The Errol Flynn Blog

I like to plug what our Authors on the Errol Flynn Blog are doing!

FERAL by Steve Hayes David Whitehead There’s something not quite right about Shelby’s Oasis, the run-down tourist trap in the middle of the Arizona desert. For a start, the Shelby sisters, Agnes and Diana, seem to have more skeletons than closets in which to hide them. And with rumours of a fortune in gold buried somewhere on the property, who can really be trusted – the sisters' scheming brother Scott? The seductive Kelly-Anne? Or Mitch, the manipulative loner who accidentally stumbles into their twisted lives? Only one thing’s for sure: nothing at Shelby’s Oasis is quite as it seems. (197 pages) Paperback book :  $14.62 Download :  $7.01

From Lulu.com…

— David DeWitt

Welcome Lee! We are happy to have you aboard and look forward to your comments and thoughts…

— David DeWitt

Robert Florczak has an uncanny eye for creating Then and Now photos of locations where Flynn films were made or the man himself appeared in life: check out his gallery…

Robert Florczak's Then and Now Gallery

Robert's latest video on Utube: Gothic

— David DeWitt

A multi-Flynn book signing event was held in LA recently at the DeMille Barn (Where in 1913 DeMille shot Squaw Man) says Steve Hayes, author of Googies – Coffee Shop to the Stars, which featured Mike Mazzone and Robert Matzen authors of Errol Flynn Slept Here…

Jack Marino and Robert Florczak also spoke after a slide show put on by the DeMille Barn folks. In the audience was Rory Flynn…

— David DeWitt

Our friend and fellow Flynnatic Stephen Youngkin has a wonderful interview on Imbd about his excellent bio of Peter Lorre, The Lost One… done for Cinema Retro by Herbert Shadrak.

Peter Lorre The Lost One is Found

Visit the official The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre website at www.peterlorrebook.com… 

— David DeWitt

With excitement brewing over the Cother book, I went a searching and came up with a rather intersting item that is/was for sale:

www.vialibri.net…

FLYNN, ERROL & YACHT ZACA
Log Book of Errol Flynns Luxury Yacht 'Zaca from October 12, 1945 – December 5, 1946. Including the Ships Ledger Listing Payments Made to the Crew and Itemized Payments Toward General Supplies and Services Through March 15, 1947
      1945 – 1947 – Standard ledger, 7 1/2″ x 12 1/8″, with 'ZACA in pencil on the front board for Errol Flynns yacht, 'Zaca with a carbon typescript of the ships crew list taped to the inside of the front board, hand signed by Errol Flynn in ink, indicating the name, place of birth, nationality, race, marital status, age, and station on board for fifteen men, with Flynns name at the top of the list as 'Master, married (at the time to Nora Eddington), age 37. Laid in is a counter check from the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, CA, made out by Errol Flynn in his hand and signed by him (twice – once on the front and, again endorsed on the verso), dated Oct. 27, 1945, in the amount of $100, with “S.F. re Zaca – Amazon” written by him in the memo field, and made payable to the California Bank in Los Angeles, with their endorsement stamps on the verso. Coincidentally, the St. Francis Hotel was built by the Crocker family, the descendent of which, Templeton Crocker, was the man who commissioned the building of Zaca. The log / ledger itself includes information spanning approximately a year and a half, from October 12, 1945 – March 15, 1947 indicating various details related to a relatively extensive refitting in San Francisco, crew activities, and repairs made to Zaca. The next to last log entry reads: “Wednesday, Dec. 5, 1945. Moored as before. 0.800 Bloody madhouse aboard. No further remarks.” Followed by: “? Dec. 5 / 1946. From Cocos Island to Gulf of Panama.” From there the entries are of related to the ships accounts – listing supplies, and payments made to the crew, ending on Mar. 15, 1947. The book is in very good condition with a few indications of use to the covers. The lovely Zaca was designed by naval architect Garland Rotch, inspired by the fastest fishing schooner ever built named the Bluenose. Rotch was hired in 1929 by San Francisco railroad heir Templeton Crocker, and took its maiden voyage in 1930, carrying Mr. Crocker and a few friends for a year long voyage around the world. Crocker went on to use Zaca as a scientific research vessel for trips to the Galapagos Island, the Solomon Islands, etc. Errol Flynn purchased Zaca, his 'dream ship, in 1945 after the war, during which time she had been requisitioned in by the U.S. Navy and renamed 'IX73 for patrolling duty off the California coast. Flynn had Zaca completely refurbished (as indicated in the log) and, as soon as she was sea worthy, took off with a group of Hollywood friends and a documentary film crew bound for Acapulco. Unfortunately, the crew jumped ship once they arrived, whereupon Flynn hired a new crew and rented Zaca to Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth to use in the filming of 'The Lady from Shanghai and the Zaca is well-featured in this film classic. In 1947, Flynn made his home aboard Zaca, in Port Antonio, Jamaica, sailing her to the Mediterranean in 1950, winding up at the Club Nautico in Palma de Mallorca, where he and his third wife, Patrice Wymore, lived on board. After Flynns death in 1959, Zaca remained berthed at Club Nautico in Jamaica, but eventually the estate negotiations broke down and Zaca was leased to English millionaire and playboy Freddie Tinsley who stripped her of anything valuable and abandoned her in the boatyard of Bernard Voisin in Villefranche. From there, the story goes that Zaca became a ghost ship, and was given an exorcism in 1979, which, apparently put an end to all ghostly phenomena. Zaca is currently owned by Roberto Memmo, who rescued her from serious deterioration and spent millions to rebuild and refit her. Her present home base is in Port de Fontvieille, Monte Carlo where she is dilligently maintained and made available for charter. With a DVD of the documentary by Luther Greene 'In the Wake [Attributes: Signed Copy]
      [Bookseller: James Pepper Rare Books, Inc., ABAA]

— Karl

Welcome Rick! The Errol Flynn Blog is pleased to have you aboard! We look forward to your thoughts and contributions, and are happy to have you among us…

— David DeWitt

Ahoy all-

I have been in touch with the author of Master of Errol Flynn's Zaca Captain Patrick C. Cother. The writer is none other than his daughter Bonnie Cother.

Though currently traveling in the UK promoting the book, she was kind enough to send me a brochure. She'll be back June 1 stateside, ready to accept orders. It is selling for $29.00 US (plus the cost of shipping?).

I include a scan of the brochure sent me should anyone be interested … and after reading it- I SURE AM!

Best- Karl

— Karl

The size of the stage has dictated the size of the cast. I couldn't do “Cheyenne Blood” with a large cast and wrote it as a two-character play. The other is character is Monahsetah (the young Cheyenne woman Custer captured at the battle of the Washita). The play begins with Wynkoop's resignation (actually it is also ends at the time of his resignation, but it isn't stated) when he realizes that he can't be responsible for more innocent people being murdered. I chose Monahsetah as I wanted someone who lived through the events of the 1860s and also as she was in close proximity to Wynkoop due to her father following Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle's lead. Wynkoop knew her by association of his relationship with her father, Little Rock (also a chief).
 
Tanya Thomas is playing Monahsetah. She is a good actress and I'm thrilled to be working with her. Tom Eubanks is the artistic director of the Elite Theatre Company. Our friendship and working relationship goes way back. In fact he has directed every performance of the Wynkoop one-man over the years, which dates back to 2002 and four states.
 
The play is an extension of the Wynkoop one man show, which covers his introduction to the West, first contact with Indians, original hostile view toward Indians, Sand Creek, his complete turnabout, and his efforts to get the Indians a fair deal. The play is dramatic and different. For comments on the one-man show which played in Cheyenne, Oklahoma, last December, contact the Washita Battlefield National Historic Site, which paid for the production. The Washita phone number is: 580.497.2742.
 
The play opens on April 24 and plays through May 24 (Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 PM, Sunday matinees at 2:00 PM, with one Thursday night performance on May 7 at 8:00 PM). Tickets are $17.00 ($15.00 for students and seniors; think a senior is 62 years old). Call (805) 483-5118 for reservations. If you get a message, leave your phone number and they'll call you back.
 
Here is a link to an Elite Theatre Company blurb on the play: www.elitetheatre.org…. Click on the tabs to see pertinent information about the theater company, such as address, etc. There is a restaurant next to the theater called La Dolce Vita.

Are you on Facebook? If so, I have some photos posted there from the one-man show in Oklahoma last December.

Louis

— David DeWitt