Saturday, December 1, 2012
Gypsy Rose Lee
After starring in GYPSY this summer as the second tree from the left, I became a total fangirl of Gypsy Rose Lee. Just finished reading American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare, The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee by Karen Abbott. Why is the title so long? I can't handle it. This book gave me a but of what I wanted, info on Gypsy (Louise), but there was a lot of info on the Minsky brothers, which I think was intended to illustrate the greater goings-on of the 1930s and 40s in NYC, but I really didn't feel like this was accomplished, it just watered down the story of Gypsy and made the read a bit convoluted. The author doesn't tell the story chronologically, the chapters jump from both time and place, and this made the read a bit hard to get into for me. I wanted to read a biography before reading Gypsy's autobiography because I know it is full of her own creationism and I hoped to get more of the "true" story before reading the skewed version.
If you haven't seen the musical GYPSY, well, that's your own fault. Homework: get on it. There are at least two different cast versions available on DVD if there isn't a local production running within driving distance of you, which I bet there is...at all times...everywhere. What is really fascinating to me is the revisionism that GYPSY created of her own childhood and history to create the character of GRL. This history steals a great deal from the actuality of her sister June's past, glamorizes it, and creates a perfect background for the character of GRL. Outwardly, she projected this character, while inwardly, she remained Louise, the talentless, ugly, living-in-the-shadow-of her-younger-sister, daughter of Rose.
The story is so complex, her self-identification is so completely shaped by her mothers abuse and control. Rose most likely murdered, at a minimum, two people and covered these murders up with Gypsy's help, speaking of control. It's hard to be a star with a murderess for a mother. As an adult there were times when Gypsy would only communicate to both her mother and her sister, June, through an attorney, and other times when they were living together. A functioning alcoholic and chain smoker, plastic surgery lover, glamour seeker, sophisticate (pretend or real?)...who was she? I am not any closer to the answer to this question after reading this book than I was before I began. I don't fault the book, however, for this. Gypsy kept meticulous journals and scrapbooks throughout her life and the author gained unprecedented access to interviews with June that are referenced throughout the book. I think the reason that I can't figure out who Gypsy was is because she didn't know herself. June didn't know. Rose didn't know. The public persona, the private persona, became enmeshed to a point where the "real" GRL ceased to exist.
Labels:
Books,
GYPSY,
Gypsy Rose Lee,
Karen Abbott
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment