![]() Thanks to her persistent efforts, “The Lady From the Black Lagoon” pulls Milicent Patrick and her considerable accomplishments out of the murky swamp of overlooked history and back into the light. (Without giving too much away, sometimes the monsters behind the scenes are worse than the ones stomping around on the screen.)ĭespite the disjointed narrative, O’Meara achieves her goal. ![]() ![]() O’Meara freely admits early on that she’s not an experienced or even objective biographer, and her infectious enthusiasm for her subject may hook similarly curious readers wondering whatever became of the Creature’s creator. However, the book’s meandering path should not come as a surprise. The text is also peppered with occasional dashes of gossipy Hollywood history, seething rage over the way women are still treated in the industry, moviemaker tidbits and thoughtful observations on the cultural importance of horror films. Readers looking for a straightforward account of Patrick’s life and work are likely to be frustrated with the rambling pace and structure of “The Lady From the Black Lagoon.” Although earnest and well-intentioned, the book comes off like small nuggets of biography thickly padded in autobiographical Bubble Wrap that recounts O’Meara’s own career, angst and writing process. (The filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is another fan - he first saw the movie when he was 7 and has cited his own deep admiration for the Creature’s design and story as an inspiration for his Oscar-winning 2017 fantasy, “The Shape of Water.”) “Never, ever underestimate the power of nerds,” she writes. O’Meara’s search for Patrick’s life story is helped in part by library archives, digitized genealogy databases and the continued interest in “Creature From the Black Lagoon,” with its fandom community willing to share their resources. She went on to have a varied film-industry career that included work as a bit-part actress, as an animator on the 1940 film “Fantasia” for Walt Disney Studios and as a designer in the makeup department led by Bud Westmore at Universal Studios. David Reed (Richard Carlson) leads a team of scientists on an expedition up the Amazon River to hunt for fossils linking prehistoric land and. The Gill-Man returns to kidnap the lovely Kay, fiance of one in the expedition, with whom it has fallen in love. The explorers capture the mysterious creature, but it breaks free. Born Mildred Elisabeth Fulvia Rossi, she grew up on the grounds of what would eventually become Hearst Castle in San Simeon, Calif., where her father worked as a structural engineer on the estate. English A scientific expedition searching for fossils along the Amazon River discovers a prehistoric Gill-Man in the legendary Black Lagoon. As the book reveals, Milicent Patrick had an unconventional and fascinating life.
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