Obviously Yours Cruelly, Elvira has been a “must have” for horror movie fans for some time and I am just late in acquiring a copy. With Yours Cruelly, Elvira Cassandra Peterson adds author to her long list of accomplishments. This memoir pulls back the curtain and reveals the woman behind one of the great cultural figures of the late twentieth century and early twenty-first.
Cinephiles have no doubt heard countless interviews with Cassandra Peterson and some have even met her at conventions. Either way, there is no mistaking her voice and her humor in this memoir. Cassandra Peterson is the author and it is her story, warts and all. Most tell-alls are rather sleazy affairs that smack of exploitation and easy money. But Peterson’s book is full of sincerity and wit as she paints a loving portrait of Elvira’s cultural legacy but establishes herself as a separate artistic presence in that story. The narrative trajectory charts a rise from groupie to showgirl and singer to struggling actress to international fame as Elvira (designated presenter of awards to Vincent Price), followed by a gradual distancing from the Elvira persona.
The anecdotes are incredible in Yours Cruelly, Elvira. They range from containing universal truths about family and romance to hilarious misadventures (some with celebrities) to downright terrifying episodes (with some more celebrities) that leave the reader grateful and amazed that somehow Peterson survived. Peterson’s story demonstrates the danger and terror of being a beautiful woman working in the entertainment industry. In many ways Peterson’s memoir functions as a feminist rallying cry for systemic change in the industry couched in sarcastic or self-deprecating asides.
Elvira is funny, sexy and obsessed with horror movies while Cassandra Peterson is hilarious, sexy, and fearless. Yours Cruelly, Elvira never sugar coats and never backs down from an ugly truth. Elvira brought camp, schlock and B-Movie gold into the mainstream and now Peterson is putting herself front and center into that story, that legacy. Yours Cruelly, Elvira is literally a book that is difficult to put down. Not just because of how fascinating and entertaining Peterson is, but because she, as Elvira, is a cherished cultural figure.
Those of us who grew up watching Elvria on her shows or in her movies felt represented by her in ways that at the time we did not fully understand. Elvira was a friend when many people needed one even if she could only be seen on a screen or in beer store. It was with that in mind that I selected Yours Cruelly, Elvira for my travel book recently. I took Cassandra Peterson’s beloved character with me on a plane and across the country. Yours Cruelly, Elvira is a memoir that must be read to be believed and I highly recommend it.
