The Lady from the Black Lagoon uncovers the life and work of Milicent Patrick—one of Disney’s first female animators and the only woman in history to create one of Hollywood’s classic movie monsters.
...[an] engaging, conversational, passionate biography ... Fans of traditional biographies might balk at O’Meara’s candid style and observations, but there’s never a dull moment in this beautiful, heartfelt tribute to a pioneering special-effects designer and animator and passionate call for change in the industry that forgot her.
Along the way, [O'Meara] offers clear explanations of various aspects of moviemaking ... [O'Meara's] passion serves her well in sketching Patrick’s life ... Horror buffs are likely to be most enthralled by O’Meara’s account of the genesis and development of 'Creature From the Black Lagoon' ... [Patrick's] brilliant career makes for an often-fascinating life well told by O’Meara, who views Patrick as something of a groundbreaking role model for the author’s own path as an artist and advocate for female empowerment in Hollywood...
... chatty, impassioned ... There's so much great material here — including Patrick's childhood at Hearst Castle and her early career as one of Disney's first female animators — that [Milicent Patrick's] own life story could be a film. O'Meara is a dogged researcher and a fierce partisan (she even sports a tattoo of Patrick and the Creature on her left forearm), but I must warn readers that this book should be rated 'O' for 'Ohmigod, where was an editor?' O'Meara's prose is bogged down in lame jokes and Wikipedia-level historical context. Still, I think it's worth putting up with these transgressions for Patrick's story, which, as O'Meara points out, has resonances for today, when women in Hollywood still find themselves in the company of monsters.
