![\"medium_Amanda.JPG.jpeg\"](\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/medium_Amanda.JPG.jpeg\")
\nAmanda McBroom<\/i><\/p>\n
\nAmanda McBroom<\/i><\/p>\n
\nI said recently on Twitter (I know, so ridiculous, like that has any validity whatsoever – however, apparently it’s all going into the Library of Congress, so at least my name will live on forever in some capacity) that the best byproduct so far of Ridley Scott’s self-serious and “historically accurate” Robin Hood<\/i> is that Errol Flynn is all over the place<\/i> right now, and I’m in heaven about it. He’s always had the props, obviously, but it’s nice to see him get the props once again, in almost every single review, from folks who miss the jaunty careless air he brought to a role that is, honestly, just an excuse for some swashbuckling and some fun. Shouldn’t it all be a bit more fun? (Thanks, Mr. Ebert<\/a>. I agree.)<\/p>\n I grew up on Errol Flynn movies, and when the Dean Stockwell obsession took over my life in 2007, I loved going back to re-watch Kim<\/i>, a movie I had seen on a fuzzy black-and-white television in our family den when I was about 10 years old. Stockwell tells stories of how Flynn treated him <\/a> and what that experience was like, and it’s pretty cool.<\/p>\n All of this is to say:<\/p>\n Cabaret singer Amanda McBroom<\/a> is the daughter of David Bruce<\/a>, an actor who worked with Errol Flynn multiple times, a man with a long career (there’s a wonderful tribute to him here<\/a>). McBroom is also a songwriter (she wrote, you know, that little-known song called “The Rose”, made famous by another performer), and she wrote a song about her father called “Errol Flynn” that came up on my iPod shuffle today and, as always, I had to skip right over it, because it’s far too emotional for me to listen to when I’m out and about doing errands. I cannot listen to it with any distance. It dissolves me. Repeatedly.<\/p>\n I won’t even speak any further about it. Some things are beyond words, and it’s better to just point to the source, and say: “There. Look at that.” It is a song that has even more poignancy to me now than it did when I first heard it.<\/p>\n It’s a tribute to her father, yes, but it’s also a tribute to artists. To the loneliness of the pursuit, and to the inherent dignity in a job well done, even in B-movies, even with your name far far below the star’s name. David Bruce was just such an actor.<\/p>\n Below the jump is a clip of Amanda McBroom performing “Errol Flynn”. It’s controlled, elegant, with abysses of emotion below the surface. And listen to those lyrics.<\/p>\n
\n