Questions, not a quiz.
Anyone know the story behind this photo – location, approximate date, name, the species of Errol’s companion, where one can find that shirt, etc. ????
— Tim
Search results for ‘name’
Mystery Meal Quiz
14
Jul
What significant event in Errol’s life happened here?
“Resting on the southern bank of the River Seine across from the famous Cathedral Notre Dame de Paris towers the mythical La Tour d’Argent. A culinary and magical experience is presented to you as soon as you step off the gilded elevator escorted by a white gloved attendant. The restaurant sits high above the real world and as soon you enter the main dining room you know you are in for something special. Everything from the yellow glow of the candle lit room to its breath taking views and luxurious decor create a perfect ambiance to fully enjoy the French gastronomy you are about to undertake. The oldest restaurant in Paris, the Tour d’Argent claims to have opened its doors in 1582 where it was created as an elegant inn to cater to the high society and aristocrats of its day. It was built using stones from the region of Champagne France, which gave the edifice a silvery likeness thus giving the tower its name La Tour d’Argent (the Silver Tower).”
“Since its opening, the restaurant has had countless famous and infamous diners throughout its 400 year history. Louis XIV, Philippe d ‘Orléans and the Duke of Richelieu were amongst the early famous faces to have their favourite tables by the windows.”
“The Pixar animated film, Ratatouille, was loosely based on La Tour d’Argent.”
Errol Flynn was friends with its legendary owner, Claude Terrail, who was rumored to be romantically involved with both Marilyn Monroe and Ava Gardner.
— Tim
Mail Bag! Errol Flynn Fan Since Age 11!
12
Jul
Received this wonderful mail bag item from Claudia Raab this morning and am sharing it with everybody!
Thanks, Claudia!
Hello David,
As an Errol Flynn fan since my 11th birthday when I saw „The Adventures of Robin Hood“ for the first time, I’ve been following your blog for quite a while now. I still can’t get over how much information and interesting tidbits you and the other authors have gathered and presented there.
I’m nowhere close to being a “Flynn scientist” like you guys, but I’ve managed to visit some locations connected to him in one way or the other, mainly during my trips to the Southwest and the West coast (my favorite places to go on vacation).
I visited the El Rancho Hotel in Gallup last year which was mentioned in your blog two weeks ago, and took a picture of the sign at the door of the Errol Flynn room. Feel free to add it to your blog if you think it’s interesting enough! What I really liked is that the room next to Errol’s is named after his friend Ida Lupino.
I also visited Lone Pine with the beautiful Alabama Hills where parts of “The Charge of the Light Brigade” and “Kim” were filmed. The small movie museum there has several posters of Flynn movies as well as a coat that he wore in “Kim”. Thought you might like the photos (although you’ve probably seen it yourself).
Keep up the great work!
Best regards
Claudia Raab
(Munich, Germany)
— David DeWitt
Mail Bag! Errol, Audie and the Bird Man!
05
Jul
Received a great email from Audie in Portugal who has a question and an interesting story about how Errol reaches so many people even today!
I read MWWW in the late 70’s/early 80’s in paperback edition, borrowed from a friend and was hooked!
It wasn’t until much later while at a St. Simons Island, GA, USA library I found a book about his son and himself and was hooked all over again.
My future (and now) husband (living as expats in Portugal) attended a Flynn celebration in St Augustine, Florida when Rory was supposed to be there at a “Sea Hawk” film in 2015.
Even tho she was not there, my future husband and myself enjoyed the festivities. We will always remember that time as “young” oldsters.
I have followed (lurked) this blog since a bit before then and have collected many books about ELTF.
My all time wish about MWWW’s is to know about the first edition copy, printed in England in which “Tiger Lil’s” comments were deleted for the USA edition. If anyone knows, I would be very much interested in what she had to say about him.
Does anyone know?
I have several first edition books about our favorite playboy and also have several first edition books by David Niven, who has several amusing (or not, in David’s case) anecdotes about his Hollywood friend.
From a somewhat long time lurker (only about 4 years, now), I very much like the daily edition of this great blog.
Keep up the good work David!
Warm regards,
Audie
And an addendum:
About giving books to interested Flynn fans, here is another personal Flynn story.
There happens to be a bird loving gentleman who frequents the park next to the pier on St. Simons Island, GA. He arrives in the morning with his lawn chair and several bags of day old bread. Once settled in, he tosses up bread tidbits and watches the starlings (and now sea gulls) play their swoop and grab game in mid air. The amazing thing is that the birds respect him and never leave their “calling cards” anywhere near where he is sitting. They light upon his head and his arm, when extended, for the treat. He can individually identify them and one he calls Niki because of the recognizable white brand on its wing. The locals call him “Bird Man” and he has been the focus of a couple of news worthy articles.
The first time I met him, somehow within the first 10 minutes of conversation settled on Flynn. Not a usual topic for a first meeting. He told me that his middle name was Errol and it seems as though he was conceived one night after his parents watched an amorous Flynn movie.
While making plans to visit the Flynn blowout at St. Augustine Florida with my future husband on our first date… I had noticed a duplicate first edition copy of MWWW in my library and gave it to him. He was very grateful and hesitated to take it but after knowing of the duplicate, he accepted the book, smiling.
I didn’t have a chance before we left to let “Bird Man” know that the man I introduced to him (and also this blog) is now my husband and we moved to Portugal a year ago. Maybe he will reading this and I am raising my hand from far away, wishing him well. I will call him by the name he wished his parents had used, “Ian Errol”.
I love this blog and it is the only one I read faithfully every day. Thank you everyone for your contributions.
Audie in PT
— David DeWitt
Mail Bag! Dead Ringer for Flynn, The Sons of Flynn!
03
Jul
The mailbag brings us a wonderful email from William Russo:
I’ve been reading your stuff I guess for a couple years now. Truly enjoy it. Takes me into a world I truly love. Though it was the world of my parent’s generation, I feel a nostalgia for it I cannot explain. Though I grew up on Flynn’s movies, I did not come to become immersed into his life and personality until late hippie years. One of my best friends then was a guy named Steve Gilbert. He was a dead ringer for Flynn. Amazingly he had gone to Hollywood High, knew and even dated, I think, Rory! I introduced him to “My Wicked, Wicked Ways”. We each had a copy and would quote from it regularly. We both thought of it as kind of a Bible. I started a club; called it “The Sons of Flynn”. I always kept a couple copies of the book and whenever I met someone who reminded me of Flynn in some significant way, I’d give them a copy. There were only about four additional that I deemed worthy. Most recently, a couple years ago, I met a twenty something attractive blonde from South Africa by way of Canada, at a Cannabis farm in Humboldt county. Not only was she into Flynn, but astonishingly, knew that Vivica Linford played the Queen of Spain, in Don Juan ! She wanted a copy of the book (I didn’t have one at the time), and demanded to become a member of the club! Unfortunately, we lost touch before she could be initiated. This was never a club in anything more than a name, and in my own imagination. One “member” lives in Honolulu, a good look-a- like, the most like Flynn athletically, an ex Army Ranger. Another lives in western Massachusetts. The other is the guy who owned the cannabis farm; eerily reminiscent of the Robin Hood persona. As for Steve, sadly he died about the same age as Erroll, from drug and alcohol abuse. I think Rory’s book, the Baron of Mulhollandis a treasure. It’s like being there, feeling it all. I am going to be traveling in Europe soon (doing some sword fighting!) and living my own version of The Sun Also Rises. Though most of my reading material will on kindle on my tablet, I will be taking only one book, my original paperback copy of My Wicked, Wicked Ways.
Cisco Bill
Thanks so much for the note! and what a read MWWW’s is … I envy anybody who is reading it for the first time, and understand why we keep going back it! Here is the first paperback I read of it:
And two others I read later on:
— David DeWitt
Sealed With(Out) a Kiss
29
Jun
Seal of the Archdiocese of Burgos, Spain
Archbishop of Burgos, Manuel de Castro Alonso
Generallisimo Francisco Franco
Forty Years of Censorship
elpais-com.cdn.ampproject.org…
A new book recounts the alterations made to movies and their posters by censors during the Franco regime.
The censors’ scissors were never idle during the Franco dictatorship. The movie industry, with all its provocative and insinuating images, was a great source of headaches for the watchdogs of public morality – especially since going to the movies was the main form of entertainment for society in the wake of the Spanish Civil War.
And so censors were very careful to ensure that any film that was screened in Spain contained no negative influences on issues such as religion, politics, the army, prostitution, divorce or adultery.
Sex became a real obsession for the regime, and it was persecuted with all the weapons at the censors’ reach. Poster draftsmen and movie theater impresarios had to really stretch their imaginations to make their billboards reflect the American, English or French realities. This was not always achieved.
A new book, La Censura Franquista en el Cartel de Cine (“Franco’s censorship in movie posters”), by Bienvenido Llopis, analyzes 40 years’ worth of censorship in Spain through films. The conclusion is that cleavages were reduced, legs were covered up, and scenes with beds in them were avoided altogether.
Movies were banned and stills were cut out,” Llopis notes. “But it was just as important to control movie advertising. Major Hollywood stars who embraced the Republican cause – James Cagney, Joan Crawford or Robert Montgomery – had their names pulled from Spanish movie posters, while titles that might suggest a double meaning were changed.”
The idea for the book came to Llopis one Sunday morning at the Madrid flea market, the Rastro. There he was, sitting at his stand, selling movie memorabilia, when a man showed up saying he had a program for the movie Camino de Santa Fe, which had obtained the censors’ approval everywhere in Spain save for the city of Burgos. The archbishop there insisted that Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland’s kiss be hidden with a seal.
The man turned out to be the owner of a movie theater in Burgos, and he promised to return with the movie program. “I waited for him for many Sundays, until one day he showed up again, and when I saw [the program], I thought I have to make a book out of this.”
— Tim
Hollywood Hero in La Heroica
21
Jun
“ERROL FLYNN EN CARTEGENA”
What would you do if the most popular actor in the world arrives at the door of your house at that time, greets you with your name and asks for permission to enter?
The first thing would be to be amazed and that is what happened to Don Antonio Fuentes, founder of the first record company in Colombia, the one with the yellow seal, the one with the Clock Tower of Cartagena.
Don Toño, as he was familiarly called by his employees and neighbors in La Heroica, was born in Cartagena on May 18, 1907, had toured several countries and even fell in love with the Hawaiian guitar. Upon returning to [Columbia] he set up the Emisora Fuentes and determined to rescue the autochthonous rhythms of the Caribbean. In 1934 he made the first productions of figures such as Guillermo Buitrago, Esther Forero, Los Trovadores de Barú, Lucho Bermúdez, Los Corraleros de Majagual, Pedro Laza, Rodolfo Aicardi, Los Hispanos, Gustavo Quintero and dozens of other groups.
La Heroica, Cartagena:
I always asked the artists if they had “some verses” out there and with that, I was able to do a whole song and a success. Sometimes the musicians would tune or give one more note and Don Toño would simply say, “leave that so that’s what you’re going to like”, as indeed it happened.
Thanks to the contacts of Don Toño Fuentes, the recordings were reproduced in countries such as Mexico, Cuba, Argentina, Venezuela and the United States. He had a recognition in many countries and was the great ambassador of Colombian music.
For his part, Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn, known as Errol Flynn, was the most popular actor in the decades of the 30s, 40s and 50s and was born in Hobart, Australia on June 20, 1909. He was nationalized as an American and became a star for his characters of heroes, where he combined great kisses with his adventurous movements.
One of those roles was the first version of Robin Hood, where despite appearing in green tights, a hat with feather and leather gloves, conquered the hearts of thousands of young people who melted to see the way they twisted the lips of the protagonists of the stories.
He is remembered for his roles in films such as “The Light Brigade’s Charge”, “Robin of the Woods”, “The Private Life of Elizabeth and Essex”, “Camino de Santa Fe”, “They Died with Their Boots on”, “The Island of the Corsairs”, “Swords Crossed”, of a roll of more than 50 films.
As a fan of yachting he sailed to Cartagena, according to Don Gabriel Pulido, promoter of Discos Fuentes in Bogotá. When he arrived at the walled city, he did not have a hard time finding the house of Don Toño Fuentes, where he was well received, tasted good rums, ate up the head of a cat, dined on the beaches and danced the best of coastal music.
It was an unforgettable visit [after which] he continued with films, romance, and adventure.
On October 9, 1959 he traveled to Canada in order to sell his yacht and when he was going to ride the plane back he felt bad, a doctor gave him a few days off and on October 15 he died a heart attack. The idol of the cinema left, after scarcely 50 years, [but not until after] enjoying the rum and rumba of Cartagena.
____________
Here’s a Sound on Sound account of Don Tono and Disco Fuentes:
www-soundonsound-com.cdn.ampproject.org…
— Tim
Robert Osborne Estate Auction
13
Jun
A Robin Hood book signed by the cast of The Adventures of Robin Hood
Warner Bros., 1938. Pyle, Howard. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1935. 296 pp, 4to. Howard Pyle Brandywine Edition, signed by approximately 108 of the film’s cast and crew members, most in ink, some in pencil, with several small cards throughout identifying various departments’ autographs, with a September 23, 1982, article from the Chico Enterprise newspaper about the filming in Chico. An extraordinary collection of autographs of almost every major cast and crew member of Michael Curtiz’s The Adventures of Robin Hood, most inscribed “To Bob” or “To Bobbie.” From September-November 1937, the film’s company was on location in Chico, California, where they were housed at Richardson Springs, a local resort. The autographs in this book were collected by the son of the resort’s owner. Several cast members signed the book below Howard Pyle’s illustrations of their characters. In Pyle’s frontispiece of Robin Hood, Errol Flynn added an arrow pointing to Robin and quips: “God! Is this me? / Errol Flynn.” Under an illustration of Friar Tuck, Eugene Pallette writes: “For / Bob / Eugene Palette / Friar Tuck / Warner Brothers Productions / Oct 1937 / Richardson Springs Butte Co California”; Pallette signed a second time below another illustration of Tuck. Below Pyle’s depiction of Sir Guy of Gisbourne’s death, Basil Rathbone writes: “He may be dead / but thank God I am / very much alive. I have / greatly enjoyed my stay with your / father. / Sincerely / Basil Rathbone.” The book is also signed by Olivia de Havilland (Maid Marian), Melville Cooper (The Sheriff of Nottingham), co-director William Keighley, Una O’Connor, Alan Hale (who added “Little John”), Patric Knowles, Harry Cording (“Dickon Malbete”), Saul M. Gorss (“Double for Flynn”), Herbert Mundin (added “Much De Malleison / Good Luck”), Fred Cavens (“Fencing Master”), and dozens of others.
8 x 12 x 2 in.
8 x 12 x 2 in.
There are some fascinating items at this auction!
— Maria
Errol Flynn: The Quest for an Oscar by James Turiello is now in Hardcover!
07
Jun
Over at Bear Media you can see the softcover reviews for James Turiello’s wonderful book Errol Flynn: The Quest for an Oscar. Jim tells me the book is now available in Hardcover! Run over to Amazon to get the hardcover version there, too! From the Amazon/Bear Media sites Jim writes:
“Take an incredible journey with Errol Flynn on his quest for an Oscar. Errol went from complete obscurity to become one of the most sought-after men in Hollywood. Men wanted to be him, and women wanted to be with him, yet Errol had little interested in acting. He was a cadet, an overseer at a copra plantation, he ran a charter schooner, and he mined gold, to name only a few of his ventures all before the age of twenty-one. He was a free spirit who played by his own rules, much to the chagrin of the Hollywood producers.
Throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, moviegoers loved Errol as Robin Hood, The Seahawk, and as General Custer. To quote Jack Warner of the famous Warner Bros. Pictures, “He was all the heroes in one magnificent, sexy, animal package . . . he showered an audience with sparks, when he laughed, when he fought, or when he loved. I just wish we had someone around today half as good as Flynn. Includes 200 photographs of Errol Flynn in his many movie roles, candid never-before-published images, rare posters from around the world, and some unique Errol Flynn items. 266 pages. Complete filmography with synopsis and cast of each movie.” -James Turiello.
Jim, great work and thanks for letting us all know about the new edition!
— David DeWitt
You asked for it…
13
May
First of all, Happy Mother’s Day… and this person of interest was one!
She was a romantic “distraction” in a Flynn film.
Went by her REAL name throughout her professional career.
Born in the southern USA.
Minor double threat… in screen, stage, and more so (in her time) on tv.
Married 3 times; 2 were publicly known and they BOTH outlived her.
Shared, with Flynn, a LOVE for a location outside the US (mainland).
— Karl
