Mrs. Mike - A Lingering Mystery, Selling A Love Story, A Surprise Lawsuit

The real-life love story of Katherine Mary O'Fallon Flannigan and Sgt. Mike Flannigan was brought vividly to life in Benedict and Nancy Freedman's Mrs. Mike. Like countless others, I was enthralled and inspired by the love Kathy and Mike shared, the adventures they experienced, and the tragedies they suffered.

Every time I reread the book, it left me with a hunger for more information about the couple. What did they look like? Did they raise the children they adopted? Daggone it, did they live happily ever after?

It wasn't until 2008, after stumbling across an excellent article written by Peggy Orenstein, that I learned a portion of the truth behind the fiction the Freedmans had crafted in telling the story of Kathy and Mike (Peggy's article appears in the June 2008 archives on this blog, for those that haven't read it yet).

This morning, after waking early, and on the heels of my yearly reread of Mrs. Mike, I again took to Google to search for more information. The Turner Classic Movie website revealed a surprising tidbit about the elusive Kathy Flannigan.

According to Daily Variety writer Virginia Wright, in her May 17, 1947 column, Kathy traveled to Hollywood in 1945, met with agent Laura Wilk, and submitted a story about her life with Mike. Ms. Wilk declined the story, but felt it had potential. She then introduced Kathy to Benedict and Nancy Freedman. Mrs. Mike was subsequently published in 1947. The book was also serialized in the Atlantic Monthly between February and April of 1947.

In 1949, Mrs. Mike was made into a movie. Loosely based upon the Freedman's book, the movie paired Dick Powell as Mike and Evelyn Keyes as Kathy. It is, to use an antiquated phrase, a penny dreadful, and not worth the time it takes to watch.

In 1951, Kathy filed a lawsuit against the producers of the movie and the Freedmans for $25,000, seeking the unpaid balance for the rights to her story. On July 23, 1951, the suit was dropped. The determination was that only the Freedmans were contractually bound to Kathy Flannigan, not the producers of the film. Whether the Freedmans and Kathy reached any financial settlement is unknown.

Kathy Flannigan died in 1954. Nancy Freedman died in 2010, at the age of 90. Their brief collaboration resulted in a book that is cherished by many to this day. Little did feisty Kathy know that her love story would continue to inspire and intrigue millions.

Mrs. Mike ends with Mike and Kathy rebuilding their family with the adoption of three children. Many years ago, their adoption story inspired an eight-year-old that was reading the book for the first time. She announced to her mother that that this was the best book she had ever read, and that, someday, she was going to adopt a baby "just like Kathy."

That eight-year-old is now a middle-aged woman - me. I learned that the three children adopted by Mike and Kathy were invented by the Freedmans as they embellished Kathy and Mike's story. In reality, Mike and Kathy adopted one other child, and it's unknown if the child survived to adulthood. But, inspired by Kathy and Mike, I kept my long-ago promise, and adopted my daughter 12 years ago.

My daughter has not yet read Mrs. Mike, being caught up in all things Twilight and Harry Potter. But she will. In the meantime, I will continue to search for the true Kathy Flannigan and Sgt. Mike.