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835 reviews for:
The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick
Mallory O'Meara
4.11 AVERAGE
835 reviews for:
The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick
Mallory O'Meara
4.11 AVERAGE
After reading [b:She Said|44767249|She Said Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement|Jodi Kantor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1560255538l/44767249._SY75_.jpg|69397793] and [b:Catch and Kill|46650277|Catch and Kill Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators|Ronan Farrow|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1570798239l/46650277._SY75_.jpg|72177046], this surprised me by being the perfect companion to make a full book flight. In addition to being a great story about two badass women (Milicent Patrick, but also the author), it really digs into the sexism and misogyny of early Hollywood. It was excellent on audio, read by the author.
This is not your dad's biography. Well, maybe you have a cool horror movie loving dad and it is your dad's biography, I don't know your life. (I have more of a purposefully boringly narrated audio biography kind of dad, but that's just me.) The weaving together of Patrick's life, statistics and snapshots of current Hollywood culture, and the author's life and work on the book's production was very well done. In that respect, it reminded me somewhat of I'll Be Gone in the Dark, though significantly funnier and less terrifying. There were points where I wished that the book seemed a bit more strongly grounded in sources, particularly during the speculation into people's moods, responses, or states of mind. and especially at the beginning of the book I found myself wondering if perhaps material on the actual subject was so thin that the book needed to be rounded out with lengthy passages about the lives of other individuals like William Randolph Hearst (I've experienced both of these feelings while reading other biographies) but O'Meara's passion for the book and her persistence in her research was clear and compelling.
Great book. I’m not a horror fan at all and I was fascinated and inspired. If you ARE a horror fan, this is a must read.
I absolutely loved this! I kept thinking of it as the Julie and Julia for monster fans book. Learning about Milicent Patrick was wonderful, but I also loved hearing about the author's life as well. I'd never seen Creature From The Black Lagoon before reading it, and her love for the creature had me running out to rent it. Recommended.
This book is incredibly timely and sits at the intersection of the #MeToo movement and a constant search for previously unknown women role models. In the vein of "Hidden Figures" and "The Radium Girls," "The Lady from the Black Lagoon" not only seeks out the story of Milicent Patrick, but succinctly and provocatively answers the age-old and tiresome question, "Why should I care?"
I will disclose, I have never seen either "The Creature from the Black Lagoon" nor any part of California; however, I did not need to have that experience in order to enjoy this book. The author expertly transports you into the world of monsters and sunshine, terror and palm trees, that was Universal Studios in the 50s.
Alternating between personal stories from the author and unearthed details of Patrick's life, this story kept me interested and lead me through a rollercoaster of emotions. This isn't just the story of Milicent Patrick or Mallory O'Meara. This is the story of many women in many fields who find themselves at the mercy of men with egos.
A few things that caught me off guard; the author writes very much like she speaks, which makes the book feel like she's talking to you. A friend of mine actually purchased the audiobook since the author herself reads it, and I'm looking forward to hearing how my friend liked it!
The other thing is that a lot of the endnotes lead to witty and very relevant comments. In my (very limited) experience footnotes are used for citing sources and not for this, so it was mildly confusing for a moment. The sources are all listed at the end of the book, so never fear! They are there.
A couple of times I did get a little bit of whiplash between topics, but overall that did not impact my enjoyment of the book. I felt like the style of the book, including the language that was used, was very casual and informal, so the conversational tone fit thematically. It's something to be aware of if you aren't familiar with the author.
All in all, I would highly recommend this book and am thrilled it exists.
I will disclose, I have never seen either "The Creature from the Black Lagoon" nor any part of California; however, I did not need to have that experience in order to enjoy this book. The author expertly transports you into the world of monsters and sunshine, terror and palm trees, that was Universal Studios in the 50s.
Alternating between personal stories from the author and unearthed details of Patrick's life, this story kept me interested and lead me through a rollercoaster of emotions. This isn't just the story of Milicent Patrick or Mallory O'Meara. This is the story of many women in many fields who find themselves at the mercy of men with egos.
A few things that caught me off guard; the author writes very much like she speaks, which makes the book feel like she's talking to you. A friend of mine actually purchased the audiobook since the author herself reads it, and I'm looking forward to hearing how my friend liked it!
The other thing is that a lot of the endnotes lead to witty and very relevant comments. In my (very limited) experience footnotes are used for citing sources and not for this, so it was mildly confusing for a moment. The sources are all listed at the end of the book, so never fear! They are there.
A couple of times I did get a little bit of whiplash between topics, but overall that did not impact my enjoyment of the book. I felt like the style of the book, including the language that was used, was very casual and informal, so the conversational tone fit thematically. It's something to be aware of if you aren't familiar with the author.
All in all, I would highly recommend this book and am thrilled it exists.
A solid 3.75 star read.
If behind the scenes Hollywood in the 1940s – 1950s is in your wheelhouse, this is the book for you. This is a quick and interesting read that tackles the big question of whose stories get to be told and passed down.
More often than not the contributions of women, people of color, and anyone who does not fit the mold of the white, hetero male power elite go unrecognized. Mallory O’Meara is here to challenge the status quo of Hollywood story-telling.
O’Meara’s quest to uncover the truth about Milicent Patrick, and her contribution to the design of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, is a personal one, she even has a tattoo to prove it. Lots of great insight into the inner-workings of Hollywood as well as the day-to-day reality of a glamorous woman just trying to live her dream in the 1950s (spoiler alert: your family will probably reject you).
Highly-recommend to anyone looking for a unique take on female empowerment amid the legendary Universal monster movie culture.
P.S. For all you podcast bookworms, O'Meara is the cohost of Reading Glasses.
If behind the scenes Hollywood in the 1940s – 1950s is in your wheelhouse, this is the book for you. This is a quick and interesting read that tackles the big question of whose stories get to be told and passed down.
More often than not the contributions of women, people of color, and anyone who does not fit the mold of the white, hetero male power elite go unrecognized. Mallory O’Meara is here to challenge the status quo of Hollywood story-telling.
O’Meara’s quest to uncover the truth about Milicent Patrick, and her contribution to the design of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, is a personal one, she even has a tattoo to prove it. Lots of great insight into the inner-workings of Hollywood as well as the day-to-day reality of a glamorous woman just trying to live her dream in the 1950s (spoiler alert: your family will probably reject you).
Highly-recommend to anyone looking for a unique take on female empowerment amid the legendary Universal monster movie culture.
P.S. For all you podcast bookworms, O'Meara is the cohost of Reading Glasses.
Despite the vast amount of time Mallory O'Meara spends telling us how much research and looking for Millicent that she did I learned very little from this book that I couldn't have learned from the blurb.
#bookclub4m non-fiction entertainment industry genre book 2
This was so much fun to read. It's not just an informative, affecting account of a little known creative person's life. It's also a paean to fandom in genre film like horror films, and a stump post to why allowing sexism to run wild in any industry destroys what women bring to the table to protect male egos and leaves us all poorer for it (can you imagine what we could have had if not for winey-man-babies with too much power????) Also I need to watch The Shape of Water now.
This was so much fun to read. It's not just an informative, affecting account of a little known creative person's life. It's also a paean to fandom in genre film like horror films, and a stump post to why allowing sexism to run wild in any industry destroys what women bring to the table to protect male egos and leaves us all poorer for it (can you imagine what we could have had if not for winey-man-babies with too much power????) Also I need to watch The Shape of Water now.
This is a wonderful book. Yes, it's not ONLY about Milicent Patrick, but that's a good thing. It's actually three braided stories - Milicent Patrick's story; Mallory O'Meara's story of trying to find Patrick; and O'Meara's story of her modern-day relationship with Patrick as two women in the entertainment field. And it's the last which, in my opinion, is the most important.
What O'Meara does is take Patrick's life and uses it as a lens through which to view her own life and career as a woman monster fanatic in Hollywood. And not only does she it honestly, she is self-reflexive about it - commenting on her process as she takes us, the reader, through it.
In the end, what we get is an indictment of the patriarchy of Hollywood, then and now, alongside the biographies of two remarkable women.
Interestingly, I also think this might be the definition of "everyone has a book in them." While I'd be interested to see what, if anything, O'Meara does next, part of what makes this book work is the particular passion of tracking down Patrick and understanding the effect of Patrick on O'Meara's own life. I'm not sure that energy could be captured in pursuit of any random subject. Instead, I'm going to seek out the films which O'Meara is creating and enjoy them immensely!
What O'Meara does is take Patrick's life and uses it as a lens through which to view her own life and career as a woman monster fanatic in Hollywood. And not only does she it honestly, she is self-reflexive about it - commenting on her process as she takes us, the reader, through it.
In the end, what we get is an indictment of the patriarchy of Hollywood, then and now, alongside the biographies of two remarkable women.
Interestingly, I also think this might be the definition of "everyone has a book in them." While I'd be interested to see what, if anything, O'Meara does next, part of what makes this book work is the particular passion of tracking down Patrick and understanding the effect of Patrick on O'Meara's own life. I'm not sure that energy could be captured in pursuit of any random subject. Instead, I'm going to seek out the films which O'Meara is creating and enjoy them immensely!