Breaking My Silence: Confessions of a Rat Pack Party Girl and Sex-Trade Survivor [Paperback]

Jane McCormick (Author), Patti Wicklund (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 9, 2007

Breaking My Silence is a gutsy and wrenching story of a former Rat Pack party girl and sex-trade survivor Jane McCormick. Not only does she reveal her 1960 sexcapades with Frank, Dean, and Peter, Vick, Sam, Arnold, Jerry, Bill, and other celebrities, she also details her molestation by an abusive stepfather McCormick tells her story not to titillate but to help young girls dicide not to enter prostitution, to give hope for escape to those girls already on the prowl. I want the law to change. To lock up the Buyers and the pimps and get help for the victims

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Powerful and compelling stuff___with a ring of authenticity" Mark Anfinson, media communications and libel law attorney --Pioneer press newspaper

"Told in a gritty and blunt style, a name dropper sure to raise eyebrows, if not some controversy," Ruben Rosario, columnist, St Paul Pioneer press --News paper

About the Author

Patti Wicklund Has many degrees She has helped me with my story. I could not have done this with out her, Thank god she came along and helped me write this true story of my life . My life was a life of hard knocks and that is my bio, Jane McCormick

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Rapfire Press; 1st edition (October 9, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1604614773
• ISBN-13: 978-1604614770
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,909,943 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Patti Wicklund, Author, Activist & Public Speaker

Patti Wicklund was born on November 5, 1952 at the Swedish Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is the youngest girl in a family of four. Her father Kenneth Wicklund was a postal carrier, and her mother Phyllis was a part-time grocery clerk for SUPERVALU prior to becoming a business manager for Lerner's Publications. Patti grew up in the heart of the city where she attended her senior years at North High School. She is known in her community for being a number #1 golfer and all round athlete. After graduation, Patti went on to work for the City of Minneapolis while she continued her sports passion; playing softball for the Americs, winning State Titles, achieving the top ten in nationals, as well as, bowling with her high school friends.

Upon the sudden passing of her father from bone marrow cancer in 1975, Patti entered the two (2) year Fine Arts Degree program at North Hennepin Community College. Upon completion, she chose to further her post secondary education by simultaneously completing two (2) degree programs. While attending college she became gainfully employed with the Gamma Copy & Print Company where she worked as a Press Operator. She completed both programs within three (3) years and graduated with a BA in Fine Arts from Metropolitan State University and a BFA in Visual Communications Design from "Minneapolis College of Art and Design."

At the age of 32, Patti was a highly educated unemployed student seeking work. After the printing business closed Patti joined the team at International Multifoods as a Data Entry Specialist. In 1985 Patti worked for Honeywell International as an accounting clerk in their records Management Division which ultimately led her to the opportunity of working for Deluxe Corporation in computer graphic arts and design. In addition, Patti freelanced for Republic Airlines and Northwest Airlines doing illustrations for their training programs, displays, as well as, children's coloring boards, etc.

In Patti's spare time, she wanted to use her knowledge and expertise to help others in her community with perfecting their photography skills. Thus she opened up a small black & white photography studio in White Bear Lake, called "Images At Work."

Patti has always kept a foot in the door regarding sports and from 1980 - 1985 she coached, refereed, and umpired several girls and women's teams in basketball, volleyball, and softball.

In 1994, while celebrating her 41st birthday she was blessed with the opportunity of connecting with Jane McCormick while she was fundraising for families suffering from AIDS. The two friends were inseparable. Unfortunately, Patti was laid off from her current job when both ladies collaborated and decided to start their own successful house cleaning business. It was during this time Patti and Jane had great conversations about Jane's colourful and very poignant past that Patti decided to write a book about Jane's incredible life journey. In 2007, the book "Breaking My Silence, Confessions of a Rat Pack party girl and sex-trade survivor." was completed and launched.

For the past several years, Patti has worked closely alongside her long-time friend and partner Jane McCormick in their advocacy to stop "Human Trafficking, Prostitution, and Domestic Violence."

Currently, Patti is working on her second book which is scheduled to be completed in late, 2011.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honest revelation exposes abuse, March 16, 2009

By 

Dennis Fleming "Author: She Had No Enemies: A... (New York, NY and St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breaking My Silence: Confessions of a Rat Pack Party Girl and Sex-Trade Survivor (Paperback)

Jane McCormick's "Breaking My Silence: confessions of a Rat Pack party girl and sex trade survivor", written with Patti Wicklund, is a memoir about loss--the loss of one woman's identity. Sexually abused at the early age of three, Jane began to withdraw and found a deep need for parents who would put her first. That need was never fulfilled. The first hint of where her life was going was her mother's statement in the delivery room, a reference I assume from family history, "I wish this baby would hurry up and come out, so I can get back to living my life".

To fill the hole in her heart, Jane tried to find the American dream complete with a little house complete with white picket fence. Instead, she plunged into bad relationships with men who never put her first and a dysfunctional marriage which eventually took away her two children, her life raft in a struggle that became more turbulent with each passing day.

I was surprised to find that half of this memoir is about Jane's life before she makes her way to Hollywood and eventually to high stakes prostitution in Las Vegas. I was happily surprised because hers is a true story of resilience and an unrequited longing for love. It is both sad and wonderful that a little girl can maintain that longing while being sexually abused at the hands of a stepfather who threatened to kill her if she talked. Jane makes the most of it until she flees, but she unknowingly falls into the seductive world of fast cash and fame. As with all of us, our emotional life has its high points, but Jane's are far too few.

This is a book of unembellished literary style. It is a straightforward narrative that captures the innocence of a woman deprived of love from the get-go. Hers is an honest account of contrasts. Some of the most degrading abuse is set against a background of wonderful moments in the life of a woman who takes refuge in petty prostitution that quickly escalates to one of the best paying jobs in 1960s Las Vegas--a high roller prostitute. Some of her tricks are one-nighters, while others, for instance her relationship with what many consider the world's greatest crooner, Frank Sinatra, span years.

Jane has a clear mission, to make big money by providing companionship and sexual satisfaction to her customers, and to eventually leave the business and retrieve her children from a mother-in-law who once knocked her down. (She seemed to see past Jane's perceived faults when confronted with a lot of money to care for the kids.)

Throughout most of her career, Jane held her head high, unashamed, and uninhibited by the side-glances and jealous stares of people with "respectable" jobs. In a search for a normal life, Jane slowly slips into destructive relationships. A mobster threatens to kill her. Finally, she escapes from Las Vegas and the man who sucks her dry of everything she owns.

McCormick is a kind of Barbarella searching not for an evil sex maniac in the 41st century, but for happiness for herself and her children in the 20th century world of mink coats, diamonds, big money, and fame. As you might expect, a story like this draws to a conclusion that is not one McCormack would have liked. However, free from the old life, she is on another mission--to help women learn about the trade in the classroom and not on the streets. She has dedicated her life to this pursuit and to providing help for women already caught in the cycle of tricks and money, manipulative men and high times. After reading this book, I can tell you one thing for sure--this is advice from someone who knows.

Author Wicklund had a real task on her hands translating and shaping Janes's story. Although the writing style could use a bit more dramatization (without being specious) I believe Ms. Wicklund captures the true voice of Jane McCormick and for that the book deserves to be read. I give it 5 stars.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Educating Book, April 9, 2009

By 

Martha A. Cheves (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Breaking My Silence: Confessions of a Rat Pack Party Girl and Sex-Trade Survivor (Paperback)

When I was a teenager I remember a girl who everyone called a prostitute. Of course my parents would never allowed me to go anywhere near her because of her reputation. But I always had questions in my mind about her and other girls like her. I've never really understood what would make someone even think about going into this "profession." What in their childhood made them capable of selling themselves to pleasure men? Did they grow up with a low opinion of themselves? Were they abused as a child? Were they looking for something to fill an empty void in their lives? As they grew into adults why did they continue? Was it the money? Did they enjoy what they were doing? How did they get started? Were they forced into this line of "work?" And how do they ever quit? Do they wait until they are too old and no longer attractive to men?

All of these questions have been answered for me through my reading of Breaking My Silence. Jane McCormick takes you through her childhood, her start in the business and even into her life with some of her "Johns" from her "little black book." She tells of her abuse as a child, as an adult and finally her escape. After reading Breaking My Silence I saw Jane as a strong person who was determined to do whatever was needed to get her children back into her life and to do whatever it took to make her life as complete as possible without the prostitution. This was one of the most informative books I've ever read about a subject that is normally kept behind closed doors.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gripping Story, February 20, 2009

By 

Yvonne Mason "Author" (Port St Lucie, Fl.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breaking My Silence: Confessions of a Rat Pack Party Girl and Sex-Trade Survivor (Paperback)

Jane MCCormick has laid her soul open for the world to see. In Breaking the Silence Ms. McCormick has taken a very bad experience in her life and shown the reader what not to do in order to survive. As a young girl she began a life of prostitution that in the end almost destroyed her.
She allowed herself to be with people which she knew nothing about, in places that were dangerous and in a mental and physical state which became life threatening.
Ms. McCormick wrote Breaking the Silence to show young women that the glamour of a high priced call girl was not glamourous at all. It was degrading, controlling and destructive.
She was bought and sold much like livestock in a aution pen. The underbelly of the beast is shown by Ms. McCormick for the uglyness which it is.
I give this book a five Star Rating. Well done.
Yvonne Mason, Author