What is the origin of the phrase, "In like Flynn"?

Hi agerard,

When I read your question, my first thought was that the expression
was related to Australian-born actor Errol Flynn.

Flynn was quite the ladies' man and, according to Wordorigins.com, the
term was popularized in the mid-1940's because of his reputation for
sexual prowess and because "everything came easy to him on the silver
screen."

There are also ties to Errol Flynn and the phrase that make reference
to his 1943 acquittal for the statutory rape of a teenage girl.

Word Origins
http://www.wordorigins.org/wordori.htm

Roots Web
http://www.rootsweb.com/~genepool/meanings.htm

While this seems to be the prevailing theory about the origin of the
phrase, as it turns out, this is *not* correct.

On THE ALT.USAGE.ENGLISH FAQ FILE by Mark Israel, the phrase's first
meaning is listed as "in favour, assured of success, in an enviable
position."  Israel goes on to state that "Some writers allege that it
originated in allusion to Edward Joseph "Boss" Flynn (1892-1953), a
campaign manager for the U.S. Democratic party during Franklin Delano
Roosevelt's presidency.  Flynn's machine was so successful at winning
elections that his candidates seemed to be in office automatically."

http://www.english-usage.com/faq.html#fxinlike

This is confirmed on World Wide Words, where they also point out that:

     Barry Popik of the American Dialect Society found an example from
1940,
     as well as this from the sports section of the San Francisco
Examiner
     of 8 February 1942: "Answer these questions correctly and your
name is
     Flynn, meaning you're in, provided you have two left feet and the
written
     consent of your parents". To judge from a newspaper reference he
turned up
     from early 1943, the phrase could by then also be shortened to
I'm Flynn,
     meaning "I'm in". 

http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-inl1.htm

All of the sites that I found (even the ones that incorrectly tie the
origin of the expression to Errol Flynn) acknowledge the confusion
over the phrase because of the 1967 movie "In Like Flint," which took
its title as a wordplay on "In like Flynn" and caused many people to
mistakenly believe that the phrase was originally "In like Flint."

Search terms used:
etymology "in like flynn" OR "In like Flynn" OR "In Like Flynn"

on Google
://www.google.com/search?q=etymology+%22in+like+flynn%22+OR+%22In+like+Flynn%22+OR+%22In+Like+Flynn%22

and on Yahoo!
http://google.yahoo.com/bin/query?p=etymology+%22in+like+flynn%22+OR+%22In+like+Flynn%22+OR+%22In+Like+Flynn%22

Google category:
Etymology
http://directory.google.com/Top/Reference/Dictionaries/Etymology/?tc=1


Hope this "clears things up" for 'ya,
Katwoman

Katwoman gave me an amazingly thorough answer.  Though I used this as
more of a test to see how Google Answers worked, it is definitely a
worthwhile "search" for certain circumstances.

agerard,

The "Official Errol Flynn Web Site", owned by his daughter Rory Flynn
(now deceased) and grandsons Sean and Luke, makes the following
statement about the phrase "In like Flynn":

You Are In Like Flynn
http://www.inlikeflynn.com/  

"We get a lot of  questions regarding the origination of the phrase
"In Like Flynn"
(excerpted from http://www.urbanlegends.com/language/etymology/in_like_flynn.html)

The phrase "In like Flynn" originated as a coarse reference to Errol
Flynn's powers as a seducer. In November, 1942, Flynn was charged with
statutory rape, arrested and brought to trial, then acquitted. He was
charged with having sexual intercourse with two girls under the age of
18. (He was 33 at the time). It was Flynn's belief that the Los
Angeles district attorney had made him a scapegoat for Hollywood in
order to discipline the film community. Jerry Giesler (Flynn's ace
lawyer) considered Flynn an excellent witness and thought that his
"gentlemanly demeanor throughout the trial had been an important
factor". A new phrase was added to the English language: "In like
Flynn"."

Further details about the rape charges and trial can be found in a
Flynn biography at:
http://www.warriorfilmmakers.com/errolflynn/

There are some "we-were-there" testimonials of the time that support
the Errol Flynn origin of "in like Flynn":

The Straight Dope
Does "in like Flynn" refer to Errol Flynn's success with women?
06-Sep-1996
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_156.html

It's easily possible that the public's perception of Errol Flynn has
been accepted as historical reality. Always presented by the Hollywood
PR machine as a lady killer, Flynn's film career began when he was 26
with "In The Wake of the Bounty" (1935), and continued with popular
hits like "Captain Blood" (1935), "The Charge of the Light Brigade"
(1936), "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938), and many others. I
think you could safely say he was widely regarded as a hunk well
before his 1942 trial.
Filmography: http://www.inlikeflynn.com/film.html

Check out the devilish grin here:
http://www.reelclassics.com/Actors/Flynn/images2/flynn_faceshot.jpg 
and here:
http://www.warriorfilmmakers.com/errolflynn/bioef.jpg
Mothers and fathers, with images like these floating before your eyes,
would you trust this man with your daughter? Or your daughter with
this man?

Whatever the final truth, Errol Flynn's screen persona helped to
create some great films. My favorite is "The Adventures of Robin Hood"
from 1938: over 60 years later it's still the best swashbuckler.
Robin Hood review: http://www.filmsite.org/adve.html

Hope this helps,
huntsman

Errol Flynn certainly was a famous entertainer but his career dates
back into history rather a long way. So given the popularity and
widespread general modern recognition of that phrase it's difficult to
see why something from such bygone times should still be so
well-remembered today. Perhaps the link is not directly with Errol
Flynn.

During the 1960's a sequel to the popular "Our Man Flint" movie was
made and the title was "In Like Flint." The main character Derek Flint
(a tough and capable secret agent) superficially differed from Flynn's
swashbuckling pirate roles but in essence the similarity was clear,
right down perhaps to the choice of movie title.

So I suspect that whatever the real origins of the "In Like..." phrase
it is the James Coburn movie that has popularised it in modern times
rather than Errol Flynn himself. Whenever I have actually heard the
phrase spoken it has always been "Flint" not "Flynn."

http://www.teleport-city.com/movies/reviews/action/flint.html