American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee

American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee

Karen Abbott

  This is a biography of Gypsy Rose Lee. For those that don’t know, she was a burlesque artist, striptease, author, movie star, and many other things starting during the Roaring Twenties up until her death in 1970. For having “no talent” this women made a success of herself. The book was formatted more like a novel with alternating time periods instead of chronologically. It concentrates mainly on her childhood years and the beginning of her career in burlesque with highlights of her later years.

  To start with, Gypsy Rose Lee was not her real name and her mother was a complete sociopath. “I thought my family was bad” is a common thread in other reviews I’ve seen about this book. Gypsy was born Ellen June Hovick. When her younger sister was born, her mother named the younger sister Ellen June and changed Gypsy’s to Rose Louise. Why? Because she was crazy. There is no other explanation for this woman. She forced her kids to be the best, always pushing June “the talented one” and trying to get rid of Gypsy for not being able to sing or dance well. When money was tight, there are hints of prostitution for herself and the children. She also forged birth certificates for both girls so many times that they were never sure of their real birthdates and ages. There are also mentions of several murders and attempted murders.

  After the Depression begins, June gets tired of her mother’s antics and runs off to get married. Her mother started to push Gypsy into stripping since vaudeville acts were being replaced with much cheaper movies. That starts what is referred to as the “lost year.” I’m assuming it involved much more than just stripping and out and out prostitution. It’s hard to pass judgment on her though, it was the Depression and they were broke. She is eventually discovered by one of the famous Minksy brothers and taken to New York where they remake her into the world’s most famous burlesque dancer.

  There’s tons more and the whole story is fascinating. From the dying of vaudeville and the beginnings of burlesque and trying to rewrite her own history and the relationships with her mother, sister, and the men of her life, the writing was captivating. The sheer amount of information in this book was overwhelming and I had to go back and read between the lines about a lot of things the author hinted at instead of saying outright.