Captain Blood

[kick it to tim]

So I am currently looking into the 30's football and Jack Dyer, specifically his nickname of "Captain Blood"

The following Age article states that ......

Farewell to the legendary Captain Blood

www.theage.com.au

"The moment Dyer took the field the Tigers had a flagship in full sail. It was inevitable that his cavalier style of play would attract a pseudonym. It was not long in coming. And it stuck. One Monday morning in 1935 Age cartoonist John Ludlow depicted him as Captain Blood, cutlass in mouth."

However the Errol Flynn movie Captain Blood was not released till 19 December 1935.

and i cant find this cartoon on trove.

The earliest reference to the Captain Blood nickname is here on June 29, 1936. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/204839121

Has anyone got any hard evidence this was in 1935, or is it more likely 36????

 

[35Daicos]

So I am currently looking into the 30's football and Jack Dyer, specifically his nickname of "Captain Blood"

The following Age article states that ......

Farewell to the legendary Captain Blood

www.theage.com.au

"The moment Dyer took the field the Tigers had a flagship in full sail. It was inevitable that his cavalier style of play would attract a pseudonym. It was not long in coming. And it stuck. One Monday morning in 1935 Age cartoonist John Ludlow depicted him as Captain Blood, cutlass in mouth."

However the Errol Flynn movie Captain Blood was not released till 19 December 1935.

and i cant find this cartoon on trove.

The earliest reference to the Captain Blood nickname is here on June 29, 1936. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/204839121

Has anyone got any hard evidence this was in 1935, or is it more likely 36????

From the book The Clubs: "Dyer was dubbed Captain Blood in 1935 after a particularly torrid game against Fitzroy, in which he flattened three opponents. After the game, the Age football writer John Ludlow followed Dyer into the rooms. 'Golly, Jack,' said Ludlow, 'I haven't seen bodies piled up like that since I saw Errol Flynn in that Captain Blood movie.'

Monday's Herald carried a cartoon of Dyer dressed as a pirate, a skull and crossbones on his cap and a cutlass between his teeth. The name stuck. Dyer didn't like it but grew into it. Opposition fans loathed and abused him, Tiger supporters worshipped him."

 

[35Daicos]

It has to be almost certain that it was in 1936. If it's correct that this happened after a game against Fitzroy (at Brunswick Street), as they played on 20 June (the only Richmond vs. Fitzroy clash that year) it should have been in the paper on 22 June. I haven't been able to find it in The Herald or The Age. Puzzling!

rbartlett
Can you shed any light on this?

 

[rbartlett]

At the moment Kick to Kick is right - the June 29, 1936 entry seems to be the earliest of Dyer as Captain Blood.
Ive never been able to find the cartoon of Dyer as indicated. Can't find anything on John Ludlow really.

In his autobiography Dyer tells a simliar story, and that was serialised in the paper later with an altered photo of Dyer as a captain blood type that seems very similiar to what is mentioned in that The Age article after his death.

 

[35Daicos]

At the moment Kick to Kick is right - the June 29, 1936 entry seems to be the earliest of Dyer as Captain Blood.
Ive never been able to find the cartoon of Dyer as indicated. Can't find anything on John Ludlow really.

In his autobiography Dyer tells a simliar story, and that was serialised in the paper later with an altered photo of Dyer as a captain blood type that seems very similiar to what is mentioned in that The Age article after his death.

It seems Ludlow was known as "Forward": https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/164479942


That June 29 1936 Age article was written by "Forward" (Ludlow). But where is this "famous" cartoon?!

 

[Snidely Whiplash]

The 1935 film was based on the novel from 1922 and there was an earlier silent film screen adaptation in 1924.

As Erroll Flynn was a relatively unknown actor in this film, might the footy reference be based on the book or earlier silent film?