The Big Love

by Florence Aadland, Tedd Thomey (Afterword), William Styron (Introduction)

This candid biography recounts the love affair between forty-eight-year-old screen legend Errol Flynn and the lovely, fifteen-year-old starlet Beverly Aadland

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Memoir, Film

176 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1986

Reviews

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, the five stars here are just for pure reading enjoyment, having nothing to do at all with literary quality.

This is a book that is so far away from my usual fare that I had just had to read it. William Styron had a great time with this book, as did W.H. Auden, so evidently I'm in fine company.

I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into when I started reading this book, and by the time I was finished, I was just sitting here thinking a) that the woman who wrote this book would never win my nomination for mother of the year, and b) how delightfully trashy it all is. It wasn't too far into it before the thought popped into my head that something's just not right here, a feeling that turned into a certainty the more I read.

Mrs. Florence Aadland was the mother of Beverly Aadland, who at the age of fifteen began a long affair with actor Errol Flynn. The true tragedy here is that with Florence Aadland as her mother, this poor girl just never had a chance, but that's not something you'll hear about here. Let's face it -- the one thing that comes out of this book more than anything else is that this is all about Florence.

The book, I think, serves more than one purpose for Flo (as she's referred to throughout) -- number one, it's her bizarre way of defending herself against " do-gooder busybodies" as to why she allowed her teenage daughter to have a two-year affair with the actor Errol Flynn, some 33 years her senior (and why she'd let it happen all over again if she could); number two, it's also a way she could continue the exploitation of her daughter's relationship with the actor even after his death, especially in the light of a number of legal problems that kept the tabloids busy for a long time. Especially revealing is how this book begins:

"There's one thing I want to make clear right off: my baby was a virgin the day she met Errol Flynn."

At the time Flo was telling all, she'd been in a lot of trouble, especially when a probation report emerged saying that her daughter had, among other things, since the age of twelve, "been dating adult men," and that she was a "$100-a-night teenage call girl."

If ever a book could be labeled bizarre, it's this one, and god help me, I enjoyed every trashy second of it. It's humorous and tragic at the same time to watch Flo's rather crass, vulgar self take shape within these pages. If you're ever in the mood to read something so bad that it's absolutely brilliant, this is the book. Major kudos to Spurl for putting it back into print, and major thanks to Eva for my copy.

http://www.nonfictionrealstuff.com/20...

[Valerity (Val) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A vintage paperback about a girl of 15 who gets swept up in a romance with the actor Erroll Flynn (48), yet written by her mother Mrs. Florence Aadland, and mom's writer Tedd Thomey in 1986. Flynn was apparently known for having a thirst for young girls, and this was just another adventure for him. The mother claims her daughter was pure before meeting Flynn, and that it was a real love between the two, and a serious romance. He was married at the time to Patrice Wymore, though seemingly estranged. She also adds a lot of mystical stuff about her daughter being super special, preordained for fame and fortune, and that many other people with highly tuned senses could tell this about her too. Gets to be a bit much, despite her admission that she's obviously prejudiced in her daughter's favor. Goes on and on about all of her daughter Beverly's talents (modeling, singing, dancing) and remarkable milestones (ad nauseum) at times, but seemingly convinced. Interesting to read about the "busybodies" that constantly annoyed them and were ill informed about the facts, she claims.

Beverly and Errol Flynn dated more than 2 years, becoming engaged when she turned 17. But he died of a heart attack in 1959, never having signed the living will he had recently dictated to Beverly, and she didn't inherit, despite his wishes for her to be taken care of.

I found a rather tawdry article that covers the whole affair of the pair, giving a different slant on things here: http://flashbak.com/the-death-of-erro...

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read this after seeing "The Last Days of Robin Hood" with Kevin Kline. I wasn't sure whether to give it 1 star for horrendous motherhood, or 4 stars for "guilty pleasure" entertainment value, so I settled on 3.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

hovering around a 4.5, the official rating is 4 since its intrigue lies more in the story than in the writing (though i have to imagine editing aadland's memories into a coherent narrative was a feat and this deserves a lot of credit).

[Kat Gumina · Rating 3 out of 5]

ew gross bad mom. made my skin crawl

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's an interesting back story about the writing of The Big Love. The agent Scott Meredith supplied the writer Tedd Thomey to take down Florence Aadland's story of her fifteen-year-old daughter Beverly's romance with Errol Flynn in the last two years of his life. It is a sort of sequel to Flynn's My Wicked Wicked Ways, picking up where that book leaves off.

Thomey complained to Meredith that Florence Aadland was a crazy alcoholic and that it would be impossible to put together a cohesive book about her daughter's affair. Meredith finally talked Thomey into finishing the project by goading him into rising to the challenge.

In a contemporary review of the book for Esquire in 1961, author William Styron praised Tedd Thomey for capturing the essence of Florence Aadland bombastic personal style in relating the story, implying, rightfully that it probably was no small task. Because of Styron's review the book quickly achieved cult status.

The book was republished by Warner Books in 1986 with an introduction by Styron in which he expanded on his original Esquire review. In 1991, Tracey Ullman starred in a play titled the Big Love, based on the book. In 2013, a movie also based on the book, The Last of Robin Hood, starred Kevin Kline as Flynn, Dakota Fanning as Beverly and Susan Sarandon as her alcoholic mother.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

If anyone deserves credit for this book, it’s Tedd Thomey, the ghostwriter behind the voice of Mrs Florence Aadland, the memoir’s putative author. Think late-career Shelly Winters with that brassy Brooklynese accent barking away in perfect obliviousness to the horrors she routine spews. That the book has a coherent narrative flow must also be due to him, since anyone so self-obsessed and reality-shy can hardly be expected to plot out anything. If it helps, imagine the book being told by Trump’s mother.

Most people now probably neither know nor care who Errol Flynn was, so the only point in now reading “The Big Love” is as a document—a testimony sans mea culpa—of wanton child abuse. That is, “The Big Love” records the affair between Aadland’s 15-year-old daughter and the married, 50-year-old Flynn. The book is “enjoyable” to the extent that manipulation, self-deceit, and rape are ever funny. For social workers and psychologists, the book is probably an animated version of the DSM-V.

[Rex Hurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the book is credited to Mrs. Florence Aadland, it was ghost written by Tedd Thomey, who did most of the work, and complained that it was a nearly impossible task because Mrs. Aadland was a hopeless alcoholic. This was also written without the consent of her daughter, Beverly Aadland, who had an affair with Errol Flynn which lasted the two final years of his life. Mrs. Aadland had her parental rights terminated after her daughter shot a boyfriend in the head.

This work does not give any sense of this at all. Reading the words directed by Mrs. Aadland, she was a perfect mother, worried about her daughter's career; her daughter and Errol were deeply in love - which was probably true; and she didn't care a bit about herself, only her daughter - which might not be true. I'm sure many of the hard facts about this story are true, times and locations, but the tone they are presented are open to suspect. Additionally, many of the stories in here were supposedly related to her by her daughter, so they might be fictional entirely.

All in all though, it is a fun, easy read and an interesting look into the other side of Flynn's life. Those who enjoy it might also want to pick up a copy of his Errol Flynn's autobiography My Wicked, Wicked Ways. This book almost acts as a coda to it.

[Mark Morey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written shortly after Errol Flynn died and his 'Little Companion' Beverly Aadland was put into protective custody over another matter, this memoir overlaps with a later memoir by Errol Flynn's ghostwriter, Earl Conrad. A lot of what Florence recounted and Tedd Thomey fashioned into a memoir does ring true, Errol Flynn was charismatic, even magnetic, and Beverly genuinely loved him, and Flynn loved her. Despite his partying reputation, Flynn preferred the company of a few close friends, and he was more intellectual than most would have realised. In other parts of The Big Love, Florence could be trying to justify her involvement in this under-age relationship, so her version of Errol Flynn's behaviour and his relationship with Beverly is a little different to that of Earl Conrad, but not significantly so.

Despite happening many years ago and despite not so many people knowing about past Hollywood star Errol Flynn, The Big Love is a fascinating tale of a relationship that was most unlikely but actually happened.

[Vultural · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aadland, Florence - The Big Love

Part tell-all slice, part defensive explanation.
Mrs Aadland recounts daughter Beverly’s years as Errol Flynn’s final girlfriend.
Wide-eyed gullible (Mr Flynn drank? Did drugs?), yet also calculated (Beverly will be the next Mrs Flynn).
Popular in its day and critically well received, Aadland’s memoir is OP on and off.
I had sought this on and off for years, and after watching the recent Kevin Kline film searched harder.
Will interest Flynn fans, although the film used this book as a template and will be easier for most to find.

[Lance Grabmiller · Rating 1 out of 5]

The love affair between a 50 year old Errol Flynn and 15 year old Beverly Aadland as told by her mother. Mostly a long litany of half truths and excuses for everyones bad behavior with lots of complaints. Basically an extended tabloid piece.

[Aidan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely unhinged.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow!!!!! What a blazing mess.

[Divya Dhulipala · Rating 5 out of 5]

insane; couldn’t put it down

[rejectedcircle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a good unreliable narrator

[Reace Pudvah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars.