Thingy of the blog "Pondering Life" (I read it every day) has admitted to having a thingy for Errol Flynn.
Flynn made his first movie in 1933 and his first great one, Captain Blood, in 1935 (and then a slew of great ones after that, especially The Adventures of Robin Hood). If we can look ahead to Jean Harlow, we can look ahead to Errol Flynn.
We here at the Monkey aim to please.
What a way to greet the day! Coffee with Errol.
ReplyDeleteHumina humina humina : )
Thingy -- trust me -- Flynn was a pantywaist compared to yours truly.
ReplyDeleteSure, he helped the Nazis and slept with little boys. And he got to speak in his movies.
But at his core, he didn't have my charms, nor my skills.
Not that he was a bad fellow, like Chaney. . . .
Sure, he helped the Nazis
ReplyDeleteI've read that, but it's fairly speculative, based on an anti-Semitic slur in a letter to an Austrian who worked for German military intelligence. Other biographies suggest he was a leftist who supported the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and that he was also a drinking buddy of Fidel Castro. The British government released some documents a few years back revealing Flynn was working as spy for them (I guess the OSS). Who knows? Somebody, I'm sure, but they're not talking.
and slept with little boys
I don't think anybody has claimed he slept with little boys. A couple of biographers have contended he was bisexual. Others have contended he wasn't. It doesn't much matter to me one way or the other what he was doing with consenting adults. It's one of those statements that can never be proved one way or the other and I don't know why anybody should feel the need to try.
The more serious allegations concern his sexual relationships with underage girls -- in 1943 he was tried and acquitted on the charges of raping two underage girls (a celebrity trial that gave us the expression "in like Flynn") and late in his life he apparently courted a fifteen year old girl whom (her mother said in a later book) Flynn was intending to marry at the time he died of a heart attack at the age of 50.
In any event, Flynn the man may very well have been a pig who should have gone to jail; Flynn the actor made The Adventures of Robin Hood and The Sea Hawk. This blog is primarily concerned with Flynn the actor except to the extent that a working knowledge of Flynn the man might help illuminate the work of Flynn the actor. If, say, he had made propaganda films supporting the Nazis (ala Leni Riefenstahl) or suggested on film that sex with young girls was acceptable behavior, I probably wouldn't be talking about him at all. But he didn't, so I'm mostly sticking to what wound up on the screen.
It's one of those statements that can never be proved one way or the other and I don't know why anybody should feel the need to try.
ReplyDeleteWhy, this is the blogosphere, that's why! No opinion should go unopined.
I'm mostly sticking to what wound up on the screen.
We'll eventually get you out of that shell.
Wait'll it's revealed that Fatty Arbuckle wasn't the only Hollywood type enamoured o' the bottle (and not its contents) -- but that'll have to wait for the next Marie Dressler post.
I digress. . . .
this is the blogosphere
ReplyDeleteWell, you know me, at heart I'm a pen and paper writer in a blog and twitter age ...
Well, talk about a mood killer, Mr. Fairbanks.
ReplyDeleteI have heard the rumors and speculation about his seedy lifestyle. He was a drinker and a carouser.
There is a photo of him somewhere, that shows him near his last days. Let's just say, the drink got to him.
I agree with what goes on between consenting adults is their business.
Anyone can write a book, full of half truths and lies.
He was still a looker. : )
Well, talk about a mood killer, Mr. Fairbanks.
ReplyDeleteDoug is a mood killer, a well-known mood killer. We turn the sound down on him and say rude things ...
do you think he's an early clue to the new direction?
ReplyDeleteNah, he's just a troublemaker ...
ReplyDeleteBesides, everyone knows you can't get an early clue to the new direction until THURSDAY night.
ReplyDeleteBesides, everyone knows you can't get an early clue to the new direction until THURSDAY night
ReplyDeleteI'm quite prepared for that eventuality. . . .
Why repeated the rumors created by an irresponsible biographer to sell his book? We all know the more sensational a book the more it will sell. The rumors claiming Flynn was some kind of Nazi spy has long been discounted by many authorized sources, including FBI. During the heyday of Hollywood, many major stars, including Flynn, were on the constant watch of FBI. If Flynn had really been a spy, should FBI have done something?
ReplyDeleteWhy repeated the rumors created by an irresponsible biographer to sell his book?
ReplyDeleteMy friend who occasionally comments as Douglas Fairbanks has a penchant for repeating irresponsible rumors. I myself had never heard it before and spent a few minutes trying to track it down with what I read indicating there was nothing to it. I'm glad that particular rumor has been subsequently squashed.