Mallory O’Meara & The Lady From The Black Lagoon

Join us April 3 at Midtown Reader for a special pre-festival event as author (and filmmaker!) Mallory O’Meara reads from her new book, The Lady From The Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick.

O’Meara goes deep into the story of an unsung heroine of the 1954 creature feature, famously shot in Wakulla Springs. The book uncovers the life and work of Milicent Patrick – one of Disney’s first female animators and the only woman to create one of Hollywood’s classic movie monsters. This is the only full, fascinating story of an ambitious, artistic woman and a forgotten feminist trailblazer. O’Meara discovers what really had happened to Milicent after The Creature’s success, and where she went, while calling out a Hollywood culture (pre- and post- #MeToo) where little seems to have changed.

Mallory argues that had Milicent’s legacy not been erased, we may have had more women in film in the past and the present, where women are still largely under-represented. She also points out the present-day resonances of Milicent’s work (Guillermo del Toro cites the Creature as one of his inspirations for “The Shape of Water”).

After the reading, follow us next door to Waterworks for a free patio theatre screening of “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” and a special “Creature”-themed cocktail!