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836 reviews for:
The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick
Mallory O'Meara
4.11 AVERAGE
836 reviews for:
The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick
Mallory O'Meara
4.11 AVERAGE
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
This was soooo amazing, and right up my alley! It’s inspiring me to read more biography and more nonfiction. I also adored Susan Orlean’s The Library Book, so I think I just love nonfiction set in 20th century LA. The focus of this book is on the artist who created and designed the monster in Creature from the Black Lagoon. For decades, her work has gone uncredited, for a whole host of reasons that O’Meara explores. This alone was a fascinating tale of Old Hollywood, but this book is so much more than that. Milicent Patrick’s life is such an amazing story! Her history touches on the creation of Hearst Castle and Julia Morgan’s architecture, the early animation days of Disney, and of course, the legendary monster movies from Universal. If you love California history, this is a must read! I really enjoyed how O’Meara tells Milicent’s story alongside how she discovered these facts. As a lover of research, this was so fun. O’Meara also uses her own life as material, especially where it mirrors Milicent Patrick’s. At the heart of this is an important discussion of Hollywood’s sexist roots, and how this disease is still infecting the entertainment industry today. This book comes at the perfect time in the Me Too movement. I can’t wait to read her next book on the background of women making and participating in the alcohol industry!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Suicide, Medical content
Minor: Body shaming, Infertility, Terminal illness, Death of parent
A note to the author - thank you for opening my eyes to the brilliance of Milicent Patrick! She was an artist way ahead of her time and a fashion icon. Without this book, I would have likely never in a million years learned about this kick ass woman. And now, I’m casually throwing out trivia about her to anyone who will listen. Bonus points because I get to discuss this one with my book club next week! Also got to check off one genre for the Omaha Public Library reading challenge - Read a book by or about a person you’d like to meet (which in this case is both Milicent AND Mallory!)
Beautifully written and researched, O'Meara weaves her own story as a woman in movies and as a researcher with Milicent Patrick's life in a way that is accessible, endearing, empathetic. This book adds another layer of understanding during the #MeToo era.
the woman behind this story was incredible and this book had some TREMENDOUS high points, in uncovering milicent patrick's life and also conceptualizing her impact. however, it largely felt like being beat over the head by one of those YOU HAVE TO READ THIS twitter threads, so I really didn't enjoy it as much as I should have.
Very interesting story. Entertaining enough but a bit longwinded, and I wasn’t really feeling the writing at times personally. Loved how the author addressed some other themes as well with current day parallels; the intersectionality for example. I was glad to at least see that see that recognised.
I was completely sucked in by this and I have to say that I know NOTHING about the film business or this era of Hollywood. That said, I was still whipping along, totally interested in Patrick's life. I took a night off from reading to watch Creature from the Black Lagoon.
This was pretty great. Shout outs to the librarians and archivists who were able to help O'Meara with her difficult research!
This was pretty great. Shout outs to the librarians and archivists who were able to help O'Meara with her difficult research!
Loved this look behind the scenes of one of my favorite monster movies and the forgotten genius behind the Creature's visual creation, and the research junkie in me enjoyed reading the search to uncover her story just as much. Part showbiz bio, part detective story, all hear and passion.
Informative. Personal. Historic. Creative. Socially conscious. Narrative nonfiction at its best.
It's a bit too 'folksy conversational' for my taste. Though I do enjoy reading about the author's process and even some of the personally-coloured connective tissue, commentary on Milicent's life (especially when it's speculative) pulls you out of the narrative too often, and feels overdone especially when commenting on the personal lives of ancillary characters.
But Milicent's journey is fascinating, and that other influences on her life and work - from women artist pioneers to Disney himself - are explored adds quite a bit of value.
But Milicent's journey is fascinating, and that other influences on her life and work - from women artist pioneers to Disney himself - are explored adds quite a bit of value.
This was like a biography and a detective story all at once. And it's... I can feel the love, the admiration, just all the emotion from Mallory. It's clear she cares so much about getting Milicent's story told. It's a story that should be told. Milicent did not get the credit she should have, and in fact was actively kept from getting credit for her talent. She broke a lot of ground, too, more than once being the only woman in the room working along with the guys. And her personal life is covered too, from childhood to death, as best as could be managed. But like I said, there's more than a biography here. We get Mallory's journey too. Her love of horror films, how Milicent had been such an influence on her, things she has had to endure as a woman in the field, and how much digging she had to do to find out enough to write this book. By the time I finished this book, I cared so much about Milicent. I felt emotionally invested in this woman, one I had never heard of before I picked up the book. This needed to be told and Mallory did an amazing job.