Page 16 HIGH GEAR MARCH 1981

Flynn's gay ins described

By George Brown

ERROL FLYNN: the Untold Story. By Charles Higham. Doubleday & Co. 370 pages. $12.95.

On screen he was Captain Blood, Robin Hood, the Earl of Essex, Gentleman Jim Corbett, and Duan Juan, but mainly he was himself, or what he and Warner Brothers First National Pictures had created as his image: the likeable rogue, the charming rake. And he was. charming--and handsome--and Virile. From his first major motion picture in 1935 until his untimely death in 1959 Errol Flynn, both on screen and off, was the hot blooded heterosexual male.

Sometime during the Fifties his career waned, and both on screen and off he became the jaded yet still eager stag, but his aura of magnetic sexuality

remained.

In "Errol Flynn: the Untold Story," published in 1980, movie biographer Charles Higham analyzes the colorful Mr. Flynn and concludes with what he calls evidence to show that this screen god had two hidden aspects to his life. Higham states that during World War II Flynn was a Nazi spy, at a time when he was donning military uniforms on the screen, and that in reality, despite all of the women in Flynn's life, which included three wives and two court charges for statutory rape, he was bisexual.

Higham's most astounding revelation, of course, is the Nazi element. According to the writer, Flynn was an agent for the Nazis through his friend Dr. Hermann F. Erben. Apparently there is no doubt about Erben's Nazi status, but after reading this book and studying the listings under "Declassified Secret Documents," this reviewer cannot find courtroom proof that Flynn was a spy,

although there certainly is a tremendous cloud of smoke surrounding him. It is a known fact, however, that Flynn was under surveillance by the FBI, and it would appear that he was anti-Semitic.

It is not always clear where Higham, a respected writer who has written biographies of Katharine Hepburn, Ava Gardner, Marlene Dietrich, Cecil B. De Mille, and Charles Laughton, in which Laughton's homosexuality was sympathetically discussed at length, received his information.

Higham gives his sources, names of people close to Flynn, regarding the homosexual ele ment. According to his information Flynn was homosexual, bisexual, from his youthful days in his native Australia until the end of his life, even when he was having a much publicized affair with a fifteen-year-old girl. Names of some of Flynn's male sexual partners are given: movie star Tyrone Power, whose bisexuality has been revealed in two recent biographies; writer Truman Capote, who mentions his one-night stand with Flynn in his recently published "Music for Chameleons;" and wealthy and

eccentric industrialist Howard Hughes, although here the concrete evidence seems a bit

scanty.

Apparently Flynn mostly desired Latin boys and made scouting trips to Mexico for encounters with them. When the males were not Latin, apparently they still had to be young, usually in their late teens; and this age factor largely held for most of the women he was attracted to. There is no indication of emotional attachments with males, and Flynn's life indicates little, if any, emotional attachments with women, except for perhaps with the fifteen-year-old girl when

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Flynn was forty-nine years old. Higham's emphasis is on the Nazi element; but, of course, a gay reader is particularly interested in the bisexual element, and not necessarily in a salacious or peeping Tom manner. Such a biography is significant because it shatters a myth. It shows, according to Higham's revelation, that one of Hollywood's symbols for masculinity

was indeed masculine but that he also was sexually interested in men. It shows, yet again, how universal homosexuality is. It shows heterosexual women how men whom they are attracted to, have love affairs with, and are married to can secretly be sexually involved with men. It shows that homosexuality can occur

from virile screen hero to nextdoor neighbor, to co-worker, to

member of the family. What appears to be the image is not necessarily the substance of it.

Recent biographies of certain entertainment figures, including

Montgomery Clift, heart throb of the Fifties, and of Cole Porter, who gave the world some of its loveliest and most sophisticated popular songs, have shown that they were bisexual, and probably predominantly homosexual. In reading these biographies, including most certainly Flynn's, one wonders if the homosexual side of their natures would have been pronounced if they had been able to express those natures more freely. Flynn was so much in the closet that apparently his wives never suspected, and at least one of them refutes the issue now.

Isn't one explanation for a Don Juan, the role which Flynn literally played on screen and off, that a Don Juan constantly makes female conquests in an attempt to prove his masculinity. his sexuality, and/or because he

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is unable to establish a lasting relationship with a woman?

was short lived and never reached Broadway.

It is interesting, and timely, to note that both Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan, who was less than two years younger than Flynn, were under contract to

Errol Flynn ended up on the screen in his decline, playing parodies of himself in "The Sun Also Rises," which starred | Tyrone Power, long after their affair, and in "Too Much, Too Warner Brothers at the same Soon," in which he played the time, although Flynn achieved aging John Barrymore, Flynn's stardom earlier and became a former idol and crony, whom he much bigger star. Reagan supbecame very much like. ported Flynn in 1940's "Santa Fe Trail" and co-starred with him in 1942's "Desperate Journey." Their acting careers tapered off about the same time.

He gave good performances in these films, as he did in many of

his earlier films. He didn't really take himself seriously as an actor, but he was usually more than competent for the roles he played. He apparently drank and drugged himself to death at the age of fifty.

I saw him on the stage of Detroit's Shubert Theatre in the title role of "The Master of Thornfield," adapted from Charlotte retitled specifically for him, in Bronte's novel "Jane Eyre" and 1958. His movements were uncertain, and he spoke his lines woodenly (Higham reveals that he had trouble learning his lines for this play and hardly knew them). By then he was paunchy and fading, but despite this and his faltering performance, he was fascinating. I remember discussing this with a woman at intermission, who agreed and then pointed out that we were fascinated because it was Errol Flynn we were watching. At curtain call he seemed embarrassed by the rather full applause. The play

Gay theater

slide show

The Gay Theatre Alliance is making available a slideprogram on the history of gay theatre. The program traces the development and treatment of gay and lesbian characters on the stage from 1593 to the present. Over 80 slides are used in the presentation, including original productions from the Caffe Cino, TOSOS, the Glines and numerous other gay theatre companes, featuring playwrights Robert Patrick, Doric Wilson, Martin Sherman, Jane Chambers, Harvey Fierstein and many others.

The program is narrated by Terry Helbing, Northeast Coordinator of the Gay Theatre Alliance and Managing Editor of The Drama Review. Helbing has published widely on the subject of gay theatre over the past several years, and is the editor of the Gay Theatre Alliance Directory of Gay Plays. He provides commentary and pertinent historical information about the productions and conducts a question and answer session after the presentation.

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Flynn's life illustrates what we already know: charm is not a moral attribute. He seemed to have a few sterling qualities. It

was his looks and his charm, and his zest for life, that captivated. But perhaps he did have a capacity for male friendship, in the buddie-crony style, and he friendship with movie star Ida apparently enjoyed a platonic Lupino. He loved the sea, knowing much about sailing. Such a love can often purify, bring out the best qualities in a person; but even here, Higham states, Flynn was engaged in contraband, carrying drugs on his boat.

Charles Higham writes well, mostly in a journalistic manner, and most of what he writes is convincing; at least Higham seems convinced of what he writes. It is regrettable that he didn't reveal more of his sources. Many biographies are appearing these days about deceased celebrities. Some of the information, explosive in nature and presented as fact, is given by people who, according to the biographer, wish to remain anonymous. This, of course, weakens the "fact." And it is regrettable that it is impossible for the late subject to have his say. The reader, therefore, must be very discerning.

The honest biographies do a service by casting a brighter light on a figure that has affected our lives, even our culture, if only pop culture--and pop culture is not to be underestimated (note the phrase, "In with Flynn"). Such a figure as Erroll Flynn was once sold to us as a commodity, so therefore we have the right to know more about him, and to understand and have sympathy for, insofar as possible. The Nazi element and the bisexual element are totally different aspects of Errol Flynn's troubled life. Neither was part of the commodity which was sold to the moviegoing public.

Gay indexing

WASHINGTON D.C. (IGNA) The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) is interested in starting an indexing/abstracting service of gay and lesbian publications. This service would collect, translate, abstract, index, and disseminate human rights, social and cultural information.

Interested parties should contact: Abstracting Group ILGA c/o Gay Community Center 1469 Church St., N.W. Washington, DC 20005a to enso sxGY W brow

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