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Dennis Prager here. Thanks for listening to the Daily Dennis Prager Podcast. To hear the entire 3 hours of my radio show commercial-free every single day, become a member of Prager Utopia. You'll also get access to 15 years' worth of archives as well as the daily show prep. Subscribe at pragertopia.com. Hi everybody, welcome to the Dennis Prager Show. About 25 years ago, let me think, would that be accurate? Yeah, I think it was. I published, let's see, in the '80s and '90s I published a newsletter, so sort of pre-internet, and one was called Ultimate Issues, from which we got the name of the third hour on Tuesdays in my show. And the other was called The Prager Perspective. I'm almost certain it is so long ago that it was in Ultimate Issues that I wrote my lead article on the war on tobacco, and my key point was There's something morally obtuse going on. Why is there no war on alcohol since people who smoke hurt themselves, whereas people who drink— I should be more precise— can hurt themselves? And people who drink can hurt others. There's Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. There's no Mothers Against Smoking Drivers. Alcohol use accompanies criminal violence very often. World War II, it was a, it was a widespread phenomenon in the German army. When they were told to slaughter Jews, they would, it would be accompanied by alcohol. And of course, the drunk drivers and the, and the people who hurt members of their family Not everyone who drinks does this, but most of the people who do this drink. And yet the society decided to make its war on tobacco. American society in the 1920s decided to make the war against alcohol. Prohibition was a mixed bag, but largely it didn't work. But at least the moral motivation was sober, no pun intended. It is— it— I said then in the 1980s, it is an indication of the broken moral compass of the society, that 60 years after Prohibition, they went after something that hurts the user, not others. Health had supplanted morality. That was my argument. I was right. I am certain that I was right. And now the same forces, almost always from the left, under the, the most draconian and vile man to hold the presidency in American history, Joe Biden, they want to lower the nicotine levels in cigarettes. This is their battle. And now, what did you just send me on e-cigarettes? Administration tries to shut down— FDA orders Juul to stop selling e-cigarettes. Why? Why? Because kids— because high school kids are using it? Folks, it's not nicotine that hurts kids. It's the tar and the other junk in cigarettes. Nicotine is addictive, that's correct. So what? The ignorance that dominates public life in this country, nowhere more— and it's not ignorance, it's It's fools. Fools run our public health. Like the Mayo Clinic listing that cigars are no safer than cigarettes. You know that that's an out-and-out lie? It's pure lie. It's an amazing thing, the Mayo Clinic. And they're not alone. I'm sure virtually every distinguished so-called distinguished medical place. And you know why they lie? Because they feel they're doing a moral good by lying. The fewer people who smoke, the fewer deaths. So you can lie about anything to get people to stop. That's why they came up with the gigantic lie of secondhand smoke kills 50,000 Americans. Most Americans believe that. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday— that's today— yeah, ordered Juul, J-U-U-L, to stop selling e-cigarettes on the US market, a profoundly damaging blow to a once popular company whose brand was blamed for the teenage vaping crisis. More teenagers than ever are dying, dying, being killed by fentanyl, and they're going after e-cigarettes. They opened up the borders, this administration, to enable fentanyl to come in from Mexico, but they're going after e-cigarette companies. I'm sure a lot of parents don't want their kids smoking e-cigarettes, so I have a question: why? On the list of things that would trouble you Why would that be even on the list? Nicotine? So they'll get addicted to nicotine? So what? Nobody's ever answered my 'so what' question. Now you might say, 'Oh, well, you smoke cigars, you're addicted to nicotine.' And by the way, people say that all the time. The ignorance— ignorance is now a non-issue to a lot of people. There's zero addiction in my life to cigars. Zero. Not only do I go a full day a week without smoking cigars on my Sabbath because of the ban on lighting a fire in the Book of Exodus— sure, it's a very obscure law, I explain it It's very profound, incredibly profound law. I explained it in my commentary on the Book of Exodus. And I often go days if I'm on the road and I don't have the time or access to a cigar lounge. It's a relaxing thing for me. And for the record, 99% of cigar smokers don't inhale. We don't smoke— the cigarette smoker smokes for nicotine. The cigar smoker smokes for taste. It's a very, very, very big difference. But even if I were addicted to nicotine, so what? It's about as innocuous a thing to be addicted to as exists. I'm not addicted to controlling people's lives. Which the left is addicted to. The order affects all of Juul products in the U.S. market, the overwhelming source of the company's sales. Juul's sleek vaping cartridges and sweet-flavored pods helped usher in an era of alternative nicotine products that became exceptionally popular among young people and invited intense scrutiny from anti-smoking groups. Anti-smoking groups— these are people like the environmentalists who found the cause, think they're wonderful human beings for suppressing others' rights in the name of health. Health uber alles is a concept I came up with very many decades ago. You saw it in the lockdown. And keeping kids out of school. In the name of health, you can do anything you want. We return, 1-800-PRAGER-776. The Dennis Prager Show. Inflation is at a 40-year high. You know it and you feel it every day. We're paying considerably more for gas, groceries, and really just about everything. Take charge of your money right now. Use the equity in your home to consolidate debt and lower your monthly expenses. These impressive men, Andrew and Todd, at AndrewandTodd.com know what you're going through. Andrew and Todd aren't brokers, they're bankers who handle your refi loan personally from start to finish, and they're always in your corner. Visit AndrewandTodd.com to beat inflation by lowering your monthly expenses and protect your greatest asset, your home. Andrew and Todd at Sierra Pacific Mortgage share your values. I trust them. That's why I work with them. Get started now. Go to andrewandtodd.com for a quick mortgage checkup. No obligations. Use the equity in your home before it's too late. Go to andrewandtodd.com. That's andrewandtodd.com. I was talking to you about the latest attempt to control people's lives. It is amazing the FDA, which has lost the respect of half this country as a decent, honest broker of scientific help to this country. The Association of Vapers, the American Vapor Manufacturing Association, Their spokesman, Amanda Wheeler— there's the— actually, the president, not spokesman— said, measured in lives lost and potential destroyed, FDA's staggering indifference to ordinary Americans and their right to switch to the vastly safer alternative of vaping will surely rank as one of the greatest episodes of regulatory malpractice in American history. That is correct. That is what it is. It is indifference to life. It's not even a health issue. What's unhealthy about vaping? Tell me. I'm sure some of you think it's a real risk and the government should tell you that you can't, but it's a substitute for the real dangerous stuff— cigarettes. You have to be a fanatic. These people who look upon Prohibition, the advocates of Prohibition, as fanatics— it makes one choke. The fanaticism of our time dwarfs the fanaticism of America of 100 years ago. It dwarfs it. You know what part of it is? They're just bloody bored. Do something, do something, do something, do something. Regulate more Americans' lives, control more behavior. Then you go to bed feeling you've done good. And who doesn't want to go to bed feeling they've done good? You should thank God if your kid vapes rather than smoke cigarettes. Nicotine. There isn't a word that I've seen thus far in this article in today's New York Times that speaks about the health dangers. Oh, oh, oh yes, it did. Chemicals may leak out of I mean, we're talking on the level of lightning. By the way, did you read about this woman and her dog that were killed by lightning? Here? It was here in LA. She was walking her dog and got killed by lightning. Freak. I mean, it's beyond belief. That's the example used when people speak about things that are rare. Pretty bad luck. Luck is a factor in life, my friends. I am in the fourth of my five-book commentary of the— on the first five books of the Bible, The Rational Bible. Deuteronomy is coming out Genesis and Exodus are out. Deuteronomy is coming out in, in October. You can pre-order it on Amazon. I hope you do, for your sake much more than for mine, but for my sake as well, because it's an incredibly difficult challenge to make so clear a text that that are not clear to people. Anyway, I'm the— I didn't go in order, so the fourth book to come out is Numbers, which ironically is the fourth book. And there's an amazing verse in that book. Moses was a humble man more humble than anyone else on earth. It's an amazing thing. So I have an essay on humility. What is humility? Can you know you're humble? I'll talk about that another time. It's a great subject. Can you, can you know you're humble if you're humble? But the reason I raise it is one of the reasons everybody should be humble is that no matter how much you have attained in life, there was good luck involved. No matter how hard you worked, the fact— just one simple example— the fact that you were healthy enough to do it. I remember when I was very young, one of the greatest cellists on earth was a woman named Jacqueline Dupré. I actually saw her play in the year I— she was British— the year I studied in England. She was a young, beautiful, and spectacularly talented cellist, married to one of the best-known classical musicians, Daniel Barenboim, a pianist and now conductor. She got multiple sclerosis, I believe it was, and then died in her 30s. It was bad luck. So that's— I'm just reflecting on the fact that You can't— one of the reasons to be humble, just objectively speaking, not even morally speaking, just on rational grounds, is that you are lucky to have achieved what you have achieved, even though you may have worked very, very hard for it and earned it to a certain degree. Controlling others' lives in the name of health. And Americans totally support this, by and large. Oh, it's health? Of course I lose my rights. Talking about losing your rights, our neighbor to the north, which as I wrote months ago, is becoming the Cuba, a new Cuba. Canada still requires airline passengers to wear face, face masks on board. Back in a moment.

The Dennis Prager Show.

Towels just don't seem to dry you anymore. They feel soft and lotiony in the store, but you get them home and they don't absorb. Well, Mike Lindell at MyPillow found that out around 2006 and towels changed forever. He found the best towel company right here in the USA. They have proprietary technology to create towels that feel soft but actually work. And that happens to be true. I use them. They are all made with USA cotton and they come with the MyPillow 60-day money-back guarantee. 6-piece set, 2 bath, 2 hand towels, 2 washcloths. Regularly $109.99, now $39.99. Just go to mypillow.com and click on the new radio listener specials and get deep discounts on all MyPillow products, including the towels. Specials by entering the promo code Prager, or call 800-761-6302 for these great radio specials. MyPillow.com, promo code Prager. Is that where people get Dennis and Julie, Sean? That's the Salem Podcast Network or YouTube. I have this really, really good weekly podcast with a 22-year-old woman. Is that amazing? Yes. Well, I am going to a subject now. Oh, let me just say to Louis, Michael, Thomas, and Albert, if you can hang on, I, I hope to take some or all of your calls. It's a rare time I like every call up I have a guest because I, I think I met some of your colleagues, and I'll tell you whom I'm speaking to, of course, folks, in a moment, here at the local radio station. It's a national show but based here in, in the LA area, and they work in hospice. And I have a particular affection, even though I have not had I don't have personal contact with hospice work. I have a particular affection and respect for people who do, and I said I'd like you to come on. The lack of talk about death in modern Western life is a phenomenon unto itself. My guest, the woman who said, "Mm-hmm," that you just heard is Natalie Rosemond. She's Bristol Hospice Bereavement Coordinator. It's in the LA and Ventura County areas. So you, you coordinate for Bristol Hospice, is that right?

That's correct.

What does it mean you coordinate?

I'm the bereavement coordinator, which means that I manage all the bereavement services. So not only are we with our families during the time that their loved ones are in our care, but as a bereavement coordinator, I provide counseling services to our families for 13 months following. So for us, we're here from the start to the finish and beyond. Being able to sit with someone who's dying is important, but being able to be there with the family after is just as important for us.

So this is such a phenomenon. At what age did you know you would end up working with the dying and their families?

I actually came into this field from a different perspective. I like being with people who are hurting, who are struggling, but I found my calling to be able to sit with the death and the dying probably about 10 or 11 years ago. I had a friend whose mother was dying, and even though I am in the field of therapy, we really didn't know very much about death and dying. Grief training is kind of just basic. So I felt really called and longed to be able to go into the ministry. So I started working with children, and then from there I realized it's actually better to provide our care and our service even before the family's in grief, before the bereavement part. So I decided to take a job in hospice, and it's been amazing to be able to be—

How long have you been working in hospice work?

10 years.

Now, does your work involve being with the dying?

Yes, I provide anticipatory grief with the families. So I sit with them, I talk with them, we work through all of the steps and the processes even before their loved ones are gone. And then I walk with them for the following 13 months and continue to provide support with all the firsts that come up.

I think Is it fair to say, let's put it that way, so I shouldn't even say I think, is it fair to say that the average individual would think that at least in some respects you have a depressing job?

Absolutely.

I get that a lot. I get a lot of, isn't it hard? Isn't it heavy? People don't like to talk about it. It's a taboo subject. But it's something that we all go through. It's something that we're all going to face in one way or another in our lives. We're human. It's part of life.

So is it depressing?

For me, because I have a heart for it, I actually feel honored, and I feel touched that people share their loved ones with me. Being able to walk into someone's home at such a an emotional and heavy and dark time. And to be able to provide that support and be that rock, it feels more of an honor than to be depressing.

So you don't leave a day's work down?

I cry. I cry a lot.

Oh, that's interesting.

But it's part of it. And I miss a lot of my patients and a lot of their families. And that part gets to be heavy, but it's not really depressing if I do my job right.

All right, hold it there because I have so many questions. This is not an ad, folks. This is exploring life and death. The American public is getting pinched right now. Terrible leftist policies like shutting down the Keystone Pipeline have you paying way more than you should for gas, which also raises the cost of your grocery bills. Hard to depend on government, but you can depend on Pure Talk. Because PureTalk gives you 4 lines of talk, text, and data for just $64 a month. 4 lines. It's only $16 a line. Believe it. PureTalk saves the average family over $900 a year. I'm a customer. The 5G coverage, most reliable network in America. US customer service, keeping jobs right here in America, and the CEO is a US veteran. Stop giving your money to Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile and supporting their causes. Switch to PureTalk. Just dial #250 and say Dennis Prager. And get 4 lines for just $64 a month. And with PureTalk's no-risk money-back guarantee, you won't regret this. Dial #250 and say Dennis Prager. Hello everybody, I'm Dennis Prager and I welcome you back or to the show. It's a 3-hour show. If you can't hear all 3 hours, go to praguetopia.com. You can hear all 3 hours whenever you want without commercials. praguetopia.com. At the minimal price of between $5 and $6 a month, which, as I said the other day— I hope I didn't offend anybody— I have to believe is affordable to virtually everybody listening. $5 to $6 a month, if that's a burden I mean this with only respect, then obviously one is in a desperate situation financially. It's not an ad. That's not said to be an ad for the Pragmatopia subscription. That's just said as a generalized principle. Spoke last hour about the, the banning of e-cigarettes, putting out, putting this company out of business by the Biden administration. Which— there's no— there are no limits to the Biden administration's attempt to, to, to, uh, control everything. These— what is it, the red flag laws? Is that it, about the guns? Red flag that John Cornyn and some other fools who were Republicans— I am so disappointed in John Cornyn. Maybe I shouldn't be. You in Texas know him better than I. You're telling me that without a warrant, without a criminal behavior, somebody could say, you know, my neighbor is a crackpot, you should take away their guns? I mean, am I misunderstanding the law? These people are prophets. They know who will use a gun immorally. Then, by the way, if indeed this thing is serious, you should take the gun away from every single gang member, correct? You're a member of a violent gang, they should take your gun away. They won't though. Most of the gangs that are engaged in this violence are minorities, and it'll be called racist. Anyway, back to the issue that I started with, the, the, the, uh, I want to read to you, uh, a line here from the, uh, the article. The article in today's New York Times: FDA orders Juul to stop selling e-cigarettes, a decisive blow to once popular vaping brand that appealed to teenagers. This is the war on nicotine. Why? Because it's addictive. Do you realize how little people think through issues? So it's addictive. So is caffeine. Should— why don't we ban coffee? Why sell coffee to teenagers or to anybody? This is banned to anybody. Even the New York Times article, which of course the New York Times agrees with any controlling thing in the name of health: nicotine itself is not the cause of lung cancer and other deadly ills from smoking. Oh, so what's the problem with nicotine? But the drug is exceedingly addictive. Oh, drug. Is caffeine a drug? Why is nicotine a drug? The manipulation of language on the left is, is always, uh, remarkable to me. It's exceedingly addictive. So what? Nobody has ever answered my question. Not one doctor who's called this show. Of course, doctors in general, of course they believe in the use of government to suppress what they think is health worthy of suppression. Doctors in general, doctors' commitment to liberty is zero. Most— the vast majority of doctors were totally on board with, you're fired if you, uh, if you don't get the vaccine. A vaccine which is not a vaccine. Vaccines that last 6 months aren't vaccines, just for the record, folks. The first vaccine in history that lasts 6 months. They're fine with it. Medical profession is just fine with it. We think it's unhealthy, we'll force you to stop. In the name of health, liberty is worthless. Yeah, nicotine is addictive, so is caffeine. I know religious Jews who take caffeine suppositories on Yom Kippur, the the most holy day in the Jewish calendar, a day where a Jew fasts for 24, 25 hours, and they get headaches, and it's very difficult for them to go a day without their caffeine. It's actually probably harder for the caffeine addict to go a day without caffeine than for the nicotine addict to go a day without nicotine? Why isn't that banned? For those of you like the last caller of the last hour who said, oh, it's addictive, and he said he's a new listener and he's agreed with everything, and now he was appalled that I would not give a damn about it being addictive. I appalled people on a regular basis. Turns out though that in virtually every single instance over time, what people found appalling turned out to be right. People were appalled that I said that the lockdowns were the greatest mistake in international history. I said it within 2 months of the lockdowns. You know why? I have no agenda other than what is true and what is good. Those are, those are my only 2 questions. What is true and what is good? Okay, in the issue, in the case of nicotine, it is true it's addictive, but I don't understand why that is a big issue. I cited my wife being addicted to reading, and I mean it, because deprived of books, she would, she would go into— and she's always upbeat, always— but this would affect her like a person deprived of nicotine would be affected, probably perhaps even worse. So the idea of addiction in and of itself being, being a, uh, a bad thing— I, I don't— maybe it is, but it's not for the government to control your bad things. You know how sick our society is that we legalize marijuana and ban e-cigarettes? Sick. The whole left is sick. The entire medical establishment is sick. Sick, folks. I mean sick. It's, it's pathologic. Marijuana? Fine. Electronic cigarettes? Banned. We are mired in sickness because our elites are sick, because they're well-educated. They learned to be sick at college, now increasingly high school. I spoke to 200 high school kids yesterday, and it was among the most depressing hours of my professional career. Not because they loathed me, that was fine. I don't have any problem with that. But because of what they loathed me about. I said America is not systemically racist and that that made me worthy of loathing. A girl got up— this was really— and these were hand-picked teenagers. A girl got up, and I'll never forget this. I have it recorded, thank God. And she said, I'm white, as you see I'm white, but my uncle is Hispanic, came here from Cuba. And she was rebutting my notion that the country is not racist, even though I acknowledged, of course, there are racists in it, but the country isn't. What was her example of her uncle being the victim of racism in America? He has an accent. And therefore people treat him poorly. Example: at an airport once, he was called out to have his luggage checked again because— why? Because he had a Hispanic or Spanish accent. Wow, I gotta say, that really indicts America, doesn't it? We'll be back. The Dennis Prager Show. The guy called me last week and asked me, because I frequently say that the left is afraid to debate conservatives, which they are. I have over and over said, we'll raise the money if that would be helpful. I'll debate any of the left-wing New York Times columnists, for example. So a guy called and asked me why I wouldn't debate a guy named— does a— who does a podcast that I, I had never heard of. And so a number of his followers were told by him contact Dennis Prager. He's afraid of debating me. So I decided to check this guy out, and he turns out to be a liar. Listen to this.

Uh, Dennis Prager, thrice divorced.

I only say that because he's such a moralist, and it's pretty impressive, uh, to get divorced 3 times. Okay, so he's a liar. I was divorced twice. There's a big difference. Because it would sound a little stupid. Guy's divorced twice and he's a phony moralist. But with 3 times, it's still an absurd point. It has no moral basis. It's worthy of talking about at another time. Does divorce speak to the moral character of the persons who divorced? You have to be somewhat of a moral idiot to believe that to be true. Virtually every single one of you knows decent people who have been divorced, some indecent people who've stayed married. Divorce is a tragedy but is not a moral failing. I mean, I assume in cases where somebody is a serial adulterer, but that's the serial adultery, not the divorce, that is the issue. So he lied about it. If you Google Dennis Prager divorce, anything that comes up— Wikipedia, anything— is I was divorced twice. I don't know why divorced twice makes you a phony moralist. He doesn't think clearly. There's another aspect aside from his lying. The, the other aspect is that mockery is every leftist's form of debate. That's why it's so rare that people debate their equals on the conservative side. Oh, he's a moralist and he was divorced. Can't be. And then his sidekick says, I hope they had prenuptials. This is, uh, this is the level of that show. And so to you, his followers, I hope this is some of the reasons that you'll understand he's unworthy of being on the same stage as me. But here's another proof that all he wants is to raise his profile. I went to the site, and here is the number of views he, he views his podcast gets. This is— I put in his name and his show. The latest, $19,000. One before that, $36,000. One before that, $3,900. One before that, $17,000. The one before that, $24,000. The one before that, $34,000. The one before that, $34,000. And then there's $86,000. How did that happen? Because it's about me. Just mentioning my name tripled his views. Proof the only reason this guy has told his psycho fans that he wants to debate me is to raise his profile. That's not my job. Okay, I hope that, uh, hope that answers. I'm sure he'll apologize for lying about me. I don't care if he does, to be honest, but it is what it is. The whole thing fascinated me for the obvious reasons that I just offered you. All right, let's see here. Uh-huh. Well, that's right, that's correct. It's very interesting. That's right, very good point, Doug in Atlanta. Sugar is very addictive. That's right, he's absolutely right. Sugar, nicotine, caffeine, why are they picking on nicotine? There's no reason. There is no valid or rational reason. It's all emotional. That science has been reduced to emotions by the FDA, CDC, NIH is very scary because, because where they see smoke, even though it's vapor in the case of vaping, people freak out. Not marijuana smoke, interestingly. My contempt for Biden and the FDA is so deep that it's, it's, it's almost difficult for me to control myself. Yes. Okay, let's see, take a totally different call. Michael, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. Hello.

Hello.

Hello. Hi, uh, So I was watching some videos of, uh, Tim Pool and Charlie Kirk.

I, I think you're familiar with both of them, right?

You know I am, so why did you ask the question? I was just on Tim Pool's Timcast, and Charlie Kirk and I have long been associated.

Okay, well, both of them have already debated Sam Seder. You know you're afraid of debate, so you should really just get on it. You know that.

Okay, so one of the psychos— I'm afraid to debate. I'm afraid. Okay, if you believe that, you probably believe I'm divorced 3 times. Okay, fair enough. Uh, let's go to, um, Austin, Texas, and Jean. Hello, Jean. Hi.

Hey, Dennis, nice to talk to you. Um, you know, I'm also thinking, you know, what's really addictive is food.

People are over-addicted to food.

Anyone maybe even shopping in a grocery store shouldn't be allowed to buy chips, you know, if they appear to be overweight, shouldn't be allowed to buy.

Well, what's his name? Bloomberg wanted to do that. He wanted to ban large cups of soda in New York City.

Okay, well, that doesn't quite do it. You know, it would have to be—

well, yeah, look, this is the belief of a lot of people in that you are— I got to call in Richard Blythe here. Anyway, if it's unhealthy, we can ban it. And Americans to a large extent find that a Okay, that's why your kids didn't go to school for 2 years. Well, everybody, I often say we talk about everything on the Dennis Prager Show. The following will be one example of that. I'm actually talking to you about a Hollywood star who's no longer with us. Uh, let me give a little preface here because there is a book out titled Errol Flynn: The Illustrated Life Chronology. I have the author on. He's an American living in Germany, Robert Florczak. And I will say I have never seen a book like this. And I will be very specific in why I say that. It has essentially— Robert Florczak, the author, has essentially taken one of the greatest stars in Hollywood history and almost described what happened almost every day of the man's life. I don't know how he unearthed all this information. He says it took 10 years. I think, I think I got that right. But even if you have no interest in Errol Flynn, if you may not have even ever heard of him, although there is a famous old saying called 'In Like Flynn'— I won't explain it because it's a family show— but, uh, he, uh, you may know of him because of his starring in one of the greatest films ever made in Hollywood history, and that is Robin Hood, The Adventures of Robin Hood. And he was a, uh, not literally but figuratively, a true lady killer. His affairs with women mesmerized the American public during the heyday of his career. I assume the '30s and '40s, but I'll get all of those details from the author. I'm just telling you, I did not have a particular interest in Errol Flynn. I certainly knew of him. I have seen The Adventures of Robin Hood a few times, but the book is riveting. And I welcome Robert Florczak to the show. Robert, in all honesty, and I've written a fair number of books, I don't understand how you did this. How did you find out what he did on any given day?

Uh, it was a gradual process. Uh, thanks for having me on, Dennis. Um, I, I started collecting things on him early on as a fan. It was a hobby, and you understand hobbies as well as anybody.

Yep.

And after a while, the collection started growing, and I would get tidbits of information here and there and start collecting them into a a file that started to look chronological. And at a certain point, my wife had suggested, why don't you do something serious with this? So at that point, I started looking into the different sources I could go to to fill in the gaps. And there were many. There were newspaper archives. I must have gone through several thousand old newspapers and, um, where magazines You can get them online. Some of them are difficult to get for the average person. Through one of the archives, they gave me a link that archivists and schools can access to old printed materials. So I did that, but also the Hollywood archives themselves, particularly the Warner Brothers archives. He was a Warner Brothers contract star for most of his career. And that particular studio did a great job in saving everything. Other studios like MGM, for instance, threw everything out.

Wow, you lucked out.

Yeah, I sure did. Unfortunately, he did, uh, 2 films for MGM, and I couldn't get the daily information on those, so there are a few gaps.

Oh, how interesting. Yeah, have his, uh, does he have descendants?

Yes, he had, he had 3 wives and 4 children. Amongst the 3, 2 of his 4 children are still living, 2 daughters.

What do they think of your work?

The one daughter, the oldest daughter, is, is hard to find, so I don't know. But his, um, his other daughter was very, very supportive, and she wrote the blurb that's on the back of the book that you can see there. Which was, which was an amazing, amazing thing for me personally because I would think going back into the early '70s when I began being a fan and I'd read about the people in his life and especially the family, I would know about these children including that daughter. And to think 40-something years later she's writing the blurb on the back of the book, it's, it's mind-boggling.

Why did you fall in love with Errol Flynn?

It sounds maybe a little simplistic because, because it's been said many times that the thing about him is he, he was the guy that every boy and guy wanted to be and every girl and woman wanted to be with. And, and he really, he really was a storybook hero come to life. As I mentioned in the book, the interesting thing about him is that he's somewhat addictive You start learning about him and you want to know more and more. And it's, it's, it's very, it's a very fascinating process, which you, which you sort of began to describe at the beginning, at that top of the show here. You didn't know much about him, and then you start looking into the book and it just goes on and on, right, to depth. That's what he's all about. So it, it, it goes from level to level. When you're starting out and you're younger, he's He— nobody did so many heroic films like that. So you get into him on that level, then you start learning about the real life, and that becomes interesting, and it just goes on and on.

Well, so let's describe him for those who, who have never heard of him or seen him. So again, his most famous film, am I right, is The Adventures of Robin Hood?

Yeah, probably. Okay, that's, that's the film he's probably—

is it fair to say He was preternaturally handsome.

Oh, absolutely. Um, there were, there were many people in the field, technically, uh, cameramen, cinematographers, even producers, who said you could not photograph him badly. In his peak, his, his total physical nature was near perfection. And so that's, that's one of the items on the checklist of why he's so interesting. Um, It's not just the films, it's not just the adventures real life, but it's him himself, uh, physically. And as I mentioned in the book, even his, his voice, which was, was a beautiful instrument.

That's right.

Until, until later on when, when it started to, uh, you know, go bad with his, with his lifestyle.

So you, you probably know him better than I assume anybody living, with the possible exception of his daughters, and, and you probably know certainly more about him than they do. Did he know how gifted he was in looks, let's say?

Yes, he did. Um, and he even mentioned it, um, that after a while he, he actually didn't like the whole idea.

Really? Why?

Yeah, well, because I think he knew in the beginning it helped open doors for him. I mean, there are a lot of things you can read about how people would remark when he would walk into a room, I mean, everybody was just hushed at this almost perfection of looks.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah, as a matter of fact, he did a film called "Perfect Specimen," which was almost about that. But in the beginning it opened doors, and you know, obviously wanting to finally succeed at something in life, he was very happy with that, but after a while, It started to, it started to wear on him that the looks were the issue. And, um, he said he at times he didn't even want to look in the mirror anymore. And, and as he started to age and it would show, he at times even mentioned that he was happy that that was starting to happen to him.

Not many people say that. I, I've had that experience as I look at myself because it's understandable. Yes. No, no, no, my looks have been a burden. Uh, so I, I relate to Flynn. So how many, how many stars were bigger than Errol Flynn in his heyday?

That's an interesting question. Um, you could argue that there are 2 or 3 that are bigger than Flynn for various reasons. Clark Gable is, um, Humphrey Bogart is, and and even probably James Cagney. They were all contemporaries. Gable, probably because of Gone with the Wind, which is the most successful film of all time based on ticket sales. Flynn had a special— he was a special genre. So it worked very well for him in the '30s and '40s, but once that genre became somewhat passé with the public at large, it didn't work for him anymore. Whereas other, other actors like Bogart, for instance, his, his whole persona works very well for modern audiences because he was a modern guy.

Is that true? All right, hold on there if you would. Robert Florczak, the author of Errol Flynn: The Illustrated Life Chronology. The book is up at DennisPrager.com. It will mesmerize you. Hey everybody, Dennis Prager here. With Robert Florczak, and his book is up at DennisPrager.com. It's about Errol Flynn, the great star of, what would we say, the '30s and '40s in particular, and in the golden age of Hollywood.

Yeah.

And many of you would know him from the classic, truly amazing film The Adventures of Robin Hood. By the way, before I want to read a little of what people wrote on Amazon about your book, it's because it is unique, uh, and I'm not a big Hollywood fan. I'm, I'm a normal fan of movies, not a big one, and, and yet I find your book riveting. Was— were The Adventures of Rob— were— was The Adventures of Robin Hood the first big color film?

Uh, yes, the first big one. As a matter of fact, and it was Technicolor, 3-strip Technicolor, which was an amazing process. MGM had not yet started filming Gone with the Wind, which was going to be their big film of the following year, and they were keeping an eye on how things were going with the filming of Adventures of Robin Hood. It was almost like their guinea pig, and it was because of the success of that filming that they gave the green light to go ahead with Gone with the Wind in Technicolor. But it was, it was, there were a few films before that that were trying out the new technology, but that was really the first big one.

Folks, here, if you go to Amazon and you look up the Errol Flynn book, a landmark work and a stunning book, a towering work that matches its iconic subject. Absolutely great. 5-star-plus spectacular. They're all right. I don't know how he did it. I mean, it's also magnificently illustrated. Virtually every page has illustrations, a diary, the person in his life, and that is Errol Flynn. So Errol Flynn, this extraordinary male specimen, as we pointed out, he was He was gorgeous, but he, he was masculine.

That's right. I say that exactly in the book.

Yeah, that's really important for people to, to know. I, I, right, there, there are actors today who are really good-looking, but they don't radiate masculinity. I have one in mind, but I don't want to say because I don't want to insult him. But, but this was not the case with Errol Flynn. He was a man's man and a woman's man.

Yes. And also quite learned and educated. Get a little extra light here, I think.

Yeah, that's better. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, that is good.

His father—

I just want to say, with the electricity bills being what they are in Germany, I'm very grateful to you for turning on the light.

Yes, I just realized it myself just now. His father was a world-renowned marine biologist, so he grew up in a household that was quite intellectual in some ways, and he became that himself. He was quite well-read and whatnot. But we were mentioning before, by the way, that it was because some people like Bogart, in their anti-hero personality, they're able to transcend into the present, though Flynn hasn't been able to because his His image, his heroic image, was somewhat storybook. And yet the interesting thing about it is, if you look at the bibliography that's out there on all these different stars, you would ask, was he the biggest one, biggest male star from that time period? And not necessarily, but I don't think there's any other major star from that time period who has as many books written about him as Flynn does. I mean, that shows the possibilities, the potential of the depth of this character. I mean, everything from— there are books on nothing but his movie posters. There's a book that tries to psychoanalyze him. There's one that came out just recently, for instance, by Kevin McAleer. It's called Errol Flynn: An Epic Life, where he writes the entire biography of Flynn with the same rhyming scheme that Lord Byron used to write Don Juan. Which of course was a character that Flynn portrayed in one of his greatest films. So it just, it goes on and on. There are just constantly books about, uh, coming out about this character, and it never ends.

Did he have an affair with his co-star Olivia de Havilland?

No, there's, uh, there's rumor, and, uh, people in the Flynn world like to debate this and whatnot. She made a passing comment supposedly to another actor that that did go on, but then later on clarified that that didn't happen. You're talking about Olivia de Havilland, of course. And, uh, had I— my belief is, had that gone on, it wouldn't have been kept a secret for 75 or 80 years, right? Never, never.

She was the co-star, folks, in the Robin Hood movie. That's the— that's the only reason I mentioned her. Name some of the, uh, if there are household name actresses that he did have affairs with.

Oh, well, practically every, every other co-star in his film he probably did. Ann Sheridan was one. Um, uh, boy, where do I start? Uh, a lot of them, a lot. And, and he, um, the odd thing about the statutory rape trial, which you may want to bring up shortly, was that the joke was that he, he certainly didn't need to push himself on women. All of these These women came at him from every angle every day, and the big actresses were no different. Um, so I would have to—

let's go, let's go to the statutory rape trial. That— is that what essentially derailed his career?

Not, not really. Um, it was thought it was going to, and he was certainly—

what year, what year was that?

Well, it blew up in late 1942, and the trial itself was January and February of 1943. And as I point out in the book and show in the book, it was followed so closely around the world that headlines about what happened in the trial that day would sometimes make the front page of the newspaper above the World War II headlines of the day. Wow, that's, that's how much people were into it.

And, uh, so what was he accused of?

He was accused, uh, on two separate occasions of, um, being with underage girls. Uh, no, no one—

what did underage mean at that time?

Meant the same thing, I think, that it does today.

Under 18.

So, okay, yeah, one girl was 16 and another was 15, but They both presented themselves publicly, not to mention to him, as being much older, and they came across as much older, and he just, he just didn't check these things. Um, and so one of them was kind of coerced into pressing charges, and then when that happened, the other one was also sort of coerced into it. I, I don't think either one of them wanted to to have this happen.

Coerced by whom? Authorities?

Yes. And in another case, the parents, or at least the mother of one of them.

Uh, all right, well, we'll continue. Uh, I'm just riveted by this, the book and the subject, even though I'm not a major Hollywood aficionado. Errol Flynn: The Illustrated Life Chronology. Robert Florczak, back in a moment. The Dennis Prager Show. Hi everybody, final segment. Didn't expect it to go an hour. It's a credit to my guest Robert Florczak, author of Errol Flynn: The Illustrated Life Chronology. And my God, it is illustrated, and my God, it is a life chronology, almost every day of Errol Flynn's life. Even if you never heard of Errol Flynn, you will know him pretty well perusing through this beautifully produced book. I might add, I should have said it earlier, that Robert Florczak is a Renaissance man. I use the term very rarely. And he has made a video for PragerU from years ago, and it is one of the most widely viewed, and many views get tens of millions. So he is his video, Why Is Modern Art So Bad, is so well done that you will have an education in artistic chaos watching those. It's a terrific video. There's no, there's no two ways about it. So I said I had one more question, Robert, and it is, did Did this in any way— and I'm not expecting the answer to be yes, and I'm perfectly okay with whatever answer you have— but did your immersion in the life of a person who preceded your life have any effect on you?

Hmm, probably not in the ways you're— I don't want to say it's a leading question, but I think I know what the type of thing you're getting at. Um, but it did, it did. I, I mean, I really was involved with this guy's life by, by the end, and I knew his life before this, but by the end of the research and day by day at the end of his life, I was exhausted because of him. Um, and it did make me think more about, uh, the idea of be careful of what you wish for.

Oh, see, that's what I meant. I wanted to know what lesson— really, that's what I'm asking. Any lessons you drew?

Yeah, because as you go through this book, and you know, I would like the listeners to know that, that, uh, this is not your typical biography. I mean, you don't, you don't even have to read it from COVID to cover, right? It's all facts, day by day, and pictures.

It's important to note.

Yes. And yeah, yeah, imagery of photos, documents, letters, and that kind of thing. You get to— you get— you're in— you're inside— you're inside this person's life as you're going through this, and you get a sense of what it feels like, and you realize it's not easy being on the top like that. That—

that— well, he wasn't— he wasn't shallow. I said earlier, a deep man in a shallow world. Well, you bring it to life. I hope you'll do me next. Um, The Illustrated Life Chronology, Dennis Prager.

That's right.

I'm one of your— I'm one of your hobbies. That's true, folks. You'll thank me for the book. This was great. Dennis Prager here. Thanks for listening to The Daily Dennis Prager Podcast. To hear the entire 3 hours of my radio show commercial-free every single day, become a member of Prager Utopia. You'll also get access to 15 years' worth of archives as well as the Daily Show prep. Subscribe at pragerutopia.com.