Videoage International November 2019

8 November 2019 Book Review M onsters and predators have haunted Hollywood since the early 20th century, coming to life on the silver screen with the help of actors and special-effects designers. Fromearly adaptations of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to the fantastical projects of Guillermo del Toro, the genre has succeeded in pulling in audiences. A recent book takes a look at the history of the half-fish, half-human horror known as Gill-man in the 1954 American monster classic Creature from the Black Lagoon to uncover the master behind the mask. With TheLady fromtheBlackLagoon:Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick (368 pgs., Hanover Square Press, 2019, $26.99), Mallory O’Meara has endeavored to recover the special-effects designer Milicent Patrick from near-obscurity as the first woman to have “ever designed a monster for a major motion picture.” As O’Meara relates, beyond a few photographs of Patrick posing with the amphibious disguise, there was almost no record of her contribution, and the head of the makeup department, Bud Westmore, was the only one to receive on-screen credit. “[Patrick’s] rise, fall and disappearance behind-the-scenes in Hollywood is the type of story films are made of, the type of story that needs to be told.” O’Meara approached her subject with the fervor of a devoted fan. In addition to working on her second book, Girly Drinks , a historical look at women across the world making and imbibing alcohol, she also hosts the literary podcast “Reading Glasses” beside her co-host Brea Grant, who is also a filmmaker and actress. O’Meara’s horror movie enthusiasm led her to become a producer at Dark Dunes Productions, a Los Angeles-based production company, for which she produced the feature film Kids vs. Monsters . So when O’Meara learned Patrick’s story, she felt a personal kinship with her. “Hearing about a career beset by sexism, I could easily put myself in her shoes.” O’Meara could relate to developing a career in a male-dominated industry where her own position was constantly questioned or belittled, as when O’Meara describes one instance when a male colleague assumed that she must have been sleeping with her boss for a spot on the team. The Lady from the Black Lagoon is as much a biography of the little-known monster-maker as it is O’Meara’s search for her. “Her contribution to cinematic history soon sank into a black lagoon of its own,” O’Meara writes. “The only people who remembered her were dedicated monster fans.” Her well-researched book attempts to cover lots of ground, not only recounting Patrick’s life and family history, Hollywood gossip, and studio developments, it also attempts to address the sexist oversight of women in creative and executive roles in the movie industry, all of which O’Meara manages with wit, panache, and justified criticism. As O’Meara soon finds out, Patrick was an elusive figure. She was born Mildred Elisabeth Fulvia Rossi, yet her birth certificate named her Mildred Elisabeth Tuloia Rossi, “which is the government equivalent of a mistake on your Starbucks cup,” O’Meara quips. The reader learns of Patrick’s stint in the animation department at Walt Disney Studios, working on Fantasia in 1940, then later about her foray into acting, which she took pride in, with background roles in Charlie Chaplin’s Limelight and We’re Not Married! with Marilyn Monroe, among others. As O’Meara describes, “[Patrick] considered herself an actress first and foremost, and carried her SAG (Screen Actors Guild) member card until she died.” It was on the Universal Studios lot where Patrick was first recognized by Bud Westmore, son of the prominent family whose patriarch established the first makeup department in Hollywood, for her potential in design. “Bud hired her and had her start work right away, making Milicent the first woman ever to work in a special effects makeup department,” reports O’Meara. Starting at Universal in 1952, Patrick would contribute to the design team for It Came from Outer Space and Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, both released in 1953. O’Meara points out that there had been previous confusion and misattribution to the design of the titular beast of Creature from the Black Lagoon , finding that some individuals did not believe Patrick could have done the job. O’Meara differentiates between the role of makeup designer and makeup artist, in order to clarify Patrick’s role. “Milicent never applied a brush to a person’s face. She created designs on paper that sculptors or makeup artists would bring to life.” Included in the evidence is a photo of Patrick sitting before an easel with prototypes of masks around her, drawing utensil in hand. “The staged nature of this photo led many film historians to conclude that Milicent didn’t actually design the Creature,” O’Meara captions. O’Meara remarks how the monster’s sculptor Chris Mueller “later insisted that the Creature, the whole monster, was designed by Milicent, who had been working on it as soon as it was assigned to the makeup department.” Although BudWestmore gave Patrick her break as a special-effects designer, he would also be credited with Patrick’s dismissal from the studio. As O’Meara found from her research, Westmore harbored professional jealousy toward Patrick when the studio’s marketing team decided that she should go on a promotional tour for the film, which was initially going to be called “The Beauty Who Created the Beast.” Westmore strongly opposed the decision and ultimately resolved to drop her from the department once she returned from the tour. The Lady from the Black Lagoon ’s pacing often seems to slow down when O’Meara returns to her own investigation of Milicent Patrick, which takes the form of long-winded detours that detract from the intrigue of Patrick’s own life. However, those interested in undertaking a similar archival task will most likely find these illuminating for highlighting the minutiae and labor of a biographer whose subject has been hidden by history. Regardless, O’Meara’s book is an accomplished work that serves as a reminder to question who receives credit and why. As O’Meara writes, “Milicent Patrick deserves to be known as the artistic pioneer that she was. But she’s also a symbol for why we need to work harder, to speak up and to help other women.” The Woman Behind The Monster: Milicent Patrick And The Creature from the Black Lagoon By Luis Polanco “Mallory O’Meara has endeavored to recover the special- effects designer Milicent Patrick from near-obscurity as the first woman to have ‘ever designed a monster for a major motion picture’.”