‘The Creature from the Black Lagoon’ is a bonafide classic horror film from Universal Studio, home of classic creature features like Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman, amongst may others. For many horror fans though, the Black Lagoon ‘Gill Man’ creature, or 'Creech' to his friends, is considered the last great Universal monster and that is largely due to its iconic design. This creation elicited much sympathy whilst also terrifying 1950s audiences upon its initial release. What has been less well known is the story behind its creation by a woman, Milicent Patrick. She had been almost written out of film history which is strange considering the cultural impact her design has had on film, especially Guillermo Del Toro's multi Oscar winning 'The Shape of Water'.
So, why was the only Hollywood monster designed by a woman not bigger news and why wasn't Patrick’s name synonymous in geek-dom? This is the mystery first time author and horror film producer, Mallory O'Meara stepped in to solve as she recounts her fascinating journey to find out how Patrick was almost erased from celluloid history. The premise is fascinating and the tale is engagingly told as we read about O'Meara sifting through history books and Universal records, searching Mormon genealogy databases (whilst offering her afterlife ghost up to a Mormon fella), wading through old newspaper rolls and talking to the remaining studio people or their relatives from the time to find out the sequence of events.
The author builds on her own experiences and personal connections to tell an intriguing tale about this singular woman who flourished, at least for a while, in a male dominated medium.
We find out that Patrick lived on the William Randolph Hearst estate (on whom, the film 'Citizen Kane' is loosely based) where her father was the superintendent of construction of the expansive property. He socialised and schmoozed with the high and mighty, before upsetting them with his willful and arrogant ways and as a result the family frequently moved around, from prestigious construction project to prestige project.
As a young woman, Patrick was one of the first female Disney animators, working on the Chernabog sequence from ‘Fantasia’ in the final anthology animation sequence set to 'Night on Bald Mountain'. She was also an inbetweener for ‘Dumbo’ and ‘Bambi’ before leaving due to the increased cost of staffing brought about by the animators strike during World War 2.
Patrick was plucky and worked as a part time model, trade show hostess, promotional model and supplemented it all with small acting roles. But we learn that she hit the big-time with her creation of the Gill Man before her role was erased and instead credited by the head of the makeup department, a self-serving and jealous man named Bud Westmore. The mystery about what happened to Patrick after her parting from Universal is the central mystery of the book and it is an interesting journey that needed to be told but it is clumsily written and does feel very padded in places. The book is earnestly but naive written, but that can be forgiven due to the candidness and enthusiasm shown.
O'Meara expands on Patrick’s life to have a wider conversion about crediting creatives, stereotyping and sexism and how little has changed until very recently with the #MeToo movement. The book is very ‘now’ in that what it uncovers has implications and repercussions even now.
So overall, I can recommend the book if you can get past the relaxed, informal and almost blog like quality of the writing.
The book is earnestly but naive written, but that can be forgiven due to the candidness and enthusiasm shown for the subject matter.
