S AT U R D AY, J U LY 2 2 , 2 0 0 6Lee Miller -- What A Gal!And the current issue of the London Review of Books (now officially amust-have for me, alongside Atlantic Monthly) is a review of "LeeMiller" by Carolyn Burke.</p><p> This biography tells the life of one heckuvagal.</p><p> Raped at 7, she contracted gonorrhoea and was doused by hermother with harsh chemicals and "uterine probes to drain secretions,"all in the effort to keep her from going blind and/or dying.</p><p> Oddly, herfather immediately began taking nude photos of Lee, teaching her themechanics of photography along the way.</p><p> Nothing kinky here -- theyhad a great bond and he seemed to be reinforcing the idea that she wasbeautiful and worthy of admiration, despite what had happened.</p><p> Andthen she grew up and things took off in the Roaring Twenties.</p><p> At 18 shewas in New York City and about to step into oncoming traffic when shewas rescued by Conde Nast, who naturally made her a fashion modelon the spot.</p><p> Then she jaunted off to Paris (just at the right time),bumped into Man Ray at a cafe (she'd tried to get into his studio butwas turned away) and HE immediately made Lee his assistant andmistress.</p><p> Lots of nude weekends and landmark surrealist photosensued, with Lee soon becoming a photographer herself (snappingCharlie Chaplin when she wasn't appearing in films by Jean Cocteau),working for Brogue (British Vogue) and so on.</p><p> She slept with lots ofmen, ran off with an Egyptian prince, got bored, ran off with anotherman (financed by the Egyptian prince, who loved her so), buddied upto Dali and De Mille and then welcomed World War II with open arms.Finally! A REAL adventure! She developed a series of black humoredphotos of London that helped urge America to feel solidarity with theplucky British.</p><p> That wasn't enough.</p><p> She got permission to be a realcombat photographer, tagged along with troops, cared nought for herappearance and even became pleasingly plump, was one of the first inAuschwitz (sending back photos with a telegram that begged hereditors to believe the horror of what they saw), rode into Berlin, took abath in Hitler's tub (in one of the most famous shots of the war) andthen settled in America, gave birth to a child she promptly ignored andthen died in the late 70s.</p><p> What a life! If I was half a man, I'd option thisbook, develop a screenplay showing her development from a fashionmodel and Surrealist innovater into a war photographer who realizedlooks were the last thing in the world that mattered.</p><p> It's a great role fora tomboyish young actress.Next Blog»sal1mineo@hotmail.comSEARCH BLOG FLAG BLOGFOLLOW BLOGP O P S U R F I N G .</p><p> C O MS U R F I N G T H E WAV E S O F P O P U L A R C U LT U R EB Y M I C H A E L G I LT Z & F R I E N D SPOPSURFING.COM: Lee Miller -- What A Gal!http://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/07/lee-miller-what-gal.html 1 of 37/28/09 11:40 PMFAV O R I T E L I N K SAmericablogFive O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's BlogThe Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPNRadioCine-Blog -- George Robinson's BlogDocuments On Art & Cinema - DarylChin's BlogBrucie G's Wondrous Blog OfAdventure and Mystery -- BruceGreenspan's BlogB L O G A R C H I V E▼ 2009 (17)▼ July (3)1939 -- The Greatest Year ForMoviesSwimming Bans Those Hi-TechSuits!Best Movies Of The Year -- TheMaster List► June (3)► May (1)► March (2)► February (1)► January (7)► 2008 (86)► 2007 (781)► 2006 (2412)► 2005 (5)C O N T R I B U TO R SMichael in New YorkBiboyAaron POPSURFING.COM: Lee Miller -- What A Gal!http://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/07/lee-miller-what-gal.html 2 of 37/28/09 11:40 PMPOPSURFING.COM: Lee Miller -- What A Gal!http://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/07/lee-miller-what-gal.html 3 of 37/28/09 11:40 PM
