The Lady From The Black Lagoon by Mallory O'Meara

The Lady From The Black Lagoon is a unique biography about the woman who created the iconic horror movie monster The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

I might have called this biography The Creature With Too Many Hands, because on one hand, it's an invaluable story of a female artist working in the man's world of art and design in 1940's Hollywood - but on the other hand it's about the writer Mallory O'Meara and her present day struggles as a film producer - on another hand, it's the story of Hollywood itself, branching off into the background of William Hearst and the massive mansion he built (Milicent's father was one of the designers) - and on another hand it takes every opportunity to make a sharp point about the current #MeToo movement and the inequities of show business. There is a lot going on in this book, and at times Milicent gets shuffled to the side, but i'll add another hand to pat Mallory on the back, as she obviously spent a lot of time in the daunting task of researching Milicent, who for all her accomplishments left very little to work with.

Milicent Patrick lead a fascinating life with several marriages and an over the top lifestyle, and the biography works best when she's the focus. Starting as a model, she worked her way into bit parts in movies. Her talent for drawing lead her into art and animation, being chosen by Walt Disney as one of his first female animators, working on Fantasia. Universal hired her (the first woman ever to work in a special effects make up department), where from a very basic outline such as 'fish man' or 'a horrible creature', she designed the monster - not applying the make up, but creating the designs the sculptors and make up artists would bring to life. Many of her other designs influenced monster and sci-fi pictures for years to come. At Universal, the head of the department naturally took credit for the team, and Milicent was not singled out. For a film lover, the most interesting part of this book details the conception and aspects of producing this classic film. O'Meara uses this backdrop to interject her views on women in film and how, then as now, they are dismissed by men and their ideas uncredited. Women have always been a vital part of filmmaking, but placing todays views of equality on the system of yesterday seems incongruous. Her points on the misogynistic attitudes of some men are valid but I found her obvious venom in calling them malicious jerks and scum buckets lowers the tone of the book ("the thing you need to know about Bud Westmore is that he was a dick.") You can see her making a jerk-off motion with her hand whenever a man enters the picture, especially in her gleeful description of the dysfunctional history and eventual downfall of department head Bud Westmore and his family.

O'Meara spends as much time detailing the lives of the people circling around as she does Milicent which makes interesting background to pad out the early days. Although relevant, interspersing the author's own struggles in show business took me away from her biography, as did her clear vitriol towards male supremacy - something Milicent had to deal with but O'Meara is noxious about. Still, she is passionate about her subject and with this biography solidified her contributions in film history.

Mixed feelings about this one; but with an exceptional cover illustration that would thrill Milicent.

2019 / Hardcover / 330 pages