I stole the name of Steve from my buddy, Mr. America Steve Reeves, who starred in European films like Hercules.”

Steve has kept a lot of notes for a book entitled:
“Once in Love With Ava.”

YOU CAN GO TO STEVE’S WEBSITE
www.stevehayes.org…

Show call in number: 1-818-602-4929

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Steve “Ivan’ Hayes today and he is holding his 1949 acting head shot when he came to Hollywood.

— David DeWitt

Saw tonight on TCM a terrific segment on the sound recording of Howard Hill’s extraordinary splitting of the arrow in Errol’s Adventures of Robin Hood, followed by a notice that the film will be televised at 8pm this Sunday as part of TCM’s Academy Award Month special programming.

Here are some fascinating facts regarding Errol’s Technicolor masterpiece, the movie said to have saved Erich Corngold’s life:

Clip above inspired & borrowed from gif recently posted on another tab by Sir David of Blogsley.

— Tim

For all of us who used to follow our author Robert Matzen’s E&O blog, here is his new blog and it’s likely he’s going to post some of his old Errol articles, too.

robertmatzen.wordpress.com…

— Inga

Errol Flynn, Sid Ceasar & Mel Brooks!!! – plus two Cuban redheads!! How can anyone ever top that!

articles.baltimoresun.com…

— Tim

Errol Flynn & Shirley Temple were never stars in the same movie, but they were certainly mega-stars in the same town – at the same time. While Captain Blood was sailing on the Sirocco, ruling the world as the greatest swashbuckler of all time, Shirley was singing On the Good Ship Lollipop and dancing with Bojangles, winning the hearts of America as the greatest child star in history. Both helped get their many millions of fans through the Depression, and beyond.

Fox & Warners never put them together, but, in addition to them being big box office draws, there were a few intersections. I believe I’ve read that Shirley, when older, did attend at least one party up at Mulholland, for example. During that general timeframe her and Errol made at least one headline together – she with rice being thrown at her, Errol with water.

And, of course – like most other red-blooded American girls – Shirley likely had a crush on Errol, probably dreaming at times of being his first mate:

— Tim

Following the “Santa Fe Trail”, So to Speak, Senor Flynn Flew South to See the Sights, Fight the Nazis, and Meet Some Senoritas!!!

Here’s Tom McNulty’s excellent glimpse at that amazing Latin American adventure,

How about we all work together to identify countries, events, and
news coverage of Errol’s unprecedented “flying tour” South of the Border?!

Here are names of the Latin American countries that may have been included on Errol’s itinerary.

— Tim

It was Fifty Years Ago Today, The Beatles Hit the USA*

Before Beatlemania, There was Errolmania
Before Sargeant Pepper, There was Captain Blood.
Before Lennon, There was Flynn
Before The Fab Four Sported Long Hair, The Fabulous Flynn Sported Long Hair
Before “She was Just Seventeen”, There was “She was Just Seventeen” (If You Know What I Mean)

Long Before The Beatles, Flynn Took His Own Magical Mystery Tour.
And – Just as The Beatles Will Never Be Topped at What They Did – So It is with Errol Flynn. He was a One Man (No Lonely Hearts Club) Band!

It’s Even Said The Mop Tops Stayed at One of Errol’s Old Hideaways in LA – “The Mansion” in Laurel Canyon

en.wikipedia.org…

* Landing February 7, 1964: Idlewylde Airport, New York City, soon to be “JFK”

— Tim

Here’s some Superbowl Sunday shots of and from the location of Errol’s old secret hideaway in Boca Raton. The original and then-exceptionally-remote beach-side home in which he stayed is gone, but these photos will help reveal what a premier location it was, and still is. .. Extremely few people know that Errol stayed here, even, I can confirm, including people who live on and nearby the property.

“Errol Flynn in Boca Raton 1936”, from a Private Palm Beach County Collection:

Where the home was located, on old Ocean Road (aka Beach Road), now known as A1A:

His view of the Atlantic, toward the Bahamas:

From the direction of the Neilson property toward The Cloisters, “the greatest resort in the world”, one of Errol’s most majestic South Florida haunts in the late 30s:

A view Northwest, towards what is now Mizner Park:

— Tim

Featuring Robert Florczak’s regular Column  Movie Locations Then and Now, and Hobart to Hollywood, about our Mr. Flynn!

— David DeWitt