Evanston: Errol Flynn and me; delayed
Evanston: Errol Flynn and me; delayed
Yesterday I received an email which included a reference to my “Errol Flynn like life.” Initially skeptical that someone was putting me on, I nevertheless found myself wondering what the famous actor and I had in common, other than our obvious good looks.
Inexplicably I knew that Errol Flynn was born in Tasmania. While I have noted that my memory is not what it used to be, there is still a lot of information--mostly useless--rattling around in there. For the rest I resorted to Wikipedia.
Flynn was born in Hobart in 1909 and died of of a heart attack in Vancouver, Canada, in 1959.
Flynn and I did have a few things in common. We both had reputations for enjoying female companionship, drinking, and boats. I don’t know that I liked women more--Flynn was married a mere three times, and fifteen year old girls are often mentioned in his biography; but I expect that I drink less. Much less.
Of boats, he had crewed yachts whose tenders were bigger than CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE or GANNET. Comparing earnings and sailing, he probably exceeded me in wealth about as much as I exceed him as a sailor.
In other ways, though, we are dissimilar.
Errol Flynn had a reputation for public brawling, and I haven’t been in a fight since I was a child.
Most significantly, despite his athletic swashbuckling roles and public persona, Flynn’s health was poor; while I, even as I approach 70, remain a force of nature.
In 1942, shortly after Pearl Harbor, the actor became a U.S. citizen and tried to enlist in “every branch of the armed services.” All turned him down. He was 4-F due to an enlarged heart, recurrent malaria, chronic back pain, chronic tuberculosis, and “numerous venereal diseases.”
Perhaps partially due to the back pain, he also became addicted to drugs. Wine and spirits are enough for me.
So in the end I don’t know that Mr. Flynn and I would have had much to talk about.
Still he gave his name to a dashing, devil-may-care, risk taking attitude; and I don’t mind being thought to have lived “an Errol Flynn like life”, even though it isn’t true.
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GANNET is now scheduled to arrive Saturday afternoon.
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The picture was taken yesterday on Northwestern’s campus during a bike ride. A lot of activity on a cool but sunny afternoon.
(‘Sailing on the lake looks like fun,’ the photographer thought longingly.)
Thursday, May 5, 2011