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The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by
annamickreads's review against another edition
5.0
I have never been more psyched to read a biography!
Milicent Patrick's life was deeply fascinating, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about film history and women's history. Admittedly, sometimes the casual narration bothered me, but I think because many details of Milicent's life were so scarce, it makes sense to juxtapose the author's life with Milicent's, especially because they were both involved in the same field but different roles (O'Meara works in the film industry specifically as a producer in the horror genre!).
Zippy and insightful, I really hope that in the future we get more biographies about women in the early days of the film industry because it's clear based on Milicent's story alone that there are more stories that need to be told.
Milicent Patrick's life was deeply fascinating, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about film history and women's history. Admittedly, sometimes the casual narration bothered me, but I think because many details of Milicent's life were so scarce, it makes sense to juxtapose the author's life with Milicent's, especially because they were both involved in the same field but different roles (O'Meara works in the film industry specifically as a producer in the horror genre!).
Zippy and insightful, I really hope that in the future we get more biographies about women in the early days of the film industry because it's clear based on Milicent's story alone that there are more stories that need to be told.
roseleaf24's review against another edition
3.0
The story of Milicent Patrick is fascinating. She was the designer of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but in a time of many uncredited workers in the movie industry, the head of the makeup department took all the credit for her work. What she faced working in the movie industry and in a creative career in the 50s and 60s is similar to many of the problems still facing women in creative production fields today. O'Meara is an engaging writer who showed the struggles she faced in her research and connected that to the full unveiling of Patrick's story. I appreciated the connections to the struggles O'Meara has faced, as well, but over a page in each chapter of the author's thoughts about this was a bit much. I wanted the focus to remain more on Patrick, and I also thought the author did a bit too much conjecture as to how Patrick must have felt about various aspects of her life.
pbraue13's review against another edition
5.0
A wonderful exploration of a woman not many people know about, but should! One of the first women to work for Disney and the designer of "The Creature of the Black Lagoon" (among other cool things), Milicent Patrick is and was a woman ahead of her time and it was so nice to see Mallory O'Meara's relationship with MP grow as she journeyed to find out more about her and what happened to her. A great story and a wonderful life.
tricapra's review against another edition
5.0
Mere minutes have passed since I finished this book, and I have already posted about it on every form of social media available to me. I have texted multiple friends about it. I will sing the praises of this book until my friends and family beg me to stop, and then I will probably continue on.
Mallory O'Meara spent 3 years unearthing the (purposefully) hidden history of Milicent Patrick: the artist, designer, and "knockout" who created my absolute favorite Universal Monster, "The Creature." She was one of the first female animators to work at Disney, and the only woman to create a Universal Classic Monster. But she was so much more, and O'Meara makes the reader feel like we were "in" on all these discoveries. O'Meara's journey and conversational tone really make this novel shine; if you grew up as a weird girl or female-identified person interested in horror, it will feel like looking into a mirror. O'Meara is funny, honest, sometimes crass, but always relatable.
I knew from the jump that I would love Milicent Patrick, even though I didn't know it then, her designs had played such an important role in my childhood. I LOVED these monsters growing up, and to find out the story of the woman behind them is invigorating. But what really caught me off guard is how much I came to love Mallory O'Meara. Her passion and her anger are so relatable, so endearing, and so familiar. I'm so grateful for the work she did to make this book happen, and I'm beyond excited to see what she will do next.
Mallory O'Meara spent 3 years unearthing the (purposefully) hidden history of Milicent Patrick: the artist, designer, and "knockout" who created my absolute favorite Universal Monster, "The Creature." She was one of the first female animators to work at Disney, and the only woman to create a Universal Classic Monster. But she was so much more, and O'Meara makes the reader feel like we were "in" on all these discoveries. O'Meara's journey and conversational tone really make this novel shine; if you grew up as a weird girl or female-identified person interested in horror, it will feel like looking into a mirror. O'Meara is funny, honest, sometimes crass, but always relatable.
I knew from the jump that I would love Milicent Patrick, even though I didn't know it then, her designs had played such an important role in my childhood. I LOVED these monsters growing up, and to find out the story of the woman behind them is invigorating. But what really caught me off guard is how much I came to love Mallory O'Meara. Her passion and her anger are so relatable, so endearing, and so familiar. I'm so grateful for the work she did to make this book happen, and I'm beyond excited to see what she will do next.
khuizenga's review against another edition
3.0
An easy to read, chatty sounding book about sexism in Hollywood framed around Millicent Patrick. This is one woman’s passion project, and I was glad to have learned about Millicent through this book, but it was hard for the author to track down details and it kind of shows. I left feeling like I still knew very little about Millicent, especially about who she was as a person. A bit surface level, but an interesting enough read anyway.