The Last of Robin Hood Page #4

- What?

- It's the way he wants it.

That may be the way he wants it, but that

doesn't mean that's what he's going to get.

Mom, come on.

He's Errol Flynn.

- You better not say anything.

- Don't tell me what to do. I trusted you.

- Mom, don't embarrass me.

- Just stop whining.

- Yes.

- Yes, we are here to see Mr. Errol Flynn.

It was leaving for Hong Kong.

So, we got on it...

- Hi, how are you?

- Good.

Woodsey.

- Everyone, may I have your attention.

- May I take your coat?

I wish to present the marvelous

Mrs. Florence Aadland

and her exquisite daughter, Beverly.

It's their first time in New York.

- So I hope you give them a warm welcome.

- Welcome.

- Hello, Beverly.

- Hello.

- Oh, God, I missed you.

- I missed you.

- Thank God you're here.

- I'll put these in the closet, ma'am.

- Hey, there, I'm John Ireland.

- The actor?

Yes, indeed.

Your daughter's very lovely.

Yes, thank you.

Hello, Florence. I know.

I know you're angry with me

and you have every reason to be.

- I am the devil incarnate.

- I could have you thrown in jail.

- Please, don't joke about this.

- I'm not joking. You lied to me.

You blatantly lied to me, to my face

about what you were up to with my baby.

I thought it was perfectly obvious.

What did you want me to say?

That I was in over my head

with your daughter?

Your beautiful clever daughter.

Whom you've groomed so carefully

- to seem older than her years?

- Oh, now, I'm the one to blame?

No. No. No. No more than I am.

But, if I deceived you

you deceive me as well,

not to mention the rest of Hollywood.

Florence.

I love Beverly as much as

I've ever loved anyone.

And for some reason she loves me,

really loves me.

So, please, try to find it in your heart

to forgive me for both our sakes.

And I think if you'll admit it, you always

knew what was going on, didn't you?

All right, what are you

love birds doing in here?

- I'm sorry.

- No, no, we're just, catching up.

Right, Flo?

So here we are. Enough for everyone.

Seeing them together again

I realized that it was a love match.

I saw that he genuinely

cared for her, very much,

but as I turned it over and over in my mind

I realized it could go either way.

The liaison with Errol could be

very good for Beverly's career,

but it could also be a disaster.

They weren't married after all, and if

the press realized what was going on,

it would be a page one scandal.

I knew we were playing

with dynamite here

and it all had to be handled

very carefully.

I didn't want our lives turning

from an A picture into a B movie.

Look darling, Dag Hammarskjld,

he's a great man.

- You know who he is?

- Yes.

Who is he?

He works at the United Nations,

he's like a secretary.

- Yes, secretary-general to be precise.

- Yeah.

I am going to get you a tutor

while you're here.

- No, tutors are boring.

- Well...

I like things just the way they are.

Well, I'm gonna get you some

decent books to read at any rate.

Something with a little more

literary merit than the funnies.

Oh, no, come on, don't spoil it.

It's the most fun I've ever had.

Really, you don't miss

Los Angeles, your friends?

No. I'm like a windup toy there.

Go to this audition, go to this dance class,

go to this voice coach...

- Do you even like show business?

- Yes.

- Really?

- Kind of. It's fun.

There sure are a lot of

swelled heads around though.

You might say that.

What I really want

is to just be with you,

and do fun things

and go out and stay in.

And just be free for once in my life.

You examine me, Miss Eyre.

- You think me handsome?

- No, sir.

By my word,

there is something singular about you.

When one asks you

a question you... you...

You rap out a round rejoinder,

which if not blunt, is at least brusque.

Sir, I beg your pardon,

I spoke too plain.

I ought to have replied that beauty

is of little consequence,

or something of the sort.

You ought to have replied no such thing.

Beauty of little consequence, indeed.

Indeed. Indeed.

And so, under the pretense of softening,

your previous outrage now,

you stick a penknife under my ear.

What fault do you find with me, pray?

I can't believe it.

- Who does this clown think he is?

- I told you not to read that.

They never ever a kind word, if they did,

they probably misspell it.

Goes after the actress, too.

You should have used Bev.

Well, I had a really

disastrous day myself.

I'm sorry, what happened?

I got a letter from Bev's father

asking me for a divorce.

- And he's not giving us a penny.

- Oh, that's terrible.

- I'm so sorry.

- Yeah.

You know, I was mad for that man.

I met him when he was the bartender

at the Roosevelt Hotel.

I was a waitress working for tips and

going up for auditions whenever I could.

- You were an actress?

- No, I was a dancer.

And not half bad, actually.

I got a callback

for a Fred and Ginger movie.

- Really?

- Yes.

One night after work

we were going up Highway 1,

to this little beach

that we liked and, oh,

we'd been drinking,

and Herb took a turn too quickly

and the next thing I knew,

I was in the hospital

and the doctor was telling me

that he'd taken off my leg.

Poor thing.

That's awful.

But when Bev was born,

she was such a special child,

and I felt as if she had been

given to me to make up for my leg.

- Of course.

- It was as if it had been pre-ordained.

Everything that has gone on

has felt as if it was...

pre-ordained.

You've done a marvelous job

raising Woodsey.

No, no, you are a superb mother.

- Thank you. I tried.

- Yeah.

My own mother was a class A c*nt.

- Errol. Oh.

- Oh, no, no.

She did despicable things

to me and to my father.

Destructive woman.

Yeah, I'm sure Mr. Freud would say that

she had a large hand in shaping my

distinctive attitude toward women.

But you're a gentleman among gentlemen.

Florence, I am and always will be,

quite literally, an absolute son of a b*tch.

- Cheers.

- And you know it. Cheers.

- To hell of a day.

- To hell of a day.

- So, what happened next?

- Well, then after the play closed,

Errol's luck changed and he got a call

from the top director, John Huston,

who asked him to be in his new film,

The Roots of Heaven

and that starred Juliette Grco

and Orson Welles.

The only bad thing was

that it was in Africa.

Woodsey, it's incredible to me

that love would exist

between a man my age and one so young.

But I do so want to believe that you mean

what you've been writing to me.

It might seem unbelievable

that a man as masculine as Errol

would weep while writing a love letter,

but there's no doubt that he did.

Beverly loved those letters,

they were the only thing

that kept her going with him away.

But afterwards,

she just missed him more.

And then something happened

that took us both by surprise,

Errol landed a part for Bev in the film,

but it turned out,

that old fox had a trick up his sleeve.

- I'm sorry, no.

- Mom, come on.

It will be a cold day in hell

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