To be honest I knew very little about Millicent Patrick and this book made me learn a lot about this woman and the world she lived in.
It's an interesting and well researched book.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

O’Meara’s book about the interesting Milicent Patrick who created the classic look of the Creature of the Black Lagoon is an interesting read that often gets side track but keeps your interest piqued until the very end.

This biography is interesting because it is a three prong book. On one hand we have the story of Milicent Patrick in itself is an interesting with the life that she lead and her career and social life carry the book forward this intriguing person. On the other hand, we have the author’s quest to find information and the path she takes to get information to write her book which is another interesting facet of the book. Depending on your views, we then have the third prong which is about her gender politics and how hard to be a woman in the industry and political views sometimes overshadowing the more interesting aspects of the book.

Milcent Patrick’s life from her parents extraordinary life. Her father working on the Hearst mansion and other noteworthy projects he worked on in itself is very impressive but then we get to Milcent who seemed to outshine her father’s accomplishments. Working with Disney, Universal studios and that is not even touching on her personal life. Unfortunately, due to the gender politics of the time, it seems that her light was hidden under a bushel until now and full kudos to O’Meara to bring her into the light.

The journey that O’Meara goes on keeps the readers on her toes and is truly shows the passion she has for her subject matter. The author would be a great detective and once she gets her teeth into a project, you know that you will have something truly special by the end because her dedication is truly awe-inspiring. This shouldn’t really work but O’Meara is a truly gifted writer and I am totally on board to see what she comes up with next.

The gender politics slightly let this down and it is not because of the politics as they are. Sometimes it does feel like she is preaching or repeating herself unnecessarily. I can’t really comment on this part of it but I believe this to be a problem in most industries and I imagine Hollywood is probably one of the worse. For a town that prides itself on being so liberal, they seem to still have quite a lot of closed trapped minds that seem to behind the money. To be clear, it is important that this is brought up especially within the concepts of the biography to give us a fuller understanding about the time that Milicent Patrick lived and worked. It is also important to know a bit of our author but there is some repeating that probably could have been slightly edited better so it did not feel one is being preached at. Of course, I am fully aware of the situation and appreciate where she is coming from, so maybe this is for someone who has no idea. I will keep an open mind.

Overall, this is a fantastic interesting read that once you are finished, you want to build a monument of Milicent Patrick and hail her as the genius she really was or is. Without her, we would not have some of the classics that will remain with us long after we have passed this mortal coil. Milicent Patrick is one of those Auntie Mame characters who are larger than life and one that you would love to have in our life. When you finish this book you wish that she was a part of your life and O’Meara helps to make her a part of your life. Full kudos to O’Meara for uncovering the legend that is Milicent Patrick; and for bringing her into the spotlight. Excellent biography and I am now a full fledge fan of the Milicent Patrick fan club.

Uncovering the overlooked, oft-dismissed contribution of Milicent Patrick to the development of horror cinema...

In The Lady From the Black Lagoon, debut author Mallory O’Meara gives us an interesting and illuminating look not only at the life of a pioneering female artist, but also a glimpse into the early years of behind-the-scenes Hollywood. A must read for cinephiles, horror fans and also pretty much anyone who likes narrative non-fiction. I really enjoyed this.

When I first started The Lady From the Black Lagoon, I was expecting something more like a straight-up biography of Milicent Patrick. This, despite the fact that O’Meara makes it clear that a). not that much was known about Patrick because b). her contributions have often been scrubbed out of the histories/narratives that surrounded the classic movies on which she worked. It took me a little longer than it should, therefore, to re-orient myself into reading this as both a biography and the “true-life detective story” mentioned in the synopsis. (To be honest, I tend not to read synopses too often, so this is entirely my fault.)

Patrick worked under a few names, too, which made O’Meara’s quest that much more difficult. (Seriously, the author’s investigative efforts are nothing short of heroic, given how thin the available information was — also, often amusingly rendered on the page.) O’Meara weaves together Patrick’s story with that of her process of researching and writing this biography, as well as a bit of personal history and memoir: O’Meara was inspired by Patrick’s work, and she has a tattoo of Patrick and her Creature. I was a bit surprised by how absent Patrick was in the first 70-80 pages of the book, but her family’s history provided some excellent context through which we better understand Milicent’s choices and strained relationship with her family.

The narrative flow throughout the book is excellent. The author uses footnotes to add further context, commentary and amusing asides. The balance between Patrick’s story and general context was also very good — I especially enjoyed the wider discussion of Hollywood and Disney, for example. O’Meara does a wonderful job of showing us what cinematic artists actually did before computers and modern animation techniques (after all, Disney was at the forefront, so a lot of what it did was new). The evolution of Hollywood, and the lack of progress in certain important areas is passionately and intelligently discussed: women must still overcome many of the same obstacles and clear the same hurdles that they did back in Patrick’s time.

Not only that, the book is a clarion call in support of genre/horror films, and I absolutely share O’Meara’s frustrations with Doug Jones’s and the make-up artists’ awards-snubbing following The Shape of Water‘s success. (How did he and they not get more recognition?! A travesty.)

Engaging, written in an inviting and welcoming style, packed with fascinating details, and frequently witty and funny. The Lady From the Black Lagoon is a great read. Highly recommended for all fans of film, and horror in particular. I hope O’Meara has another book in the works!