Customer Reviews

My G-String Mother: At Home and Backstage with Gypsy Rose Lee

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Erik Lee Preminger doesn't paint a rosy portrait of his mother, the enigmatic Gypsy Rose Lee, but it isn't a hatchet job either. Miss Lee was obviously a difficult, frugal woman, but also was warm, loving (to an extent), funny, brainy and to her public, glamorous. Preminger's recollections are alternately maddening and hilarious, but the reader finishes the book with the notion that the "Queen of Burlesque" was indeed an amazing piece of work. Why Gypsy Rose Lee isn't more of an icon today is beyond my imagination!

I've spent hours interviewing Erik Lee Preminger about his life and his famous parents. I've read other things he's written and watched his compilation of his mother's home videos. This guy is the real deal. He had a childhood most kids couldn't survive intact and he emerged from it as a smart, honest, hardworking, funny and very kind man. He loved his mother when he was a kid, and when he was an adult, he learned to appreciate her strengths (and she had a great many!) and forgive her weaknesses (and we ALL have a lot of those).

He sees Gypsy for what she was - a brilliant, clever, hilarioulsy funny, talented (even her stripteases were punctuated by comedy pieces that she wrote) often selfish, often generous, ambitious and relentlessly hardworking woman.

She REALLY had the childhood from Hell and HER mother makes Gypsy seem like Mother Theresa! But she too emerged from the ashes as a never bitter woman who practically invented the phrase "Carpe Diem."

She had quilting bees at her house with dozens of Hollywood superstars. She adored her beloved little Chinese Crested dogs. She hosted a popular tv talk show. She wrote a best-selling murder mystery. She was still doing USO tours and making our troops laugh when she was ill with cancer. And even that couldn't dim her indomitable spirit. Her acceptance of that terrible illness should be a lesson to us all.

Until I met Erik, all I knew about Gypsy was the tiny bits portrayed in the play and movies, but after reading about her in Erik's books, listening to him talk about her, I have learned to love her dearly.

Erik writes with a very clear, unpretentious style about a child's life with a famous (and infamous) woman and about his eventual understanding of what a truly remarkable woman his mother was. And listening to him talk about his relationship with his dad (when they finally got to know each other) moved me to tears. That should be the next book he writes!

Buy the book. It'll surprise you.

Young Erik undoubtedly suffered some frustration from having a famous, tenacious, indomitable mother in the form of the glamourpuss Gypsy Rose Lee. But his portrait of her is a tender one--he does not idealize her, but he does not lambast her. It is a mature and loving representation of the bond between a mother and child in the theater business. It is also an interesting account of successful single motherhood far ahead of its time. Anyone who loves Burlesque, Vaudeville, Gypsy Rose Lee and Theater History with love this book. A fun, entertaining non-fiction read.

This is a fascinating and well written account of the adolescent conflicts between a son and his dominating mother. This is not a bitter tale and G R Lee is painted with fairness and understanding. The end of the story is very moving. The book would make a wonderful movie.

What an entertaining book. I truly enjoyed "My G-String Mother: At Home and Backstage with Gypsy Rose Lee." The book is well written and full of great pictures of an era. I so enjoyed the descriptions of Gypsy's house, her wardrobe, and her choice of life-style. Further, the story provided insights of her life and relationships. The photographs of the important people in her life were excellent and certainly enhanced the book. Gypsy Rose Lee was a woman of substance, intelligence and certainly paved the way for independent women of the future.

That was a better, friendlier title when Erik Lee Preminger first published the book in 1984, and it still would be. Perhaps Mr. Preminger thought the gimmickier new title--"Ya gotta have a gimmick," as the song in the musical GYPSY goes--would sell better. (Perhaps the first batch of readers were disappointed that the book wasn't "Gypsie Dearest." No coat hanger beatings for little Erik!) However, it will still be a wonderfully entertaining read, the best "child of" memoir since HAYWIRE. Alternately broad-minded and prudish, generous and tight-fisted, sophisticated and naive, irresistible and maddening, but always her own invention (as opposed to the cookie cutter mediocrities who pass for celebrities nowadays), Gypsy Rose Lee was a true American original. Her adventures at making a living after having decided she was too old to continue "shaking the beads," faithfully chronicled by her son (who grew up believing Gypsy's second husband was his father), makes for a fascinating, funny, and often touching read. Unfortunately, his story begins after his grandmother, the fabled Mama Rose, has already died; nor has he much to say about his aunt June Havoc, except the well-known fact that June hated her sister's memoir and the legendary musical show it inspired.

I hope this book sells a million copies this time around.

THIS BOOK WAS FIRST PUBLISHED WITH THE TITLE "GYPSY & ME"

The following review is edited from a comment I made to a user review of this book that, IMO, was too critical.

I'm a retired psychologist/psychotherapist and I was VERY impressed by Erik's honesty in reporting his behaviors and feelings. He reported what he thought and felt at the various times through his life with extreme candor and without the slightest attempt (that I saw) to whitewash his own behavior or motivations. Remarkable!!

After recently seeing the movie "Gypsy," I found myself interested in this family's dynamics and wondered how they originated and how they were transmitted through the generations. So I read "American Rose" (1 star, IMO) and "Stripping Gypsy" (5 stars, IMO) and found Gypsy's mother, Momma Rose, was a self-centered, dominating liar, a thief, extreme manipulator, completely lacking empathy, vindictive, and a murderer.

Gypsy is remarkable for the extent she overcame much of her mother's parental influence but she did, of course, pass some of this on to Erik. And Erik (as did his mother) had to wrestle with freeing himself from those negative effects that were passed on to him. I found Gypsy's attempts to do so and Erik's efforts--his failures and successes--in furthering that for himself VERY MUCH something to respect and admire. After all, it's impossible to get out of swamps without getting some mud on your hands and face and in one's skivvies. Erik's book gives another view of a VERY remarkable lady: Gypsy Rose Lee (nee Louise Hovick).

For those interested in seeing these family effects through the generations, I suggest reading "Stripping Gypsy" first, followed by Erik's book, "My G-string Mother" (aka "Gypsy & Me")--possibly followed by Gypsy's semi-fictional memoir, "Gypsy"--but certainly followed by June Havoc's "Early Havoc" and "More Havoc."

Preminger's half hearted attempts at humility don't exactly leave him coming off smelling like a rose (Gypsy or otherwise)and I think he may have watched one too many performance of AUNTIE MAME. While the chapters go by quickly enough, the reader can't help but find this dysfunctional family pretty tough to like or admire. Selfish and mean spirited characters disguised in campy, candy coating.