Conrad, Earl (Flynn, Errol)

Errol Flynn: A Memoir

ISBN: 0396075029
New York, NY: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1978. First Printing. Hardcover. "Errol Flynn, the magnificent physical specimen who made fifty-six films, had a little conscience about what people thought of him. But precious little. "My job is to defy the normal," he proclaimed. Earl Conrad, the man who wrote Flynn's famed autobiography MY WICKED, WICKED WAYS, recounts here how the actor defied the normal during the last year of his life, when they were working together on the book. In three rollicking months in Jamaica, where WICKED WAYS was born, Conrad watched the antics, pranks, deviltries, and plain damn wickedness of hedonist Flynn." (from front flap) A memoir of the last year in the life of Errol Flynn (1909-1959), the iconically suave, swashbuckling Australian-American movie star who bestrode the Golden Age of Hollywood, by Earl Conrad (1906-1986), the acclaimed & prolific American biographer, ghost writer, historian & critic. As noted above, Conrad ghost-wrote Flynn's popular autobiography, My Wicked, Wicked Ways, which was published shortly after the actor's death in 1959. In this memoir, Conrad recounts Flynn's real-life misadventures during the final, perhaps wildest year of his legendarily wild life- far stranger than even the fictional characters he portrayed. Here we have the first edition of Conrad's tell-all of a tell-all, so to speak, hardcover in unclipped first-issue dust jacket (with $8.95 price printed on front flap), first printing as indicated by number sequence on copyright page. With a section of captioned historical photographs. A collectible Flynn-related account in its rarest original form; a very entertaining albeit disturbing, indeed "rollicking" "...portrait of the last year in the life of a surprisingly complex man, a funny, sad profile of a legendary figure trying to live and die at the same time." (from front flap) Book in very fine condition with only a bit of wear & a few tiny bumps at edges & corners of orange cloth front, back covers & spine; mild browning to upper edge of text block. Interior very fine with only mild browning, occasional spotting mostly at margins/edges of blank white paste-downs & endpapers; tiny bumps & small, faint creases at upper corners of some page leaves. Dust jacket near-fine with mild rubbing, browning & scratching to front, back covers, spine & flaps; mild wear & some tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same incl. one very short, closed tear at lower spine/ front cover corner. Very Fine / Near Fine. [Item #5498]

Price: $30.00