Gypsy: Memoirs of America's Most Celebrated Stripper [ペーパーバック]

The book is written in a snappy, witty, anecdotal style, which is perfect for Lee's endless supply of anecdotes. Spending her childhood in an endless round of theaters, trains, cars, and cheap hotels, meeting an endless number of incredible characters. Actors, mountebanks, con artists, carnies, all seen through the eyes of a bright and observant child, and recounted by a witty adult with a talent for storytelling.

The book is deeply personal as well. This is THE classic ugly-duckling story as well as the quintessential book about vaudeville in its last days. Gypsy/Louise was very much the "other" child until she was fifteen, her little sister was blonde, pretty, talented, and The Star. While Dainty June was getting thousands a week as a vaudeville headliner Louse was ignored, used in the chorus and otherwise pretty much forgotten by her mother and everyone else. Even she wondered if she would ever by any good at anything, even though she was so bright that she educated herself fabulously with nothing more to work with than a little trunk space for books. Everything changed when June ran away to get married at age thirteen (a story told in her own book "Early Havoc", a good read) at the same time that vaudeville was dying out. It's here that Mama Rose revealed the depth of her obsession with stardom, trying to make her seemingly plain, talentless, and ungainly daughter a star in a medium that no longer existed. The truly amazing thing is that she succeeded, although not the way she intended.

All in all a fine read, a real-life comedy, the chronicle of a bygone era and vanished world, and the story of an ugly ducking becoming the most glamorous of swans.

Breathlessly relating her childhood spent in the popular, family-oriented entertainment of the early 1900s vaudeville variety show circuit with her star younger sister, "Dainty" June, and their shrewd stage manager and mother, Rose, Lee easily engages readers. Pages fly by, from skits in front of local lodge brothers to shows before burgeoning audiences in lavish theaters across the country as they tirelessly shop their ever-polished singing, dancing and comedy act. A faint picture slowly emerges of Lee as a bright, introverted young girl yearning for more attention. Despite the rough road life and her own disappointment, not much self-pity shows.

What does show clearly is Lee's budding business savvy. After her sister leaves the act, Lee turns the tragedy into opportunity with a little peroxide and PR. Cleverly, she also leaves her hair dark, creating a distinguishing detail out of a common hair color. As vaudeville dries up and she transitions to burlesque, she again demonstrates uncanny sense in choosing her famous stage name. A shorter portion of the book details her rise to the top of the burlesque world, a story peppered with desperate scam artists, benevolent gangsters and jealous stars.

Disappointing is the absence of some relevant detail. Dates are rarely specified, which might otherwise allow readers to more easily trace Lee's story and place it in context with other historical events. No discussion is offered about burlesque and the law, or Lee's thoughts about it. Famous vaudevillians such as Abbott and Costello are mentioned, but only in passing. Significant details are also conspicuously absent. Despite mention of her son, Erik, no mention is made of his father, and hardly any of her relationships are discussed. Privacy, timing and taboo may account for these latter absences, however.

Perhaps, in not telling all, Gypsy Rose Lee suggests her greatest talent, grace.