October 28, 1942: The Errol Flynn Scandal

October 28, 1942: Actor Errol Flynn is accused of statutory rape by 2 17-year-old girls, Betty Hansen and Peggy Satterlee.

Born in 1909 on theAustralian island of Tasmania, Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn was the original "Tasmanian Devil." He was known as a "swashbuckler," starring in films like Captain Blood, The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Prince and the Pauper, and in the title role of the 1938 film The Adventures of Robin Hood, which has defined the legendary medieval Nottingham archer ever since.

But there's an old saying: Some men want to make love to anything that moves, but Flynn saw no reason to limit himself. Married to French actress Lili Damita, he also had affairs with German actress Marlene Dietrich (not surprising, she would sleep with just about anyone, too), and Mexican actresses (and arch-rivals) Lupe Vélez and Dolores del Rio. His womanizing was so pervasive that the expression "in like Flynn" became common.

Given that he was a heavy drinker, and a user of narcotics, it didn't surprise those who knew him, even if it did those who didn't know him, that he would one day be caught drugging and taking advantage of women. Finally, after being accused by Misses Hansen and Satterlee, he was indicted.

Shortly thereafter, Damita divorced him. She was the mother of his only known child, Sean Flynn. He became a journalist, who disappeared in Cambodia in 1970, investigating the recent U.S. incursion there. His son, also named Sean Flynn, went into the previous family business, becoming an actor.

Given the time period, it’s not surprising that Flynn had more defenders than the girls, including a group calling itself ABCDEF: The American Boys' Club for the Defense of Errol Flynn. William F. Buckley Jr., then 17 years old, was a member. (Given Buckley's 1968 thoughts on Gore Vidal, I wonder what he would have thought if he knew that Flynn liked boys, too.)

 

Flynn's lawyer, unsurprisingly, attacked the girls' character, and Flynn was acquitted on February 6, 1943. But his image never really recovered. When he was later accused of Nazi sympathies, there was little shock, despite the evidence being rather thin. He died in 1959, his boozing and drug use having wrecked his health. At the time, he was dating actress Beverly Aadland. She was 17 years old, and had met him on the set of what turned out to be his last film Cuban Rebel Girls.

Soon thereafter, Flynn's autobiography was published, titled My Wicked, Wicked Ways. He was talked out of titling it In Like Me.

In 1985, Canadian actor Duncan Regehr starred in the TV-movie My Wicked, Wicked Ways. Australian actor Guy Pearce played him in the 1993 film Flynn, English actor Jude Law in the 2004 Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator, and American actor Kevin Kline in the 2013 film The Last Days of Robin Hood, with Dakota Fanning playing Beverly Aadland.

Based on Flynn were the character played by Peter O'Toole (whose own lifestyle meant that he didn't have to do much research) in the 1982 film My Favorite Year (the year in question being 1954), and the one played by Timothy Dalton in the 1991 film The Rocketeer.

In 1986, the comedy Pirates was made as a tribute to Flynn and films like his. It was directed by Roman Polanski, who would also be accused of drugging and raping a teenage girl. Polanski had started it in America, but fled the country to avoid a 50-year prison sentence, and finished it in Europe. Show me who your heroes are, and I'll show you who you are.

*

October 28, 1942 was a Wednesday. Baseball season was over. Football was in midweek. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And the NHL season wouldn't start for another 3 days. So there were no scores on this historic day.

May 14, 1938: "The Adventures of Robin Hood" Premieres

Olivia de Havilland as Marian, and Errol Flynn as Robin

May 14, 1938: The Adventures of Robin Hood premieres, directed by Michael Curtiz. It becomes known as the definitive version of the story of the Medieval English archer.

The storyline tells the story as it usually goes: It's the early 1190s, and King Richard I, a.k.a. Richard the Lionheart (Ian Hunter -- not the later rock star of the same name), is off fighting the Third Crusade. His brother, Prince John (Claude Rains) -- later to become King in his own right -- and the Norman lords, such as Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone, playing a villain before becoming the heroic Sherlock Holmes the next year), oppress the Saxon commoners, using the law, including the Sheriff of Nottingham (Melville Cooper), to their advantage.

So the Saxon knight Sir Robin of Lockesley, Earl of Huntingdon (Errol Flynn) fights back as the outlaw leader of a rebel guerrilla band: "Robin Hood and His Merry Men." Famously, Robin and his men take from the rich and give to the poor. Robin also fights Sir Guy for the hand of Maid Marian (Olivia de Havilland).

The usual characters are here: The ironically-named Little John (Alan Hale Sr., father of the actor who played the Skipper on Gilligan's Island), the far-from-godly Friar Tuck (Eugene Pallette), the hotheaded but sword-skilled Will Scarlet (Patric Knowles). The exception is the lute-playing balladeer Alan-a-Dale: That character does not appear in this version.

And "singing cowboy" Roy Rogers lent his horse Trigger to play Maid Marian's horse.

Unlike some later versions, such as Disney's 1973 anthropomorphic cartoon, and Kevin Costner's 1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, there's no attempt at making the Robin Hood story modern or multicultural -- unless you want to point out that Flynn was from the Australian island of Tasmania.

So, was Robin Hood real? Most likely, he was a composite of several figures, though there does appear to have been a nobleman-turned-thief named Robert Hood (rhymes with "load") in the 1320s, over 100 years later, under King John's great-grandson, King Edward II.

Robin Hood wasn't the earliest character who could be called a superhero, or even an action hero, but he preceded most of them. As a swordsman, he inspired the Scarlet Pimpernel, the Three Musketeers and Zorro. As an archer, he inspired DC Comics' Green Arrow and Marvel Comics' Hawkeye.

Robin Hood was first portrayed on film in 1908, though the actor was not credited. Robert Frazer was the first one credited, in the 1912 film Robin Hood. Not surprisingly, since he also played Zorro, who was clearly based on Robin Hood, Douglas Fairbanks Sr. played Robin Hood in 1922. In 1964, Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack modernized the story as Robin and the 7 Hoods.

In 1976, Robin and Marian starred Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn as older versions of the characters. The year 1991 saw Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, with Connery playing a returning King Richard; and Patrick Bergin in a more traditional Robin Hood. Mel Brooks parodied both the Flynn and the Costner version in 1993, with Robin Hood: Men in Tights, with Cary Elwes as Robin. Ridley Scott made Robin Hood with Russell Crowe in 2010, and Otto Bathurst made Robin Hood: Origins with Taron Egerton in 2018 -- and both bombed.

*

May 14, 1938 was a Saturday. This was also the day that England's national soccer team defeated Nazi Germany's in Berlin, despite Stan Cullis refusing to give the Nazi salute. I have a separate entry for that event.

That day, there were only 4 games in what would later be called Major League Baseball -- and only 2 of them reached a conclusion.

* The New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Athletics were tied 1-1 after 5 innings at Yankee Stadium, when the game was called due to rain. At the time, the Yankees had only 1 hit, and it wasn't by 1st baseman Lou Gehrig, center fielder Joe DiMaggio, or catcher Bill Dickey. It was by their 2nd baseman, and it wasn't rookie sensation Joe Gordon, either: It was by Bill Knickerbocker.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Boston Bees (as the Braves were known from 1936 to 1940), 10-2 at Ebbets Field.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Senators, 10-9 at Fenway Park in Boston. Future Hall-of-Famer Jimmie Foxx won it with a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning.

* The Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals were tied 7-7 after 10 innings at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, when the game was called due to darkness.

So what happened to the other half of the major leagues? Rain. Lots of rain.

* The New York Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies were rained out at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. It was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 29. The Giants swept, 9-1 and 6-2. Over the 2 games, Mel Ott went 4-for-9 with a home run, a walk, and 3 RBIs. Despite an 18-3 start, the Giants would fail to make it 3 straight National League Pennants, finishing 5 games behind the winners.

* The Detroit Tigers and the St. Louis Browns were rained out at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. (Which was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961.) It was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 19. The Tigers swept, 8-7 and 7-4. Over the 2 games, Hank Greenberg went 4-for-7 with 3 home runs, including a walkoff in the opener, and 5 RBIs. He would hit 58 home runs that year, tying Foxx in 1932 for the most in a season, to that point, by anyone other than Babe Ruth.

* The Chicago Cubs and the Pittsburgh Pirates were rained out at Wrigley Field in Chicago, which was in its 1st season of the ivy-covered outfield wall and the big hand-operated scoreboard atop the center field bleachers. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 21. The Cubs swept, 6-4 and 6-1. These games would help make the difference, as the Cubs beat the Pirates for the Pennant by 2 games, and the Giants by 5. But they would be swept by the Yankees in the World Series.

* And the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Indians were rained out at League Park in Cleveland. The game was rescheduled for August 22. The White Sox won, 4-2. John Whitehead outpitched Bob Feller. 

May 1, 1947: The Portella della Ginestra Massacre

May 1, 1947: Separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano and his men shoot 38 people, killing 11, during May Day celebrations in Sicily. It is known as the Portella della Ginestra Massacre.

Giuliano was born in 1922 in Montelepre, a rural village in Sicily. In 1943, following the Allied invasion of Sicily, he became an outlaw, after shooting and killing a police officer who tried to arrest him for black market food smuggling, at a time when 70 per cent of Sicily's food supply was provided by the black market.

He maintained a band of subordinates for most of his career. He was a flamboyant, high-profile criminal, attacking the police at least as often as they sought him. In addition, he was a local power-broker in Sicilian politics between 1945 and 1948, including his role as a nominal colonel for the Movement for the Independence of Sicily. It might have seemed like a good idea when Benito Mussolini and his Fascists were in charge of Italy as a whole, but, following Mussolini's execution in 1945, Italy remaining united was the best thing for the country.

Giuliano and his band were held legally responsible for the Portella dell Ginestra Massacre, though there is some doubt about their role in the numerous deaths which occurred. The widespread international press coverage he attracted made him an embarrassment to the Italian government, and throughout his banditry, up to 2,000 police and soldiers were deployed against him.

Giuliano was called "the people's bandit," and was the first such figure to be covered in real time by modern mass media. He had the looks of a Rudolf Valentino, but the ruthlessness of a Lucky Luciano. He was less a Robin Hood, more a Pancho Villa -- or, perhaps more accurately, a cross between Lenin and John Dillinger. He was assassinated on July 5, 1950, in Castelvetrano, Sicily, dead at age 27. No great loss.

*

May 1, 1947 was a Thursday. There were only 3 scores on this day, all in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-5 at the Polo Grounds. Johnny Mize hit a home run. Stan Musial went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-2 at Ebbets Field. Jackie Robinson went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* And the St. Louis Browns beat the Washington Senators, 14-5 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.