THE THEFT OF CHOICE : SPECIAL EDITION of MISTRESS MANIFESTO FEATURING CASSANDRA PETERSON

The inspiration for this month's excruciatingly uncomfortable subject is the story of her rape in the memoir Yours Cruelly, Elvira by Cassandra Peterson, better known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. You may be familiar with the character of Elvira, who years ago started out a long stretch as the hostess of late-night scary B-movies on television, some of them laughable, especially if you were in range of Los Angeles stations. Prior to becoming known as Elvira, Cassandra had what might be called a colorful life, which I'll get to in a moment.

I'm not a fan of horror or scary films and can't remember ever staying up late to watch the show, but I knew about Elvira the way I knew about Angelyne, who I elected as Honorary Mistress of the Month in October 2010, long before she was outed by a mysterious character and then a biopic was made of her life.  If you lived in Southern California in those days then you knew she was around.

Angelyne's mystery was how she could afford to be on so many expensive billboards all around town, how she could afford all the cosmetic surgeries, how she could afford pink sports cars, one after another, and spend so much time driving around Los Angeles and being seen. (She certainly did not seem to have a regular job or much in the way of actual acting work. She did manage to record some music...)  There were always whispers of mysterious benefactors. A friend of mine who had his moment of fame decades earlier and interacted with a number of people in entertainment told me who everyone said Kept Angelyne, which I've never revealed. Just about everything else he had ever told me about various show business people had checked out. But let me get back to Cassandra.

While Angelyne may live 'in character' and be famous for being famous, Cassandra Peterson, who as Elvira in some way got associated in some people's minds with Angelyne, played Elvira as an actor, keeping her private life private but not in a downright secretive way as Angelyne did. Some reviews of Peterson's book mentioned that finally she was getting personal. And she did in her memoir, including about her rape.

Of course Mistress of the Dark uses the term Mistress in a way that I do not here at Mistress Manifesto. Defining Mistress is one of the goals of this blog as we learn about so very many for whom a label such as Mistress might be right. Overall, however, the term Mistress implies a woman who is in command, if not of others, than of her own life, which can also seem to be ironic and contradictory, since in so many novels where Mistresses or Kept women or Courtesans are the main character they are actually subject to a passion that makes them sin.  

When I search for books that are non-fiction in libraries to read and consider for inclusion here, I always encounter hundreds of fictive books in which the Mistress is a character.  Sometimes I think there are hundreds of such books for every one that is non-fiction. Why, I ask myself, are all these novels written, sold, and read?  I think it's because many women do have the fantasy of being in a relationship outside of marriage.

One of the aims of Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot is to to look at the realities. We ask how did (and do) Courtesans, Mistresses, Kept People, Groupies, Harem concubines, and just plain women who have affairs with men who aren't free to marry them, live their lives? We wonder if, as in films, the 'bad girl' is always punished by society or fate.  We do this at a time when people are more open in general about who they are and what they want, and sometimes what they want falls into the category of Alternative Lifestyle.

We love the idea that we have Choice, but how much Choice do we have?

To review the book Yours Cruelly, Elvira:

Cassandra Peterson grew up with an abusive narcissistic mother caused her much pain and a beloved father who did not defend her. She grew up in a lower-middle class home where there was no talk of careers or college for her. She was a Beatles-maniac and long live rock and roll! She became the youngest showgirl in Las Vegas at the time; her parents signed their agreement. She's been Sex Positive and never shy about showing off her physical assets, in particular her breasts. Meeting Elvis Presley, who gave her some wise advice, was the highlight of her life in Vegas. 

Attempting to support herself as she took bit parts and background work, Cassandra Peterson went to Italy where she had some experiences that could have turned out worse. Destitute and squatting, ripped off and escaping a criminal lover, she ended back in America. In Los Angeles she decided to add her natural sense of humor to her bawdy personae. She took classes with the Groundlings comedy troop, which she eventually was invited to join. She and a partner wrote the comedy scripts for the horror show evenings she hosted

In her personal life she was not shy about having sex and didn't hold herself to traditional values. Not religious, she favored the Ernest Holmes Science of Mind way of goal setting. She also lovingly accepted gay men as friends, coworkers, and co-creatives. For a long time she-who-would-someday-be-known-as-Elvira was just scraping by, even when she had room mates or lived with a man to keep the cost of living down, even as she paid her dues and took her acting and improv classes, even as she sought agents, went on auditions, and took rejections.

When I first saw the book as an offering as an e-audio book and an e-book at my library, I thought, what the heck, I'm under no obligation to read it if it turns out it's no good. But it was, surprising so.  First of all, I love e-audio books when the writer/author reads their own work. Cassandra does, expressively, and humorously.  She's frank. And I was surprised at how much I was enjoying the book and could relate to her as a human being. Even if I personally would be far too self conscious to ever be a showgirl, I could certainly understand how much she loved music, how big a deal meeting Elvis and having a good conversation with him it was. I could certainly understand about being true to one's art, even if it didn't pay.

So when I got to Chapter 15, entitled You'll Never Work In This Town Again and she started reading/speaking about it, knowing already that she had been propositioned many times, had been sexually harassed, had been offered work in exchange for sex (in Hollywood called 'the casting couch') by sleazy men, I was unprepared to hear that she had, after fending off and surviving so much, been raped. 

So, this month as a Special Edition here at Mistress Manifesto, the focus is Rape, which is the Theft of Choice and so horribly common, and so hateful towards women, I swear sometimes I think castration should be the punishment. 

Thank You Cassandra Peterson for inspiring this Special Edition.

Cassandra Peterson was married for twenty five years and suffered six miscarriages before finally having a child at age 43. She had long been involved in LGBTQ Rights but had to adjust when she herself fell in love with another woman. When her book came out in 2021 she was seventy years old and had been in that relationship for 19 years. As an activist she has also been involved in PETA anti-fur campaigns. She is also for the Me-Too Movement and is vocal about having been verbally and psychologically abused not only in her childhood, but also in her marriage. 

C 2023 Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot

You might be interested in reading: ANGELYNE THE BILLBOARD QUEEN : RUMORED MISTRESS OF THE MONTH is in the archives for October 2010

P.S. I'm not suggesting Petersen has been a Mistress or a Courtesan or a Kept Woman. Her memoir does not suggest it.

ANGELYNE RUNS FOR GOVERNER OF CALIFORNIA TO REPLACE NEWSOM - ONE OF 46 CANDIDATES

Party Preference NONE  - Entertainer  Angelyne

Our Honorary Mistress of the month in October 2010, Angelyne threw her see through pumps in to the ring - one of about 46 candidates competing to take over from Governor Newsom in an expensive and time wasting recall vote. Larry Elder, a KFI radio personality and Republican is the front runner should this Republican lead recall actually happen, and as for the Democrats -well, we may as well vote for Angelyne. I think Newsom should stay in office.

Though I don't generally get into politics here at Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot, the truth is I don't blame any of our politicians, doctors, or other experts and leaders for being GOBSMACKED by Covid-19, which is an unprecedented historical event with serious and ongoing ramifications. People point out to me the flu epidemic circa 1916-1919 as if there were vaccines at the time. 

As time goes on there is continually more information and some of it may ultimately prove to be right. I think what a wonder it is that here in the First World we have so much knowledge earned by medical science. I'm still meeting people who refuse to take the vaccine. I have two friends who have long term Covid which they got on a cruise ship early on that was out of Fort Lauderdale. One has an enlarged heart.  The other can't get his balance. This was well before there were vaccines and they both have donated their blood to try and help other people.

Another friend took the Pfizer and proceeded to take three trips during lock down, a road trip to New Orleans, a trip out of the country, and a trip to see family in the Midwest - these last two trips by air.  

Word has reached me that a friend who is Bible based and who goes to a church where they are mostly Republican and did not get the vaccine, has a minister and a Bible study leader in intensive care with Covid.  They had continued to meet for services.

I took the Johnson (J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine) after not being able to get any of the 2 shots locally with ease. That early morning as I sat with another half dozen people six feet apart on folding chairs, I wondered if I was doing the right or best thing.  I thought maybe I was just a follower or weak willed. As time goes on, though I did have side effects, I came to realize that it was the best thing to do considering I have no medical conditions. If a person is immune compromised, as cancer patients often are, then I think, they should follow their doctor's recommendations. I don't believe conspiracy theories such as that the government is using the vaccine to put chips in people. Or that the whole thing was just a Big Pharma money making scheme.

Missy

ANGELYNE THE BILLBOARD QUEEN OF LOS ANGELES GETS HER OWN SERIES - SORT OF

Notes: A while back, in October 2010, I elected Hollywood icon Angelyn as our feature.  Subtitled: Is this Billboard Queen a Mistress or a Savvy Business Woman? I said I had met Angelyn. Since Angelyn seems to have been driving a pink Corvette around Los Angeles and making pit stops at vintage clothing stores and selling t-shirts out of the back of the vehicle for years, it's not that unusual to have a sighting of her or to cross paths with her. I actually spoke with her ever so briefly. 

ANGELYN has a series based on a Hollywood Reporter expose about her.  It's fictive - sort of - Angelyn herself is an Executive Producer.  Confusing the truth is something she likes to do though she has consistently slipped into her alter ego to the point where she lives and breaths her creation.  

Here's a link to the Hollywood Reporter article by Gary Baum:  HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 2017: ANGELYNE's REAL IDENTITY 

EXCERPT about the writer's source of information:

The man, who claimed to work in an undefined role for the federal government, said he was a hobbyist genealogist, occasionally taking on paid assignments in the field as an amusing side gig.  A few years earlier, he'd decided it'd be fun to set himself the challenge of cracking Angelyne's case.  "And I did," he explained.

Later at the 101 Coffee Shop in Hollywood, the genealogist - who looks like Michael Kelly's contained political operative Doug Stamper from House of Cards - unfurled an elaborate story of Angelyne's past, based on material he contended he'd enterprisingly pulled and synthesized from a global network of public databases.  He laid down a folded printout of a row of yearbook photos.

Two years later, more or less, here's the Hollywood Reporter on the Series:
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER : ANGELYNE DRAMA BASED ON HOLLYWOOD REPORTER STORY by Leslie Goldberg  who says Angelyne is actually Renee Goldberg (no relation.)

EXCERPT:  Angelyne, 67, is the L.A.- raised daughter of Holocaust survivors, a Jew who found refuge in what Baum described as "Shiksa drag."  She was born in Poland in 1950 to parents who were among the 500 to survive out of a town of 13,000.  Her parents were sent to concentration camps before escaping to America and settling in L.A. Fairfax District.  After Angelyn's mother died in 1965, her father remarried another Holocaust survivor and the family moved to Panorama City, where she attended high school.  While her paper trail ends there, Angelyne soon reinvented herself as a blonde bombshell, famous simply for being famous...

ANGELYNE in "BOULEVARD OF DREAMS" (INTERVIEW)

VIDEO REPLACED MARCH 2016

ANGELYNE in EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY

VIDEO REPLACED  MARCH 2016

ANGELYNE THE BILLBOARD QUEEN : RUMORED MISTRESS OF THE MONTH

UPDATE AUGUST 2017  HOLLYWOOD REPORTER - ANGELYNE REAL IDENTITY SOLVED  WOW!  See video added October 2018

UPDATES MARCH 2016!  SINCE MY ORIGINAL POSTS in OCTOBER 2010 (!) there has actually been quite a few newsy articles and some new videos on YouTube of Angelyne.  So I'm taking the time to renew the posts and lead you to some interesting reading!
You'll find my original post below this bouquet of flowers for our loveable individualist, Angelyne!

CURBED -LA HAS MANY ARTICLES ON ANGELYNE - SOLD HER CONDO IT GOT FLIPPED

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER - ANGELYNE AUCTIONS PERSONAL ITEMS AT BONHAMS
ByGary Baum on June 21, 2012

LAMAG - ANGELYNE NEW HEROINE PINK CORVETTE - CUSTOM PAINT

By Maggie Milstein on November 26, 2014

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER -BILLBOARD QUEEN ANGELYNE BEMOANS KARDASHIANS.... By Gary Baum published on| August 06, 2015

OUT - ENTERTAIMENT ANGELYN INTO THE PINK

By Chadwick Moore on March 24, 2015

LAIST - ANGELYN ART SHOW AT MUSEUM OF DIGITAL ART

By Juliet Bennett Rylah on Aug 26, 2015

********************************************************

ANGELYNE,
the sometime actress, singer, and "BILLBOARD QUEEN" is our RUMORED MISTRESS OF THE MONTH. Rumor also has it that she came into Los Angeles with the name Renee Strauss. ***

In my lifetime I've crossed paths with the famous-for-her-billboards BLONDE BOMBSHELL ANGELYNE several times. She's a tiny woman who appears BIGGER THAN LIFE on those billboards. About two months ago I saw her in a grocery store, where she asked me if I knew where the ladies' room was - sweetly. The time before that she was outside a vintage store near her pink car and signing autographs - sweetly. I've seen her in post office lines. I've passed her on the road driving - at the speed limit.

I've seen her in various stages of aging and youthful renewal. And my guess is that she's at least 65 years old.  There's a lot of secrecy about ANGELYNE.

Like a lot of people, I've heard many rumors about how she could afford ALL THOSE BILLBOARDS and ALL THAT COSMETIC SURGERY. Let's face it; breast implants and face lifts don't correct your posture. She's standing straight up and in great physical shape - great posture and bearing, not at all hunched over.  Her voice sounds girlish... I

It seems no one can imagine that ANGELYNE might have inherited wealth herself or be a good businesswoman who knows how to self promote.

Does she play a CHARACTER CALLED ANGELYNE?

Just like Marilyn Monroe played a character called Marilyn Monroe?

The billboard pictures of her I've seen are definitely airbrushed or enhanced to appear almost cartoonish.

I think she has a sense of humor about herself.  (She says she has found her niche!)

PRIVACY? For someone who is famous she also does a fantastic job of keeping her privacy!

It would seem that the movie and modeling work she has done over the years is not enough to afford the billboards, the pink car, an office in Hollywood she kept for 20 years.  Privacy is difficult to keep in Hollywood; ever hear of anyone following the pink car and her home? Let's say that to keep that privacy YOU HAVE TO HAVE ACCESS TO MONEY, a good attorney. You own things in another name.

YES, I have "heard" who her rich patron was... or at least one of them... most likely the one who kept her for the majority of her adult life... This man was married for very many years and still was alive and married as of a couple years ago.  And if it's true that it's HIM, then this man is in his 80's - near 90 now...  And he is one of those men who FEW PEOPLE IN THE MAINSTREAM WOULD EVER SUSPECT. ****

Remember though that this is the town that gave the rumor about Richard Gere and the Gerbils it's URBAN MYTH status.

Whatever the case, however different she may be from me or you, ANGELYNE has made her life - with intent.

****UPDATE March 2016... Just want to mention that the name of the man or men who financed her Billboards, possibly for a share in profits, is NOT the name of the man that I "heard" was her rich patron.  Just want to clarify that!

C 2010-2026 Missy Rapport Mistress Manifesto blog All Rights including International and Internet Rights reserved.
C 2016 This post has been slightly edited.

C 2022 Very slight editing...