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More Havoc

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"More Havoc," by June Havoc, continues the story of her long struggle, from vaudeville performer aged 2 1/2, to stardom on the Broadway stage. (She achieved it 'overnight,' as they say, in "Pal Joey," in 1940-41.) Its emotional focus, however, is on the growing closeness between herself and her famous sister Gypsy Rose Lee, the witty stripper. They were estranged as children, but drawn together as adults, by the demands of their careers, and of their frightening stage mother Rose.

This book continues from roughly where Havoc's first volume left off; although it's written in a hipster, jazzbaby style that makes it tougher to read. The author tells us, briefly, about her two marriages, and the birth of her daughter April, (not a product of either.) She goes a little more deeply into her teenage years as a dance marathoner, telling us only now about having been nearly kidnapped for a rich old sexual pervert that liked to do his victim-shopping on the midnight dance floor. (And while she's at that, she mentions that, when she was a child, several of Rose's boyfriends sexually molested her.)

The actress reminisces about her stint as a showroom model, working with the recently-deceased Shelley Winters, who was really too buxom for the job. She tells us about auditioning for an elderly George M. Cohan, long past the days he could get a show on Broadway. She remembers her early days in Hollywood, represented by the ubiquitous agent Leland Hayward; nearly tripping over a dead drunk John Barrymore, and getting herself some plastic work.

But the book's largely about Havoc's relationship with her sister. The writer calls her from the Boston tryout of "Mexican Hayride,' in a panic about ugly, ill-fitting costumes in which she couldn't dance. (Lee was a talented seamstress, who had made all the costumes for their vaudeville acts, and then her own burlesque act.) Lee was by then a star herself, and an item with the famous impresario Mike Todd; nevertheless, she rushed up, and made her sister new costumes overnight.

Havoc defends Lee against various rumors heard then: she insists there was no ghostwriter on Lee's best-selling "G-String Murders," nor was Lee originally Rose Levy from Brooklyn. She takes issue with the musical "Gypsy," based on Lee's autobiography of the same name: Lee considers it her monument, Havoc swears her sister was always too talented to play the back end of a horse, as the musical portrays her doing. Finally, she tells us about life in Lee's lovely Manhattan townhouse, on 63rd Street, as it was lived by the combined households: Havoc and her daughter April; Lee and her son Erik, by famed Hollywood director Otto Preminger.

These sisters shared a childhood tougher than we can imagine, in which they were perhaps too competitive for comfort. And each managed to achieve a notable career in adulthood. What's more,they found their way back together; now there's a talented pair.

Here is the story of June Havoc's life from the time she left her mother and the vaudeville act behind until her mother died. Ms. Havoc is prone to write with few personal details, but her books are wonderful in spite of that! She tells each story with an effervescent charm and wit, while remaining somewhat aloof about HER feelings on issues. While she claims not to be the strong character in life that her sister was, I have found her to be of tremendous strength and enduring power. Check out Marathon '33, also by June Havoc. I'm sure it is the same book as her first autobiography, 'Early Havoc'.

I've just now finished reading "More Havoc" and may come back and revise this review after more reflection. Please read the other 2 reviews (one 5 star, one 4 star) as well as my comments to them which I'll try not to repeat here.

I'm a retired clinical psychologist (& Marr. & Fam therapist) with an intense interest in how traits and experiences, both good and bad, cascade down through the generations, some seemingly intact, some modified or diminished, some avoided or replaced with others.

Having become somewhat aware of Momma Rose from the movie "Gypsy" and that her children and a grandchild had written books, I've been reading them. "More Havoc" was my last after previously reading "American Rose" (a Gypsy bio), "Stripping Gypsy" (ditto), "Gypsy: a Memoir," Preminger's "Gypsy & Me" (AKA "My G-String Mother"), and Havoc's "Early Havoc."

I was fascinated, partially fulfilled and disappointed by this book.

June picks up where her "Early Havoc" left off providing fairly rich detail about her survival for her first 6 or so years after her first dance marathon. This includes: some about her relation with Bobby and their break-up plus the affair with Jamie that led to the birth of April; her transitioning from marathon dances to sporadic jobs in modeling, on stage, later some in movies, and her second marriage and divorce. From time to time, episodes with Gypsy and Momma Rose come in although not as many as I anticipated and wanted.

Nothing June wrote makes one value Momma Rose at all highly. E.g., when June was almost destitute, her mother charged her $15/month (no board) to stay in her flat but June later discovered Momma was also simultaneously collecting at least that much from Gypsy for June's stay as well as money for the same thing from Gypsy's rich, gangster boyfriend.

Close to the end of this book is June's description of out of town rehearsals for Mike Todd's 1944 production of "Mexican Hayride" in which Gypsy's actions secured her a part. This was very shortly after Gypsy, who'd had a long affair with Todd and was deeply infatuated with him, had been recently jilted by Todd for Joan Blondell(IIRC).

June, desperately needing help with an ill-fitting costume that prevented her from dancing, calls Gypsy (an excellent seamstress) for help. Gypsy immediately goes to Boston from NYC and sews overnight to fix June's costumes; she watches June's performance the next day while wearing a disguise so as not be recognized by Todd. The book then skips a full decade ahead to the 1954 witch-like deathbed scene of Momma Rose with her curses on Gypsy.

There's too little about June's relation with her daughter, April, (and nothing past April's maybe 7-8th years) likewise nothing about June's long, fairly successful(?) third marriage. A bit more is included about her family heritage (Big Lady--Momma Rose's mother, etc.) and those females' unanimous distrust of men. Also many other interesting tidbits are briefly revealed such as being sexually molested as a child by Momma Rose's "lovers."

Both June and Gypsy were very strong, very remarkable women who overcame great obstacles. After reading these books, I wondered if their continual pursuits of being stage stars and receiving audiences' adoration might, in part, have been as replacements, substitutes, for the love and respect they never got from Momma Rose? Certainly, the audience reactions would have been far more sincere, far less phony, than any love their Momma pretended to feel.

If any others are interested in reading more about this fascinating family, my recommendation is to first read Noralee Frankel's biography, "Stripping Gypsy," which (IMO) gives the best, broad perspective of this fascinating family. Next, in order, I suggest Erik Preminger's book, "Gypsy & Me"/"My G-String Mother," followed by June Havoc's two books.

If desired, one can add Gypsy's "Gypsy: a Memoir" to appreciate the fairy tale aspect Gypsy used in writing of her mother as well as read Abbot's "American Rose" (a biography that many find terribly frustrating to read and which, IMO, also has too many "nudge-nudge, wink-wink" implications in it).