Peckerwood Manor

Greetings, Manor Hors! Periodically, "The Roving Pecker" presents urgent missives from filthy esteemed guest writers. Today's is from SpiceDong, the first in a three-part series! In 1950, Tossa de Mar, a then sleepy fishermen village in The Costa Brava of Spain, was put on the map when an A-list Hollywood production landed on its shores. This spectacular stretch of Mediterranean coast a few miles north of Barcelona was to be the backdrop for “Pandora & The Flying Dutchman," the film by Albert Lewin starring British actor James Mason and Hollywood’s rising femme fatale, Ava Gardner. The cost of filming in Spain at the time was very low, and it was also a way for MGM, Ava’s home studio, to put some distance between her and the still-married Frank Sinatra, as they were hoping the scandal of their budding romance would die down in the press. Little did they know that the drama off-screen would soon rival the movie's plot. It was Miss Gardner’s first trip abroad.