Mama Rose's Turn
Mama Rose's Turn
The True Story of America's Most Notorious Stage Mother
Hers is the show business saga you think you already know—but you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Rose Thompson Hovick, mother of June Havoc and Gypsy Rose Lee, went down in theatrical history as “The Stage Mother from Hell” after her immortalization on Broadway in Gypsy: A Musical Fable. Yet the musical was seventy-five percent fictionalized by playwright Arthur Laurents and condensed for the stage. Rose’s full story is even more striking.
Born fearless on the North Dakota prairie in 1891, Rose Thompson had a kind father and a gallivanting mother who sold lacy finery to prostitutes. She became an unhappy teenage bride whose marriage yielded two entrancing daughters, Louise and June. When June was discovered to be a child prodigy in ballet, capable of dancing en pointe by the age of three, Rose, without benefit of any theatrical training, set out to create onstage opportunities for her magical baby girl—and succeeded.
Rose followed her own star and created two more in dramatic and colorful style: “Baby June” became a child headliner in vaudeville, and Louise grew up to be the well-known burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee. The rest of Mama Rose’s remarkable story included love affairs with both men and women, the operation of a “lesbian pick-up joint” where she sold homemade bathtub gin, wild attempts to extort money from Gypsy and June, two stints as a chicken farmer, and three allegations of cold-blooded murder—all of which was deemed unfit for the script of Gypsy. Here, at last, is the rollicking, wild saga that never made it to the stage.
It took half a century after the premiere of the musical Gypsy for someone to tell the true-life story of ‘Mama Rose’ Hovick, but thanks to Carolyn Quinn’s detailed research and gift for readable prose, it was more than worth the wait. The ruthless stage mother of legend turns out to be far more human, understandable—and in some respects, even more believably terrifying—than the monstrous character that Merman, Russell, Lansbury, Daly, Peters, LuPone, and so many others have played to acclaim. Fans of the musical will be fascinated by this book, but so will anyone interested in reading a damn good biography.
Here she really is, boys! Here she truly is, world! Carolyn Quinn proves that the Rose whom we came to know in Gypsy was—and wasn’t—accurately portrayed in the famous musical. Quinn has done meticulous work in finding newspaper clippings nearly a century old, poring over vintage photos and interviewing descendants to put together a fascinating new look at June and Louise’s mother. She may strike you as better than you’d assumed—or worse—but there’s no doubt that Mama Rose’s Turn: The True Story of America’s Most Notorious Stage Mother delivers information that ranges from juicy to sobering in a completely remarkable biography.
Carolyn Quinn is a historical researcher and urban photographer with a lifelong interest in the theater. She has authored fifteen books in three different genres—cozy mystery, biography, and historical fiction—and says that her work provides “something for everybody.” She has won dozens of writing awards.
