ALS, one page both sides, 5.5 x 9, Grand Hotel Duomo, Milan letterhead, July 13, 1953. Letter addressed to “Jud.” In part: “In response to your question in yours of 7th July, concerning Ziffren & Wilkenfeld I definitely do not want them to handle the tax hearing for me & would much prefer you to do so. Concerning your fees for this will you please refer to Mahon who’s in Rome. By this time you will have talked to Pat, who I firmly believe may be able to cement the relations and deals you have made with the Int. Rev.” Scattered light creases and wrinkles, a couple of very faint stains, and a couple pencil notations to top edge, otherwise fine condition.
During the time of this letter, Flynn found himself at the center of a federal tax debacle; after having lost a million dollars to the thieving hands of his trusted business manager, the matinee idol was the target for hungry tax collectors looking for a mountain of back payments. After leaving the states in 1953 for Milan, Italy, where he desperately tried to breathe life back into his career with the film, The Master of Ballantrae, he attempted to gain control over the situation back home: “In response to your question...concerning Ziffren & Wilkenfeld I definitely do not want them to handle the tax hearing for me & would much prefer you to do so.” Flynn references Barry Mahon, who was his personal manager at the time, and his third and last wife, Patrice Wymore: “By this time you will have talked to Pat, who I firmly believe may be able to cement the relations and deals you have made with the Int. Rev.” This letter marks a distressed, desperate time in Flynn’s career—his hedonistic lifestyle and superfluous spending would ultimately prove to be his downfall. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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