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History is written by the winners. By men.
Early editors of science fiction anthologies chose to exclude works by women, and in doing so, made many believe that women did not write science fiction in the genre’s earliest years. This is just a single example and by no means exhaustive.
Mallory O’Meara, self-confessed monster lover and film nerd, discovered a similar story in the film industry. Milicent Patrick was one of Disney’s earliest female animators and went on to design one of the greatest film monsters of all time: the creature from the black lagoon. But a jealous male co-worker ensured there was no prestigious career awaiting Milicent.
Mallory O’Meara decided to set the record straight in her book, The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick, and re-establish Milicent as a pioneer of monster design.
Mentioned in this episode:
- The Creature from the Black Lagoon
- The Shape of Water
- Alien 3
- Star Wars
- When Animals Dream
- Legend
- Go Ahead in the Rain by Hanif Abdurraqib
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- Satanic Panic
- Little Woods
- Riot Girls
- 12 Hour Shift
- Shirley
- Raw
- Blow the Man Down
- Tigers Are Not Afraid
- Culture Shock
- Promising Young Woman
Mallory O’Meara is an award winning and best-selling author. Every week, Mallory hosts the literary podcast Reading Glasses alongside filmmaker and writer Brea Grant. The show is hosted by Maximum Fun and focuses on book culture and reader life. She lives in Los Angeles.
Her first book, The Lady From The Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick, is a Los Angeles Times bestseller. It won the 2019 SCIBA Award for Biography, the Rondo 2019 Book of the Year and was nominated for the Hugo and Locus awards.
Her second book, Girly Drinks, the history of women making and drinking alcohol all over the world, is forthcoming from Hanover Square Press in 2021.
